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J&K: Pakistan violates ceasefire in Poonch

Ceasefire
Representational image

Jammu (NVI): Pakistani troops today violated ceasefire in Poonch district’s Kirni and Qasba sectors along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir while resorting to repeated small arms firing and mortar shelling, Army officials said.

The first ceasefire violation took place in the Kirni sector at around 11.20 am. “At about 1120 hours, Pak initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms & shelling with Mortars along LoC in Kirni sector, District Poonch (J&K),” they said, adding that Indian Army was retaliating befittingly.

At 05.20 PM, another ceasefire violation took place along the LoC as Pakistani troops targetted both Kirni and Qasba sectors. “At 1720 hours, Pak initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms & shelling with Mortars along LoC in Kirni & Qasba sectors, District Poonch (J&K),” Army officials said.

Before this, Pakistani troops had violated the ceasefire along LoC in Degwar sector of Poonch district on Saturday (April 18), and Qasba and Kirni sectors in the same district on Friday.

Tensions along the border have escalated after the recent infiltration bid by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district, which was foiled by the Indian Army. Five militants were killed in the operation as the Army lost its five soldiers from elite Special Forces.

In another incident, three civilians including a woman and an eight-year-old boy were killed in the Pak shelling at Chowkibal area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district during intense shelling by Pakistan army on Sunday (April 12).

PM Modi, Prez Kovind greet civil servants for their efforts to combat COVID-19

PM expresses happiness over rise in India's leopard population
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File photo)

New Delhi (NVI): On the occasion of Civil Services Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted all the Civil Servants and their families. He appreciated their efforts in ensuring that India successfully defeats coronavirus pandemic.

Taking to twitter the Prime Minister said, “Today, on Civil Services Day I convey greetings to all Civil Servants and their families”.

“I appreciate their efforts in ensuring India successfully defeats COVID-19. They are working round the clock, assisting those in need and ensuring everyone is healthy,” he added.

PM Modi also paid tributes to Sardar Patel who emphasised on building a system that is progress-oriented and compassionate.

In his another tweet PM said, “On Civil Services Day, tributes to the great Sardar Patel, who envisioned our administrative framework and emphasised on building a system that is progress-oriented and compassionate.”

He also shared his speech from Civil Services Day in 2018.

In addition to this, President Ram Nath Kovind also conveyed his greetings to the Civil Servants for their key role in implementation of policies and programs for public welfare.

“In the present times too, the steel frame of our country, the civil service, has shown its strength and resolve in handling COVID-19 situation, with sensitivity and professionalism,” President tweeted.

Every year on April 21, the Civil Service Day is observed by all the Civil Services in order to re-dedicate and re-commit themselves to the cause of the people.

Total COVID-19 cases rise to 18,601 in India; death toll at 590

New Delhi (NVI): The death toll due to coronavirus in India rose to 590 while the total number of positive cases increased to 18,601, Union Health Ministry said this morning.

In the last 24 hours, 1,336 new infections of COVID-19 were reported in the country.

Meanwhile, with fresh deaths in last 24 hours, India saw the biggest spike in COVID-19 fatalities in a single day.

The states with the highest number of coronavirus cases reported are Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat.

Maharashtra has a maximum 4,666 cases so far, followed by Delhi with 2,081 cases and Gujarat with 1,939 positive case, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi rose to 2,081 with 47 fatalities confirmed.

Earlier on Monday, the Health Ministry said, the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases has slowed from 3.4 days to 7.5 days.

At least 3,251 people have been cured of the virus or discharged.

India, Afghanistan share special friendship, will fight Covid-19 together: PM

PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): India and Afghanistan will combat COVID-19 together with solidarity and shared resolve, just like the two countries have fought jointly against the scourge of terrorism in the past, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today.

The Prime Minister was responding to a tweet by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in which the latter thanked PM Modi and India for the supply of hydroxychloroquine tablets and wheat.

“India and Afghanistan share a special friendship, based on ties of history, geography, and culture. For long, we have fought jointly against the scourge of terrorism. We will similarly combat COVID-19 together, with solidarity and shared resolve,” the PM said in a tweet.

On April 12, India had shipped the first consignment of 5,022 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan as a humanitarian gesture to ensure food security during the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Ghani in his tweet today said: “Thank you my friend Prime Minister @narendramodi, and thank you India for providing 500K tablets of hydroxychloroquine, 100K tablets of paracetamol, and 75,000 metric tons of wheat that the first consignment of it (5,000) will reach AFG in a day or so, for the Afghan people.”

