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Coronavirus cases in India rise to 7,529; death toll at 242

New Delhi (NVI): The death toll due to coronavirus in India rose to 242 while the total number of positive increased to 7,529, the Union Health Ministry said this morning.

In the last 24 hours, 1,117 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country, making it the highest single day rise.

Three states, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi’s coronavirus figures taken together, account for more than 45 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases across the country.

Meanwhile, Punjab, Odisha and Maharashtra governments have extended the ongoing lockdown till April 30, as the coronavirus cases spike in these states.

Furthermore, in a video conference held today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Chief Ministers of all the states in order to take suggestion to curb the spread and also to discuss the issues of their respective states.

The Centre said that it is considering the extension of lockdown, after CMs of many states have suggested it as the best way to contain the contagion including Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee.

J&K HC stays felling of poplar trees

Batla House
Representational image

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI):  The Jammu & Kashmir High Court today stayed the cutting of poplar trees in the Union Territory and directed the Chief Secretary of J&K to constitute a high level committee to study whether these trees are the cause of multiple diseases for people.

The HC issued a stay order till a committee submits its report. The committee is supposed to be constituted within four days from today.

The court directed Chief Secretary BVR Subramanyam to set-up a committee headed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and other experts on trees, medicine, respiratory diseases and other subjects relevant to the issues.

“The committee which is constituted would examine all aspects relating to the matter including the impact of the pollen and fluff from poplar trees, the desirability of felling poplar trees ( also called Russian poplars) and related issues. The committee shall suggest all necessary steps, including felling of trees, if necessary,” the HC order reads.

According to the order, the committee shall complete its deliberations expeditiously within a timeframe to be fixed by Chief Secretary and forward its report to secretaries of Health and Medical Education and Forest departments.

“The Secretaries Health and Forest Departments shall take a considered view on the report and place the same before Chief Secretary for consideration at the earliest,” reads the order available with NVI.

The High Court said it has not passed any direction on felling of poplar trees during April 3 hearing and left the decision and action to be taken by the secretary of Health and Medical Education Department.

It also stayed previous order issued by the Divsional Commisioner Kashmir PK Pole, who had directed all the deputy commissioners of Kashmir to cut poplar trees in their respective districts. The stay on cutting of poplar trees will continue till further orders, the HC observed.

COVID-19 deaths in Bangladesh reach 30; cases at 482

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of COVID-19 fatalities in Bangladesh reached 30 after 3 more people have died due to the novel coronavirus pandemic today, according to the Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR).

The total number of positive cases jumped by 58 in the last 24 hours, raising the number of coronavirus cases in the country to 482.

Director of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora said 48 of the new patients are male and the rest are female.

“A total of 954 samples were tested in the last 24 hours,” health minister Zahid Maleque said.

Dhaka’s Mirpur, Basabo and Narayangaj have so far reported as the most infected regions of the country, according to United News of Bangladesh.

EMI-deferment: Don’t fall into trap of cyber fraudsters

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New Delhi (NVI): Beware! Don’t fall into the trap of cyber fraudsters who may offer you help in EMI-moratorium or any such scheme announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
Banks have specifically said that deferment of EMI does not need OTP sharing and advised people to be cautious.

Banks have issued advisories asking customers to be aware of fraudsters who may attempt to exploit the EMI-moratorium scheme as some cases have come to light.

Banks like Axis Bank, State Bank of India and various other banks have sent out SMSs and email alerts to its customers strongly advising them not to share sensitive information like OTP and PIN with imposters.

Axis Bank said in an e-mail to customers that fraudsters have started a new modus operandi to gain access to banking details.

The State Bank of India (SBI) also tweeted in this regard and said, “Cyber fraudsters keep finding new ways to scam people. The only way to beat the #cybercriminals is to #BeAlert & be aware. Please note that EMI Deferment does not require OTP sharing. Do not share your OTP.”

According to the banks, nothing will stop the fraudsters and scamsters to commit a scam.

Banks have been alerting their customers of cyber frauds that can happen while availing EMI moratorium. For instance, on Sunday, the State Bank of India (SBI) tweeted this: “Cyber fraudsters keep finding new ways to scam people. The only way to beat the #cybercriminals is to #BeAlert & be aware. Please note that EMI Deferment does not require OTP sharing. Do not share your OTP.”

The government and entities like RBI have come out with various relief measures for borrowers.

One such measure announced by the RBI was the three-month moratorium or grace period for loan equated monthly installments (EMIs) and credit card dues. which is a slight ray of sunshine for borrowers.

