BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the Modi government's decision to impose the lockdown has ensured that India suffered much less than countries like the United States, France and Spain.
There have been 600 confirmed cases across India and 10 reported deaths as the world's second most populous country's Coronavirus graph rose.
However, the number of confirmed cases reported by states rose by over 500 to cross 3,000 with at least 90 dead. While Maharashtra, Telangana and Delhi disclosed several new cases of the deadly virus infection, government officials said the numbers have risen in last few days mostly due to one event -- referring to the Tablighi Jamaat's religious gathering in the national capital attended by thousands of people last month.
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.
It is necessary to have a dramatic increase in the number of rapid tests for COVID-19 conducted on a large number of people and that should become the basis for estimating the morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, not relying only on hospital reports, says Professor K Srinivasan.
Currently, the weekend lockdown is in force from 8 pm on Fridays and last till 7 am on Mondays.
The party also said lifting of lockdown should not be done in an unplanned manner as its implementation.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
Besides Karnataka, states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have already announced area-wise lockdown for different durations.
The rate of unemployment was the highest in the urban areas, which constitute the most number of red zones due to the COVID-19 cases, at 29.22 per cent, as against 26.69 per cent for the rural areas.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
This is the sixth consecutive day when COVID-19 cases increased by more than 30,000.
A complete lockdown will be imposed in Nagpur City police commissionerate area from March 15 to March 21 over the spread of Covid-19, the administration has announced.
Kunal Patil, a photojournalist based in Mumbai, who was treated to Sri H N Reliance Foundation Hospital after he tested positive for the dreaded virus, says he feels fortunate to come out of this nightmare.
All schools and colleges in West Bengal will remain closed till June 10, she added. The Trinamool Congress supremo said she raised the issue of a financial package for the state and clearing its dues.
Gadchiroli, located over 900 km from Mumbai in the state's Vidarbha region and having a population of around 12 lakh, has not reported a single COVID-19 case yet. The authorities are mindful that if at all any COVID-19 case comes to light in the district, it will come from outside and hence, they have enhanced efforts and are closely monitoring migrant workers entering the territory.
A total of 37 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 14 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, nine from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and Telengana and one from Karnataka, ministry data stated.
Around 52.46 per cent of the patients have recovered, the health ministry said. The number of active cases stood at 1,53,178 while 1,80,012 patients have recovered, it said in the daily COVID-19 update.
'We have to be really careful about the unlocking of the city.'
During his talks with the chief ministers, Shah sought to know the areas of concern of the states and the sectors they want to open up further from June 1, the official said.
An air passenger who had arrived to Coimbatore from Chennai on May 25 tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, making him perhaps the first case of coronavirus since resumption of domestic flights after two months.
This is the first time that petrol sales in the world's third-largest oil importer have risen since the March 25 nationwide lockdown crippled economic activity and sent demand plummeting.
Amid surging coronavirus cases in India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday made it clear that the government would not go for lockdowns in a big way and only resort to local containment. In a virtual meeting with World Bank Group president David Malpass, Sitharaman appreciated the initiatives of the World Bank to increase the lending space for India to enhance availability of finance for development.
'We started our surveillance from the first reported case. We made it very strict. I believe that helped us a lot in restricting the spread of this disease.'
According to aviation industry sources, around 630 domestic flights of Monday were cancelled due to the Centre's Sunday night announcement that there would be no flights in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
According to BMC data, G-South (Haji Ali to Worli), E (JJ Hospital to Chinchpokali), L (Chunabhatti to Pawai), K West (Vile Parle West to Oshiwara), FN (Dadar East to Chunabhatti), G North (Worli to Dharavi), D (Charni Road to Haji Ali) and KE (Santacruz to Jogeshwari East) wards have 2,360 coronavirus cases or nearly 63 per cent of the total count in Mumbai city till April 22.
Wang Xinghuan, the head of the Wuhan Leishenshan (Thunder God Mountain) Hospital, advocated the use of facial masks specially in cities like New York which are experience a higher rate of cases and casualties of coronavirus.
According to sources, all private offices will work from home and only government offices and essential services will be open.
In a communication to Chief Secretaries and DGPs, the ministry said there have been reports that several Rohingya Muslims have attended 'Ijtemas' and other religious congregations of Tablighi Jamaat and there is a possibility of their contracting COVID-19.
During a video conference, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates and Prime Minister Modi agreed that given India's willingness and capacity to contribute to global efforts, it was important for New Delhi to be included in the global discussions for coordinating responses to the pandemic.
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.
The authorities have mounted massive containment measures including mass testing of about 90,000 people
Out of the 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours some are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said in a daily media briefing.
Asian Games are scheduled to take place from Sept. 10-25 in the capital of Zhejiang province
According to the ministry, Maharashtra remained at the top with the total cases at 1,985, including 217 patients who have recovered/discharged and 149 patients died.
Over the past six months, the neighbourhood primary health centres have remained largely ill-equipped and thus relegated in the fight against the virus. Nitin Kumar reports.
With the coronavirus cases rising once again in the state, there were reports that the Madhya Pradesh government was considering announcing a fresh lockdown.
Special infection proof fabric for usage in hospitals, low-cost corona virus testing kits, isolation pods for coronavirus infected patients, bubble helmets which can be an alternative for traditional oxygen masks and pendant to raise alarm on breach of social distancing, are also among the innovative ideas that have been given shape since the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria reported no local coronavirus cases on Saturday for the second straight day, boding well for the Australian Open tennis tournament due to start in Melbourne on Monday.
'This pandemic has given him a new platform to perform,' says a member of the government. 'He should feel lucky that he has got an opportunity now to demonstrate to the world his original talent.' 'He needs a visionary script to perform.' Sheela Bhatt reports on the politics of the pandemic.
