The tests are only for surveillance and should not be used for diagnosis. (File/Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Tracker India Live News Updates:
In other news, the government released a list of additional services exempted from the lockdown, including agricultural and financial services, and construction activities in rural areas. The government has also removed curbs on exports of formulations made from paracetamol. Maharashtra remains the worst affected state, with a total of 3,205 cases and 194 deaths, followed by New Delhi with 1,640 infections and 38 fatalities.
With four days to go for conditional easing of restrictions in specific areas, as India ramps up testing - the number of samples tested in the last 24 hours crossed 30,000 for the first time on Thursday - the first consignment of 5 lakh rapid COVID-19 testing kits has arrived from China.
Indicating that more testing kits are on their way, Vikram Misri, Indian Ambassador to China tweeted: “A total of 650,000 kits, including Rapid Antibody Tests and RNA Extraction Kits have been despatched early today from Guangzhou Airport to India.”
This means that rapid tests, where the results take take less than 30 minutes, can be used in the 170 hotspots across the country, as per the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Children in masks during a magic performance at a shelter in New Delhi on Thursday. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
However, as the ICMR reiterated on Thursday, the tests are only for surveillance and should not be used for diagnosis.
“We have received 5 lakh kits (from China): 2 lakh from a company called Nuzon and 3 lakh from another called Wantro. They have a sensitivity of over 80%. One needs to understand that these are serological tests. This is not for early diagnosis because it takes time for antibodies to develop. This is for surveillance in hotspots, to periodically check the spread of the disease,” said Dr R R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and infectious diseases, ICMR.
Meanwhile, in a significant development for COVID-19 diagnosis and testing in India, a reputable medical institute in Kerala has been successful in developing a low-cost diagnostic testing kit that can give results of the viral infection in two hours. A release from the Union Ministry of Science and Technology said Thursday that a team of clinicians and scientists at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in Thiruvananthapuram has been able to come up with a test kit which is deemed highly specific for SARS-CoV-2 N-gene and can detect two regions of the gene, which will ensure that the test does not fail even if one region of the viral gene undergoes mutation during its current spread.
A Pre-primary student taking her classes online during the lockdown in North Kashmir's Bandipora. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)
In another news, the IPL Governing Council of the BCCI has decided to suspend the tournament till further notice. The cricket body released a statement in this regard that stated that keeping the health and safety of the cricketers in mind, BCCI along with all the associates involved with IPL have decided to commence the tournament only when it feels safe to conduct.
A man relaxes on a bench in London, next to a sculpture of Paddington Bear, as the country is in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
On the international front, the UK government is preparing to formally extend the initial three-week strict social distancing measures imposed last month to try and curb the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic as the country’s death toll from COVID-19 crosses 12,868. Europe was still in the "eye of the storm" of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization warned Thursday, as parts of the continent moved to ease restrictions but others extended lockdowns and postponed major events.
Read more news on coronavirus (COVID-19) in India, the world:
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People at a temporary quarantine centre in Kolkata on Friday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
"Kerala Covid curve is getting flatter. Of the 395 cases, 255 have recovered. Only 2 deaths," Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said in a tweet on Friday.
On Friday, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das unveiled the second round of policy announcements to counter the debilitating effects of the spread of Covid-19 on the Indian economy. The RBI has tried to provide more focussed help for NBFCs and micro-finance institutions, which, in turn, should help the people hardest hit by the Covid-19 economic crisis. Read our Explainer here.
President Donald Trump on Friday said China's real death toll from coronavirus was "far higher," even after the country issued a new count doubling the number of dead in Wuhan. "China has just announced a doubling in the number of their deaths from the Invisible Enemy. It is far higher than that and far higher than the U.S., not even close!" Trump said in a tweet.
The border Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir became free from novel coronavirus after three persons who had earlier tested positive for Covid-19 got negative results Friday. The three have been discharged from hospital, tweeted Additional Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri, Sher Singh. Read more
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases worldwide rose to 21,58,250 with as many as 1,44, 243 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
* United Kingdom recorded 847 deaths in a day, taking the toll close to 15,000
* The United States has the highest death toll (32,917) in the world, followed by Italy with 22,170 dead although its population is just a fifth of that of the US. Spain has recorded 19,130 deaths, followed by France with 17,920.