The Afghan President in another tweet said: “Thank you also for further commitments to supply more items including medicines and equipment as availability increases in India. In the difficult times of #Covid19, closer cooperation between allies and friends will prepare us better to fight this menace and save our people.”

India had last year announced that it would gift 75,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan.

Covid-19 cases in Kashmir cross 300 mark as 14 more test positive

Jammu and Kashmir

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Fourteen more people were tested positive for coronavirus in Kashmir today, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the J&K Union Territory to 368, with 313 cases in the Valley and 55 in Jammu.

J&K Government spokesman Rohit Kansal in a tweet said: “14 new cases reported. All from Kashmir. The total number of cases now 368. Jammu-55 and Kashmir-313.”

Of the new cases, seven are from Bandipora, two from Kupwara and five from Anantnag. Bandipora district in north Kashmir has surpassed all districts in Kashmir in number of Covid-19 cases at 91. Srinagar stands at number two with 79 positive cases.

As per officials figures, 78 positive cases including one death and 12 recoveries are from Srinagar, 80 including eleven recoveries and one death are from Bandipora, 42 including two deaths are from Baramulla, 13 including seven recoveries from Budgam, 3 from Pulwama including one recovery, 22 from Shopian including two recoveries, 27 from Kupwara, 14 from Ganderbal, 5 from Kulgam and three from Anantnag in Kashmir division.

In Jammu division, 26 cases including four recoveries are from Jammu district, 20 including one death and five recoveries are from Udhampur, four from Samba and three from Rajouri (all recovered) and one from Kishtiwar who has also recovered.

As per the daily information bulletin, 60,419 persons in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while 6071 persons have been kept under home quarantine. Apart from that, 285 persons are in hospital isolation while 252 are under hospital quarantine.

According to the bulletin, 23,114 persons have completed surveillance period and 25,692 persons are under home surveillance besides that so far results of 6,937 samples are available.

Out of 6,937 samples, 6,596 have been tested negative while 341 have been tested positive. Among them, 285 are active and 51 persons have recovered while five persons have died.

Far from home, Srinagar cops get frequent briefings to stay strong on streets

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): The personnel of Jammu and Kashmir police, implementing lockdown in Srinagar, have been away from their families for over one-and-a-half months and working under stress but they maintain their cool while performing their crucial duty of saving lives.

This is thanks to the frequent briefings given to them by their senior officers to remain mentally strong and stress-free on the job.

That’s why there has been no complaint against the police from the public in Srinagar, “barring one incident where a Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) employee alleged that he was beaten, explains Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Srinagar, Haseeb Mughal to NVI.

Mughal said the cops are briefed on moral, physical and psychological grounds.

Srinagar Police chief Haseeb Mughal

“We tell them do’s and don’ts. We tell them that whatever you are doing on the ground, that’s for the cause of saving humanity. Earlier, there were only morning and evening briefings, but in times of Covid-19, there are at least four briefings for them every day,” the senior officer said.

The SSP said that the policemen deployed on the ground have high morale despite being away from their homes for almost a month-and-a-half. “We are making day deployments, night deployments and mobile deployments in mobile bunkers. Then in police stations, our SDPOs and other officers use public address systems asking people to stay at home. Those who are still violating restrictions are being dealt with as per the law,” he said.

The senior police officer said so far 130 FIRs have been registered in Srinagar district against the violators of lockdown. “Some 250 people have been arrested so far,” Haseeb said. “We also provide survival kits (ration, edibles and grocery items) to the needy people and so far 400 families have been covered and the process is on.”

Haseeb said that police is also present at the quarantine centers and is actively taking part in contact tracing process. “In Srinagar, every medical team is accompanied by a police team to ensure timely screening of suspects,” he said, adding that majority of people have so far cooperated with police.

The senior police officer said that there has been no complaint from the people against the police so far. “Barring one incident where a Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) employee alleged that he was beaten, there is no complaint against police in Srinagar,” he said.

“We have strictly directed boys to persuade those violating lockdown amicably but there are some fringe elements, who don’t understand and we have acted against them as per the law,” he added.

Road min launches dashboard with list of dhabas, truck repair shops to help drivers

highway construction

New Delhi (NVI):  The road transport ministry has created a dashboard link on its website providing list of ‘dhabas’ and truck repair shops, in a bid to help drivers engaged in transporting essential goods or other cargo at different places in the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The link will help drivers find dhabas (road-side eateries) and truck repair shops across the country by various organisations like NHAI, States, Oil Marketing companies, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said in a statement today.

