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Covid-19: PM to hold 5th meeting with State CMs via video-conference tomorrow

PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold his fifth meeting with state Chief Ministers tomorrow via video-conference and is expected to review phased exit from lockdown and the road ahead.

PM Modi is expected to interact with the state CM’s at 3 PM tomorrow and is likely to get an opinion from the States on the further raising of exemptions to boost economic activities.

“PM @narendramodi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM,” PMO said in a tweet.


The virtual meeting will also be attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. Senior Officials from the Centre including the Home and Health Secretary are also expected to join in.

Earlier today, the PM chaired a meeting of the NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) to review the situation in Visakhapatnam where 11 people were killed and over 1,000 were affected due to a gas leak incident at a chemical plant on Thursday.


India is currently under the third phase of a nationwide lockdown that is slated to end on May 17. The lockdown was first announced by PM Modi on March 24 and has been extended twice since then.

The government had announced some relaxations in green and orange zones, while extending the lockdown till May 17. These include movement of private and public transport within a state, functioning of private offices with 33 per cent strength and opening of standalone liquor shops in red zones, except in containment zones.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 death toll in India has crossed the 2,000 mark with 2,109 fatalities. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 62,939 with 41,472 active cases. There are 111 foreign nationals in total confirmed cases. 128 people have died and 3,277 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours.

Movement of doctors, nurses, paramedics should be unhindered: Cabinet Secretary

New Delhi (NVI): Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba today asked all States and Union Territories to ensure free movements of doctors, nurses and paramedics amid Covid-19 lockdown while noting that all steps should be taken to facilitate and protect corona warriors.

The Cabinet Secretary was speaking during a video conference with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of all States and UTs via video conference to review their status of Covid-19 management.

During the virtual meeting, the Cabinet Secretary said that more than 350 Shramik special trains have been operated by Railways ferrying 3.5 lakh migrant workers, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

He requested State governments to cooperate with railways in running more Shramik special trains. Apart from this, the Cabinet Secretary noted the cooperation of States on return of Indians from abroad under Vande Bharat Mission.

In the meeting, the State Chief Secretaries informed about the situation in their States and also said that while protection is required from COVID, the economic activities also need to be stepped up in a calibrated manner.

In another news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold his fifth meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow at 3 PM. He is expected to review phased exit from lockdown in the meeting with state CMs and is likely to get an opinion from the States on the further raising of exemptions to boost economic activities.

Low intensity quake hits Delhi-NCR

Mild earthquake hits Delhi
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI) An earthquake measuring 3.4 on richter scale was felt in Delhi and its adjoining areas in the afternoon.

According to the National Centre of Seismology, the epicenter of the quake was located to 9 km North fo New Delhi. Tremors were felt at 01:45 pm and the depth of the quake was 5 km.

(Source: seismo.gov.in)

However, this was a mild quake and there was no report of any damage. Delhiites took to Twitter and posted their reactions.

Before this, two quakes of the same intensity hit the Delhi-NCR region on April 12 and 13.

Meanwhile, Delhi also witnessed a thunderstorm and rains earlier today that brought the temperature down, in a brief respite from the heat.

INS Kesari leaves for 5 Indian Ocean countries to deliver Covid assistance

INS Kesari (Source: Twitter)

New Delhi (NVI): India has sent its Naval ship INS Kesari to deliver Covid-19 assistance including medicines, medical personnel and food items to five Indian ocean countries — Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles — to deal with the pandemic.

The ship has been despatched under ‘Mission Sagar’ to help its partners in the Indian ocean.

“Responding to their requests for assistance in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, Government of India has sent Indian Naval Ship Kesari to Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles, carrying on board two Medical Assistance Teams, consignments of Covid related essential medicines and essential food items,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement today.

(Source: MEA Twitter)

The medical assistance teams will be deployed in Mauritius and Comoros, helping their governments to deal with Covid emergency and dengue fever (in case of Comoros), MEA said.

The Indian Naval Ship will deliver consignments of Covid related essential medicines to Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles and about 600 tonnes of food items to Maldives. In addition, in case of Mauritius, a special consignment of Ayurvedic medicines is also being sent, the Ministry said.

