Government seeks interns from IIMs to help it in Covid-19-related work
The central government has sought interns from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other knowledge partners to help its empowered groups of officers responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a communique, the personnel ministry asked these institutes to provide MBA interns to support the empowered groups in data analysis and evidence-based policy inputs.
The government of India has constituted 11 empowered groups for ensuring a comprehensive and integrated response to the coronavirus pandemic.
'It has been decided with the approval of the competent authority that interns may be provided for a period of eight weeks from the date of joining to the said empowered groups,' the communique said.
The interns proposed by the IIMs and knowledge partners will be interviewed (remotely) and selected on the basis of their bio-data and experience, and interviews, it said.
The empowered groups will assign tasks and get outputs as required by the group from the interns, who will be working remotely on the work assigned to them, communique said.
The satisfactory completion of the internship shall be confirmed by the relevant empowered group or department concerned to which the interns are attached, the ministry said.
On receiving confirmation from the empowered groups, the interns will be issued certificates by the secretary of the department of personnel and training, it added.
'No stipend will be paid to the interns during their assignments,' the ministry said.
The request seeking interns has been sent to the 20 IIMs, including those in Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Ranchi, Raipur and Bodh Gaya.
Ensure non-Covid-19 patients get proper treatment, says Bombay HC
The Bombay High Court has said it is imperative that the Union government and the authorities in Maharashtra find an 'effective solution' to ensure 'non-Covod-19' patients are not denied medical treatment at a time when the focus is on fighting the coronavirus outbreak.
Justice K. R. Sriram made the observation on Thursday while hearing three different petitions highlighting the plight of people suffering from several chronic or serious ailments, who the pleas said, are being turned away from clinics and hospitals.
The petitions also highlight issues such as lack of adequate facilities and medical infrastructure in state, municipal-run, and private hospitals in current times.
The judge said the authorities must take a serious note of the issues and directed the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file a reply to the pleas by April 29.
Additional solicitor-general Anil Singh, the counsel for the Centre, told the high court that the Supreme court, too, was hearing a similar plea where the Union government would list necessary steps being taken.
Therefore, the Union government's reply was not required to be filed before the high court, Anil Singh said.
'I would expect the concerned to take these petitions very seriously and come (up) with an effective solution in their affidavits. Other respondents may also give their suggestions to the corporation/state government/central government,' Justice Sriram said.
Gambhir performs last rites of domestic help
India former opener Gautam Gambhir performed the last rites of his deceased domestic help after her mortal remains could not be sent to her home in Odisha due to the coronavirus-forced national lockdown.
Gambhir, also a Lok Sabha from the BJP, posted a tribute on his Twitter page for his employee Saraswati Patra, who was working at his residence for the past six years.
'Taking care of my little one can never be domestic help. She was family. Performing her last rites was my duty,' he tweeted.
'Always believed in dignity irrespective of caste, creed, religion or social status. Only way to create a better society. That's my idea of India! Om Shanti,' said the 38-year-old Gambhir, who played 58 Tests for India between 2004 and 2016.
Media reports in Odisha said the 49-year-old Patra hailed from a village in Jajpur district.
She was admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital a few days ago and was battling diabetes and high blood pressure for a long period. She breathed her last while undergoing treatment on April 21.
A vendor sorts books inside a shop, during the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, in Amritsar, Thursday, April 23, 2020. PTI
4-month-old dies in Kerala
A four-month-old baby girl, who had tested positive for Covid-19 and suffering from congenital heart disease, died in a hospital in Kozhikode on Friday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest, officials said.
The baby was admitted to the Medical College Hospital on April 21 with history of fever, cough, breathing difficulties and seizure and the end came at 6am, a medical bulletin said.
She hailed from Payyanad at Manjeri in Malappuram District.
Introduce health insurance scheme for scribes: Union minister Sarangi
Expressing concern over a large number of journalists in Mumbai testing positive for Covid-19, Union minister Pratap Sarangi on Friday urged the Centre to introduce a health insurance scheme for scribes covering the pandemic, in line with the one for frontline health workers.
In the last few weeks, several journalists in Chennai, Bhopal and other places have also tested positive, Sarangi said in a letter to Union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar.
'This unfortunate development has adversely affected the spirit of our fearless journalists for whom this is the worst and most dangerous kind of occupational hazard,' said Sarangi, the Union minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises.
He said scribes who have been infected with the deadly virus should be assured of quality treatment free of cost, besides job security and salary during their absence from duty.
'The government should make provision for a health insurance scheme for journalists... in the line with the insurance for frontline health workers,' Sarangi said in the letter to Javadekar.
He also called on the central government to come out with specific guidelines for all field journalists covering the pandemic, such as mandatory use of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and report from designated sanitised areas.