* In the last 24 hours, Russia recorded a record 4,070 coroanvirus cases totalling down to 32,008 and officials warned that Moscow was two to three weeks away from a peak in infections.
"India will extend all possible support to Egypt’s efforts to control the spread of the virus and its impact," PM Modi assured Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
India assures support to South Africa to maintain medical supplies. "South Africa is ably coordinating the African Union effort against the pandemic. As a long-standing friend of Africa, India stands ready to support this effort in every way. Had a good discussion with President @CyrilRamaphosa about the COVID-19 challenge, and assured India’s support to South Africa for maintaining essential medical supplies," Prime Minister Narednra Modi said in a tweet.
On April 12, a video showing scores of villagers providing a farewell to a Jalikkatu-cum-temple bull went viral across the social media platforms. According to local reports, the bull belonging to a temple in Muduvarpatti village near Alanganallur in Madurai had passed away a few days back. People in the surrounding areas of the town had considered the bull as the pride of their village as it won many awards in Jallikattu events. They had been treating the bull as a diety and been worshipping it. The bull had fallen sick a few weeks back and passed away on Sunday. The mourning villagers subsequently decided to give the bull a farewell.In another incident, a group of youngsters had found themself in a soup after organising a corona feast at Thyagasamudram village in Thanjavur on Wednesday afternoon.
With the state and the central government deploying various stringent measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, a section of villages in Tamil Nadu were involved in violating the prohibitory orders and breaking the social distancing norms, causing major embarrassment to the law and order in the state. Read more
J&K government asked the head of offices to take necessary steps for implementation of instructions with regard to social distancing, face masks and sanitising the work places in their respective offices, as per guidelines. Arrangements for issuance of passes shall be made by the GAD for civil secretariat employees and by the Deputy Commissioners in respect of officers/officials working in their respective jurisdictions, the government order added.
Jammu and Kashmir Government on Friday ordered reopening of all its offices across the Union Territory with effect from April 20. Pointing out that all educational institutions/training institutes shall remain closed till May 3, an order issued by the General Administration Department read, "all the offices dealing with essential supplies/services shall be fully functional’’. "In other offices, the officers of the level of undersecretary and above shall regularly attend offices with effect from April 20. 33 per cent of non-gazetted staff shall attend office as per roster to be devised by the respective head of offices,’’ it added. About staff/workers of Forest Department operating and maintaining zoo, nurseries, wildlife, fire fighting in forests, watering plantations and patrolling, the order said that they shall work as usual.
On Friday evening, Rajasthan became the first state in the country to carry out rapid testing for COVID-19. At 5 pm today, 52 persons were tested at an urban PHC in Jaipur. All of them tested negative.
Jharkhand Police have arrested 89 people, booked 157 in 103 cases for rumour mongering over COVID-19.
A day after Meghalaya reported its first death due to coronavirus, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu Friday expressed his “deep concern and agony” over the Meghalaya incident in which a 69-year-old doctor, who had tested positive for Covid-19, subsequently died and was denied last rites by the local community.
In a Facebook post, the Vice President wrote, “Deeply disturbed by a news item in today’s “The Indian Express” over a 36-hour delay to find a resting place to the dead body of a 69-year-old popular Meghalaya doctor following strong resistance from the local people. It was reported that the physician’s body lay for several hours in the hospital he had founded after attempts to bury or/cremate him were unsuccessful due to local resistance. This unfortunate behavioural from the locals forced the Chief Minister to finally intervene in the mater and help resolve the matter.” Read more
Coronavirus (COVID-19): The scientist who visualised the first human coronavirus was virologist June Almeida. She pioneered the technique of electron microscopy, used for viral diagnosis, and became the first individual to see the human coronavirus. Almeida grew up in an apartment in Glasgow. While she had academic potential, she was forced to drop out of school at the age of 16 after failing to receive funding to study further, her daughter Joyce later revealed in an article in The British Medical Journal. Read our explainer here
The government Friday provided exemptions to a few more areas from the purview of the ongoing lockdown which includes collection, harvesting and processing of minor forest produce, among many other things, to ensure sustenance of forest-dwelling tribal population. In a communication to all States and Union Territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said that “collection, harvesting and processing of minor forest produce (MFP), non-timber forest produce (NTFP) by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in forest areas” were also allowed.
