Steps taken to contain coronavirus, but fake news causing panic: Govt to SC. The Centre informed the Supreme Court Tuesday that it has taken "proactive and preemptive timely steps" to deal with the coronavirus pandemic due to which its spread is so far contained but fake news causing serious panic, is the "single most unmanageable hindrance" in the management of this challenge.
In a status report filed in the apex court, the government has given details of the steps taken, including enhancement of testing capacity and issuance of order to purchase 40,000 ventilators to meet the contingencies, to prevent coronavirus or Covid-19 and its spread in the country. "It is submitted that as narrated in subsequent part of this status report, deliberate or inadvertent fake news and/or material capable of causing serious panic in the mind of population is found to be a single most unmanageable hindrance in the management of this challenge," it said.
Follow-up distress calls of workers strictly: Chief Labour Commissioner. The Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) has sent a letter to all the regional heads, telling them to do a “rigorous” follow-up of distress calls from workers, especially the migrants, who are facing troubles due to the nationwide lockdown aimed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Significantly, the CLC, who belongs to the Union Labour and Employment Ministry, has acknowledged that there have been instances of job losses and non-payment of wages by employers after the lockdown. Terming the outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus as a “national crisis”, CLC Rajan Verma said that the labour commissioner’s regional offices “have been getting distress calls from employees and workers across the country wherein they are complaining about their hardship due to either loss of employment or non-payment of wages.”
Covid-19: Recession for world economy; India, China likely exceptions: UN. The world economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of trillions of dollars of global income due to the coronavirus pandemic, spelling serious trouble for developing countries with the likely exception of India and China, according to a latest UN trade report.
With two-thirds of the world's population living in developing countries facing unprecedented economic damage from the COVID-19 crisis, the UN is calling for a $2.5 trillion rescue package for these nations. According to the new analysis from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN trade and development body titled 'The COVID-19 Shock to Developing Countries: Towards a 'whatever it takes' programme for the two-thirds of the world's population being left behind', commodity-rich exporting countries will face a $2 trillion to $3 trillion drop in investments from overseas in the next two years. ALSO READ: Defensives versus high beta. Raincoats, helmets protect Kolkata, Haryana doctors in coronavirus fight. Shortages of protective health gear in India are forcing some doctors to use raincoats and motorbike helmets while fighting the coronavirus, exposing the weak state of the public health system ahead of an anticipated surge in COVID-19 cases.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government on Monday said India was trying to procure bulk quantities of such gear, called personal protective equipment (PPE), domestically and from South Korea and China to meet the shortages. But more than a dozen doctors on the front lines of treating the novel coronavirus, which has so far infected 1,251 people in India and killed 32, told Reuters they were concerned that without proper masks and coveralls, they could become carriers. ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE; No migrants on road, govt to SC; Global cases at 786,973. Man is called coronavirus super-spreader after his J&K-Delhi journey. A Srinagar-based businessman travelled by air, train and road to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and back to Jammu and Kashmir before he died of COVID-19, and may have infected many others, including a doctor battling for life in a Jammu hospital, officials said on Tuesday.
The businessman, who travelled to Delhi to attend a Tablighi Jamaat congregation, died on March 26 in a Srinagar hospital, 19 days after he set off for the national capital. He could have infected scores of people during his travels and about 300 people have been put under quarantine because of him, officials said. Recapping his movements, they said he left by air from Srinagar to Delhi on March 7 to attend the congregation of the Tablighi Jamaat, an orthodox Muslim organisation at the centre of the coronavirus spread with 24 of the 2,000 odd participants testing positive. Markaz Nizamuddin issues statement on congregation, says didn't violate law.
Markaz Nizamuddin, the place where a religious congregation left several people affected with coronavirus, on Tuesday said it has not violated any provision of the law and offered its premises for setting up a quarantine facility.
Markaz Nizamuddin, which is the international headquarters of Tabilghi Jamaat for close to 100 years, will cooperate with the authorities, it said in a statement. Delhi government on Tuesday said twenty-four people, who took part in a religious congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin earlier this month, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said 700 people who attended this congregation have been quarantined while around 335 people have been admitted to hospitals.
" Besides, participants from across India, the congregation was attended by people from different countries, including Indonesia and Thailand. Crew getting substandard Covid-19 protective gear in flights: Air India. Air India crew members are being provided with substandard, ill-fitting and flimsy personal protective equipment (PPE) on special flights being operated during the lockdown, a union of the airline's pilots complained to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday.
With India under a 21-day lockdown till April 14 to curb the spread of coronavirus, all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period However, carriers such as Air India have been permitted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to fly special flights to transport test kits, medicines, relief material and Indians coming from abroad or foreigners going to their countries.
