Seeking cooperation from the public to fight the pandemic, the Union health ministry officials said there was no need to panic. They also said not everyone needs to wear masks and that following social distancing is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Not only Mumbai, Pune and Thane, but several cities and towns in Maharashtra, including Vidarbha and Marathwada regions, have been witnessing spike in cases. Lockdown or restrictions have been imposed in several cities or districts in the state in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.
India reported less than one lakh new coronavirus infections after a gap of 63 days, while the daily positivity rate dropped to 4.62 per cent, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.
All three employees are recovering fast towards normalcy and as per the safety protocol, essential information was shared with the district health authorities, it added.
Stocks mutual funds had invested in had risen almost to pre-pandemic levels in March.
Drones are being used for carrying out a host of tasks like surveillance to ensure that people are maintaining social distancing, spreading awareness about COVID-19 in densely populated areas, spraying disinfectants and checking people's temperature
With 200 MPs out of 785 above the age of 65, there is a serious shadow of COVID-19 looming over the monsoon session Of Parliament.
The ministry had sent the six previous teams to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal to review the implementation of the lockdown measures after the assessment of ground situation in identified select districts.
The government also said the coronavirus tracking app Aarogya Setu is secure as it has been designed keeping in mind the privacy of people and is playing a crucial role in India's fight against COVID-19.
Lockdown in Amravati city in Maharashtra was extended for a week on Saturday in view of the coronavirus situation, while restrictions were also imposed for the weekend in Nagpur, Buldhana and Yavatmal.
This was the sixth consecutive day when coronavirus cases increased by more than 14,000. Consequently, India has added 92,573 cases since June 20, and over 2.82 lakh this month alone since June 1.
As per Centre's standard operating procedures, sanitisers were kept at the entrance while masks and social distancing was compulsory for the devotees. Some places of worship also conducted thermal screening of all devotees.
The first weekend lockdown in the state began at 8 pm on Friday and it will continue till 7 am on Monday.
A total 95 deaths deaths were reported since Friday morning, of which 37 in Maharashtra, 24 in Gujarat, nine in West Bengal, seven in Madhya Pradesh, four each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and two from Delhi and one each from Punjab and Haryana.
Banerjee told journalists after an all-party meeting that though the participants differed over ways to tackle the pandemic, consensus emerged that the lockdown should be extended with relaxations.
BS-VI emission norms and the COVID-19 lockdown impacted the dispatches.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state.
Apart from 87 per cent people in urban areas of India, most people in Australia (84 per cent), Canada (81 per cent), Germany (75 per cent) and Italy (61 per cent) were of the view that their government handled COVID-19 crisis well, according to the survey.
The ministry has removed its earlier recommendation of the use of anti-HIV drug combinations Lopinavir and Ritonavir on a case-to-case basis depending upon the severity of the condition of a patient suffering from coronavirus infection.
Despite the relaxations announced in the lockdown, religious and other large gatherings are still banned.
'Their dharma propels them to pay their workers; otherwise, they know the boys would starve.' 'At the same time they will not allow their business to suffer,' observes Dr Sudhir Bisht.
'If done well, the containment measures can help minimise the impact of the epidemic.'
The benefits of modern medicine have led people to demand more from the State, and to value every life. Even a modest death toll caused by an epidemic today is unacceptable, says Dipankar Gupta.
Of the 18 local transmission patients, 16 had come in direct contact with foreign-returned infected persons while two had visited places like Delhi and Jaipur, said Jayanti Ravi, Principal Secretary, Health.
According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,574, followed by Tamil Nadu at 911 and Delhi at 903.
'We may have to shut places like beaches and the Gateway of India where people gather in the evenings'
'We celebrated Valentine's Day on this island of love by renewing the vows we took three years ago.'
There is hesitancy to impose lockdown and strategic containment measures for reducing transmission intensity even as the small coastal state is contributing to over three-fourth of the new daily COVID-19 cases in the country, a government source said.
Maharashtra and Punjab, which are recording a surge in new COVID-19 cases, tightened curbs on Friday and the chief minister of the western state said lockdown is an option, as India added close to 40,000 cases in the biggest daily increase in nearly four months.
'Governments have neither any idea of the source of the infection, nor a grip on the disease.' 'Headline management will not work, not in this case,' observes Sunita Narain.
There is no immediate need for imposing lockdown or additional restrictions in Mumbai as the bed occupancy rate, oxygen requirement and number of Covid-19 deaths are low, municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal said on Friday.
The survivor from Thrissur, who returned from Wuhan -- the epicentre of the pandemic -- recounts her road to recovery and her future plans. Shine Jacob reports
The education ministry released guidelines last week for the reopening of schools, including for thorough cleaning and disinfection of the premises, flexibility in attendance, no assessment for up to three weeks and ensuring a smooth transition from home-based schooling during the coronavirus-induced lockdown to formal schooling.
The nationwide lockdown has transformed many otherwise buzzing streets across the country into tranquil expanses. It is on a few of such streets filled with ghastly echoes that the quaint figure of a female police officer goes about her duty with her colleagues, making sure that movement is restricted amongst the people in order to flatten the proverbial curve. Wearing the traditional khaki uniform of the Tamil Nadu Police -- a surgical mask stretched over her face, and a pair of gloves pulled over her hands for protection, India women's team midfielder Indumathi Kathiresan is barely recognisable to those stopped by her for checking on the streets of Anna Nagar, Chennai.
To date, USAID has provided $5.9 million to assist India in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Authorities across states have identified more than 6,000 people who attended the Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in India.
The expert noted that in India the pandemic is unlikely to be over in the months to come, and the number of people getting infected will continue to rise.
The state is following surveillance, containment, increasing testing facilities, and ensuring essentials at people's doorstep, among other strategies, reports T E Narasimhan.
"There are problems with regard to the inadequacy of testing facilities and without more aggressive facilities of testing, we are not going to conquer this menace," Manmohan Singh said.
The government has also hiked excise duty by 11 percent, which is in addition to the 6 per cent that was announced in the budget, he said.