The list can be accessed at https://morth.nic.in/dhabas-truck-repair-shops-opened-during-covid-19, it said.

“This is intended to facilitate the truck/cargo drivers and cleaners in their movement while traveling between different places of the country for delivering required goods in the present challenging times of lockdown announced to curb Covid-19 pandemic,” the Ministry said.

“A regular contact is being maintained with various stake holders particularly States/UTs, Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs), etc in providing information which is then updated on the dashboard link on MoRTH website,” it added.

NHAI’s centralized call number 1033 has also been enabled to answer calls and help drivers/cleaners to find information about the dhabas and repair shops along National Highways, the ministry said.

However, the ministry stated that these Dhabas and repair shops, drivers, cleaners or any other person in the chain of movement of goods, shall follow all the necessary precautions and healthcare protocols of social distancing, use of masks, hygiene, etc.

Coronavirus cases reach 8,648 in Pakistan, 181 dead

COVID-19: Pakistan imposes mini-lockdown in Islamabad

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan has reached 8,648, with 181 deaths so far, according to Geo News.

Nearly half of the total confirmed cases are from Punjab province alone, at 3,721.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, the Sindh province has reported 2,767 cases while Balochistan has 432 cases so far. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province has 1,235 cases, Islamabad 181, Gilgit Baltistan 263 and 49 in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

No new cases of recovery were reported in the last 24 hours. So far, around 1,800 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the virus in the country.

Pakistan is under lockdown for over a month now to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Doubling rate of corona cases improves from 3.4 to 7.5 days: Health Ministry

New Delhi (NVI): India’s doubling rate of Covid-19 cases has improved to 7.5 days as compared to 3.4 days before the lockdown, the Union Home Ministry said today.

The current doubling rate was calculated using the growth over the past seven days, the Ministry said, adding that doubling rate for the week before lockdown was 3.4, and has improved to 7.5 as on 19th April.

The ministry also released a list of 18 States that have shown improvement in doubling rate as compared to the national average:

Doubling rate- Less than 20 days:

Delhi (UT)- 8.5 days

Karnataka- 9.2 days

Telangana- 9.4 days

Andhra Pradesh- 10.6 days

J&K (UT)- 11.5 days

Punjab- 13.1 days

Chhattisgarh – 13.3 days

Tamil Nadu- 14 days

Bihar- 16.4 days

Doubling rate- Between 20 days to 30 days:

A&N (UT) – 20.1 days

Haryana – 21 days

Himachal Pradesh – 24.5 days

Chandigarh (UT)- 25.4 days

Assam – 25.8 days

Uttarakhand – 26.6 days

Ladakh (UT) – 26.6 days

Doubling rate- More than 30 days:

Odisha – 39.8 days

Kerala – 72.2 days

Apart from this, all COVID-19 patients in Goa were discharged from hospital after recovery, and now Goa has no active case, said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry during the daily briefing.

He said that three districts – Mahe (Puducherry), Kodagu (Karnataka) & Pauri Garhwal (Uttrakhand) have also not reported any fresh cases during the last 28 days. “There are now 59 additional districts from 23 States/UTs that have not reported any fresh cases during the last 14 days,” he added adding six new districts have been included in this list- Dungarpur & Pali in Rajasthan, Jamnagar and Morbi in Gujarat North Goa in Goa and Gomati in Tripura.

The Joint Secretary further said that a total of 17,265 confirmed cases are reported for COVID-19 in the country. “As many as 2547 persons i.e. 14.75 per cent of total cases have been cured/discharged after recovery. A total of 543 deaths have been reported so far due to COVID-19,” he said.

COVID-19 can create food shortage, says Bangladesh PM

Bangla PM raises Teesta river issue with Modi

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today urged all the concerned to produce and preserve foodgrains in Bangladesh mentioning that the world might face famine in the coming days as coronavirus will create a shortage of food.

The total number of deaths from the deadly coronavirus continues to rise in Bangladesh as 10 more people have died in the last 24 hours, taking the total casualties in the country to 101, according to United News of Bangladesh.

Besides, a record number of 492 people tested positive for coronavirus during the period, raising the number of such cases in the country to 2,948.

Meanwhile, Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Nasima Sultana said, “We’re in a great crisis”.

“The infection rate in Gazipur has gone up and also in Kishoreganj. 19.5 per cent of the newly-infected people are from Gazipur, while 13 per cent from Kishoreganj,” Nasima added.

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