Italy, Spain, Portugal and India are among the countries easing coronavirus restrictions. Social distancing, mask wearing are the new norms as these countries continue to battle the virus pandemic, but are venturing out of their homes after extended periods of staying at home.
Data from market research agency Nielsen shows that 152 new players entered the hygiene market in March as the lockdown was implemented to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease. The trend is expected to continue, the agency says, as hygiene and health emerge as key themes.
While there was a sharp drop in footfalls in malls in H1FY21, there was reasonable recovery in H2. However, the second wave derailed the recovery.
On May 21, England's pace duo of Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad were among the first cricketers to return to individual training after the Coronavirus hiatus.
Professor, Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad, Public Health Foundation of India, V Ramana Dhara, said the unlock has resulted in a return to old habits of indiscipline in physical distancing and improper mask use.
After the easing of lockdown in mid-May, auto companies were able to resume production in a phased manner, but the ramp-up was slow due to a broken supply chain, and lockdown-induced restrictions.
As India reached the halfway point in the 21-day coronavirus lockdown on Saturday, some states and rail and airline operators were considering measures to relax restrictions in phases from April 15. Simultaneously, the Centre has drawn up a cluster containment strategy to contain the coronavirus pandemic within a defined geographic area by early detection of cases, breaking the chain of transmission and thus preventing its spread to new areas.
'We should not forget the core purpose of the lockdown -- to buy time to implement a strategy to tackle the virus, to prepare for the final lifting of the lockdown and to prepare for a 'new tomorrow',' notes Dr Sanjeeth Peter.
Anmol Ambani, the eldest son of industrialist Anil Ambani, has lashed out against a new round of lockdowns being imposed amid the surge in COVID-19 cases, saying such restrictions do not concern health but control and that they destroy the very backbone of the society and economy. The 29-year-old former executive director of Reliance Capital Ltd in a series of tweets lambasted the new semi-lockdown rules hurting small businesses and daily wage earners. "Professional 'actors' can continue shooting their films. Professional 'cricketers' can play their sport late into the night. Professional 'politicians' can continue their rallies with masses of people. But YOUR business or work is not ESSENTIAL. Still don't get it?" he said in a tweet.
Shahbaz Ahmed, in his mind, had a questionnaire for Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers before getting started with what was to be his maiden Indian Premier League season. But the Bengal all-rounder will have to wait to don the Royal Challengers Bangalore red and gold as the possibility of having even a curtailed IPL is getting slimmer by the day with the rise of coronavirus positive cases in India.
'People can start making a safety net, and that safety net should be at least three months of your monthly salary.' 'If somebody is earning Rs 25,000 then s/he should have at least Rs 75,000 in her/his bank account, so that if anything like this (lockdowns) happens in the future, they are not struggling.'
Several passengers have been complaining on social media as domestic airlines have decided not to give refunds in cash for cancelled flights due to the lockdown and instead issue credit for future travel.
The experts agreed that the lockdown has helped in slowing down spread of the virus but insisted that the situation has not reached a plateau and that there was an urgent need to upgrade healthcare facilities to deal with the crisis.
Raju Bist from Thane tells us how he spent the last two months of lockdown.
'What I'm really worried about is that the day this lockdown ends, we will all rush to work and we'll kill the lovely environment we are seeing now.'
When the lockdown ends, Hasleen plans to come out of it a stronger person.
On Day One of the lockdown announced by the Maharashtra Government, it wasn't business as usual for automobile manufacturing units in the State. Confusion prevailed over regulations-what is allowed and what isn't. While some units ran with less than half the workforce, others sought clarity from the government on what is permissible and what isn't.
The frustration for aspirant Olympians has been palpable and athletes like table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran have been forced to innovate to stay sharp during the lengthy lockdowns.
A day after the Ministry of Home Affairs allowed sports complexes and stadia to open without spectators, National Sports Federations were deliberating ways to facilitate training of at least the Olympic-bound athletes. The lockdown has been extended till May 31.
