At least 13 Chief Ministers of states have asked for the lockdown to be extended during a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. "I am available 24x7. Any chief minister can speak to me and give suggestions (on COVID-19) anytime. We should stand together shoulder-to-shoulder," PM Modi assured the chief ministers in the meeting that lasted four hours. PM Modi took feedback from the chief ministers as the country entered 17th day of the three-week lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The highly infectious novel coronavirus has killed 242 people across the country so far, while the total number of positive cases have gone up to 7,529. The highest number of cases has been reported from Maharashtra, with 1,364 people testing positive for the novel coronavirus that was first detected in China in December. A novel virus is one that has not been previously identified in humans.
Here are the Live Updates on Coronavirus Pandemic:
BJP on Saturday alleged that the West Bengal government is suppressing information on the number of coronavirus cases in the state and urged Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to take up the issue with the Trinamool Congress-led dispensation to ensure that accurate data is disseminated.
The lockdown need not be extended beyond April 30 if people adhere to norms in place to combat the coronavirus outbreak, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Saturday, reported PTI.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier in the day announced extending the lockdown in the state till April 30.
The Easter midnight prayers were held at "Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church" in Panaji without an assembled congregation keeping with the restrictions in place due to the nationwide lockdown.
Speaking to ANI, Father Walter de Sa, Parish Priest said that although Easter was a joyous occasion, celebrating it without the congregation was a painful experience.
Seven more people tested positive for coronavirus from Korba in Chhattisgarh, according to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur, reported ANI. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Chhattisgarh has now reached 25.
However, 10 patients have been cured and discharged out of the 25 total cases.
Police in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara have registered a case against a man for concealing his travel history to Delhi's Nizamuddin as the threat of coronavirus looms large in the region.
The accused got back home on March 22 and kept roaming in his immediate neighbourhood for more than 15 days, according to the Kupwara police. The authorities have declared his residential area as a red zone, reported ANI.
At least six employees of the iconic Taj Mahal Palace and Taj Mahal Tower hotel in south Mumbai's Colaba have tested positive for coronavirus, a doctor attached to a private hospital said on Saturday.
Uttar Pradesh police have announced a cash reward Rs 5,000 for those with information about Tablighi Jamaat members who are yet to report to the authorities in Azamgarh, police said on Saturday.
A TikTok user from Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, who made videos mocking the use of masks to prevent coronavirus infection, has now tested positive for the virus.
No fresh case of coronavirus infection was reported in Noida and Greater Noida on Saturday, keeping the tally at 64, even as 5.62 lakh people have been screened for COVID-19 so far in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said, reported PTI.
With Bhubaneswar emerging as a coronavirus hotspot in Odisha, the state government on Saturday opened five primary schools across the state capital to function as COVID-19 testing centres, official sources
said.
All the schools, located in different corners of the state capital, started functioning as testing centres from 9 am on Saturday, an official said.
The medical teams also collected swab samples of targeted persons for conducting the COVID-19 tests.
With three more deaths, the death count of coronavirus positive patients in Gujarat rose to 22 on Saturday, a Health department official said.
While two of them died at civil hospital in Ahmedabad, another at SPV Hospital, said Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi.
One of the deceased was suffering from diabetes, Mr Ravi said.
With Bhubaneswar emerging as a coronavirus hotspot in Odisha, the state government on Saturday opened five primary schools across the state capital to function as COVID-19 testing centres, official sources said.
All the schools, located in different corners of the state capital, started functioning as testing centres from 9 am on Saturday, an official said.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami has favoured extension of lockdown to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by two weeks, based on expert committee recommendation, Chief Secretary K Shanmugam said on Saturday.
The top state official said Mr Palaniswami conveyed this to PM Modi in a video conference early today.
The COVID-19 cases went past the 400 mark to 405 in Andhra Pradesh with 24 new cases of the virus reported from 9 pm on Friday to 5 pm on Saturday.
In Guntur district alone 17 new cases were recorded, all related to the Tablighi Jamaat attendees contacts, while Kurnool too had five more.
Kadapa and Prakasam districts reported one new case each, a bulletin from the State Command Control Centre said.
With this, the total cases in Kurnool district shot up to 82 and in Guntur to 75, .
Meanwhile, a 28-year-old man in Krishna district, who tested positive for Coronavirus upon his return from Sweden on March 20, has recovered and been discharged from hospital, the bulletin said.
In all, 11 patients have recovered from the disease and been discharged from hospitals in different districts of the state.
