People watch the live telecast of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a 21-day India lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Kolkata on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. (Photo: PTI)
6 years ago
Mar 25, 2020
Coronavirus India Lockdown News Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a 21-day India lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus in India. Here are the latest news and updates on the developing situation.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday set up a Covid-19 relief fund to be utilised for the welfare of people in distress due to coronavirus. He asked people to "donate generously".
According to a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office, the relief fund account would enable people to make contributions digitally through various payment gateways facilitating quick and easy transfer. The chief minister also called upon the people to work towards helping their Punjabi fellows.
He said the people's contribution to the fund would be a welfare step for the poor and the under-privileged during the coronavirus lockdown period.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of a 21-day India lockdown, the Indian Railways said that its suspension of all passenger trains will continue till April 14. Freight movement will continue to carry essential commodities across the country.
The railways had on Sunday announced suspension of all its passenger services from March 22 midnight to March 31 amid concerns that coronavirus-infected passengers were spreading the virus further.
The suspensions also included all suburban train services.
Passengers can claim a full refund for all trains cancelled in this period till June 21.
In view of the 21-day India lockdown that comes into effect midnight, Supreme Court has adjourned all cases which were listed to take place via video conferencing on Wednesday.
The process for framing of the National Population Register and 2021 Census have been deferred indefinitely after the Prime Minister's announcement of the 21-day India shutdown, government officials said.
The cancellation of Indian Premier League looks inevitable after Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared a 21-day lockdown to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
When the Board for Control of Cricket in India had postponed IPL 2020 to April 15 earlier this month, it had said hosting the tournament would only come into the picture if the situation around the pandemic improves. The situation has only worsened since then with Covid-19 cases crossing the 500-mark in India.
Speaking to PTI, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said, "I can't say anything at the moment. We are at the same place where we were on the day we postponed. Nothing has changed in the last 10 days. So, I don't have an answer to it. Status quo remains.”
The league was originally scheduled to start on March 29 in Mumbai.
He said by converging around shops, people are risking the spread of Covid-19, while asserting that Centre and state governments will ensure all essentials are available. "Essential commodities, medicines etc. would be available. Centre and various state governments will work in close coordination to ensure this," he said.
"Together, we will fight Covid-19 and create a healthier India," he said.
All transport services—rail, air road, will be suspended—as part of the 21-day India lockdown that begins from midnight today, according to home minstry guidelines. Transportation for essential goods, fire, law and other emergency services, will however continue.
SGX Nifty futures fell 3.5 percent after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a full lockdown in India for 21 days to contain the spread of coronavirus infections. The lockdown comes into effect midnight.
The prime minister said his government has allocated an extra Rs 15,000 crore to the country's healthcare infrastructure to fight Covid-19.
“If we listen to the experts we know that 21 days are crucial to break the cycle of transmission,” Modi said in his address to the nation today. “For a few days forget what it means to go out. Today’s decision of a nationwide lockdown draws a line outside your home.”
The Indian Council of Medical Research said that it has started the validation of commercial testing kits for Covid-19.
We have received 15 kits so far and out of that three kits have been approved so far, ICMR Chief Epidemiologist RR Gangakhedkar said in a press briefing. Out of the 3 approved, one is a domestic manufacturer.
Besides, the apex health research body has also started approving private labs for testing. It has, till date, selected 22 private labs that have a network of 15,000 collection centres across India.
There are 118 testing labs active in testing for coronavirus. These labs are capable of testing 12,000 samples a day.
With this access to testing in the county has tremendously increased, Gangakhedkar said.
The cabinet secretary has requested all state chief secretaries to pull all resources for upgrading their health infrastructure and ensure that all medical institutes and dedicated Covid-19 hospitals have the required equipment.
Gujarat, Assam, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa are some of the states that have already started work to have a dedicated hospital for Covid-19, joint secretary of health ministry Lav Agarwal said in the daily press briefing. Procurement initiative has also started to ensure that there is no shortage of any essential equipments, he said.
It was also decided at a cabinet secretary level meeting that research-related organisations in India like the DRDO will be roped in to promote indigenous manufacturing and provide ventilators in sufficient quantity, Agarwal said. State governments have also been asked to place order of any equipments that is needed at this point.
Santosh Kumar Gangwar, MoS Ministry of Labour and Employment has issued an advisory to all states & UTs to transfer funds in the account of construction workers through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) mode from the cess fund collected by the Labour Welfare Boards. #COVID19pic.twitter.com/ewuaD5XB5G
As people continue to venture out despite lockdown, the Centre has advised state governments and union territory administrations to impose curfew wherever necessary in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, officials said on Tuesday.
A top functionary of the central government has called up some of the chief ministers and apprised them of the necessity of imposing the curfew if people continue to venture out of their homes.
The state governments and the union territory administrations have been advised to impose curfew wherever necessary as many people continue to go out of their homes despite the lockdown ordered to check the spread of the virus, a government official told PTI.
The state governments have been conveyed that public gatherings could lead to escalation of the prevailing situation as so far nearly 500 positive cases have been reported from different parts of the country.
"Now, it is up to the state governments to take action as per the local situation and give necessary instructions to the district magistrates who have the powers to impose curfew," the official said.
The move came as 32 states and union territories announced complete lockdown to deal with the pandemic. A few states - Punjab and Maharashtra - and a UT - Puducherry - have already declared curfew in their respective areas.
The union territory administration on Sunday announced a lockdown across Jammu & Kashmir till March 31 as part of its efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The administration said 16 essential services, including healthcare personnel, have been exempted from the restrictions.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed all states and union territories to ensure "operational continuity" of print and electronic media in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
In a letter to the chief secretaries of all states and union territories on March 23, the ministry said robust and essential information dissemination networks like TV channels, news agencies "are of utmost importance to ensure timely and authentic information dissemination".
The Chhattisgarh-based relatives of a Covid-19 patient, who died in West Bengal, have been placed under home quarantine after it came to light that the deceased visited them last month, a health official said.
Soon after getting information about the deceased's travel history, at least 15 of his relatives staying in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh were identified on Monday and advised to stay in home isolation, he said.
The deceased visited Bilaspur last month and had met all these relatives. Their samples are being taken for testing and they are under observation, the official said.
The 57-year-old Covid-19 patient, who was a resident of Dumdum in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, died at a private hospital there on Monday.
Meanwhile, samples of 10 people tested for possible exposure to novel coronavirus in Chhattisgarh have returned negative while reports of six others are awaited, the health official said.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India now stands at 492, according to the Health Ministry’s update this morning, with nine deaths and 36 people cured or discharged.
Much of India remains huddled in lockdown and airlines prepare to stop passenger operations in desperate measures to curtail movement of people and curb further spread of the highly infectious Covid-19.
India, which has 492 confirmed cases now, has seen its infections more than double in the past four days. Just on March 19, it had reported 169 cases. The country has also seen nine deaths--the most recent one in Himachal Pradesh.
As the infections kept the upward trajectory, state governments decided to take extraordinary measures and extend restrictions.
Thirty out of the 36 states and union territories in India have imposed a complete lockdown. Only Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are the ones that have announced partial lockdown of some areas. Lakshwadeep has only announced restrictions on some activities. Sikkim and Mizoram have not issued any order yet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked state governments to ensure that rules and regulations of the coronavirus lockdown are enforced as he noted that many people are not taking the measure seriously. The central government has also said that there will be legal action against violators of the lockdown.
