Cigarette smuggling during lockown

Industry chamber Ficci's arm on Monday said several cases of seizures by enforcement agencies of smuggled imported cigarettes reported in the last few months indicate a spike in cigarette smuggling during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Ficci Cascade (Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting Activities Destroying the Economy), said the seizure of foreign brand cigarettes worth Rs 11.88 crore from a container at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Navi Mumbai on June 12, by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is one of the biggest seizures since lockdown.

'The trend is nationwide, with seizures intercepted via road transport, in cargo and passenger luggage,' Ficci Cascade said in a statement.

Expressing concern Ficci Cascade chairman Anil Rajput said, 'cigarette smuggling is a big racket across the globe and India continues to remain a hot bed for this menace. Even as the country is grappling with the coronavirus crisis, the seizures of such goods remain high.'

India saw a jump of over 11,000 novel coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day on Monday, taking the total number of infections to over 3.32 lakh, while the toll rose to 9,520 with 325 more deaths, the health ministry said.

There are 1,53,106 active cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), while 1,69,797 people have recovered and a patient has migrated, according to the ministry data updated in the morning.

Therefore, 51.07 per cent of the patients have recovered so far, an official said.

The number of confirmed cases rose to 3,32,424 with 11,502 new infections in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

As many as 120 out of the 325 more deaths were from Maharashtra, followed by 56 from Delhi, 38 from Tamil Nadu and 29 in Gujarat. There were 14 more fatalities in Uttar Pradesh, 12 each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, and 10 each in Rajasthan and Haryana.

Five Covid-19 deaths were reported from Karnataka, followed by four in Jammu and Kashmir, three each in Telangana and Puducherry, and two each in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab.

A person each succumbed to the infection in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha.

India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling Covid-19 data from all over the world, India is in the ninth position in terms of death toll.

Of the total 9,520 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,950 fatalities, followed 1,477 by Gujarat and 1,327 in Delhi.

The toll from the pandemic rose to 475 in West Bengal, 459 in Madhya Pradesh, 435 in Tamil Nadu and 399 in Uttar Pradesh. There have been 292 Covid-19 deaths in Rajasthan and 185 in Telangana.

The number of fatalities reached 88 in Haryana, 86 in Karnataka, 84 in Andhra Pradesh, and 67 in Punjab. Jammu and Kashmir has reported 59 Covid-19 deaths, followed by 39 in Bihar, 24 in Uttarakhand and 19 in Kerala.

Odisha registered 11 coronavirus deaths so far, followed by eight each in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam, and seven in Himachal Pradesh.

Five people have succumbed to the contagion in Chandigarh and Puducherry, and one each in Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh, the ministry said.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, it added.

The maximum number of cases are from Maharashtra with 1,07,958 infections, followed by 44,661 in Tamil Nadu, 41,182 in Delhi and 23,544 in Gujarat.

The tally rose to 13,615 in Uttar Pradesh, 12,694 in Rajasthan and 11,087 in West Bengal.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 10,802 in Madhya Pradesh, 7,208 in Haryana, 7,000 in Karnataka, and 6,470 in Bihar.

As many as 6,163 people have contracted the deadly disease in Andhra Pradesh, followed by 5,041 in Jammu and Kashmir, 4,974 in Telangana, 4,049 in Assam and 3,909 in Odisha.

There are 3,140 cases of the pathogen in Punjab and 2,461 in Kerala, while 1,819 people have been infected in Uttarakhand and 1,745 in Jharkhand.

A total of 1,662 people are afflicted with the disease in Chhattisgarh, followed by 1,076 in Tripura, 564 in Goa and 518 in Himachal Pradesh.

The number of coronavirus cases rose to 458 in Manipur, 549 in Ladakh and 352 in Chandigarh.

Puducherry has registered 194 Covid-19 cases so far, followed by 168 in Nagaland, 112 in Mizoram and 91 in Arunachal Pradesh.

Sikkim has 68 Covid-19 cases, while there are 44 infections in Meghalaya and 38 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have registered 36 Covid-19 cases so far.

The figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research, the ministry said, adding that 6,972 cases were being reassigned to states.

Statewise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

Three entire block containment zone in Tripura

With Sepahijala district reporting a spike in the number of Covidd-19 cases, the Tripura government has declared three entire blocks as 'containment zones' to check the infection, officials said on Monday.

Of the total 1046 COVID-19 cases in Tripura so far, Sepahijala district has reported 45 per cent of the cases, officials said, adding that of the 45 new cases detected in the state on Sunday, 44 were from Sepahijala district.

The notification declaring the three entire blocks Kathalia, Boxanagaar and Nalchhar as containment zones was issued on Sunday to restrict the movement of people outside their homes.

The COVID in-charge of Sepahijala district, Abhiram Debbarma said that the notification was issued because of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the district and especially in the three blocks.

He said that proper enforcement of 'containment zones' will help control the alarming Covid situation in the district.

State education minister Ratan Lal Nath on Monday said earlier 29 areas in the state were declared as containment zones and now three entire blocks in Sepahijala district have been declared as containment zones.

J&K: 18-year-old youngest virus victim

An 18-year-old man succumbed to Covid-19 in Srinagar on Monday, becoming the youngest person to die of the disease in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

The man, a resident of Handwara area of north Kashmir's Kupwara district, was admitted to the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital on June 12 as a medico-legal case involving assault, the officials said.

His swab sample for the novel coronavirus was taken the next day which came back positive, they said, adding that he died around 3 am.

He had serious head injuries besides bilateral pneumonia, they said.

With the fresh death, the toll due to COVID-19 in the union territory has risen to 61.