'... It is more important that they are able to discharge their duty freely and truthfully, counter disinformation and ensure that our people have access to crucial and timely information,' Sarangi said.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had on Wednesday issued an advisory to print and electronic media, urging journalists covering coronavirus-related incidents to take precautions.
NGT directs team to supervise scientific disposal of virus waste
The National Green Tribunal on Friday directed a team, comprising the Centre and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), to supervise handling and scientific disposal of Covid-19 waste in accordance with the guidelines.
The tribunal said that while the Bio Medical Waste Rules deal with waste generated in dealing with infectious diseases, the coronavirus pandemic has presented further challenge in terms of capacity to scientifically dispose of generated waste.
A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the chief secretary of states and Union territories to closely monitor the scientific storage, transport, handling, management and disposal of Covid-19 waste as its improper handling poses a grave threat rob environment and health of people.
'At the national level, let a high level task team of ministry of environment, health, urban development, Jal Shakti, defence and CPCB supervise the handling and scientific disposal of Covid-19 waste in accordance with the guidelines,' the bench said.
It also directed the state departments of environment and pollution control boards to ensure compliance of Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, and furnish action take report to CPCB.
Let CPCB take further steps and furnish a consolidated report to the NGT of the steps taken and the ground status as on May 3, 2020. The report may be furnished by June 15, it said.
Citizens feed bananas to cows during a nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Bengaluru, Wednesday, April 22, 2020. PTI
Five arrested for attack on health workers in Karnataka test positive
Five people among those arrested for the violence let loose on health workers in Padarayanapura last week have tested positive in a jail and consequently shifted to a hospital, Karnataka deputy chief minister Dr C. N. Ashwath Narayan said on Friday.
A total of 126 people had been arrested in connection with the attack on health workers and police in Padarayanapura on April 19 and all of them were lodged in the district jail in nearby Ramanagara area after being remanded to judicial custody by court.
'We had tested all the inmates. During screening, five of them were tested positive for Covid-19. All the five have been shifted to the hospital,' Narayan told reporters.
Two of the remand prisoners tested positive late on Thursday and three more on Friday, he said.
Health workers had gone to Padarayanapura for quarantining some people who were the primary and secondary contacts of coronavirus patients from the area when they were thrashed by a violent crowd.
Rajasthan reports 4 more deaths, 44 fresh cases
Four more coronavirus-related deaths and 44 new cases of the infection were reported in Rajasthan on Friday, bringing the number of cases to 2,008 and total deaths to 32, officials said.
All the four deceased COVID-19 patients are from Jaipur and aged 60 or above, they said.
'A 70-year-old woman, suffering from coronary artery disease, died on Friday. The woman, a resident of Adarsh Nagar, was admitted in SMS hospital on April 18 and had tested positive for COVID-19 on April 21,' Additional Chief Secretary (Medical & Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said.
Forty-four new COVID-19 cases were reported in the state on Friday.
28 people held for gathering in community panchayat in UP
As many as 28 people were arrested for participating in a community panchayat to resolve a marriage dispute in violation of lockdown norms in Jalalabad town of Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said on Friday.
Circle Officer Amit Saxena told reporters that a video had gone viral in which several people were seen participating in a community panchayat convened to resolve a marriage dispute that was in contravention of the restrictions.
A case was registered under Sections 188, 269 and 270 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act against 34 people with 28 of them arrested, he said.
The community panchayet was convened to resolve a marriage dispute and an order was passed for social boycott of Khurshid Qureshi who allegedly cancelled his son Javed's marriage fixed on April 22.
The marriage was apparently cancelled at the last moment as they could not get permisdion for the weding ceremony during the lockdown. During the gathering, 34 people participated and the order was passed against Khurshid.
UP reports 94 fresh Covid-19 cases, tally crosses 1600
The total number of Covid-19 positive cases in Uttar Pradesh rose to 1,604 on Friday, with 94 fresh cases being reported in a day, a health department official said.
Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said 57 of the state's 75 districts have so far reported coronavirus cases.
As many as 206 people have been discharged after treatment and the death count in the state stands at 24, Prasad said.
The fresh cases have been reported from 13 districts, he said.
As many as 80 of the 94 fresh cases have been reported from five districts, he said, adding that majority of cases are from the hotspot areas in the state.
The strategy of containment in the hotspot areas during the lockdown appears to be having a good impact and if it continues in this manner, it would help in checking the disease effectively,' he added.
Doctors conduct a mock drill inside a train coach converted into isolation ward for COVID 19 patients, during the nationwide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, at a railway station in Prayagraj, Friday, April 24, 2020 PTI
Lockdown restrictions tightened in Mathura
Lockdown restrictions were further tightened in Mathura on Friday, a day after another person tested positive for Covid-19, taking the district's tally to eight, officials said.