"Our pilots and cabin crew are being provided substandard, ill-fitting and flimsy PPE that tear/disintegrate easily on rescue flights. The EPA stated that Air India's medical services department has chosen to "lock its doors and wash its hands off" the flying crew amid the pandemic. Crew getting substandard Covid-19 protective gear in flights: Air India. AI-powered Microsoft 365 with new productivity tools to replace Office 365. Microsoft on Tuesday introduced a refresh version of Office 365.
Built on the foundation of Office 365, the Microsoft 365 gets artificial intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences to empower people in various ways. The Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based service, available for personal and family usage. The Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will be available from April 21, at starting price of Rs 4,199 a year. For the best value, a family of up to six people can use Microsoft 365 Family for Rs 5,299 a year, the company said in a statement. The new Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans will include access to Outlook and the Office desktop apps for Windows and macOS, 1 Terabyte of OneDrive storage per person and 50 Gigabytes of Outlook.com email storage, Skype call recording and 60 minutes of Skype landline and mobile phone calls.
Covid-19: Mallya asks FM to consider his offer to repay Kingfisher's dues. Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, on Tuesday asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to consider his repeated "offer to repay 100 per cent" of the amount borrowed by now defunct Kingfisher Airlines, in this time of coronavirus pandemic.
Mallya, who is wanted in India on alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to an estimated Rs 9,000 crore, also said all his companies have effectively ceased operations and manufacturing following the lockdown in India. "I have made repeated offers to pay 100 per cent of the amount borrowed by KFA to the Banks. Neither are Banks willing to take money and neither is the ED willing to release their attachments which they did at the behest of the Banks. I wish the FM would listen in this time of crisis," Mallya said in a series of tweets. Paper-based device to detect Covid-19 in wastewater of communities: Study. Researchers are working on a test to detect the novel coronavirus in the wastewater of communities infected with the virus, a development that can help curtail COVID-19 spread via contaminated water sources.
According to the scientists, including those from the Cranfield Water Science Institute in the UK, this approach may provide an effective way to predict the potential spread of the virus by picking up signatures of it in faeces and urine from disease carriers that enter water systems. The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, noted that rapid testing kits using paper-based devices could be used on-site at wastewater treatment plants.
It said such kits can be applied to trace sources and determine whether there are potential Covid-19 carriers in local areas. The study noted that the paper device is folded and unfolded in steps to filter the genetic material of pathogens from wastewater samples. From ventilators to testing kits, IITs step up to fight Covid-19 outbreak. IITs across the country have joined the fight against Covid-19, activating their incubation centres to develop solutions that could help contain the virus. While some researchers are developing prototypes for ventilators to overcome their shortage, others have teamed up to develop testing kits. A team of innovators from IIT Kanpur’s incubator company Nocca Robotics has developed a ventilator prototype, currently in the testing phase. “Our next step is to test the prototype and get it validated with the doctors to fine-tune the design, which will take at least two more weeks. Once the testing is over, we will begin mass-scale manufacturing,” said Abhay Karandikar, director of IIT Kanpur.
Home quarantined in Karnataka asked to send selfies to govt every hour. The home quarantined coronavirus suspects and patients will have to send their selfies on the Quarantine Watch, a mobile application developed by Karnataka government's revenue department to keep a track of the isolated persons. The government warned the home quarantined people that they will be sent to mass quarantine centres if they violate the rule. In a press release, Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar directed all home quarantined persons to enroll themselves and send their selfies on an hourly basis.
"All persons under order of Home Quarantine shall send their selfie to government every one hour from home," Sudhakar said in a press release. The selfie sent from the Quarantine Watch contains GSP coordinates, which makes the location of the person known. Even those sending wrong pictures to mislead the team monitoring them will be shifted to the mass quarantine. Indian start-up QNu Labs debuts on global quantum computing stage. An Indian company called QNu Labs aims to be a global player in the futuristic field of quantum computing, after becoming the world’s fourth company to build a deployable “Quantum-Safe Security” product.
Only three companies worldwide can boast of such an achievement. Quantum-Safe Security is regarded as a relatively small, billion-dollar niche in the overall field of quantum computing, which could soon be a trillion-dollar industry. The Bengaluru-based QNu Labs has matched global firms QuintessenceLabs, ID Quantique, and Toshiba in developing Quantum-Safe Security solutions.
