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USAID provides $2.9 mn to help India combat COVID-19

New Delhi (NVI): The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced a $2.9 million package to help India amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in providing care for the affected, and support local communities with the tools needed to contain the disease.

The Agency had announced the financial assistance to India on March 28. “This builds on a foundation of more than $1.4 billion in health assistance, and nearly $3 billion in total assistance, that the United States has provided to India over the last 20 years,” the US embassy said in a statement here today.

“The new funds will support two organizations:  $2.4 million for USAID’s health strengthening project, implemented by Jhpiego, an international non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University, and $500,000 for the World Health Organization (WHO),” read a statement by the embassy.

US Ambassador to India, Kenneth I Juster praised India’s efforts to contain the disease and said that the USAID assistance will further support India’s response to COVID-19.

“COVID-19 is a global public health threat that can be addressed best by close collaboration among governments and international organizations.  The US Government, through USAID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other US Department of Health and Human Services agencies, is working closely with the Government of India and multilateral agencies to support India’s response to this global pandemic,” he said.

Amid lockdown, CRPF helps Rajouri man to meet ailing father

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has come forward to help Mohammad Arif from Rajouri district of Jammu, who took off on a bicycle from Mumbai to see his ailing father back home.

The 29-year-old man was traced on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border near Sirohi by a CRPF team who arranged for his further travel in a vehicle.

Special DG CRPF Zulfikar Hasan told NVI: “with the help of local administration, a vehicle was arranged for Arif and we hope, he will soon meet his father.”

Back in Rajouri, a team of CRPF Madadgaar came to the rescue of Arif’s father Wazir Hussain and airlifted him to a hospital in Jammu for better treatment Saturday. Hussain, a resident of Panjgrain village in Rajouri, had suffered a stroke recently, after which Arif, who works as a watchman in Mumbai Central, was informed.

Meanwhile, the doctors at Jammu have referred Arif’s father to PGI Chandigarh as his condition was not good. Arif is expected to reach Jammu by tomorrow.

Special DG CRPF, Zulfikar Hasan told NVI that a team went to Arif’s home in Rajouri and airlifted his father.

“A team of doctors was sent to his Rajouri home and his father who suffered a stroke recently, were shifted to district hospital under its Madagaar Scheme,” Hasan said.

He said his father’s condition is serious. “Some tests and procedures were carried and he was shifted to GMCH Jammu from Chopper.

“Today he will be shifted to PGI Chandigarh,” Hasan said.

NVI had earlier reported on Arif’s journey— around 2100 km– back home from Mumbai amid the nationwide lockdown.

Mohammad Arif

Arif had immediately left for home on a bicycle after getting a distress call from home regarding his father’s health.

COVID-19: UT, state-wise total number of cases and fatalities

New Delhi (NVI): The coronavirus pandemic has created a situation of panic in the country, with a total of 4,067 confirmed cases of the disease and 109 fatalities, according to the Health Ministry data.

After the first confirmed case in India, which was reported on January 30, the virus has tightened its grip in the entire nation.

Following is a list of the total number of cases and fatalities across the nation:

Death in States and UT’s

Maharashtra: 45
Gujarat: 11
Madhya Pradesh: 9
Karnataka: 4
Delhi: 7
Punjab: 6
Bihar: 1
Telangana: 7
West Bengal: 3
Tamil Nadu: 5
Jammu and Kashmir: 2
Kerala: 2
Himachal Pradesh- 1
Haryana-1
Uttar Pradesh -2
Andhra Pradesh- 3

Number of positive cases UT and state-wise

Andhra Pradesh- 226
Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 10
Arunachal Pradesh- 1
Bihar- 30
Chandigarh- 18
Chhattisgarh- 9
Delhi- 503
Goa- 7
Gujarat- 112
Haryana- 84
Himachal Pradesh- 13
Jammu and Kashmir- 106
Jharkhand- 3
Karnataka- 151
Kerala- 314
Ladakh- 14
Madhya Pradesh- 165
Maharashtra- 690
Manipur- 2
Mizoram- 1
Odisha- 21
Puducherry- 5
Punjab- 68
Rajasthan- 253
Tamil Nadu- 571
Telangana- 321
Uttarakhand- 26
Uttar Pradesh- 227
West Bengal- 80

A total of 291 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals in India. There are around 3,666 active cases currently.

COVID-19: ‘Hardest week’ ahead for US; positive cases top 12,74,000 globally

Coronavirus cases
(Representational/file photo)

New Delhi (NVI): The United States has entered one of the most critical weeks so far in the coronavirus crisis with government officials warning the death toll in states such as New York, Michigan and Louisiana was a sign of trouble to come in other states.

There are more than 3,37,000 recorded cases and more than 9,400 deaths in the US, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests after showing persistent symptoms of coronavirus 10 days after testing positive for the virus.