A 21-year-old man from Pune, who surreptitiously travelled 370 km on his two-wheeler, sneaking in through three ‘sealed’ district borders to reach Parbhani earlier this week, became the first Covid-19 positive patient in the district which so far had managed to remain in ‘Green Zone’ with no reported case so far.
The man, who hails from Jawala Bazaar in Hingoli District and works at a furniture store in Bhosari near Pune, left his residence in Bhosari on April 12 night and reached his brother-in-law’s home in Parbhani next morning. As he was complaining of throat irritation, he was taken to a public health centre by the relative where a throat swab was taken and sent to a lab. The result came positive on Thursday. Read more
Only one case have been reported in Kerala on Friday whereas 10 patients have recovered taking the total number of recoveries so far to 255. Here are some numbers as on Friday shared by Kerala Chief Minister's Office.
With number of persons infected by COVID-19 crossing the 1,000 mark in Gujarat on Friday, the state government declared curfew in Jungleshwar area of Rajkot. This is the third district in Gujarat, after Ahmedabad and Surat where certain localities have been put under curfew even as police officers said that the the clamp down in Rajkot will be for an indefinite period and without any relaxation.
"Today afternoon, Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani held a video conference with Rajkot's police commissioner, municipal commissioner and district collector and discussed the situation related to Covid infections. It has been decided that from Friday midnight, curfew will be imposed in Rajkot's Jungleshwar locality," said Ashwini Kumar, secretary to chief minister while addressing media persons in Gandhinagar.
Magician Raj Kumar performed tricks for migrant labourers at a government shelter home in Delhi amid lockdown. The magic show was organised by the Delhi Police.
A 60-year-old woman died hours after being hospitalised with COVID-19 symptoms in Gujarat's Bhavnagar. Later on, her samples returned positive for the disease. This is third death in Bhavanagar, confirmed district development officer.
Within a day of issuing detailed guidelines for phase II of the COVID-19 lockdown, the Centre has issued an addendum to its April 15 instructions allowing certain more activities in sectors of agriculture, banking and rural construction.
In the addendum issued on April 16, the Ministry of Home Affairs has said that under the head of agriculture and horticulture, “Collection, harvesting and processing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP)/ Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in forest areas” will be allowed. Under the head of “Plantation”, it has further allowed sowing, harvesting, processing, packaging, sale and marketing of “Bamboo, Coconut, Arecanut, Cocoa, Spices”.
In category of “construction activities in rural areas” as exempted under the lockdown, the government has added “water supply and sanitation; laying/erection of power transmission lines and laying of telecom optical fibre and cable along with related activities”.
The Centre informed the Kerala High Court Friday that Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) cannot be brought home at the moment as the priority right now was on enforcing the lockdown and safeguarding against the larger spread of Covid-19. The Centre’s stand was clarified in response to petitions filed in the High Court demanding that expatriates in countries like the UAE and others in the Middle East should be brought home as the health infrastructure there, in the backdrop of Covid-19, was insufficient. The petition had also contended that an expert medical team must be sent to such countries to take stock of the health parameters of the Indian nationals there. One of the petitioners was Ibrahim Elettil, president of the Dubai-based Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC). Read full story
Bharuch district in Gujarat recorded eight new COVID-19 cases Friday, taking its total tally to 21. The new COVID-19 positive patients include staff of Bharuch civil hospital: 1 doctor, 3 lab technicians, 1 guard of the COVID-19 isolation ward. Two other men — one from Dayadra village and one from Bharuch town were also among the affected.
Dr R R Gangakhedkar of ICMR said the institute doesn't have enough evidence to take official position on BCG vaccine's effect on COVID-19. "It can’t even stop TB, it can only protect from severity. It is an inmunomodulator, effective for 15 years," he said, adding, "Next week ICMR will start a study on BCG vaccine. That will help us decide whether it should be used in health workers," Dr Gangakhedkar added.
