Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: Rahul Gandhi to discuss impact of COVID-19 pandemic on economy with Raghuram Rajan, experts

08:32 (IST)

Coronavirus in India Latest Updates

Rahul Gandhi to discuss about tackling COVID-19 crisis

Rahul Gandhi will also be later having dialogues with health experts on how to deal with the pandemic, besides talking to experts in different fields on the effect of the novel coronavirus, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

08:29 (IST)

Coronavirus in India Latest Updates 

Rahul Gandhi to discuss economy with Raghuram Rajan, experts today

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Thursday initiate his series of dialogues with experts on economy and health, with the first one being with former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Gandhi will be in conversation with Mr Rajan in the first such dialogue and the same will be aired on social media from Thursday morning.

He said the former Congress president will be interacting with Mr Rajan and other experts on critical issues related to COVID-19 and its impact on the economy.

08:06 (IST)

Coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh Latest Updates 

COVID-19 cases in Indore rise to 1,485 after 19 more test positive 

With 19 new COVID-19 cases reported in Indore on Wednesday, the total number of confirmed cases in the city now stood at 1,485.

Dr Praveen Jadia, Indore Chief Medical and Health Officer confirmed three new deaths due to the disease in Indore took the toll to 68.

Meanwhile, a total of 2,560 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 130 deaths have been reported in Madhya Pradesh so far, said the state's Health Department.

08:03 (IST)

Coronavirus in Rajasthan Latest Updates 

Rajasthan hikes excise duty on liquor to recover from revenue shortfall

In an attempt to increase its revenue, liquor and beer will now be costing in Rajasthan as the state government on Wednesday hiked excise duty on Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) and basic license fee on country liquor.

The excise department of the state issued a notification on Thursday increasing the excise duty by 10 percentage points on IMFL and beer to 45 percent. For some categories of IMFL, the excise duty is lower at 35 percent.

07:51 (IST)

Coronavirus in Delhi Latest Updates 

Two more COVID-19 deaths, 125 new cases in Delhi 

The number of coronavirus cases in the National Capital rose to 3,439 on Wednesday, with two deaths being reported, according to the Delhi government. 

According to data shared by the Delhi government, 125 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday. The number of fatalities due to the viral infection has now gone up to 56 in the Union Territory.

07:45 (IST)

Coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh Latest Updates 

Spike in COVID-19 positive cases in Indore by 19, overall count at 1,485

With 19 new COVID-19 cases reported in Indore on Wednesday, the total number of confirmed cases in the city now stood at 1,485.

Dr Praveen Jadia, Indore Chief Medical and Health Officer confirmed three new deaths due to the disease in Indore took the toll to 68.

Meanwhile, a total of 2,560 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 130 deaths have been reported in Madhya Pradesh so far, said the state's Health Department.

07:38 (IST)

Coronavirus in South Africa Latest Updates 

South Africa reports highest single-day rise in COVID-19 cases with 354

South Africa registered another 354 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, reporting the highest single-day increase so far, and brought the overall count to 5,350, the health department said in a tweet.

"This is the highest number of cases in a 24 hour cycle recorded to date and represents a 73 percent increase on the day before," it said, adding in a separate tweet that the number of deaths had risen by 10 to 103. 

Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Thursday initiate his series of dialogues with experts on economy and health, with the first one being with former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Gandhi will be in conversation with Mr Rajan in the first such dialogue and the same will be aired on social media from Thursday morning.

India registered a record jump of 71 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, taking the toll from the novel coronavirus past 1,000. The number of confirmed cases also recorded a growth of 1,813 new infections, pushing the total to 31,787.

Meanwhile, the Centre allowed migrant workers, students and others stranded in different parts of the country to begin their journey homewards provided certain norms and conditions were followed.

The development comes after some states including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh this week began bringing back students and labourers stuck outside the states.

India recorded 71 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll past 1,000. PTI

India recorded 71 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll past 1,000. PTI

1,813 new cases, 71 deaths recorded in 24 hours

According to the 5 pm update issued by the Union health ministry, India now has 31,787 coronavirus positive cases with 1,813 new patients confirmed in the past 24 hours.

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stand at 22,982, 7,796 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

"Thus, around 24.52 percent of the patients have recovered so far," PTI quoted a health ministry official  as saying.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 9,318, followed by Gujarat at 3,774, Delhi at 3,314, Madhya Pradesh at 2,561, Rajasthan at 2,364, Uttar Pradesh at 2,115 and Tamil Nadu at 2,058.

The ministry in its updated chart said that "repeat case from Betul district (was) removed" from Madhya Pradesh.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,332 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,012 in Telangana.  The number of cases has risen to 725 in West Bengal, 565 in Jammu and Kashmir, 532 in Karnataka, 486 in Kerala, 383 in Bihar and 322 in Punjab.

Maharashtra and Gujarat account for most deaths

According to the ministry, 71 persons also succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, the highest rise in fatalities so far in a single day, taking the toll due to COVID-19 to 1,008.

Of the 71 deaths reported since Tuesday evening, 31 fatalities were from Maharashtra, 19 from Gujarat, six from Madhya Pradesh, five each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, two from West Bengal and one each from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.

Of the 1,008 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 400 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 181, Madhya Pradesh at 119, Delhi at 54, Rajasthan at 51, Uttar Pradesh at 36 and Andhra Pradesh at 31.

However, a PTI tally put the countrywide toll at 1,064 and case count at 32,657 till 9 pm on Wednesday, while 8,091 have been cured of the infection.

The Gujarat health department said that 308 new COVID-19 positive cases were reported in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 4,082, including 527 cured/ discharged and 197 deaths.