In addition to this, several police departments have also cautioned people against such cyber frauds and scams and have urged people to stay aware and stay safe.

The police has cautioned people to be careful of such calls that seek to share sensitive information like OTP, CVV of credit/debit cards, login credentials of net banking and credit cards.

Lt Governor briefs PM Modi on Covid-19 control efforts by J&K Administration

Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu

Abid Bashir

Jammu (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor (LG), Girish Chandra Murmu today briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, about the efforts of the UT Administration for management and containment of COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Kashmir.

An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the Prime Minister was interacting with Chief Ministers and heads of all States/UTs through video conferencing to review the efforts of the States/UTs to combat COVID-19.

“The Lt Governor provided feedback to the PM about the COVID positive cases in J&K and steps taken by the UT Administration to maintain social distancing, ramp up healthcare infrastructure, mitigate difficulties of migrants and maintain supply of essentials,” the statement read.

The Lt Governor informed PM Modi that there are 4 deaths and 224 positive cases in the UT, with 98 per cent of the cases having travel history or contacts to the positive patients.

In J&K, 5 districts have been affected with coronavirus and 77 areas have been declared as Red Zones, he maintained.

The statement said that the LG further informed that 16 dedicated COVID Hospitals with 208 ventilators, besides 2,500 isolation beds, 25,000 non-hospital beds are available and 400 more ventilators are being procured.

Furthermore, about 5,500 people have been placed under home quarantine and 30,000 labourers are living in camps. “Around 18,000 health care professionals; 30,000 police personnel and others have been trained, who are working towards the containment of the spread of coronavirus,” the statement said.

As per the statement, the Lt Governor apprised the PM that the UT Administration has rolled out an effective mechanism and strenuous efforts are underway to reach out to the beneficiaries under various welfare schemes including 7 lakh farmers covered under PM Kissan Yojana; 8 lakh account holders under PMJDY; 12.5 lakh families getting LPG, 7 lakh families being provided with ration and other benefits.

“Dedicated call centres have been established to assist the stranded labourers and students from and outside the UT,” the statement said.

It said that during the interaction, the Prime Minister observed that next 3-4 weeks are critical to determine impact of steps taken till now to curb spread of the virus and suggested specific measures for agriculture and allied sector. “He also spoke about popularizing the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app to ensure downloads in greater numbers. Aarogya Setu app is an essential tool in our fight against COVID-19, which can subsequently act as e-pass to facilitate travel etc,” he added.

Narendra Modi categorically assured that India has adequate supplies of essential medicines and said that measures are being taken to ensure availability of protective gears and critical equipment for all front-line warriors.  He underlined that the motto of the government earlier was ‘jaan hai to jahaan hai’ but now it is ‘jaan bhi, jahaan bhi’. He talked about strengthening the healthcare infrastructure and reaching out to patients through tele-medicine and also suggested that direct marketing for farm produce can be incentivised to prevent crowding in mandis. He observed that the combined efforts of the Centre and the States/UTs have definitely helped reduce the impact of COVID-19, according to the statement.

According to the statement, soon after the video conferencing, the Lt Governor chaired a meeting on COVID-19 control efforts and directed for effective implementation of restrictions in Red-Zones with aggressive & targeted testing to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Dilbag Singh , DGP; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to Government, Home Department; Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.

The Lt Governor directed for conducting 100 per cent testing of inmates of Old Aged Homes in wake of the emerging situation and entrusted upon the officers to ensure supply of essentials in Red Zones so that people do not face any inconvenience on this part, the statement said.

As precautionary measures, the Lt Governor stressed on immediate capacity enhancement with regard to availability of quarantine and isolation beds and directed for enhancing of infrastructural requirement in J&K. He directed for readying at least 3,000 quarantine beds, and minimum 2,500 isolation beds in Kashmir and 1,500 beds in Jammu.

He further directed for sufficient supply of nebulizers and Oxygen canisters and emphasized on the maintenance of strict quarantine and isolation protocol across J&K.

Deliberations were also held on various important issues including stock positioning of protective equipment; intensifying contact tracing campaign; smooth transportation of essential commodities; effective mobilization of volunteers; conducting of health checkups on regular basis; fumigation and sanitation drives; besides other preventive measures, the statement added.

Without lockdown, India would have 8.2 lakh COVID-19 cases by April 15: Govt

New Delhi (NVI): India’s positive coronavirus case would have reached 8.2 lakh by April 15, if the government had not imposed 21-day nationwide lockdown, the Union Health Ministry said today.

