Narendra Modi Today on Coronavirus Updates: Information on 'new and improved' lockdown 4.0 will be given before 18 May, says PM

Narendra Modi Today on Coronavirus LATEST Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that based on the suggestions by states, information about the extension of coronavirus lockdown will be given before 18 May. We will fight Corona and we will move forward, he added. We must not restrict our lives only around coronavirus, Modi said in his speech on Tuesday, and added that the fourth phase of the coronavirus lockdown in India will be completely different from the earlier three phases of the lockdown. Saying that India has been an example for progress in the last century, Modi said that the country needs to become self-reliant in the world after the coronavirus pandemic. “When the crisis started then not even a single PPE kit was manufactured in India, only a few N95 masks were available. Today two lakh PPE kits and 2 lakh N95 masks are manufactured in India daily,” he added. Prime minister Narendra Modi started speaking on COVID-19 situation, and said the world has been battling the pandemic for over four months now. Over 3 lakh people have succumbed to the infection, he says, condoling the deaths. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday approved ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of 16 migrants who were run over by a goods train near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Modi is set to address the nation at 8 pm. This will be the Modi’s fifth address over the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two months. PM’s address comes at a time when the country has over 70,000 cases. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that as relief from the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely soon, there is a “need for a three-month plan to deal with the situation”. Mamata was also quoted as saying that people were facing problems since the imposition of the lockdown on 25 March as the move was “poorly planned”, News18 reported. The Maharashtra government on Tuesday allowed the home delivery of alcohol with guidelines. According to the order issued by the government, the delivery can be made “only into the area of license, and people doing the delivery must wear mask and use sanitisers.” ANI quoted sources as saying that the second phase of the Centre’s repatriation exercise, dubbed the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, will be launched from 16-22 May. It will bring back Indians from 31 countries. 149 flights including feeder flights will be deployed, the report said. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that the mortality rate due to coronavirus is one of the lowest in India globally. “In the fight against COVID-19 our mortality rate is about the lowest in the world. Today the mortality rate is around 3.2 percent, in several states it is even less than this. Global fatality rate is around 7-7.5 percent,” he said. Reports said that around 17,000 prisoners — almost 50 percent — are to be given parole in Maharashtra “in order to maintain social distancing by decongesting in prisons”. After 81 more individuals tested COVID-19 positive in Indore, the total number of confirmed cases in the Madhya Pradesh district climbed to 2,016, said a health official on Tuesday. The COVID-19 toll in the district reached 92 after two more fatalities were registered in the past 24 hours. As many as 6,037 Indian nationals have been evacuated in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission, said Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday. The operation began five days ago from 7 May. After nearly two months of hearing only “extremely urgent matters”, the Supreme Court is likely to hear matters through video conferencing on a “large scale”, reported Bar and Bench. An observation to this effect was made by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, while hearing a bail application. The Bench of Justices L Nageshwara Rao, Abdul Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna hinted at the same while hearing a bail application. It was observed that the matter would be taken up urgently when hearings begin on larger scale. The current doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in Delhi stands now at 11 days, said health minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday. “The doubling rate in Delhi is 11 days now. The doubling rate had once reached 3 or 4 days. If the doubling rate reaches 18, 20 or 25, then we will be more comfortable,” said Jain. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the National Capital is now at 33 percent after 2,512 patients were cured. “383 people have been cured/discharged taking the total number of recovered cases to 2512,” he further said. With 406 more people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Delhi in the past 24 hours, the total number of confirmed cases in the National Capital climbed to 7,639, said health minister Satyendra Jain. The COVID-19 toll in the Union Territory reached 86 after 13 more fatalities were reported since yesterday, said Jain. