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Covid-19: Central teams being deployed in 20 worst-hit districts

Health Ministry
Representative Image

New Delhi (NVI): At least 20 Central Public Health Teams have been formed and are being sent to as many districts that are reporting the maximum number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Union Health Ministry has said.

These teams will support state governments to implement coronavirus containment measures in the affected areas.

The teams will be deployed in the following 20 districts:

1. Mumbai, Maharashtra

2. Ahmedabad, Gujarat

3. Delhi (South East)

4. Indore, Madhya Pradesh

5. Pune, Maharashtra

6. Jaipur, Rajasthan

7. Thane, Maharashtra

8. Surat, Gujarat

9. Chennai, Tamil Nadu

10. Hyderabad, Telangana

11. Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

12. Jodhpur, Rajasthan

13. Delhi (Central)

14. Agra, Uttar Pradesh

15. Kolkata, West Bengal

16. Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh

17. Vadodara, Gujarat

18. Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

19. Krishna, Andhra Pradesh

20. Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh

These teams shall report to Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Secretary of Health of the respective state and assist state health departments in the implementation of containment measures for COVID-19 affected areas within these districts and cities.

J&K: Civil Secretariat re-opens in Srinagar amid lockdown

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Amid the Covid-19 lockdown, Civil Secretariat re-opened in Srinagar after a gap of six months today, though partially. Tight security arrangements were in place for the re-opening of the Civil Secretariat building.

Employees walked through de-contamination tunnels installed by the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) on the premises of Secretariat, the highest seat of governance in J&K.

“We installed four sanitisation tunnels in the secretariat and all employees walked through before entering their respective offices,” SMC Mayor, Junaid Azim Mattoo told NVI.

All the employees were also screened for body temperatures by thermal devices, installed by the Health Department in a bid to detect Covid suspects.

Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu also arrived at the secretariat here, even as Darbar Move would formally fully re-open in the summer capital next month on June 15.

The Civil Secretariat is functioning from here today with the staff and officers based in Srinagar and the rest of Kashmir districts. The decision was taken by the government to ensure less crowd at the civil secretariat in the wake of the pandemic that has affected over 700 people in J&K and claimed eight lives so far.

For over a century, the Civil Secretariat has been functioning from Jammu in winter months and in summers from Srinagar. The practice is known as Darbar Move in J&K as it was started by Maharaja Ghulab Singh and then continued by his son Maharaja Hari Singh, who ruled J&K till 1947.

Lockdown 3.0: Long queues outside liquor shops; things allowed in Delhi

People outside a liquor shop in Delhi (Source: Twitter)

New Delhi (NVI): The third phase of extended lockdown kicks in from today for two more weeks as Centre allows a few relaxations in orange and green zones.

Districts in the country have been divided into red, orange and green zones. No activities will be allowed in the containment zones across the country.

Long queues were seen outside liquor shops at many places in the country including Delhi, which is following the Centre’s guidelines for the extended lockdown.

All wine shops in Delhi are following the social distancing norms with police deployment to deal with any law and order situation.

Yesterday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said in a webcast that the national capital is ready to “reopen” and there is a need to restart economic activities as revenues have dried up.

Notably, the government gets a huge revenue from the sale of liquor. The liquor shops were shut since the lockdown first kicked in from March 25.

Here are things allowed in Delhi from today:

  • Essential shops, stationery shops, standalone shops including liquor, neighborhood colony shops and shops in residential complexes, both essential and non-essential will be allowed to open.
  • 33 percent of attendance allowed in offices dealing with non-essential activities.
  • All private offices are allowed to open with 33% strength.
  • Technicians, plumbers, mechanics, electricians, sanitation workers, maids, etc who offer small services and are dependent on their daily work will be allowed.
  • IT-related services shops, call centres, data centres, warehousing services, cold storage, private security and facility management services.
  • Essential goods manufacturing units and supply chain, IT hardware manufacturing units.
  • Packaging material manufacturing units will be open
  • Two passengers in a car beside drives; only one person allowed on 2-wheelers, no pillion
  • Construction works at places where workers staying nearby
  • Marriage ceremonies with up to 50 people only while maintaining social distancing; 20 people allowed in a funeral
  • Agricultural activities, financial sector activities and goods carrier-related services