The figure would be 1.2 lakh by April 15 if only containment had been implemented, without the lockdown, Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, told a press briefing here.

He gave the statistics on a day when the total number of positive coronavirus cases surged to 7,447 across the country, with the death toll rising to 239.

Around 642 people have recovered so far, the Health Ministry said in a statement. In last 24 hours, around 1,035 new coronavirus cases have been recorded with 40 deaths, it added.

“If the government had implemented containment measures without lockdown, then the country would have recorded 1.2 lakh cases by April 15,” the Joint Secy said citing statistical analysis.

”If India had not implemented either containment or nationwide lockdown, there would be spike in coronavirus cases by 41% — 8.2 lakh cases till April 15,” he added.

”So far, 586 dedicated coronavirus hospitals have been set up, with capacity of more than 1 lakh isolation beds and around 11,500 isolation beds. This figure is being augmented every day, based on the evolving situation, ” a Health Ministry official said.

”In coordination with the states, the Centre is ensuring supply of PPE, N95 masks, testing kits and ventilators. The dedicated coronavirus hospitals are also being set up, in order to provide proper treatment & stop spread of infection, ” he added.

Helpline for stranded J&K residents helped 2500 people

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Jammu (NVI): A helpline, set up by the Jammu and Kashmir government in Delhi, helped 2,500 people from the Union Territory stranded in various parts of the country and handled more than 1000 queries in two weeks of its operation, the government spokesperson said here today.

As far as the queries of students are concerned, during last 14 days, the LOs have handled more than 250 queries from 50 locations across India rendering help to 800 students, the spokesperson said.

The 24X7 Helpline Center was established on March 28 at J&K Resident Commission Office, New Delhi. Since then the helpline team have handled more than 1000 queries from 30 locations rendering help to 2,500 persons.

The main aim of Helpline is to address the issues faced by the residents of Jammu and Kashmir living in different parts of the country.

The staff engaged with the helpline center is working tirelessly for last 14 days to reduce the hardships of the J&K students, business persons, labourers as well as patients who are currently out of J&K, the spokesperson said.

Helpline is engaged with local administrations of more than 18 states in rendering all possible help in the form of cooked food, dry ration, medicines, vegetables as well temporary accommodation where ever required. It is also pertinent to mention that almost all the district administrations have been very prompt and responsive in their actions and are making sure that all the issues are resolved on war front, the spokesperson said.

The helpline center is working 24X7 by listening and noting down the queries, calls, grievances and suggestions concerning labourers, business persons, students, their parents as well as close relatives and even patients.

The center is being run by a team of Resident Commission Office – New Delhi under the guidance of Principal Resident Commissioner, Dheeraj Gupta and is being ably supported by a strong team of seven Liaison Officers (LOs).

As per the process, the helpline team members receive queries / calls from the students, patients, business persons, workers, laborers and then pass these on to the Liaison Officer of the respective region. The LO in turn immediately gets in touch with the caller, listens to the problem and then gets that resolved as per its merit.

Where ever it is required, the help is arranged in coordination with the local administration of the respective region.

The LOs have very promptly established contacts with all the callers and have been able to provide them timely help while coordinating actively with the local administrations of the respective locations including Collectorate Offices, Food & Supplies Departments, Police administrations and Banks in some cases, the spokesperson said.

All the queries have been adequately closed post ensuring complete follow up and after confirmation from the caller that his/her issue has been resolved.

The top few location with high number of queries have been Chandigarh, Mohali, Ropar, Bhopal, Kota, Jaipur, Pune, Bangaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Dehradun.

As far as the queries of labourers, workers, business persons and patients are concerned, during last 14 days, the Helpline Team have handled more than 1000 queries from 30 locations rendering help to 2500 persons.

In case of labourers in Himachal Pradesh, the Liaison Officer – Chandigarh helped them to get accommodated in schools and Panchayat Ghars. Many of them are being served cooked food on daily basis from local NGOs and government facilities.

In some of cases of patients stuck in Mumbai and Delhi, LOs helped them to accommodate in guest houses on temporary basis. Many patients who live in J&K and dependent on life saving drugs were helped with transport of those drugs through air-cargo or other transport facilities. Liaison Officer Mumbai, also facilitated shipment of 20000 masks from Mumbai to Srinagar for SKIMS.

Govt considering extension of lockdown by two weeks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the video conference with the CMs.

New Delhi (NVI): The Central government is considering extension of the 21-day lockdown by at least two weeks beyond April 14 as most Chief Ministers today made a suggestion in this regard during their video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Some states like Punjab, Odisha and Maharashtra have already announced extension of the lockdown till April 30 as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise, with the death toll also increasing.