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Saturday said the Chief Ministers of various states sought a financial package from the Centre as they were facing a fund crunch in the absence of any economic activity due to the ongoing lockdown.
He said the Chief Ministers also called for an extension of the 21-day nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.
The Prime Minister agreed, saying the country should exercise caution as regards lifting the lockdown while adding that going by the current situation, continuation of the restrictions is a must, the Congress leader said.
An orthopedic has filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking modification of the court's April 8 order on free Coronavirus tests in private labs.
The plea, filed by Kaushal Kant Mishra, says if the testing is made free for all, private labs will be overburdened financially and slow down.
Mr Mishra urged the court to allow private labs to do COVID-19 testing "as per the rates stipulated in the ICMR Advisory dated March 17".
He, however, said the labs can do the testing for the EWS categories with immediate reimbursement by the government.
A Congress MP from Kerala has approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to establish a specialised team to identify Indian citizens who are stranded in Gulf countries and require immediate evacuation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
M K Raghavan, a Member of Parliament (MP) from Kerala's Kozhikode constituency, has said in his plea that the Centre should also be directed to facilitate the evacuation of Indian citizens who cannot afford to travel back from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.
The petition has further sought a direction to the government to grant specific approval to special flights to bring back these citizens since many of the stranded persons are desirous of returning to India at their own cost.
Services at the Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI) here have been suspended till further notice in view of 21 people testing positive at the facility, officials said on Saturday.
The Delhi government-run facility was sanitised during the day and another round of sanitisation will take place on Monday, a senior official said.
"Admitted patients have been shifted to a private facility nearby and services at the facility have been temporarily suspended. So, till further notice, it will remain suspended," the senior official told PTI.
Highlights of PMO's statement after CMs' Meeting
- Chief Ministers suggest extension of Lockdown by two weeks
- Our mantra earlier was 'jaan hai to jahaan hai' but now is 'jaan bhi jahaan bhi': PM Modi
- Next 3-4 weeks critical to determine impact of steps taken till now to curb spread of the virus: PM Modi
- PM suggests specific measures for agriculture and allied sector including modification of APMC laws to facilitate sale of farm produce
- Aarogya Setu app is an essential tool in our fight against COVID-19, can subsequently act as e-pass to facilitate travel: PM Modi
- PM Modi condemns attacks on health professionals and incidents of misbehavior with students from North-East and Kashmir.
- PM Modi assures that the country has adequate supplies of essential medicines; gives a stern message against black marketing and hoarding.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was seen wearing a cotton scarf as a face cover during a video meet with chief ministers of different states this morning to discuss the way forward in fight against novel coronavirus or COVID-19, which has infected more than 7,400 people in India, killed at least 239.
Photos from the meeting showed PM Modi wearing a gamcha - a cotton scarf he usually wears - as a face cover for the first time in public since the COVID-19 outbreak was first reported. A few days back, he had urged BJP Varanasi chief Hansraj Vishwakarma to wrap the gamcha - a scarf usually worn by people in villages.
Masks should be for doctors and health workers and ordinary people should use gamcha or home made masks, he had said amid rising number of cases of COVID-19.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today stressed on saving both lives and the economy at a video conference with the chief ministers of 13 states. While discussing if the ongoing three-week lockdown to check the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus should be extended, he modified his previous remark and said, "Jaan bhi, jahaan bhi" (both lives and economy are important).
PM Modi, after the four-hour meeting, has indicated that the lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic would be extended by two weeks after considering the request of the chief ministers, who preferred a longer containment period. The lockdown was scheduled to end on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to extend the nationwide lockdown imposed to control the spread of the novel coronavirus is "correct", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today, after a video conference with PM Modi and chief ministers of several other states.
"Today, India's position is better than many developed countries because we started lockdown early. If it is stopped now, all gains would be lost. To consolidate, it is imp to extend it," Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.
Minutes earlier sources told NDTV that the Prime Minister had indicated an extension of the current lockdown, scheduled to end on Tuesday, as the situation is a "matter of concern".
Live on YouTube right now - https://t.co/UP6LdKmTNC
- Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) April 11, 2020
discussion with #DelhiGovtSchool teachers on transforming our homes into engaging classrooms for our children
'Every Home a school'
'Every parent a teacher' https://t.co/KrSDwW9Hc2
Tea gardens in Assam have started 'skeletal' operations after state government allowed tea planters to carry out essential works in the gardens during the 21-day nationwide lockdown."