Inter-state movement relaxations for only those distressed, stranded, not all: MHA

MHA

New Delhi (NVI): The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a clarification regarding the relaxation in inter-state movement of some people during the lockdown, saying that it is applicable to only distressed migrant workers, stranded pilgrims, students and tourists who had moved from their native places just before the lockdown and could not return.

“It is clarified that the MHA orders are meant to facilitate movement of such stranded persons, who had moved from their native places/workplaces, just before the lockdown period but could not return to their workplaces/native places on account of restrictions placed on movement of persons and vehicles as part of lockdown measures,” the MHA order which was issued yesterday by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla read.

The facilitation envisaged in the aforesaid orders is meant for such distressed persons, but does not extend to those categories of persons, who are otherwise residing normally at places, other than the native places for purposes of work etc., and who wish to visit their native places in normal course, the communication to Chief Secretaries on States read.

Several people including migrants labourers, students, pilgrims and tourists are stranded in the country since the lockdown kicked-in from March 25.

The MHA on Friday issued an order allowing Railways to operate trains to ferry migrant labourers to their native places on the consent on two states and following the social distancing norms, i.e., keeping distance between passengers in such trains.

The nationwide lockdown has entered its third phase from today as it was extended by two more weeks on Friday till May 17. the initial 21-day lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 night and was further extended by 19 days on April 14 (Till May 3).

Sardar Patel National Unity Award: Last date of nominations extended till Jun 30

New Delhi (NVI): The last date of invitation of nominations for Sardar Patel National Unity Award has been extended till June 30, the Ministry of Home Affairs said today.

The Centre has instituted the award as the highest civilian award in the name of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, for contribution in promoting unity and integrity of India.

The award seeks to recognise the notable and inspiring contribution made by individuals or institutions or organizations in this field and reinforces the value of strong and united India.

Earlier, the government had extended the last date for sending the nominations for the award to April 30.

State-wise details of Covid-19 cases in India

New Delhi (NVI): As the nation enters the third phase of the countrywide lockdwon, amid rapid spike in COVID-19 cases, with total confirmed cases at 42,533 and 1,373 deaths so far, according to the Union Health Ministry.

After the first confirmed coronavirus case in India, which was reported in the state of Kerala on January 30, the virus has tightened its grip across the nation.

Total positive cases in different states/UTs:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 33

Andhra Pradesh- 1,583

Arunachal Pradesh- 1

Assam- 43

Bihar- 503

Chandigarh- 94

Chhattisgarh- 57

Delhi- 4,549

Gujarat- 5,428

Haryana – 442

Himachal Pradesh- 40

Jammu and Kashmir- 701

Jharkhand- 115

Karnataka- 614

Kerala- 500

Ladakh- 41

Madhya Pradesh- 2,846

Maharashtra- 12,974

Meghalaya- 12

Mizoram- 1

Odisha- 162

Puducherry- 8

Punjab- 1,102

Rajasthan- 2,886

Tamil Nadu- 3,023

Telengana- 1,082

Tripura- 16

Uttarakhand- 60

Uttar Pradesh- 2,645

West Bengal – 963

State/UT wise total death toll in the country:

Andhra Pradesh- 33

Assam- 1

Bihar- 2

Delhi- 64

Gujarat- 290

Haryana- 5

Himachal Pradesh- 1

Jammu and Kashmir- 8

Jharkhand- 3

Karnataka- 25

Kerala- 4

Madhya Pradesh- 156

Maharashtra- 548

Meghalaya- 1

Odisha- 1

Punjab- 21

Rajasthan- 71

Tamil Nadu- 30

Telangana- 29

Uttar Pradesh- 43

West Bengal- 35

A total of 11,707 people have been cured or discharged from hospitals in India. There are around 29,453 active cases currently.