(Source: @MEAIndia)

The consignments meant for Madagascar and Comoros also includes Hydroxychloroquine tablets, which have already been sent earlier to Mauritius, Maldives and Seychelles.

‘Mission Sagar’ is inspired by Prime Minister’s vision of SAGAR – Security and Growth for All in the Region, MEA said.

“India has already supported the efforts of the Governments of Maldives, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles by providing them consignments of Covid-19 related essential medicines. A team of select medical personnel was also dispatched to Maldives to augment the preparedness of the Maldivian Government to fight this crisis,” MEA said in a statement.

Meanwhile, INS Jalashwa reached Kochi today with first batch of Indians brought back from the Maldives. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also tweeted: “INSJalashwa hs arrivd in Kochi wth the 1st batch of 698 Indians frm Maldives. Thank @indiannavy DefenceMinIndia
& Kerala Govt fr support&cooperation. Excellent work by HC @sunjaysudhir &his Team @HCIMaldives. Now on to the next one!.”

Over 4 million Covid-19 cases globally, deaths exceed 2,79,000

US sees highest single-day spike in Covid cases

New Delhi (NVI): The confirmed Covid-19 cases across the world stand at a whopping 4.02 million, with 87,729 cases reported in the past 24 hours, according to US-based John Hopkins University.

There have been 2,79,000 deaths globally, with 5,429 in 24 hours. Meanwhile, 1.38 people have recovered from the deadly virus so far.

The United States is the worst-affected country where 79,696 people have lost their lives due to the pandemic. The country has 1.34 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and 2,01,000 recoveries. 25,562 fresh cases have been reported in the past 24 hours.

Apart from this, the UK has the highest number of deaths in Europe at 31,587. The country has 2,15,000 confirmed cases so far with 3,896 freshly reported cases.

Russia is now the world’s fifth-most infected country, with more than 1,99,000 confirmed cases, surpassing Germany and France, as per Johns Hopkins University data. The country has reported 1,827 deaths so far (104 in past 24 hours). It is behind the US, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Indian, Chinese soldiers clash along Sikkim border

Representational Image

New Delhi (NVI): Indian and Chinese troops had a face-off along Indo-China border in north Sikkim during which some soldiers from both the sides sustained minor injuries, the defence ministry said today.

According to sources, there was a confrontation between Indian Army soldiers and troops from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) near the Naku La sector, ahead of Muguthang, yesterday.

However, both sides were disengaged after dialogue and interaction at local level, MoD said in a statement.

“Aggressive behaviour & minor injuries both sides took place, disengaged after dialogue and interaction at local level,” the Ministry’s official statement read.

Temporary and short duration faceoffs occur as boundaries are not resolved, it said. “Troops resolve such issues mutually as per established protocols. Such an incident occurred after a long time,” the statement read.

PRO Eastern Command also released a statement later: “Temporary and short duration Faceoffs between border guarding troops do occur as boundaries are not resolved. Incident of face off as referred to in the article did take place. Aggressive behaviour by the two sides resulted in minor injuries to troops. The two sides disengaged after dialogue and interaction at local level. Troops resolve such issues mutually as per established protocols.”

This is not the first time, that Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed with each other. In 2017, Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam after the Indian side stopped the construction of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army.

Coronavirus cases in India cross 60,000, death toll at 2,109

New Delhi (NVI): With 128 fatalities in the past 24 hours, Covid-19 death toll in India has crossed the 2,000 mark. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 62,939 with 41,472 active cases. There are 111 foreign nationals in total confirmed cases.

19,357 people have been cured or discharged so far, according to the Union Health Ministry. Apart from this, 3,277 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours.

Latest data on the Health Ministry website

Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state, with 20,228 COVID-19 cases and 779 deaths, followed by Gujarat where cases rose to 7,796 with 472 deaths. While 3,800 people have recovered in Maharashtra, 2,091 have recovered in Gujarat.

Delhi has recorded 6,542 cases, with 73 deaths so far. 2,020 people have recovered from the virus in the National capital so far.

New cases in India Since March 15 (Source: Wikipedia)

In addition to this, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh have witnessed over 100 Covid deaths.