Huawei offers India Chinese tech to curb, monitor spread of coronavirus. Telecom giant Huawei has offered India the technologies that it deployed in China's Hubei province to curb and monitor spread of coronavirus. The company used 5G network there to deploy the technical solutions that included remote temperature measurement, diagnosis and treatment. Wuhan, the epicentre of coronavirus, is the capital of Hubei province. Covid-19: Railways to donate Rs 151 cr to PM-CARES Fund, says Piyush Goyal. The Railway ministry will donate Rs 151 crore to PM-CARES fund to help in combating the coronavirus threat, Union minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday. "Following PM's call, I, Suresh Angadi, will donate one month's salary, 13 lakh rly, PSU employees will donate one day's salary, equal to Rs 151 cr to PM-CARES fund," Goyal, who is the Railway minister, tweeted. ALSO READ: Covid-19: Contribution by firms to PM-CARES Fund to qualify as CSR spending The Union government has set up a public charitable trust under the name of Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chairman of the trust and its members include Defence minister, Home minister and Finance Minister. No knocking doors: In lockdown, India Post calls to say you've got mail. At this time of the year, post offices are noisy with agents hard-selling a range of tax-saving schemes to the last-minute investors. The week gone by was different. On Friday afternoon, at the ITO Post Office across the normally buzzing Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, a masked guard curtly said the timing had been changed to 10 am to 1 pm. With judiciary embracing technology, time to push dispute resolution online. In the light of the pandemic-induced lockdown, the Supreme Court recently announced hearings would now take place in urgent matters through video conferencing. Legal experts see this as a spark that could usher in a large-scale infusion of technology in the justice system — a silver lining to the ominous Covid-19 pandemic cloud.
Way back in 2005, an e-Committee established by the Supreme Court for planning the implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in the judiciary recognised an “urgent need of re-engineering” of the judicial processes and ICT enablement as “mission-critical”. PMO sets up 10 high-level panels to ramp up health care, lift economy. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Sunday constituted 10 different high-level committees to suggest measures to ramp up healthcare, put the economy back on track, reduce pain and misery of people as quickly as possible post 21-day lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Seal border to stop migrant workers: Centre issues advisory to states.
Fearing renewed surge of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases by the movement of migrant labour, a panicky central government cracked down hard on state administrations across India, including some run by the Bharatiya Janata Party, for allowing migrants to move across cities and highways and ordered that not only should labour stay where it is, but that the administration must take steps to ensure its well-being in situ. Novartis CEO says Malaria drug biggest hope against coronavirus: Newspaper. Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said his Sandoz generics unit's malaria, lupus and arthritis drug hydroxychloroquine is the company's biggest hope against the coronavirus, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday. Barricaded, warned of quarantine: Migrant workers to be stopped at borders. Covid-19: If we don't follow lockdown, we'll fail as country, says Delhi CM.
If the lockdown is not followed, the country will fail to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday, as he assured migrant workers that his government has made food and boarding arrangements for them. Addressing a digital press conference here, the chief minister said the mantra to make the 21-day nationwide lockdown successful was to "stay where you are" just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had requested. 49-day lockdown necessary to stop coronavirus resurgence in India: Study. Two Indian-origin researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK have come up with a new mathematical model that predicts a flat 49-day nationwide lockdown -- or sustained lockdown with periodic relaxation extending over two months -- may be necessary to prevent Covid-19 resurgence in India.
PM interacting with 200 people daily for first-hand updates on coronavirus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with over 200 people on a daily basis to get a first-hand feedback on India's fight against the coronavirus, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on Sunday. It said the prime minister's interactions include phone calls to governors, chief ministers and state health ministers. Modi also reaches out to doctors, nurses, health workers and sanitation staff in various parts of the country over the phone "to encourage them and pay gratitude to their yeomen service to the nation and society", a statement issued by the PMO said.
Covid-19: DGCA extends validity of pilots' licences nearing expiry. India's aviation regulator DGCA on Friday extended the validity of pilots' licences that were nearing expiry by 90 days, noting that they were facing issues in completing various requirements due to the restrictions imposed to curb the COVID-19 outbreak. Similarly, the regulator has also extended the validity of medical assessment certificates, aircraft rating certificates, skill test certificates, etc, for a period of 90 days. Coal power plant capacity falls in India, Paris Agreement goal still far. Coronavirus: ITC's Sanjiv Puri lines up Rs 150 crore contingency fund. RBI pulled out its bazooka to tackle Covid-19 slowdown: Experts on rate cut. Covid-19 relief: RBI cuts repo 75 bps; defers term-loan EMIs for 3 months. New-age warriors against coronavirus: Robots, drones, chatbots, apps. How start-ups are spotting unhappy consumers and addressing their needs. Covid-19: IIT Delhi makes anti-infection fabric to curb hospital infections.