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on the COVID-19 situation at 8 pm on Tuesday, tweeted the Office of the Prime Minister of India. Modi is likely to discuss about the possible extension of lockdown, imposed in view of coronavirus, for red zone districts. Twenty-three people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Tuesday, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 437, a health department official said. With this, the number of active coronavirus cases stood at 349 in Odisha, while 85 people have recovered from the disease. Three persons have died of the infection in the state. The Railway Ministry in a tweet said it is compulsory for all passengers to download the Aarogya Setu app before commencing their journey. Meanwhile, an Assistant Sub-inspector of CISF deployed in Kolkata lost his life last night due to COVID-19 infection on Tuesday. As part of Samudra Setu Mission, Indian navy ship INS Jalashwa will sail again from Maldives capital of Male on Friday bringing back residents of Kerala and Lakshadweep. The ship had earlier brought back 698 Indians to Kochi on Sunday. The ship, in its second ferry, was scheduled to bring people to Tuticorin but destination was changed since necessary approvals from Tamil Nadu government were not received. With 47 more individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in the state climbed to 4,305, said the health department. Two new COVID-19 deaths took the toll across the state to 151. The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 70,756 after more 3,604 individuals tested COVID-19 positive in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry on Tuesday. The COVID-19 toll reached 2,293 across the nation. The figure includes 46,008 active cases, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The recovery rate stood at 31.7 percent after 22,454 COVID-19 patients were cured of the infectious disease. With passenger train services set to begin from Tuesday, the Indian Railways on Monday said reservations were issued to more than 54,000 passengers within three hours. Within minutes after booking started, all tickets across the three AC classes were sold out for Mumbai Central-New Delhi special train till 18 May, The Times of India reported. The government released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly installment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant on Monday. “This would provide them additional resources during the coronavirus crisis,” the finance ministry said in a statement Monday. The grant was recommended by the 15th Finance Commission, and an equal first installment of the grant was issued by the Centre to states on 14 March. On Monday, the Centre released advance payments of over Rs 1,276 crore to Kerala, followed by over Rs 952 crore to Himachal Pradesh and over Rs 638 crore to Punjab. Assam received Rs 631 crore, Andhra Pradesh Rs 491 crore, Uttarakhand Rs 423 crore, and West Bengal got Rs 417 crore. As India registered a record jump of 4,213 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual interaction with chief ministers said that the biggest challenge for the country will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to rural India and that the country will have to devise a “balanced strategy” to deal with the pandemic and step up the economic activities in a gradual manner. Separately, the Union health ministry observed that some relatively large outbreaks have been noticed in particular locations and it is important to focus on containment efforts to ensure that the country does not reach the community transmission stage. [caption id=“attachment_8325681” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The government also said the coronavirus tracking app Aarogya Setu is secure as it was designed keeping in mind privacy of people and is playing a crucial role in India’s fight against COVID-19. Record jump in number of cases takes total infections to 67,152 In a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country,the health ministry said that a record number of 4,213 COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours ending 8 am, taking the total cases to 67,152 and death toll to 2,206. As many as 20,917 COVID-19 patients have been cured till now, taking the recovery rate to 31.15 percent. Also 1,559 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, the highest number of recoveries in one day, the ministry said. According to the health ministry data, Maharashtra has reported the highest number of infections (22,171) and fatalities (832) with Gujarat following with 8,194 cases and 493 deaths. However, a PTI tally of figures reported by different states and Union Territories, as of 9.10 pm, put the nationwide tally of confirmed cases much higher at 70,480, showing an increase of more than 6,000 cases since Sunday morning. It showed 2,217 deaths and more than 22,000 recoveries so far. Maharashtra reported 1,230 new cases, taking the state tally to 23,401, while its death toll rose to 868 after 36 more fatalities. Tamil Nadu reported 798 new cases and six more deaths on Monday. Mumbai’s case count  reached 14,355 with 791 new cases detected on Monday, while its death toll is 528 now with 20 more fatalities. At least 57 new cases were reported from the city’s Dharavi slums. Gujarat saw 347 fresh cases and 20 more fatalities, including 268 cases and 19 deaths in Ahmedabad itself. In the National Capital also, more than 300 new cases were detected. Fresh cases were reported from various other states as well including Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Bihar and Odisha Health ministry advocates strong containment measures  Asked if there has been community transmission of COVID-19 in India, joint secretary in the Union health ministry Lav Agarwal said “Some clusters have been found here (in the country), and in some cases in some particular locations relatively large outbreaks have also been noticed,” adding that it was important to focus on containment measures so that the country does not reach the stage of community transmission. Agarwal said the government’s focus is on identifying pockets which have been reporting a larger number of cases so that strong containment measures can be implemented. He also said that people who develop coronavirus symptoms should not go into hiding and come forward to report so that they get timely treatment and also do not spread the infection to their