Coronavirus cases surge past 3.5 million globally

Coronavirus cases

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases have exceeded to more than 3.5 million positive cases with more than 2,47,000 fatalities reported, according to John Hopkins University tally.

Meanwhile, Spain’s death toll rose by 164 to 25,264, the health ministry said, the lowest one-day increase since March 18.

In the US, more than 1.1 million cases and at least 67,000 Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded.

In Brazil, there were 4,588 new cases and 275 deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing total confirmed cases in the country over 1,00,000.

In addition to this, Australia, Malaysia and India are among countries in Asia that will begin to ease parts of their lockdown on Monday.

India’s tally tops 42,000; death toll mounts to 1,373

New Delhi (NVI): As lockdown 3.0 begins from today, the total number of coronavirus cases in India increased to 42,533 with 1,373 deaths from the pandemic, Union Health Ministry confirmed.

The ministry also said that 2,553 fresh cases and 72 deaths have been reported in last 24 hours.

With 12,974 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, Maharashtra remains worst-affected state, followed by Gujarat with 5,428 cases and Delhi with 4,549 cases.

The other states with high number of cases are Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, the Centre extended the lockdown till May 17 and classified the entire country in red, orange and green zones based on the number of COVID-19 cases from that area.

So far, as many as 11,707 COVID-19 patients have been cured and discharged.

Delhi to implement Centre’s guidelines on lockdown 3.0 from tomorrow

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi will follow MHA guidelines issued on the third phase of lockdown from May 4 onwards, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today, while asserting that the National Capital was ready to “lift the lockdown” if allowed by the Centre.

The Delhi Chief Minister, while addressing a virtual press conference also highlighted certain activities that will be allowed as well as restrictions that are in place.


He said that it was time to permit all kinds of economic activities in the capital’s not-containment zones, instead of an entire shutdown. He said that the lockdown is having consequences on the economy as revenue is drying up.

Kejriwal said that from tomorrow, Delhi government offices engaged in essential services will function with full strength while private offices can operate with up to 33 per cent strength.

He said that self-employed people like electricians, plumbers and household help can begin work but barbers and salons will continue to remain closed. Markets and malls, excepts shops providing essential services will also remain closed. There will be no movement of people for non-essential work from 7pm to 7am, unless a medical emergency or situation, he said.

Public transport will not ply on roads in red zones. Private four-wheelers can have two people apart from driver but only one person will be allowed on two wheelers, he said.

Kejriwal further said that while religious places will remain shut, 50 people will be allowd in a wedding and 20 people in case of a death. He reiterated that social distancing and other safety norms will not be compromised at any cost.

The Delhi CM said that lockdown was necessary but time has come to re-open Delhi as economy was suffering due to the extended lockdown. He said that a large number of people will be forced to leave Delhi if they do not find work or get their salaries.

Pakistan violates ceasefire along LoC in J&K’s Poonch, Rajouri

July 18 Shopian encounter: Army completes summary of evidence
An encounter site in Kashmir (File Pic)

Jammu (NVI): In yet another ceasefire violation, Pakistani troops tonight resorted to firing with small arms and mortar shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch and Rajouri districts, defence officials said.

Pakistan initiated an unprovoked ceasefire violation in Balakote sector in Poonch at around 9 pm, they said.

“At about 2100 hours Pak initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms & shelling with Mortars along LoC in Balakote Sector, District Poonch(J&K),” they said.

Later, Pakistan also targeted Manjakote sector in Rajouri district, they said, adding that the Indian Army is retaliating befittingly.

The latest ceasefire violation by Pakistan comes close on the heels of fierce Handwara encounter in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, in which four Army personnel including two officers lost their lives. A J&K policeman, who was part of SOG (Special Operations Group) also lost his life in the overnight gunbattle. Two militants were eliminated in the gunfight that ended this morning.

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