*Indian Council of Medical Research, Delhi, said till now 3,19,400 people have been tested. Of these, 28,340 tests were done on Thurday, of which 4,408 were done in private labs.
* ICMR seeing different strains of the virus. This will help in vaccine development.
Here are some pointers from Health Mnistry presser
* 1,007 COVID-19 positive cases and 23 deaths were reported in last 24 hours
* Till now, 13,387 confirmed cases have been reported in India
* 1,749 people have been cured so far
* 40 per cent decline in growth of COVID-19 cases in India
* Analysis of outcome of cases shows 80% recovery and 20% death
* Efforts are on making new rapid tests, polling mechanisms that allow more samples to be tested at one go
* Health Ministry looking at viral sequencing. It is also working on recombinant BCG, convalescent plasma therapy, monoclonal antibodies to fight COVID-19
* CSIR labs are working on indigenous production of antivirals that have shown promise
* Targetting to manufacture 10 lakh RTPCR kits in May indigenously
* India also has capacity of making 6,000 ventilators per month
* At present, there are 1,919 hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 in the country, with over 1,73,000 isolation and over 21,000 ICU beds
Union Health Ministry presser on coronavirus situation in India underway.
Three-year-old Aanchal Shinde barely eats and keeps tearing up through the day. Separated from her parents due to the lockdown, she and her seven-year-old sister Khushali are being looked after by their aunt on a pavement dwelling near Poisar gymkhana at Kandivali. Their parents are holed up in a rented flat in Ambernath, 54 kilometres away. With the district borders closed due to the lockdown, it is now nearly a month since the children have seen their parents. “Please get my mother back, Aanchal misses her very much,” wails Khushali. An Express report by Sandeep A Ashar
Bihar recorded its second COVID-19 positive death on Friday. The patient was a 35-year-old Viashali man who was in terminal stage of brain tumour.
The total number of positive cases of coronavirus in Gujarat crossed the 1,000-mark on Friday after 92 new infections were reported during the last 12 hours, said health officials here. With this, the coronavirus count in Gujarat now stands at 1,021. Out of the 92 new cases reported during the last 12 hours, the highest, 45,were from Ahmedabad, followed by 14 in Surat, 9 in Vadodara, 8 in Bharuch and 5 in Narmada, said Principal Secretary, Health, Jayanti Ravi. Other districts where new cases have emerged include Botad (3), Panchmahal (2) and one each in Anand, Chhotaudepur, Dahod, Kheda and Mahisagar, she said.
A day after the Centre issued guidelines granting relaxation for resumption of industrial operations, the Maharashtra government is considering a plan to provide industries one-time permission to transport their labourers, stuck within the state, to places of work so that operations can resume from April 20. The government is also considering allowing industries, which operate within Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) areas in some municipal corporation limits, to operate provided they do not fall under containment zones. Sources said that one of the major challenges before industrial units would be getting labourers to resume operations. A report by Vishwas Waghmode
Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said the migrants are the backbone of any city and demanded that they be given Rs 7,500 per month immediately to help them cope with the crisis. 'Migrants are the backbone of any city and hence they should be incentivised to make them feel safe in Delhi and other towns,' PTI quoted Maken as saying.
He also demanded payment of ration for two months to the poor and vulnerable, besides advance payment of pension to senior citizens and widows and risk allowance to sanitation and frontline health workers.
The Congress Friday said the daily wagers and migrant labourers should be incentivised as it put forth a 10-point demand charter before the Delhi government to help those in distress in the national capital due to COVID-19. The party demanded that fixed power charges be waived off and school fees should not be charged from students, besides payment of salaries of school teachers in aided schools and workers in MSMEs by the government.
Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken sought Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), to be notified as regulations, for delivery boys in Delhi to help restrict the spread of coronavirus through them. Addressing the press through video-conferencing, Maken said testing should be ramped up in the national capital and asked whether Delhi had entered the community transmission stage-3 of the virus as 135 people have been kept "under investigation".
Delhi education minister Manish Sisodia said at a press conference today that private schools in the city will not be allowed to hike fees or levy any fee other than tuition fees on a monthly basis. He also said no student should be barred from attending online classes, if his/her parents are not able to pay the fee.
