India has confirmed 12,380 cases of the novel coronavirus of which 10,477 were currently under treatment, the Union health ministry’s update on Thursday said.
The ministry said death toll had reached 414 while 1,488 people had recovered from the infection so far.
What you need to know today:
1. 5 lakh rapid testing kits have arrived: ICMR
In the regular press briefing on Thursday, ICMR said that a total of 5 lakh rapid testing kits have arrived in India. Rapid testing, ICMR added, is not for early diagnosis but for surveillance purposes.
2. Six Covid-19 patients escape from Indore isolation centre
Eight people, including six coronavirus patients and two suspects, escaped from an isolation facility set up at a hotel in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, police told PTI.
“Eight people, in the age group of 40 to 60 years, escaped from the isolation center set up in a hotel in Rajendra Nagar area on Wednesday by scaling its rear end boundary wall. Police were on guard in front of the hotel,” City Superintendent of Police Puneet Gehlot said.
Three of these coronavirus patients were later traced by police and admitted to a private hospital. Two of them hail from Samastipur district of Bihar, while one belongs to Kota in Rajasthan, he said.
Search was on for the five others, all natives of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh, the official said.
Indore is a hotspot with 696 Covid-19 patients. Madhya Pradesh on Thursday reported 110 more persons testing coronavirus positive, taking the total in the state to 1,090.
3. Govt allows online sale of mobile phones, laptops, TV from April 20
Mobile phones, televisions, refrigerators, laptops and stationary items will be allowed to be sold through e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal from April 20 during the lockdown, a senior home ministry official told PTI.
However, the delivery vans of the e-commerce companies will need permission from authorities for plying on the roads.
The clarification came a day after Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued revised guidelines for the extended lockdown period till May 3.
4. Pizza delivery agent tests positive in South Delhi
A 19-year-old pizza delivery agent has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in south Delhi, NDTV reported.
The man had delivered pizzas till April 12 and had delivered to 72 families in south Delhi areas like Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar and Savitri Nagar, the report said.
“All these customers have already been contacted by government authorities,” Zomato said
The restaurant has been shut down, it said.
5. Delhi govt has arranged shelter for people living under bridge at Yamuna Ghat, says Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government has ordered shifting of the people living in the open at the Yamuna Ghat and arrangements have been made to provide them food and shelter.
The move follows report by Scroll which said hundreds of daily wage and migrant workers were living on the banks of Yamuna after three shelters had been set ablaze on Saturday.
Several workers told Scroll that no food had not been served by the authorities since Saturday – until Tuesday afternoon.
6. Govt criticises USCIRF’s response to report on segregation of Covid wards in Ahmedabad hospital
The External Affairs Ministry criticised the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and denied a report that COVID-19 patients in a hospital in Ahmedabad were being segregated on the basis of their religious identities, calling it “misguided”.
The USCIRF had on Wednesday expressed concerns over the way India is fighting the coronavirus pandemic following Indian Express’s report on the government-run hospital in Ahmedabad.
MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: “As if its peremptory commentary on religious freedom in India is not enough, the USCIRF is now spreading misguided reports on the professional medical protocols followed to deal with spread of COVID-19 in India.”
Srivastava said the USCIRF “must stop adding religious colour to our national goal of fighting the pandemic and distract from larger efforts”.
7. Assam says it’s the first state to procure PPE kits from China
Assam received a shipment of 50,000 PPE kits from China on Wednesday night.
“The Indian government as well as many countries across the world have been procuring PPE kits from China. We are the first state government to import the kits directly from China. Even the US is procuring from China,” the state’s health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told NDTV.
8. Noida man shot at for coughing during ludo game, says police
A 25-year-old man in Greater Noida was shot during a ludo game by a fellow villager who accused him of “trying to spread the disease”, according to police.
The incident occurred around 9 pm on Tuesday in Dayanagar village under Jarcha police station, where four people, including the man who received gunshot injuries, were playing the board game.
The injured man, Prashant Singh who goes by the name Pravesh, was hospitalised, and is now out of danger, while the accused, Jai Veer Singh also known as Gullu (30), is yet to be arrested, the police told PTI.
9. Tablighi Jamaat leader booked for culpable homicide
Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi has been booked for culpable homicide after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to coronavirus, Delhi Police said.
Kandhalvi had organised the religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month. An FIR was registered against the cleric on March 31 at Crime Branch police station on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin. He was earlier booked for holding the event, police said.
After several attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event succumbed to coronavirus, we added IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the FIR against the leader, a police official told PTI.