Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: Assam reports highest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases with 39 new infections; 107 active cases in state currently

Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 13 new coronavirus cases were detected from the Sarusajai Quarantine Centre. He added that the total patient count rose to 154. However, other reports said that the state saw the highest single-day spike in infections. “So far, 39 cases have been recorded on the last 24 hours so far,” the reporter tweeted. The BMC on Tuesday said that 1,411 new coronavirus cases and 43 deaths have been reported in Mumbai. Total positive cases stand at 22,563 and death toll stands at 800. The Uttar Pradesh Police filed an FIR against Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s personal secretary Sandeep Singh and UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu after they staged a sit-in protest at the Agra-Rajasthan border in Uncha Nangla area on Tuesday after the buses they had arranged to bring back migrant workers from Rajasthan to Uttar Pradesh, was not allowed to enter Uttar Pradesg, ANI reported. He was later removed from spot, the report said. “As per MHA guidelines you need to apply for permission for inter-state bus movement after which pass is issued&permission is granted. They hadn’t applied and didn’t have pass. So they were not allowed to enter. He hasn’t been arrested, said SP rural (west), Agra (UP), Ravi Kumar. Reports said that 229 new coronavirus cases were reported in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, along with six new casualties. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state rose to 5,465, while active cases are 2,577. The state-wide toll rose to 258, The Hindu reported, The Jammu and Kashmir government said that on the intervention of LG GC Murmu and Advisor to LG Baseer Khan, 125 stranded students including blind and physically challenged were brought back to Jammu and Kashmir from New Delhi in five air conditioned buses. No fare was charged for the travel, the government said. The Union health ministry said that in terms of case mortality per lakh population, India has so far about 0.2 deaths per lakh population vis-a-vis approximately 4.1 deaths per lakh population for the world as a whole. “A record number of 1,08,233 samples were tested yesterday in the country. So far a total of 24,25,742 samples have been tested,” the statement added. Maharashtra minister for higher studies Uday Samant on Tuesday reported asked the Universal Grants Commission (UGC) to cancel exams for final year UG and PG students in view of the coronavirus situation, Mumbai Mirror reported. The BSF said that three new coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours. “They’re under treatment in designated COVID-19 hospitals. Since yesterday, 22 COVID-19 positive BSF personnel have been discharged from hospitals in Delhi, in addition to earlier 192. Total recovered till today 214. Active cases 144,” the statement said. Nine more BEST employees have tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday. The total number of cases in BEST is now 137, the BEST Public Relations Officer said. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that 12 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the state on Tuesday. He said that four of these have returned from abroad while eight others have come from other states. Total positive cases stand at 642, which includes 142 active cases. The Jammu and Kashmir government issued revised guidelines for fourth phase of the lockdown on Tuesday. All economic and courier services, all agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and related activities, banks and financial activities have been permitted in the entire union territory. Barber shops, saloons, parlours permitted in all areas except within the limits of Municipal Corporations in Orange zones. The Indian Express quoted an Indian Railway spokesperson as saying that the “consent of destination states is not necessary anymore for Shramik special trains”. These trains are part of the Centre’s plan to transport stranded people, including migrants, back to their home states amid the lockdown. “MHA 29th April circular was issued for Roadways and later MHA had issued 1st May circular making 29th April circular applicable for Railways too. Now today MHA has withdrawn 1st May circular and issued a seperate SOP for Railways,” the Railways spokesperson was quoted as saying by the report. The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that in the last 24 hours, a total of 2,350 COVID-19 patients have been cured. “Thus, so far, a total of 39,174 patients have been cured of COVID-19. This means a recovery rate of 38.73 percent amongst COVID-19 patients. The recovery rate is improving continuously.” The Maharashtra government on Tuesday revised the lockdown rules and allowed shops and public transport in green and orange zones in the state. The government also imposed a strict curfew from 7 pm to 7 am. “No permission for taxis, rickshaws, cabs in red zones,” the statement added. Reports said that the Maharashtra government on Tuesday allowed the e-commerce of non-essential goods. Under the revised guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown, the state government also allowed the opening of stadia, sports complexes, public spaces in non-red zones. However, no spectators will be allowed at any event.’ Rajasthan registered a COVID-19 recovery rate of 56.14 percent after 3,232 were cured of the viral infection as of Tuesday, said the state health department. Of the total positive cases in the state, there are at least 2,386 active cases. Human Resource Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said students who were unable to study abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic can now apply for JEE-Mains. He further said that fresh applications for JEE-Mains can be submitted from 19 to 24 May. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that KPC Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata will be the 69th dedicated COVID-19 hospital in thee state. She further said that the hospital will start functioning from Tuesday with 200 beds. “KPC Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata will be the State’s 69th dedicated COVID hospital. As a full-fledged Govt designated free of cost COVID hospital, it will start functioning from today with 200 beds, further ramping up specialized COVID treatment capacity in the state,” tweeted Mamata. Responding to Yogi Adityanath government’s demand to send 1,000 buses to Delhi-Uttar Pradesh borders by noon, Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi has now written to the Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary saying that the 1,000 buses for helping in movement of migrant labourers will reach Noida and Ghaziabad borders by 5 pm on Tuesday. She further said that the government should keep a list of the labourers ready with them. After the UP government Home Department asked Priyanka to send 500 buses to Noida and 500 to Ghaziabad by 12 noon, Sandeep Singh, personal secretary to Priyanka Gandhi has written back and said the buses will reach the locations by 5 pm. Sandeep Singh, Personal Secretary to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in a new letter addressed to Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home), said, “as requested by you buses will reach Noida and Ghaziabad border at 5 pm today, please keep a list of passengers and route map ready to ensure smooth coordination.” Delhi on Tuesday reported 500 more COVID19 cases in the last 24 hours. The total cases rise to 10,554, including 5638 active cases and 166 deaths. According to the SOPs issued by the MHA, states will have to share the requirement for Shramik trains with the Ministry of Railways and make suitable arrangements for sending and receiving the migrants at railway stations. Moreover, the routes of trains will be decided by the railways in consultation with MHA. As many as 57 more COVID-19 cases were reported in Andhra Pradesh in the past 24 hours, taking the state’s total number of infections to 2,339. According to the health department in the state, of the total positive cases, there are 691 active cases. So far, 52 COVID-19 patients have succumbed to the infectious disease. In a letter to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, US president Donald Trump warns of freezing funds to the agency if it “does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days”. The letter says that if the WHO “does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our membership of the organization.” After registering a single-day jump of 4970 cases, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India surged past 1 lakh on Tuesday, according to the latest data released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The total number of infections across the nation stood at 1,01,139. With 134 more deaths, the COVID-19 toll is now 3,163. Four migrant workers were killed and 15 injured after the bus they were travelling collided with a truck, in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra on Tuesday morning, ANI reported. The bus departed from Solapur to arrive at Jharkhand. Three migrant labourers were killed and 12 others were injured after a truck carrying them in Jhansi-Mirzapur highway, overturned in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh late on Monday. SP Mahoba Mani Lal Patidar, said about 17 persons were travelling in the vehicle that was coming from Delhi. Tire burst is said to the cause of the accident. The accident took place in village Mahua near Panwari, according to The Hindu. India on Monday recorded its biggest single-day jump in cases with 5,242 cases and 157 deaths, taking the total infections to 96,169 and total fatalities to 3,029. As the country entered the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown, many state governments, including Karnataka, Gujarat and Assam too extended the lockdown in their states and issued guidelines allowing for more relaxations than in the previous phases of the lockdown in a bid to kickstart the economy. This comes after the Centre on Sunday extended the nationwide lockdown till 31 May and gave states greater freedom to demarcate red, orange and green zones and also to impose additional restrictions if required. India has been under a lockdown since 25 March, which was first supposed to be for 21 days or till 14 April, but was later extended till 3 May, then further till 17 May  and now for another two weeks till 31 May. Karnataka bars entry of people from four states; Delhi allows shops to open on odd-even basis The Karnataka government on Monday said it won’t allow passengers from states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to enter into the state till 31 May except in special cases and will consider allowing their entry in a staggered manner. [caption id=“attachment_8380591” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India on Monday recorded the biggest single day jump in cases with 5,242 cases and 157 cases, taking the aggregate total to 96,169 and toll to 3,029. AP[/caption] In the guidelines issued on Sunday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had allowed the movement of passengers buses and vehicles between states with the rider that both state governments would have to give their consent. The state government also decided to do away with the green, orange and red zones system in favour of dividing the state into containment and non containment zones and allowed the resumption of public transport in non-containment zones even as Karnataka reported its highest single-day spike in cases, taking the total number on infections in the state to 1,246. The state government also decided to follow a total lockdown on Sundays. The Gujarat government also decided to demarcate only containment and non-containment zones in the state and granted a host of relaxations in the non-containment areas, including opening of shops and offices between 8 am and 4 pm. However, such business and commercial establishments need to follow odd-even formula, wherein only 50 percent establishments can remain open on any given day, said chief minister Vijay Rupani. The state government also allowed reopening of barber shops and salons in non-containment zones besides shops selling paan masala. Restaurants and eateries can remain open for takeaway orders only, Rupani said. He also announced resumption of bus and autorickshaw service across the state, barring a few places Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao announced extension of COVID-19 lockdown till 31 May and said that barring containment zones, rest of the areas in the state would be green zones in which public transport will be allowed with certain conditions. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced opening of shops in markets on an odd-even basis and running of buses with 20 passengers but said Metro services, schools, colleges, cinema halls and saloons will remain closed till 31 May.