Here's a state-wise break down of the coronavirus cases:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the announcements by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will "greatly enhance liquidity and improve credit supply". He tweets, "These steps would help our small businesses, MSMEs, farmers and the poor. It will also help all states by increasing WMA limits."
The nation has joined ranks in the face of the unprecedented public health and economic crises. Everyone is playing their part, including those who are contributing with forbearance and patience in tiding over the lockdown, even at the risk of hunger. Showing sweeping suspicion, at a time when every ally counts, the ministry of home affairs, which has oversight over NGOs, has commanded those which receive foreign funds to report their COVID-19-related activities every 15 days. This public service by fiat deepens distrust at a time when NGOs can play a vital role in ameliorating humanitarian distress in the lockdown. Read the editorial here
Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have reportedly ignored an advisory to remain indoors to travel from Washington, DC to New Jersey for a holiday. Ivankar is US President Donald Trump's daughter and senior advisor in his administration. The White House, in a statement, said: "Ivanka -- with her immediate family -- celebrated Passover at a closed down facility considered to be a family home. Her travel was no different than if had she been traveling to/from work and the location was less populated than the surrounding area near her home in DC."
Amid the national lockdown, Uber has announced a partnership with Medlife, a e-health platform, to provide residents in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Pune, access to prescription and other over-the-counter medicines. The company will engage its technology and delivery partners to help Medlife deliver medicines to residents' doorsteps.
Since early on in the Covid-19 outbreak, it came to light that men were likelier than woman to die of the coronavirus. As the footprint of the disease covered the planet, this pattern was detected in nearly all countries that released data — including Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, and France. The question is, why? Some reasons could be linked to men more likely to be smokers or behavioural factors such as the likelihood of women being more careful than men about washing their hands using soap. Read our explainer here.
Kerala's finance minister T M Thomas Isaac writes: Preparedness — that is the key word to the success of Kerala and the key lesson to be learned from it. The single most important factor that enabled us to be prepared for the COVID is the strength of our public health system. All over the globe, we are witnessing serious market failures in the health sector in the context of the pandemic crisis. Policymakers are learning the hard way of the importance of a public health network. Read his opinion column here
Amid the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil got married in a ceremony this morning.
Why are gold prices rising? While gold by itself does not produce any economic value, it is an efficient tool to hedge against inflation and economic uncertainties. Given the economic uncertainty, gold is expected to touch a new all time high, which will be over $1900 an ounce. It is also more liquid when compared with real estate and many debt instruments which come with a lock-in period. Read more here.
Various news reports in recent weeks have pointed out that for some Covid-19 patients who needed intensive care, the journey to recovery is a long one. After leaving the ICU, they may suffer from what is known as post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), which can happen to any person who has been in the ICU. As per the WHO-China Joint Mission report that examined 55,924 laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19, over 6.1 per cent were classified as critical, which means they experienced respiratory failure, shock and multiple organ failure. Read our explainer.
A vegetable vendor with no travel history died in Vadodara yesterday, taking the total number of casualties to six in the district. The patient later tested positive for coronavirus. Following this, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) traced 26 close family contacts of the patient. The VMC has also contacted the doctor whom the patient consulted privately for two days before being referred to GMERS COVID-19 facility in Gotri.
Governor Shaktikanta Das says payment moratoriums by banks for Covid-19 can be excluded from the 90-day moratorium period.
To encourage banks to invest, the RBI has reduced reverse repo rate by 25 bps from from 4 per cent to 3.75 percent. The policy rate, however, remains unchanged at 4.4% -- this is fixed by the RBI's MPC.