Mumbai: Screening of Dharavi residents has begun from today. A team of 150 doctors, from Maharashtra Medical Association, is helping Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers in the process. #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/9OFwQBAL7y
- ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2020
Only 55,990 personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by those in the frontline in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic out of 70 lakh ordered by the centre have been supplied till date, documents accessed by NDTV shows. The number of N95 masks that have been supplied is a little over 21 lakh, though the centre has ordered for 1.01 crore such masks, the document show."
A city always bustling with commercial and socio-cultural activities, Indore has turned into the coronavirus infection hotspot in Madhya Pradesh, accounting for 27 of the state's 36 death due to the viral infection. The city has reported the highest death rate at 11% or over three times the national average, and accounts for more than half of the state's 451 COVID-19 cases."
With the number of coronavirus cases in the country rising dramatically - the biggest single-day spike came on Friday - it seems quite clear that air travel in the country will not be resumed any time soon."
Several Army veterans have expressed outrage after the parents of a 39-year-old decorated officer, a Shaurya Chakra winner, were forced to travel a distance of more than 2,600 km between Amritsar and Bengaluru by road to perform the last rites of their son."
Karnataka: Police personnel deployed and officials of a medical team are carrying out screening for #COVID19 near Shantinagar Nagshettykoppa in Hubli. The area has been sealed and declared a containment zone. pic.twitter.com/VlXrH3czfj
- ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2020
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked the centre to extend the pan-India lockdown till April 30 to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Kejriwal was among several chief ministers who participated in a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this afternoon to discuss whether the lockdown should end on Tuesday amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the country. India has 7,447 coronavirus cases; 239 have died."
#Watch | Karnataka BJP MLA throws mega birthday bash amid #COVID19 lockdown https://t.co/VLmU4zfvBU pic.twitter.com/LeOd0wSZKI
- NDTV (@ndtv) April 11, 2020
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today asked the centre to extend the pan-India lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic till April 30. Mr Kejriwal was among several chief ministers who participated in a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi this afternoon to discuss whether the lockdown would end on Tuesday and other strategies to fight the infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus. A novel virus is one that has not been previously identified in humans."
Amid rising number of coronavirus cases, a locality in central Delhi - Chandni Mahal - has reported three coronavirus or COVID-19 deaths in three days and at least 52 positive cases after 102 people were evacuated from 13 mosques earlier this week."
Parenting in the time of corona.
- AAP (@AamAadmiParty) April 11, 2020
Dy CM @msisodia along with teachers of Delhi's School will interact with parents and children at 3 PM via video conferencing. #ParentingInLockdown pic.twitter.com/VD5pjTdJGF
Yesterday in video-conferencing, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said that rapid testing kits have not arrived yet. We've placed order with the same vendor, with whom central govt has placed order. We've requested centre for it & placed direct order too: Delhi Health Min pic.twitter.com/Bx65JHV6UG
- ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2020
Salaam, a musical tribute to Corona Warriors fighting from the frontline to save our lives, courtesy @_MohitChauhan. #ThankYouCoronaWarriors pic.twitter.com/6u9X6trvNm
- BJP (@BJP4India) April 11, 2020
The economic activities in India and most of the world have come to a grinding halt because of coronavirus. Most of the major economies are in a state of complete shutdown to break the chain of the viral infection, which has infected over 1.5 million people across the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month announced a nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the virus. He, at an all-party meeting recently, said the lockdown may be extended. The big question is: How will the virus affect India economically? Dr Prannoy Roy discusses with former RBI chief Raghuram Rajan.
3 more #Coronavirus positive cases have been found in Lucknow: Dr Sudhir Singh, in-charge of isolation ward King George's Medical University (KGMU)
- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 11, 2020
Jammu and Kashmir: Police in Poonch is using drone to monitor the areas during #CoronavirusLockdown pic.twitter.com/mUPLlWPL4I
- ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2020
Download Aarogya Setu App and build a firewall around you against the Corona Virus!
- BJP (@BJP4India) April 11, 2020
Keep yourself safe, make India safer.#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/58idXZjdwU
3 new cases of #COVID19 in Jharkhand - 1 from Ranchi's Hindpiri, the other 2 from Koderma and Hazaribagh. Total number of positive cases in the state goes up to 17: Jharkhand Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni
- ANI (@ANI) April 11, 2020
Hundreds of migrant workers, stuck in Surat amid the lockdown went on a rampage on Friday night, setting many vehicles on fire, police said."
A Karnataka BJP MLA was seen celebrating his birthday on Friday with hundreds of supporters in brazen defiance of the ongoing nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus."