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Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: The Delhi government on Thursday said that no new coronavirus case has been reported in the last 15 days here from the two hotspots in the National Capital — Vasundhara Enclave and Khichripur — which were sealed on 31 March as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of the virus. India’s total number of coronavirus positive cases rises to 12,759 (including 10,824 active cases, 1514 cured/discharged/migrated and 420 deaths. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to invoke the stringent National Security Act against those attacking policemen, health and sanitation workers involved in the fight against coronavirus. The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been postponed ‘until further notice’ on Thursday. The league was scheduled to begin on 29 March but was postponed till 15 April in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that has halted all sporting activities all around the world. Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday directed state waqf boards to ensure strict implementation of lockdown and social distancing guidelines during Ramzan starting next week amid the coronavirus pandemic. At a meeting via video conferencing, Naqvi asked the state waqf boards’ officials to create awareness among people to offer prayers and perform other religious rituals like “iftar (breaking of fast)” during Ramzan, which begins on 24-25 April, staying inside their homes. Meghalaya’s first COVID-19 patient, a 69 year old doctor, passed away on Wednesday morning. He breathed his last at around 2.45 am. Sampath Kumar, commissioner and secretary of Meghalaya’s Health Department has also confirmed the news of the passing away of the patient. Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma also tweeted: “I am deeply saddened to inform that the first COVID-19 positive patient in Meghalaya passed away this morning at 2.45 am. My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. May his soul rest in peace.” With 11 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Dharavi, in south Mumbai, the overall COVID-19 tally in the slum area rose to 71 on Thursday, a civic official said. Stressing on the migrant labourers issue, Rahul Gandhi said “Centre needs to work on a strategy on migrant workers. If you don’t solve the problem, there will be social unrest. People are starving, you have to fix it. The government has to be sensitive and respond quickly.” “Our government must be very compassionate in dealing with migrants,” he said. Lockdown doesn’t defeat the virus, it stops the virus for some time, said Rahul Gandhi during an online press conference on Thursday. “Lockdown is like a pause button. It is in no way a solution to the virus. when we come out of lockdown, the virus will start its work again. We need to have a strategy for that. Ramp up testing abilities, prepare hospitals,” he adds. Rahul further proposed scaling of testing and using testing strategically across the nation. The total number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra reached 3,081 after 165 more individuals tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, said state health department. Mumbai reported 107 positive coronavirus cases, said the health department. 105 new coronavirus cases were reported on Thursday in Gujarat, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This brings the total reported cases of coronavirus in the state to 871. The death of a senior citizen in Bengaluru on Thursday took Covid-19 related fatalities to 13 in Karnataka, said the health department. " A 66-year old man infected by coronavirus dies in Bengaluru, death toll in Karnataka rises to 13, said the state health department. With 19 more individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, the total number of case rose to 279 in the state. According to the data released by the Union health ministry on Thursday, the death count due to the novel coronavirus rose to 414 while the number of positive cases reached 12,380.
As many as 1,488 people have been cured and discharged, and one has migrated, the ministry said, which takes the number of active cases to 10,477.
The Delhi government on Wednesday decided to use the plasma enrichment technique to treat severely-ill coronavirus patients on a trial basis as the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in the National Capital reached 1,578. The clinical trial of the plasma enrichment technique will be conducted at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), according to an official. The police have arrested a total of 11 persons including a journalist with regard to the crowd of migrant labourers which gathered in suburban Bandra on Tuesday, officials said. The police have registered three cases in connection with the incident so far. In the first case, registered against the mob of around 800 to 1,000 persons for unlawful assembly, rioting, violation of prohibitory orders during the lockdown, nine persons were arrested on Wednesday. The Centre on Wednesday issued guidelines for conditional relaxations in many sectors of the economy from 20 April, even as the country registered over 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day. The Union health ministry said that the Centre would classify all districts into three categories, based on the number of cases reported. It also said that 170 districts across the country have been marked as COVID-19 hotspots while 207 districts had been identified as potential hotspots. 1,118 new cases, 39 deaths recorded in 24 hours [caption id=“attachment_8264081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The number of coronavirus cases in India jumped to 10,197 while toll rose to 392. PTI[/caption] According to the data released by the Union health ministry at 5 pm, the toll due to coronavirus rose to 392 with 39 fatalities reported since Tuesday evening, while the number of cases saw a jump of 1,118 to go up to 11,933 on Wednesday. As many as 1,343 people have been cured and discharged, and one has migrated, the ministry said, which takes the number of active cases to 10,197. The single-day highest increase of 1,463 cases was recorded on Tuesday. According to the Union health ministry, the highest number of cases was recorded in Maharahstra (2,687) followed by Delhi (1,561 cases). However, a PTI tally said the number of COVID-19 infections went past the 12,000 mark while the death toll crossed 400. In Maharashtra, the coronavirus positive cases continued to spike with 232 more infections detected on Wednesday, while the death toll went up by nine to 187, PTI quoted a health official as saying. The number of COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 2,916, with Mumbai alone accounting for 1, 896 cases and 114 deaths. Neighbouring Gujarat reported 127 new infections and five deaths taking the state tally to 766. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani went into self-quarantine after a MLA who had attended a meeting with him tested positive. The CMO said that he was in good health and would continue working through video conferences. In Delhi, 17 more persons tested positive for the virus, taking the count to 1,578 while the toll rose to 32.