Economic growth may fall to 2.6% in FY21 during lockdown: SBI Ecowrap. Opposition welcomes coronavirus relief package, but won't give full marks. Global response to coronavirus has to be effective: PM Modi tells G20. Coronavirus: Banks offer fresh lines of credit to SME firms amid lockdown. Covid-19 crisis: UBI sets up emergency funding window for corporates, MSMEs. Govt's steps to ease NBFC liquidity crisis too short-term: Fitch report. Post coronavirus lockdown, industrial demand for power plummets by 30% Covid-19 relief: FM announces Rs 1.7 trn plan for poor, migrant workers.
Ram temple in Ayodhya: Trust's meeting postponed due to Covid-19 lockdown. Covid-19 lockdown: Hundreds stranded at Andhra Pradesh-Telangana borders. Delhi police include online delivery companies in 'essential services' list. Covid-19 hit supply chain returning to normal, but demand a worry: Nadella. War on Covid-19: An app that traces whereabouts and rewards self-isolation. Coronavirus is pushing usage, but hurting ads business adversely: Facebook. Coronavirus is pushing usage, but hurting ads business adversely: Facebook. Cybersecurity experts come together to fight coronavirus-related hacking.
Coronavirus scare: Lockdowns will not help unless you know these things. Covid-19: FIR against Coca Cola plant in Himachal for flouting lockdown. Odisha CM donates three-month salary to help coronavirus-affected people. Coronavirus lockdown: Police vacate Shaheen Bagh protesters after 3 months. Shaheed Diwas: Modi, Amit Shah and Kejriwal pay tribute to freedom fighters. Coronavirus: Breath tests suspended for air traffic controllers till Friday. Coronavirus: UP defers Rs 150 cr plan to buy 160,000 tablet computers. Coronavirus: WB man with no travel history abroad dies, first in state. Maharashtra coronavirus curfew starts midnight; 'won't tolerate crowds' Govt actively dealing with Covid-19, even critics laud its efforts: SC.
Need for non-economic globalisation: Lessons from the Coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus: Delhi govt will grant parole to prisoners to decongest jails. Domestic flights to be suspended as India strengthens coronavirus lockdown. War on Covid-19: RIL to make face masks and other gear; import test kits. Shivraj Singh Chouhan likely to take oath as Madhya Pradesh CM today. Heat on govt to end Parliament session over self-quarantine by Raje, MP son.
Maharashtra in partial lock down; shops & offices in Mumbai, Pune shut. Coronavirus: UP warns against hoarding and black marketing of food items. PM Modi discusses ways to check spread of coronavirus with chief ministers. Over 175,000 rapes in India from 2014-18, MP reported highest cases: NCRB. Coronavirus infections have not reached community level: Harsh Vardhan. Coronavirus: Gujarat records five cases in two days, 23 results awaited. E-tailers helping states continue with services during coronavirus pandemic. Ram temple 'Bhoomi pujan' likely on April 30; PM Modi, RSS chief invited. Three pillars of work-from-home: Stay connected, stay productive, stay fit. Chhattisgarh under prohibitory cover as state reports first Covid-19 case. Coronavirus outbreak: Everything you need to know about social distancing. India vulnerable to communicable diseases, policymakers to feel the heat.
Govt scales up coronavirus fight, asks private firms to work from home. US freezes all visa services worldwide to halt coronavirus spread. Union Home Ministry gives 60-day exemption to NGOs to file annual returns. Covid-19: Centre tells employees to work from home, staggers working hours. Govt blocks roads in Kashmir after emergence of first coronavirus case. Covid-19: AIIMS doctors use self-made masks, sanitisers to tackle shortage. Dating in the time of coronavirus: Chat online and meet much later. BJP-led Uttarakhand govt abolishes quota in promotion for employees. Surat's diamond and textile units to remain open amid coronavirus, slowdown. Ramdev's tips to ward off coronavirus anger health professionals. Vaishno Devi Yatra suspended; interstate buses barred in Jammu, Kashmir. Nirbhaya case: HC reserves order; convict claims was absent during incident. Coronavirus Update: Govt issues guidelines for management of dead bodies infected with Covid-19.
Govt, ICMR issue guidelines for private laboratories to test for Covid-19. No community transmission yet, 500 samples test negative for Covid-19: ICMR. Adityanath completes 3 yrs as CM, flags UP's image as top achievement. Govt guidelines for notifying virus-affected people by pvt institutions. Coronavirus: Govt issues advisory on social distancing to contain outbreak. Covid-19 forces NRAI to ask over 500,000 eateries to shut down till Mar 31. Bill to decriminalise minor procedural lapses introduced in Lok Sabha. Covid-19: Govt now bans passengers from Afghanistan, Philippines, Malaysia. Afghan govt delays plan to free Taliban prisoners, puts peace deal at risk. Global stocks plunge, dollar slides as Fed's emergency cut spooks investors.