लॉकडाउन 4 में दिल्ली में क्या क्या छूठ दी जाएगी - https://t.co/VjxNNSDieE

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 18, 2020

As the National Capital recorded  299 new cases, pushing the total past 10,000, the chief minister reiterated that we will have to learn to live with virus and said that all shops will be allowed to open in Delhi, along with restaurants which can only open for home delivery and take-aways. No relaxations will be allowed in containment zones and only essential services will function there, he said. In Maharashtra, which reported 2,033 new cases and 51 deaths on Monday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that around 50,000 business have been allowed to open in green and orange zones.He said that since schools and colleges would resume from June, the virus had to be controlled before the end of the monsoon. No official guidelines have been issued by the state government till now. Odisha, too, extended lockdown till the end of May, with relaxations allowed as per the guidelines issued by the MHA. While, Assam government asked District Magistrates to issue orders for night curfew till the end of the lockdown, Chhattisgarh extended restrictions under CrPC Section 144 for three months and ordered that stadiums and sports complexes must remain shut. The Punjab government said that no movement of people will be allowed between 7 pm and 7 am and allowed the reopening of shops while stipulating that shopping complexes would remain shut. It also allowed barber shops and saloons to open subject to compliance with guidelines issued by the health department. Record jump of 5,242 cases takes nationwide tally to 96,169 The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 56,316, while 36,823 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, said the health ministry.  “Thus, around 38.29 percent patients have recovered so far,” a senior health ministry official said. According to PTI, the health ministry also said that for a population of one lakh , there are 7.1 coronavirus cases in India so far as against 60 globally. Of the 157 deaths deaths reported since Sunday morning, 63 were in Maharashtra, 34 in Gujarat, 31 in Delhi, six in West Bengal, five each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, four in Tamil Nadu, three in Punjab and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and Odisha. Of the 3,029 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,198 deaths. Gujarat comes second with 659 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 248, West Bengal at 238, Delhi at 160, Rajasthan at 131, Uttar Pradesh at 104,Tamil Nadu at 78 and  Andhra Pradesh at 50. According to the ministry’s website, more than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, the existence of multiple disorders in the same person. According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 33,053, followed by Gujarat at 11,379, Tamil Nadu at 11,224, Delhi at 10,054 Rajasthan at 5,202, Madhya Pradesh at 4,977 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,259. However, a PTI tally of figures announced by different states and UTs as of 9.40 pm put the number of those having tested positive for the infection at 1,00,096, with a death toll of 3,078 and recoveries at 38,596 across the country. Maharashtra topped the nationwide tally with over 35,000 confirmed cases and 1,249 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu with 11,760 confirmed cases and 81 deaths. Gujarat has also reported 11,746 confirmed cases, while its death toll is higher than that of Tamil Nadu at 694. Delhi has also crossed the 10,000 mark in terms of the number of confirmed cases, while its death toll has now reached 160. Gujarat, during the day, recorded 366 new COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths, including 31 from the worst-hit Ahmedabad, taking the state’s case count to 11,746 and the number of fatalities to 694, a health department official said. Maharashtra reported 2,033 new cases, taking the tally to 35,058. This was the second consecutive day when the state has reported more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases. Mumbai alone reported 1,185 fresh cases and 23 more deaths, taking the total count of the city to 21,152 and the fatalities to 757. Of the 1,185 new cases, 300 samples were tested positive in private laboratories between May 12 and 16. Kerala also saw 29 new cases — all but one being returnees from overseas and other states — raising concerns about the state witnessing a possible third wave of the dreaded virus infection. The state was first to report the virus infection, but at least twice it has already been seen as having flattened the curve of the infection. ICMR issues revised testing guidelines Revising its strategy for COVID-19 testing, the Indian Council of Medical Research said on Monday that returnees and migrants who show symptoms for influenza-like illness will be tested for coronavirus infection within seven days of ailment and stressed that no emergency clinical procedure, including deliveries, should be delayed for lack of testing. In its revised strategy, the medical research body also added that all hospitalised patients who develop symptoms for influenza-like illness (ILI) and frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of COVID-19 having such signs will also be tested for coronavirus infection through the RT-PCR test. Besides, asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case are to be tested once between day five and day 10 of coming in  contact, the new document stated. Asymptomatic contacts of a confirmed case were being tested once between day five and day 14. India backs demand for impartial probe into virus’s origin India joined nearly 120 countries at a crucial conference of the World Health Organisation in pushing for an impartial and comprehensive evaluation of the global response into the coronavirus crisis as well as to examine the origin of the deadly infection. Since the first case of the deadly coronavirus was reported in China last December, more than 47 lakh people have tested for this virus across the world and over 3 lakh have lost their lives. India is the 11th most affected country, while the US tops the chart with over 14.9 lakh confirmed cases so far. China’s official tally of confirmed infections is less than 84,000, while it has reported more than 4,600 deaths. With inputs from agencies