17 new positive cases & 2 deaths reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours. The total number of positive cases in the national capital now stands at 1578 (including 1080 positive cases - under Special Operations). Total death toll stands at 32: Government of Delhi #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/9VzGuHlqJG
— ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2020
New infections were also reported in other states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh while a policeman was among 12 new patients in West Bengal. Data obtained from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that till 14 April the number of samples tested stood at 2,44,893, an increase of 27,339 from the corresponding figure till the previous day (2,17,554). Health ministry identifies 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots The Union Health Ministry said it has identified 170 districts as COVID-19 hotspots and 207 districts as potential hotspots, reiterating yet again there has been no community transmission of the disease in the country so far. Addressing the daily briefing, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary in the Union health ministry , said states have been asked to classify districts which have reported a higher number of cases as hotspots, the districts where cases have been reported as non-hotspots, and green zones where no cases have been reported. “Hotspots are those districts which are reporting more number of cases or where the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is high,” Agarwal said, adding a detailed direction has been issued to states stating consolidated efforts are required to utilise this period of lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a video conference with all chief secretaries, DGPs, health secretaries, collectors, SPs, municipal commissioners and CMOs where hotspots were discussed and orientation on field level implementation of containment strategy was given. “They were told about large outbreak containment strategies, cluster containment strategies. Delineation of buffer and containment zone, parameter mapping, defining of entry and exit point were also discussed in detail,” Agarwal said. Meanwhile, Dr R Gangakhedkar of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that 73 private labs had been approved, and 22 private labs were currently conducting tests for coronavirus. On being asked whether research had confirmed whether the COVID-19 strain had infected humans from bats, he said, “As per research in China, it was found that coronavirus might have originated due to mutation in bats. Bats might have transmitted it to pangolins, from pangolins it got transmitted to humans.” He added, “We also conducted surveillance, in which we found that there are two types of bats, and they carried coronavirus which was not capable of affecting humans. It’s rare, maybe once in 1,000 years that it gets transmitted from bats to humans.” MHA issues guidelines for relaxations in several sectors With the second phase of the national lockdown coming into force, the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) unveiled the ‘consolidated revised guidelines’ according to which restrictions will be lifted in various sectors including Agriculture, construction, Information Technology, industrial units in the SEZs and rural areas from 20 April till 3 May. The permitted activities from 20 April are aimed at ensuring agricultural and related activities remain fully functional, rural economy functions with maximum efficiency, employment opportunities are created for daily wage earners and other members of labour force, select industrial activities are allowed to resume their operations, with safeguards and mandatory standard operating protocols and digital economy, the MHA said. The exemptions given will not be applicable in COVID-19 hotspots/ containment zones and the State/UT governments shall not dilute guidelines in any manner but may impose stricter measures as per local requirements, according to the MHA. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla emphasised on the need to follow social distancing norms and said that the relaxations will be withdrawn if there is any violation of norms for the lockdown that ends on 3 May. The home ministry also issued strict guidelines prohibiting public activities and making spitting a public offence under the Disaster Management Act. Any violation may result in imprisonment of up to one year or a fine, or both. According to the guidelines, industrial activities and hospitality services, taxis and auto and cycle rickshaws and social, political, academic, entertainment and religious gatherings will not be allowed. No more than 20 people will be allowed to be present at funerals and people will be allowed to move between districts and states only if they are medical or other identified workers. All health services, including hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, dispensaries, chemists, AYUSH practitioners will remain open. Pharmaceutical and medical research labs carrying out COVID-19-related research can also be functional. Veterinary hospitals, clinics, labs and medicine suppliers can also conduct business. Farmers and farm workers have been allowed to work on field and the mandis operated by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), manufacture and sale of fertilisers and seeds and movement of farm equipment have also been permitted. The guidelines stated that grocery stores, fruits, vegetables shops/ carts, milk booths, poultry, meat and fish shop will remain open during the lockdown. Courier services will also be permitted, irrespective or essential or non-essential. Wearing masks in public and at workplaces will remain mandatory. Migrant workers in Surat take to streets for second consecutive day Hundreds of migrant workers stranded in Gujarat due to the lockdown gathered on the streets in Surat’s Ved Road area for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, officials said. “While one group of workers demanded that food be served near their houses, others wanted the serving point closer to them. These workers also complained that the food being served to them was tasteless. Luckily, police resolved the matter in time and dispersed these workers” said Assistant Commissioner of Police DJ Chavda. On Tuesday, hundreds of migrant workers had come out on roads in Surat and in Mumbai, demanding that they be allowed to go to their native states. In Maharashtra, a journalist with a television channel was arrested in connection with the protests in Bandra the previous day. Police said he was booked for a report on the resumption of special trains for those stranded due to the lockdown. A Navi Mumbai resident was also arrested in connection to the protests, over social media posts which allegedly called for a protests if trains were not arranged for migrant workers. Trump withdraws funding to WHO US President Donald Trump halted funding to the World Health Organisation, hitting out at the organisation for promoting China’s disinformation about the virus and “failing in its basic duty” of containing the spread of the outbreak. Later in the day, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he regretted Trump’s decision to pull funding for the agency and called for world unity to fight the new coronavirus pandemic. With inputs from agencies
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