A 50-year-old man from the Lal Darwaja area of the old city tested positive for the virus on Thursday at a private hospital, District magistrate Sarvagya Ram Mishra said.
The patient's sample is being sent to the J.N. Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, for another round of test, he added.
All 10 members of his family have been quarantined and the area within a one-kilometre radius of Lal Darwaja has been placed under the coronavirus containment plan, Mishra said.
UP Government to bring back labourers stranded in other states
The Uttar Pradesh government will bring back labourers stranded in other states because of the coronavirus-forced lockdown, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday, and directed officials to prepare an action plan in this regard.
At a review meeting with senior officers in Lucknow, Adityananth asked them to prepare a list of people stuck in other states and have completed 14-day quarantine there so that they can return home in a phased manner.
'Uttar Pradesh will bring back its labourers stuck in other states. The labourers who have completed 14-day quarantine there should be brought back in a phased manner,' an official release quoted the chief minister as saying.
'The labourers, after being brought up to UP border by the states concerned after screening and testing, will be sent to their villages. But first, they will be kept in quarantine in their districts for 14 days. For this, arrangements should be made and the places should be sanitised,' the chief minister said.
Those who have completed 14-day quarantine in the state should be sent home with ration and Rs 1,000, he said.
A decision has been taken to send two senior officers to districts, which have 20 or more coronavirus cases. These officers will camp there for a week and ensure that lockdown is strictly followed, Adityanath said at the review meeting.
Stressing that spread of infections in hospitals and medical centres should be prevented, the chief minister said personal protective equipment kits, N-95 masks and sanitisers should be made available.
He said that the 'identification of hotspots' and policy regarding it is proving effective and this 'Uttar Pradesh model' is becoming popular in the country.
'It should be ensured that public movement is totally restricted in hotspot areas and only medical teams and sanitisation workers are allowed to enter,' Adityanath said.
The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 723 with 37 fatalities reported since Thursday evening, while the number of cases saw a record jump of 1,752 on Friday, the Union health ministry said.
The total number Covid-19 cases now stand at 23, 452. But Friday’s was the biggest single day spike since April 20 when 1,540 cases were reported.
The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 17,915 as 4,813 people were cured and discharged, and one patient migrated, the ministry said.
Thus, about 20.52 per cent of the cases have recovered so far, an official of the ministry said.
The Centre noted on Friday that the situation was particularly serious in major or emerging hotspot areas including Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Chennai.
In a statement, the Union home ministry said that violations of lockdown measures reported in some parts of the country posed a serious health hazard to the public leading to the spread of Covid-19.
'The situation is especially serious in major hotspot districts or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu),' the statement said.
The central government has already constituted 10 Inter-ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) for spot assessment of hotspot districts. Five of these teams are on inspections in Ahmedabad, Surat (both Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
The teams constituted earlier are in Mumbai, Pune (Maharashtra), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Jaipur (Rajasthan) and West Bengal (one team for Calcutta and adjoining districts and the other for North Bengal).
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that 23,502 samples had been confirmed positive as on April 24 at 9 am. The health ministry's figure of 23,452 cases include 77 foreign nationals.
Highest deaths in Maharashtra
A total of 37 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 14 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, nine from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telengana and one from Karnataka, the ministry's data stated.
Of the 723 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 283 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 112, Madhya Pradesh at 83, Delhi at 50, Andhra Pradesh at 29, Rajasthan at 27 and Telengana at 26.
The death toll reached 24 in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in Tamil Nadu while Karantaka has reported 18 deaths.
Punjab has registered 16 deaths while West Bengal has reported 15 fatalities.
The disease has claimed five lives in Jammu and Kashmir, while Kerala, Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.
Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.
However, a PTI tally of the figures reported by various states as on Friday showed 23,577 cases and 743 deaths in the country. There has been a lag in the Union health ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.
According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra. Details:
Maharashtra 6,430
Gujarat 2,624
Delhi 2,376
Rajasthan 1,964
Madhya Pradesh 1,852
Tamil Nadu 1,683
Uttar Pradesh 1,604
Telangana 984
Andhra Pradesh 955
West Bengal 514
Kerala 448
Karnataka 463
Jammu and Kashmir 463
Punjab 227
Haryana 272
Bihar 176
Odisha 90
Jharkhand: 55
Uttarakhand 47
Himachal Pradesh 40
Chhattisgarh 36
Assam 36
Chandigarh19
Andaman and Nicobar Islands 22
Ladak 18
Meghalaya 12 cases
Goa 7
Puducherry 7
Manipur 2
Tripura 2
Mizoram 1
Arunachal Pradesh 1
'Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR,' the ministry said on its website. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.