The central bank will provide a special finance package of Rs 50,000 crore to NABARD, CIDBI, NHB. Rs 25,000 crore will be disbursed to NABARD, Rs 15,000 crpre to SIDBI and Rs 10,000 crore to NHB. "These amounts are based on conversations with these institutions," the RBI Governor says.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says the central bank is taking measures to maintain adequate liquidity in the system, facilitate and incentivise bank credit flows, ease financial stress and enable formal functioning of markets. He announces TLTRO 2.0, where the RBI will conduct targetted long term repo operations for Rs 50,000 crore to begin with in tranches of appropriate sizes. "We will assess the situation and can step up this amount," he says. This will ease liquidity for mid-sized NBFCs and MFIs (banks have to make 50 per cent of liquidity availed under TLTRO 2.0 towards these sectors), Das adds.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das reiterates that the central bank has injected 3.2 per cent of the GDP in the system from February 6 till March 27. He adds that banking systems are functioning normally; ATMs are at 81 per cent of capacity. He also says forex reserves are robust at $476.5 billion on April 10 (11.8 months of imports).
India is among the handful of countries that is expected to cling on to positive growth at 1.9%, according to IMF, says Das. He adds there are at least 150 officers in the RBI in quarantine and at work 24x7.
RBI Governor speaks to the media: "The mission is to do whatever it takes to prevent the curve from steepening further. In this environment, the RBI has been proactive and has been monitoring the situation closely," he says, before listing out measures proposed by the central bank.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an additional list of exemptions to its earlier guidelines for the second phase of the lockdown. The revised list includes collection, harvesting and processing of Minor Forest Produce (MFP), bamboo, coconit, arecanut, cocoa plantation and harvesting under agriculture and horticultural activities.
Under the financial sector, NBFC, including HFCs and NBFC-MFIs, have been allowed with bare minimum staff.
Construction activities now includes water supply and sanitation, laying/erection or power transmission lines and laying of telecom optical fiber and cables.
China has revised its toll in Wuhan, where the coronavirus originated, by 50 per cent to a total of 3,869, after admitting that cases were "mistakenly reported" or missed, reports AFP. The adjustment adds 1,290 deaths.
The number of COVID-19 cases in India rose to 13,387 Friday as the government began ramping up testing. At least 437 people have succumbed to the disease, while 1,748 have been treated and discharged. Maharashtra remains the worst affected state, with a total of 3,205 cases and 194 deaths, followed by New Delhi with 1,640 infections and 38 fatalities.
Following security scares of virtual meetings between officials suspected of having been leaked and intruded, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) has launched an innovation challenge that aims to find an indigenously built video conferencing software by July-end. “Of course the Zoom security scare is a concern. Otherwise also, the Ministry is of the view that work-from-home and social distancing could become the new normal. For now, the lockdown is till May 3, but what if it is extended? We want to find a lasting solution,” a MeiTY official said.
Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro has fired his health minister following a disagreement over the country's coronavirus strategy. “I just heard from the President Jair Bolsonaro the news of my dismissal from the health ministry,” Luiz Henrique Mandetta tweeted, adding that he wished success to his replacement, who is yet to be named officially. Mandetta had been praised for his response to the pandemic.
Kerala has proposed grouping districts into zones and relaxing restrictions based on the number of COVID-19 cases after April 20. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said agriculture, rubber processing units, construction, traditional industries of coir, cashew, khadi and beedi would be allowed to resume work in non-hotspot areas. Vehicles will be allowed from April 20, on odd-even basis on alternative days, but the ban on inter-district travel will continue. Read Shaju Philip's report here. Also, don't miss our video on how houseboats are being converted into isolation wards in the state:
Hydroxychloroquine is an oral prescription drug that is used for the treatment of some forms of malaria, as well as autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. In use since the 1940s, the drug has shown anti-viral properties that have been studied for the last 40 years. Rajasthan has cleared hydroxychloroquine for some police personnel, Mumbai police are being given the drug, and residents of two Mumbai slums are set to follow. What is the ICMR protocol, and the concerns? Read our explainer here.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh speaks to Manoj C G on challenges states are facing in the fight against COVID-19 and why the Centre needs to step in.
"Nobody believes that the Centre is bankrupt. They can easily borrow from the national reserves to meet this unprecedented national health crisis. The states need money, we are at a crisis point. We have no way of generating revenues and the Centre has to come forward. They should make a policy. We are facing the worst crisis since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic which took millions of lives. This is a unique situation. The Centre has to find ways to help out the states. They cannot leave the states to fend for themselves at this point. I have written to the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Minister to find innovative ways to tide over this crisis," he says.