family members and others. Ajay Sawhney, Chairman, Empowered Group 9, which deals with technology and data management, said the Aarogya Setu app has been developed to alert people before they come in contact with infected patients and to alert the health system. Information about 697 potential COVID-19 hotspots was generated through the app and it is secure,used only for health interventions and does not reveal identity of people, he said. Around 1.4 lakh Aarogya Setu users have been alerted via Bluetooth contact tracing about possible risk of infection due to proximity to infected patients, Sawhney said. States demand greater freedom in deciding lockdown guidelines Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the fifth virtual meeting with chief ministers of states to discuss strengthening the containment strategy and gradual resumption of economic activities as the third phase of the nationwide lockdown draws to an end on 17 May. Economic activities in India are set to “gather steam”, Modi told  the chief ministers, while asserting that the country will have to devise a “balanced strategy” to revive the economy and deal with COVID-19 with a sharp focus on ensuring that rural areas remain free from the pandemic, sources told PTI. According to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, the prime minister also asserted that the world has fundamentally changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and said that the new way of life would be on the principle of “Jan Se lekar Jag Tak”, from an individual to the whole of humanity. “Even as we look at the gradual withdrawal of the lockdown, we should constantly remember that till we do not find a vaccine or a solution, the biggest weapon with us to the fight the virus is social distancing,” he said. Modi also thanked the chief ministers for their proactive role in the country’s fight against the pandemic and asked chief ministers to share by 15 May a broad strategy on how they want to deal with lockdown regime in their states. “I am of the firm view that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the 2nd phase and similarly the measures needed in the 3rd phase are not needed in the fourth,” he said. Chief ministers of at least three states demanded that states be given greater freedom in deciding lockdown guidelines. Some chief ministers also sought measures to expand the testing infrastructure, while many of them also demanded fiscal support for the states due to the pandemic having hit hard various revenue-generating economic activities Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh pitched for the extension of the coronavirus lockdown, but with a carefully crafted exit strategy backed by economic empowerment of states to save lives and secure livelihood. The decision on designating red, orange/yellow and green zones should be left to the states, which are more cognizant of the ground realities, he said. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel reiterated the demand that states be allowed to determine green, red and orange zones and the level of economic activity permissible in the state. He also demanded Rs. 30,000 crore for implementing relief and welfare schemes. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked for the resumption of economic activities in all parts of the National Capital barring the containment zones.

During the meeting, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that a cautious approach must be taken while making any decision on the lockdown as the infection was expected to peak in May or June. He also demanded that central armed forces be deployed in the state as the police were under a lot of pressure and there were rising number of cases among police personnel. Thackeray also suggested that local trains be restarted for those providing essential services. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that states face different challenges and therefore should be given the freedom to make reasonable changes to the guidelines. He also demanded that states be allowed to resume metro ail services in cities, apart from those in the red zones.

However, the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Telangana opposed the resumption of train services from Tuesday and asked the Centre to push it back. “We know from media that regular train service to Chennai (from Delhi) and from Chennai will commence from 12 May. As the positive cases in Chennai are showing an increasing trend, don’t permit train service up to 31 May in my state,” Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami told Modi during the virtual meeting. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on one hand, the Centre wants strict enforcement of the lockdown, on the other, it is resuming train services. According to the statement, Modi said that the resumption of rail services was needed to rev up economic activity, but all routes will not be opened. The Home Ministry earlier said that only asymptomatic people with confirmed tickets will be allowed to travel in 15 trains to be operational from Tuesday. Online bookings began for these trains on Monday evening, after some delay due to a technical glitch, and some routes got fully booked within ten minutes. The Railways have been running ‘migrant special’ trains for ferrying migrant workers since May 1, but this will be the first time in nearly 50 days that the general public can also undertake train journeys even though flight and inter-state bus services remain suspended as of now till May 17, when the third phase of the lockdown is scheduled to end. The first phase of the nationwide lockdown began on 25 March, which was supposed to be of 21 days, but it got extended later till 3 May and then further till 17 May with some relaxation. With inputs from agencies