Italy and France have reported the lowest increase in deaths in the last 24 hours.

The total number of deaths in Italy have reached 15,887, the highest death toll in the world, deaths in Spain have reached 12,641, France has reported 8,078, UK’s death toll reached 4, 934 and Iran has reported 3,603 deaths so far.

Globally, the death toll surpassed 69,400, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and the number of positive infections reached 12,74,923, with the coronavirus contagion now being spread to a total of 183 countries.

Rains, thunderstorm expected in parts of Karnataka, Kerala

Light rains in Delhi
Representational Image

New Delhi (NVI): Karnataka and interior Kerala are likely to witness scattered rains and thunderstorm for the next few days, according to weather forecaster.

In addition to this, light rains are also expected over Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh from tomorrow.

At present, a Western Disturbance is forming over Afghanistan and adjoining areas and is moving eastward. The Western Disturbance brings isolated precipitation over Northern India.

Apart from this, the air quality is from poor to very poor over Northern India, Western India, Central India, Eastern India and North- Eastern India.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, the maximum temperature was recorded at 34 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 18 degrees Celsius.

According to IMD, the maximum and minimum temperature is expected to shift over the next few days.

‘Lights-off’ event went smoothly, no impact on grid: Power Minister

New Delhi (NVI): Minutes after people voluntarily switched off lights at 9 pm tonight, in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to show solidarity in the fight against COVID-19, Union Power Minister RK Singh said the nine-minute ‘lights-out’ event went smoothly and there was no impact on electricity grid functioning, contrary to apprehensions.

PM Modi had on Friday asked citizens to stand in their balconies for 9 minutes with candles and lamps, or mobile flashlights to mark the march from darkness to light while maintaining social distancing.

Earlier, there were apprehensions that switching off lights simultaneously for nine minutes could lead the grid to collapse.

In a series of tweets, the Power Minister said the exercise was a success and there was no adverse effect on the electricity grid across the country and it remained stable during the event.

“The demand went down from 117300 Megawatts at 2049 hrs to 85300 Megawatts till 2109 hrs; that is a reduction of 32000 Megawatts. Then it started increasing. Frequency was maintained within a band of 49.7 to 50. 26 Hz, which means the voltage was kept stable,” he tweeted.

“The national grid operator POSOCO and the national, regional and state load despatch centres did a great job with support from all generators; NHPC, NEEPCO, THDC, SJVNL, BBMB, NTPC, all state gencos and IPPs, Transcos and Distribution companies and their officers and staff,” he said in another tweet.

The power minister also shared a pic of his family lighting diyas while he was away with his officers monitoring the grid at the National Power Monitoring Centre, during the event.

The minister said that the drop in national demand (of electricity) by 32,000 megawatts showed a huge response of the nation to PM’s call.

“Demand in the grid came down by 32000 MW within a few minutes but the frequency and voltage was mantained within the normal range. The drop in national demand by 32000 megawatts shows a huge response of the nation to the call of the Prime Minister,” he said.


People across the country tonight switched off the lights in their homes, came out in balconies or in front of their doors, lighted lamps, candles at 9 pm and stood up in solidarity in the fight against coronavirus pandemic.

The Prime Minister also shared some pictures of him during the event, lighting lamps at his official residence in Delhi.

Defence PSUs, OFB join fight against COVID-19 outbreak

New Delhi (NVI): As the number of coronavirus cases in the country keeps on increasing day by day, now the Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) of Ministry of Defence (MoD) have joined the national fight against COVID-19.

These DPSUs and the OFB have pitched in to provide medical facilities, sanitiser, protective equipment (coverall and masks) in the joint efforts against the pandemic.

Medical Facilities

The OFB has planned for 280 isolation beds across 10 hospitals spread over six states in the country. They are located at Vehicle Factory Jabalpur, Metal and Steel Factory Ishapore (West Bengal), Gun and Shell Factory Cossipore (West Bengal), Ammunition Factory Khadki (Maharashtra), Ordnance Factory Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Ordnance Factory Khamaria, Heavy Vehicle Factory Avadi (Tamil Nadu) and Ordnance Factory Medak (Telangana).

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Bengaluru has an isolation ward facility with three beds in the Intensive Care Unit and 30 beds in wards. In addition, a building having 30 rooms was readied. In all, 93 persons can be accommodated at the HAL facility.

The OFB has manufactured and dispatched 50 specialised tents for COVID-19 patients to the Government of Arunachal Pradesh at a short notice.

Sanitiser

Development and production of hand sanitiser as per WHO standards have been undertaken in the factories of OFB. They have received a requirement of 13,000 litres from HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL), the nodal agency appointed by Government of India for centralised procurement. First lot of 1,500 litres of sanitiser was sent on Mar 31, 2020 from Cordite Factory Aruvankadu (Tamil Nadu). Two more factories, namely Ordnance Factory (OF) Itarsi (Madhya Pradesh) and OF Bhandara (Maharashtra) are ready with bulk production. Together they have capacity to produce 3000 litres of sanitiser per day to meet the national requirement.