Yesterday, the Health Ministry said that it will send Central teams to 10 states that have witnessed a growth in coronavirus cases. The teams, consisting of a senior Health Ministry official, a joint secretary-level nodal officer and a public health expert, will be sent to Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

This is in addition to 20 central teams of public health experts who were sent to districts with high coronavirus cases.

India is currently into the third phase of the nationwide lockdown that is slated to be lifted on May 17. The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24. Since then, it has been extended twice.

This is in addition to 20 central teams of public health experts who were sent to districts with high coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases has cross four million globally. There have been 2,79,000 deaths so far, with 5,429 fresh deaths recorded. 1.36 million people have recovered from the virus.

Coronavirus cases reach 13,770 in Bangladesh

(Image source: United News of Bangladesh)

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of deaths from coronavirus continues to rise in Bangladesh as 8 more people died during the period, taking the total casualties in the country to 214.

Besides, a whopping 636 new cases of coronavirus infection were reported during this period, raising the number of such cases in the country to 13,770, according to United News of Bangladesh.

Across the country, there are 615 institutions currently ready to accommodate around 30,955 people for institutional quarantine.

So far, a total of 2,414 people have recovered from the deadly virus.

In addition to this, second batch of 129 Indians, stranded in Bangladesh due to the coronavirus-linked global travel restrictions, left for home today on board a special Air India flight.

The evacuation flight carrying the Indian students from Dhaka will land in Delhi directly.

Taiwan donates 1 mn face masks to India

New Delhi (NVI) Taiwan has provided one million face masks to India to help protect frontline medical personnel, reflecting the spirit of “Taiwan can help! And Taiwan is helping” and calling for greater international cooperation.

The masks were brought to India by a special chartered flight on May 4, 2020, and were handed over by Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India Ambassador Chung-Kwang Tien to Neel Kamal Singh, Deputy Secretary-General of Indian Red Cross Society on May 8 at a ceremony.

Taiwan’s first large-scale humanitarian assistance initiative was launched in April in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Taiwan has so far donated nearly 25.5 million face masks and other medical supplies to the United States, European Union member states, other European nations, diplomatic allies, 18 countries across Indo-Pacific and some African and Middle East countries.

“Taiwan has shown to the world that due to the preemptive preparations, the right policy implemented by the Government, the trust established by the people towards the Government and the lesson learned after the 2003 SARS, Taiwan has been recognized and praised greatly by international communities and countries around the world in terms of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tien said.

He complimented the extraordinary efforts made by the Indian Government in curtailing the spread of COVID-19 and also conveyed Taiwan’s concern and best wishes to the Government and Indian citizens.

The Ambassador expressed strong confidence that India will prevail over the challenges and restore momentum and economic growth, the Government of Taiwan will continue to evaluate the evolution of the pandemic, its domestic demand, and situations of friendly countries to make a further timely contribution to the international community.

Deputy Secretary-General Singh commended that Taiwan has set a norm in epidemic prevention and containing.

He also expressed a deep appreciation for Taiwan’s timely donation and guaranteed that Indian Red Cross Society will properly allocate the masks to frontline medical personnel to help protect them during combating the pandemic.

253 new COVID-19 cases in Afghanistan, tally hits 4,033

New Delhi (NVI): Afghanistan witnessed a rise in coronavirus cases with 253 new cases, taking the overall tally to 4,033 across the country, according to Afghan media reports

In the last 24 hours, six COVID-19 patients died, bringing the total deaths in the country to 115.

Of the 253 new cases, 71 were reported in Herat, 43 in Balkh, 39 in Nangarhar, 24 in Takhar, 22 in Jawzjan, 16 in Paktia, 11 in Laghman, 11 in Kunduz, 8 in Ghazni, 4 in Kabul, 4 in Bamiyan, 1 in Panjshir, 1 in Kunar and 10 in Nuristan.

Meanwhile, Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz, who tested positive for COVID-19 is in very good condition, as per media reports.

He said that there are now 3,230 beds available across 34 provinces, referring to increased health capacity.

Over 15,560 samples have been tested so far, which analysts say is too low a number when compared to the country’s population.

So far, 502 patients have been cured or discharged across the country.

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