India confirmed 5,734 cases of the novel coronavirus, with 5,095 patients currently under treatment, the health ministry’s Thursday morning update said. The death toll has gone up to 166.
The ministry’s death toll varied from the Press Trust of India’s tally of 181, collated from data provided by state governments.
Delhi sealed over 20 hotspots in the capital while Uttar Pradesh, Mumbai and Pune have made face masks mandatory in public places.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also announced that it was sealing the Dharavi area.
What you need to know today:
1. 540 new cases in last 24 hours: Health Ministry
2. Coronavirus has ‘drastically altered’ India’s growth outlook: RBI
The outlook for India’s economic recovery has been sharply altered by the coronavirus outbreak, the RBI said in its Monetary Policy Report. “Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, the outlook for growth for 2020-21 was looking up,” the Reserve Bank of India said.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically altered this outlook. The global economy is expected to slump into recession in 2020, as post-COVID projections indicate.” - Reuters
3. BMC Says No Vendors, Hawkers In Dharavi Containment Area
Dharavi, a slum in Mumbai that is home to more than 1 million people, has been made a containment zone. Now the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has said it would not even allow shops to remain open or hawkers or vendors.
The BMC said it will go door to door with supply of essentials in the area.
4. Farmers From MP, Bihar, Haryana Say They’re In Dire Straights
In multiple tweets since Wednesday morning, ANI has been reporting that farmers are facing a terrible time harvesting their crops because of lack of labour due to the lockdown.
A farmer from Patna told ANI, “Even elder members are helping us. Most of our crops were destroyed due to bad weather this year, so we must save what is left.
It was the same story in Punjab.
Here’s what they told ANI:
5. Delhi’s Bengali Market Sealed
Bengali Market in Central Delhi has been sealed after three people tested positive for coronavirus, NDTV reported on Thursday.
The report said 35 workers were found on the rooftop of a pastry shop at Bengali Market and two showed symptoms. The workers have now been quarantined at a shelter home.
An FIR has been filed against Bengali Pastry Shop. The shop said workers who were unable to return to their homes were provided shelter, food and basic essentials under hygienic conditions to survive comfortably.
The Delhi government had on Wednesday announced a list of 20 other hotspots that have been sealed in the capital.
6. Odisha Extends Lockdown To April 30
The Odisha government said it had decided to extend the ongoing lockdown in the state till April 30.
Schools and other educational institutions will remain closed till June 17, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced after a video conference with his ministers.
Patnaik said the state has also urged the Centre to stop train and flight services to Odisha till April 30.
The state has recorded 44 positive cases of coronavirus so far.
7. 162 New Cases In Maharashtra, Total 1297
8. Man Killed In Delhi’s Bawana Over Rumours Of Conspiracy To Spread COVID-19
A 22-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death in Delhi’s Bawana after he was suspected of a conspiracy to spread COVID-19, police told PTI on Wednesday.
The victim has been identified as Mehboob Ali, a resident of Harewali village in Bawana, they said.
Police said Ali had gone to Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh for a Tablighi Jamaat conference and returned to the national capital in a truck of vegetables after 45 days. He was held at the Azadpur vegetable market and released after a medical examination.
Police said when he reached his village, rumours spread that Ali had a plan to spread coronavirus. He was thrashed in the fields on Sunday. He was rushed to a hospital by police where he died, a senior police officer said.
Police registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and arrested three persons, they added. (PTI)
9. Jharkhand Reports First Covid-19 Death
10. Two Women Doctors Of Safdarjung Hospital Attacked
Two women resident doctors of Safdarjung Hospital were allegedly assaulted on Wednesday by a 42-year-old man who accused them of “spreading” COVID-19 in Gautam Nagar area, Safdarjung RDA president told PTI.
According to Manish, Safdarjung resident doctors’ association (RDA) president, the incident happened around 9.30 pm when the two doctors had stepped out of their houses to buy fruits in the area. The two doctors of the central government hospital are not on COVID-19 duty, he said.
“A local resident, who was in the vicinity, asked them to stay away from the fruit stall, saying you doctors bring the infection from the hospital and are spreading it here,” Manish told PTI.
When the doctors sought to reason with him, the man allegedly twisted their hands and pushed them back and fled, he said, adding that they “have approached police in this regard”.
11. Trump Thanks Modi For Hydroxychloroquine Export
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing export of Hydroxychloroquine.
“I want to thank Prime Minister Modi of India for allowing us to have what we requested for the problem arose and he was terrific. We will remember it,” Trump told reporters at his daily White House news conference on coronavirus.
In a tweet, hours earlier, Trump had said:
12. Cases Against Rohingya Muslims Dropped
Cases against scores of Rohingya Muslims detained after fleeing Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state have been dropped, as fears grow of a potential coronavirus outbreak in the country’s overcrowded prisons, AFP reported.
On Wednesday a court suddenly dropped cases against two of the largest groups of arrested Rohingya, totalling 128 people.
“Charges against both adults and children are withdrawn and they are to be released,” judge Khin Myat Myat Htun told Pathein court in Ayeyarwady Region.
An AFP reporter confirmed four buses carrying the Rohingya and bound for Yangon left Pathein prison early Thursday morning.
Scores more are set to be released by other courts and sent back to Rakhine, a Rohingya activist told AFP.
It is unclear where the Rohingya will be taken in Rakhine and authorities have not yet given the reason for their sudden liberation.