“During the video-conferencing on #coronavirusinindia with state CMs today, most states requested PM @narendramodi to extend the lockdown for 2 more weeks. The Central Government is considering this request,” central government spokesman K S Dhatwalia tweeted.

The extension of the lockdown till April 30 was supported by chief ministers of at least seven states.

Several chief ministers, including Punjab’s Amarinder Singh and Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal, had suggested extending the lockdown at least by a fortnight.

“PM has taken correct decision to extend lockdown. Today, India’s position is better than many developed countries because we started lockdown early. If it is stopped now, all gains would be lost. To consolidate, it is imp to extend it,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackarey also said in the meeting that lockdown in his state will be extended till April 30.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee supported the suggestion to extend the lockdown to curb the virus spread and said that, “We are also on same page with PM, want lockdown extended till April 30.”

The current lockdown, which was announced on March 24, is scheduled to end on April 14.

So far, a total of 7,447 infections have been recorded, with a total of 239 deaths in the country. In addition to this, 642 people have been cured and have recovered, according to Health Ministry data.

COVID-19: 17 more test positive, J&K tally goes up to 224

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): The positive COVID-19 cases continued to show a surge in Jammu and Kashmir with 17 more cases testing positive for the pandemic today, taking the total number of positive cases in the UT to 224.

“17 new cases were reported in J&K – 5 from Jammu Division and 12 from Kashmir. The total positive cases now are 224,” tweeted government spokesman Rohit Kansal.

At present, there are 214 active cases in J&K, of which 40 are from Jammu division while 174 are from Kashmir. So far, six patients have completely recovered while four, including a woman from Jammu, have died.

In the past eight days alone, 88 cases have been tested positive in Kashmir. Srinagar tops the list at 58 cases. In Srinagar, 14 areas have been declared red zones while in rest of Kashmir, around 50 areas have been declared as red zones where entry and exit points have been sealed by the authorities.

Official figures reveal that till April 6, total number of tests conducted in Jammu and Kashmir were 1,708 while as on April 11, the figure swelled to 3,206.

Figures suggest that there are 41 positive cases including two recoveries and one death from Bandipora district of Kashmir, 33 including one death from Baramulla, 11 from Budgam, three from Pulwama, 14 from Shopian, 15 from Kupwara, two each from Ganderbal and Kulgam and one from Anantnag district.

Similarly, as per official figures, in Jammu division, 19 positive cases including two recoveries are from Jammu district , 18 including one death from Udhampur, three positive cases each from Samba and Rajouri and one from Kishtwar who has recovered.

As per the daily official bulletin, 48,202 people in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while as 7,729 persons have been kept under home quarantine besides that 214 persons are in hospital isolation while as many as 422 persons are under hospital quarantine.

The bulletin stated that 10,921 persons have completed surveillance period and 28,912 persons are under home surveillance besides that so far results of 3,206 samples are available.

“Out of 3,206 total number of samples tested, 2,982 stand negative while 224 have been tested positive so far in J&K UT,” the bulletin read.

COVID: Centre asks states to provide security to doctors

Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary in the Home Ministry

New Delhi (NVI): In the wake of attacks on doctors and other medical staff in some parts of the country, the Union Home Ministry today asked States and Union Territories to provide security to them in hospitals and quarantine facilities, as per the need.

The Union Home Ministry sent a letter to the States and UTs in this regard, Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary in the Ministry, said at a media briefing here.

The advisory comes in the wake of harassment and attacks inflicted upon doctors and paramedics in some parts of the country.

Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, said the government is making all efforts to see that coronavirus is contained.

He said currently there are more than 1 lakh isolation beds are in the country.

“Dedicated coronavirus hospitals have been brought up, so that the infection does not spread to other patients and proper treatment is provided to the infected people. Till now, 586 such hospitals have been established in close coordination by the central and state governments,” Aggarwal said.

The response of Government of India has been pre-emptive, proactive and to the extent of being over-prepared, he said.

“Through our graded approach, we have aligned our response with evolving situation in the country,” the official said.

So far, a total of 7,447 infections have been recorded, with a total of 239 deaths in the country. In addition to this, 642 people have been cured and have recovered, according to Health Ministry data.

A representative of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said, “A total of 1,71,718 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted in the country. Out of this, 16,564 tests were conducted yesterday. In addition, 146 labs are currently there in ICMR network, while 67 labs are there in the private sector.”

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