He further opined that though as public functionaries, courts were vested with the responsibility to give effect to equity, these judicial bodies were not directly in charge of the manner in which resources were to be distributed.
Sheela Jaywant invites you to explore The GoaWriters Group's interesting look at the lockdown.
'Since I got married, I've seen him watch KBC all the time.' 'We never have songs or movies playing on our TV; it's always general knowledge and current affairs.'
National Sports Federations and State Olympic Associations have been asked to collect feedback from the stakeholders such as athletes, coaches, support staff, central and state government ministries, match officials and sports administrators on how and when training should resume. The lockdown has been extended till May 17.
In his second national broadcast in a week on the pandemic raging across much of the world with the number of infections rising in India, Modi made a fervent appeal to the countrymen not to cross the 'lakshman rekha' of their homes in the next three weeks.
According to officials, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana wanted the lockdown to be continued, some of them wanted the powers to decide the zoning of districts -- green, orange and red -- as per the COVID-19 situation.
Gandhi said if money is not given in the hands of the poor and small and medium industry, there could be "serious economic damage" in the country.
The journey of getting used to a new way of life -- without domestic help, without the necessity of dressing up to step out and just staying cooped up indoors -- has been out of the ordinary, equal parts good, bad and ugly.
A new survey has revealed how the pandemic has inspired young Indians to take care of their health.
A month-long national lockdown to arrest the spread of COVID 2.0 could shave off 100-200 bps of GDP, leading to a 300 bps risk to annual growth, a brokerage report has flagged while expressing doubts over the ability of local lockdowns to control the pandemic. The second wave of the coronavirus inflection has caught the government off-guard with the daily cases jumping over 6.5 times in the past 30 days. With close to 3.53 lakh fresh daily infections, the country is the worst hit globally.
India's petrol and diesel sales fell by about 17 per cent in May from a month ago as restrictions clamped to curb the world's worst outbreak of coronavirus infections stifled demand. Sales of petrol -- used in cars and motorcycles -- fell to 1.79 million tonne in May, the lowest in a year, according to the preliminary data of state-owned fuel retailers. While the consumption was almost 13 per cent higher than demand in May 2020, it was 28 per cent lower than pre-COVID levels of 2.49 million tonne.
The duo teamed up for a karaoke session and and the hit number Tu Nazm Nazm Sa Mere from Bareilly Ki Barfi.
The Centre has announced an extension for two more weeks in the nationwide lockdown. However, several relaxations will be allowed as per zones.
The lockdown in India has been a timely, graded, proactive and pre-emptive public health measure to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and has been part and parcel of the government's overall strategy, Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Chairman, Empowered Group 1, said at a media briefing on the COVID-19 situation.
'Loss of these urban salaried jobs is, therefore, likely to have a particularly debilitating impact on the economy, besides causing immediate hardship to middle-class households,' points out Mahesh Vyas.
The central government may, however, advise state authorities to continue with strict curbs in COVID-19 containment zones in the worst-affected 30 municipal areas that account for 80 per cent of the positive cases in the country. These 30 municipal areas are from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Odisha.
Rediff.com reader Milon Kumar Sanyal from Kolkata tells us how he kept himself busy during the lockdown.
The Centre stressed that the next three weeks will be critical for the country reeling from the worst health crisis as it announced a series of measures to shore up medical infrastructure and supplies and scale up vaccination.
'If the mandis were not working in Delhi, or the onion market in Nashik got affected, or there were disruptions because of unloading or loading in any sector in south India, we intervened.'
Stuck indoors and without a training partner during India's coronavirus lockdown, the country's top table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran says he is staying sharp by practising with a robot. The governing International Table Tennis Federation has suspended all of its events and activities until June 30 and the three-week lockdown in force in India has disrupted the daily routines of athletes like Sathiyan.
Coronavirus has brought the world of sports to a complete standstill forcing the fans to make do without their regular dose of sporting events, be it football, tennis or cricket. While some fans are busy catching up on movies or reading, some have resorted to playing board games like chess, ludo. A few have even taken to playing cricket indoors.