Protective Equipment: Coverall and Masks

Ordnance Equipment Factories located at Kanpur, Shahjahanpur, Hazratpur (Firozabad) and Chennai are engaged in developing coverall and masks. They have also arranged special heat sealing machines for manufacture of these garments at a very short notice.

Factories Board requested Defence Research & Development Establishment, Gwalior and was successful in getting the first of samples of coveralls tested at Gwalior. Testing of masks will continue to be done at South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) in Coimbatore. The OFB is commencing shortly bulk production of coveralls up to 5,000 to 6,000 pieces per week. Three machines have been developed which have been approved by SITRA for testing the efficacy of coveralls and masks. These will be used in production to maintain the standards.

Ventilators

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has stepped in at the request of Ministry Health and Family Welfare to manufacture and supply 30,000 ventilators for ICUs within the next two months. The design of these ventilators was originally developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation, which was improved upon by M/s Skanray, Mysore, with whom BEL has collaborated. Ordnance Factory, Medak has undertaken repair of ventilators in various hospitals in Hyderabad.

COVID-19 death toll in India rises to 83, total cases 3,577

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in India today rose to 3,577 while 83 people have died from the pandemic, the Union Health Ministry said this morning.

The number of cases has tripled in the last five days as compared to 1,251 on March 31.

As per the latest data available with the Ministry, there are 3219 active cases in the country and 274 cured or discharged.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state in the country with 490 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (485) and Delhi (445).

Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has risen to 12,02,236, while the death toll has climbed to 64, 753.

2,46, 457 people across the world have recovered from the disease so far.

J&K: 14 more test positive for Covid-19, total 106 cases so far

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): With 14 more persons testing positive for coronavirus in Kashmir today, the total number of COVID-19 cases have surged to 106 in J&K.

Jammu and Kashmir Spokesperson, Rohit Kansal tweeted: “14 new cases in Kashmir Division. Total number of positive cases in J&K now 106. Active cases in Kashmir-82 and Jammu -18.”

According to government figures, a total of 106 patients have been tested positive while two have died and three recovered.

“Kashmir has 82 positive cases while Jammu has 18 COVID19 patients,” he said.

The J&K administration has said that in case of any emergency people can avail free ambulance services 24×7 at their door steps by calling on toll free No. 108. Pregnant women and sick infants can avail free ambulance services by dialling toll free No. 102.

Furthermore, a 24×7 toll free national helpline number 1075 has been activated for support, guidance, and response to health related queries on novel coronavirus disease. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has also set up helpline numbers in this regard: 0191-2549676 (UT level Cell for J&K), 0191-2520982, 0191-2674444, 0191-2674115 (For Jammu Division), 0194-2440283 and 0194-2430581 (For Kashmir Division).

People have been advised to remain calm and not to panic as the prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 in the UT are being monitored at the highest level and necessary action to protect and safeguard the lives of people have been taken by the government. “The Government has undertaken aggressive contact tracing and testing campaign that is why surge has been found in the number of confirmed positive cases,” an advisory in this regard read.

People have also been requested to stay indoors, strictly implement social distancing measures, disclose recent travel history to covid-19 affected countries/areas and report any contact with positive cases voluntarily.

The general public has been advised to avoid unnecessary visit to hospitals. In case, anyone develops fever, cough and difficulty in breathing, they are advised to seek medical advice promptly by calling on Covid-19 helpline numbers so that they can be provided correct medical advice and directed to the right health facility, if needed.

“People must take basic precautions for personal hygiene; frequent hand washing with soap & water; and observing coughing & sneezing etiquettes,” the Government advisory read.

Tablighi incident increased the doubling rate of Covid cases in India: Govt

New Delhi (NVI): New Delhi (NVI): The Union Health Ministry today said that the doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in the country would have been 7.4 days, had the Tablighi Jammat incident in Delhi not taken place. The current doubling rate is at 4.1 days, especially after the new cases emerged due to the Nizamuddin ‘Markaz’ in mid-March.

Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary with the Health Ministry suggested that doubling of cases happened quicker because of the Tableeghi incident.

“If we compare the Tablighi Jamaat incident, we have seen that our doubling rate, which means the number of days in which cases double, that is 4.1 presently. Had this incident not taken place and these additional cases would not have come, then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days,” Aggarwal said at the COVID-19 briefing by Health Ministry at National Media Center here.

According to the Ministry, as many as 1,023 coronavirus positive cases in 17 states have been traced to the Tablighi event in Delhi, accounting for 30 per cent of all cases in India.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 3,374 today, while 77 people have died from the disease so far, the Health Ministry said.

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