Tamil Nadu reported more than a 100 cases for the second consecutive day, pushing the state total to 2,162, said the state health department. Four children, aged between two and six, were among the newly infected.

In Maharashtra, Mumbai's Dharavi area reported 14 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the overall tally to 344. Dharavi, considered as the biggest slum in Asia, has so far reported 18 deaths.

In the National Capital, the new confirmed cases included 11 family members of an LNJP Hospital dietician, who had earlier tested positive. However, none of the hospital employees, who came in contact with the dietician, have tested positive.

Punjab extends curfew till 17 May

Punjab, which has reported 375 cases and 19 deaths, announced extension of the lockdown in the state by two weeks after 3 May, though some relaxations have been given in areas that do not fall under the containment or red zones. However, containment zones will continue to remain under total lockdown, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh said.

In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said experts and doctors are of the opinion that the restrictions imposed to check the spread of COVID-19 should continue in the state till the end of May.

She, however, also announced some relaxations, including opening of standalone shops in green zones and non-containment zones with all precautionary and social distancing measures.

The Tamil Nadu government announced that the four-day total shutdown in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore Corporation limits ending on Wednesday will not be extended, even as Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the contagion is "easily" spreading in Chennai due to its large population. He, however, observed that the spread of COVID-19 in the rest of the state is largely under control and asked district collectors to work on a "war footing" towards resumption of normalcy.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already announced extension of the lockdown in his state till 7 May without any relaxation.

During his last interaction with chief ministers on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told them that the economy would need to be given importance too while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

MHA issues guidelines to bring back migrants workers, students stranded in other states

Days after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments undertook special initiatives to bring back migrant workers and students, the the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday passed an order to allow inter-state movement of migrants and students to reach their respective destinations, subject to certain conditions.

The order will also apply to pilgrims, tourists, students and other people stranded at different places.

In the order, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said buses shall be used for transport of such groups of stranded people and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms in seating.

Migrant workers from Balaghat (MP) carry their belongings as they walk towards their native places. PTI

Migrant workers from Balaghat (MP) carry their belongings as they walk towards their native places. PTI

Listing the conditions, the ministry said that all states and Union Territories should designate nodal authorities and develop standard protocols for receiving and sending such stranded persons to their respective destinations. In case of movement beyond states or UTs, the sending and receiving states will need to consult each other and mutually agree to the movement by road.

These people would be screened and only those found asymptomatic would be allowed to proceed. On arrival at their destination, they would be assessed by local health authorities and kept in home or institutional quarantine, as required by the assessment, the order said.

In Maharashtra, home minister Anil Deshmukh said that his government is in talks with chief ministers of other states over facilitating the return of migrant workers to their native places in a planned manner.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said he is in touch with other state governments on the Home Ministry order and told migrant workers to stay put till he informs them about the final decision in one or two days.

Mumbai and Delhi are among major urban centres where a large number of workers from other states are stranded and have been demanding transport arrangements be made for them to go back to their native places.

Some states are said to be reluctant in allowing return of their natives from other places due to fears of infection.

New lockdown guidelines to come into force from 4 May

The MHA, in a review meet, also observed that tremendous gains had been made due to the lockdown and stressed that the lockdown guidelines need to be followed strictly till 3 May.

The ministry's spokesperson said that the new lockdown guidelines shall come into force from 4 May, under which "considerable relaxations" shall be given to many districts. "Details regarding this shall be communicated in the days to come," said the ministry.

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country, only 0.33 percent patients are on ventilators, 1.5 percent are on oxygen support and 2.34 percent are in ICU.

"Since the last three days, the doubling rate (of coronavirus cases) is 11.3 days in the country. Although the global mortality rate is around 7 percent, India has a mortality rate of around 3 percent, while around 86 percent deaths are of persons with co-morbidity," said Vardhan.

On Wednesday, the Central government also made it mandatory for its 48.34 lakh employees to download the 'Aarogya Setu' mobile app immediately and report to office only when it shows "safe" status for commuting. The app, developed by the government, helps people assess themselves on the risk of them contracting the  infection.

Drop in number of infection-free green zones

Earlier in the day, official sources told PTI that the number of COVID-19 hotspot districts in India has come down to 129 from 170 a fortnight ago, but in the same period the number of infection-free districts or green zones too decreased from 325 to 307.

During this time, the number of non-hotspot districts, also known as orange zones, increased from 207 to 297, they said.

The Centre had on 15 April classified districts into three categories. Those with high load of COVID-19 cases or which have a high growth rate of the disease are marked as hotspots or red zones, while those with considerably fewer cases of the respiratory infection fall in orange zone or non-hotspots. Districts with no COVID-19 cases are categorised as green zones.

However, a red zone or orange zone district can be demarcated as green zone if no new coronavirus case is reported from those places for 28 and 14 days, respectively.

UGC announces timeline for new academic session

The University Grants Commission (UGC), in the meantime, said that the new academic session for freshers will begin in universities from September and for already enrolled students in August.

It also advised universities to follow a six-day week pattern and devise proforma to record travel or stay history of staff members and students during the lockdown period.

Global count climbs to 31,42,942

Ever since its emergence in China last December, 31,42,942 persons have tested positive for the deadly virus infection worldwide while the 2,18,649 persons have died due to the disease, according to John Hopkins University data.

The US, which is among the worst hit globally with 1,015,289 cases, reported that its economy shrank at a 4.8 percent annual rate in the last quarter, triggering a recession that will end the country's longest ever expansion period.

Meanwhile, China which had begun to emerge from under the shadows of the infection, said that it will hold its annual parliament session from 22 May. Beijing, which recorded 593 coronavirus cases and nine deaths on Wednesday, closed the COVID-19 special hospital after clearing all the cases.

With inputs from agencies



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/35jSEhX
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)