Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Study says HCQ harmful for patients; Rahul Gandhi to interact with migrant workers today

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Tracker India News Live Updates: In the last 24 hours, 148 Covid-19 deaths have been reported across the country. The total number of cases is now 1,18,447, and the disease has killed 3,583 people so far.




Coronavirus India News Live Updates: A week after he met a group of migrant workers heading back home hundreds of kilometers away on foot, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Saturday interact with migrant workers affected by the two-month old nationwide lockdown enforced to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

As fresh cases of the novel coronavirus touched a new high of 6,088, the government claimed on Friday that the nationwide lockdown had averted 14-29 lakh cases and 37,000-71,000 deaths. In the last 24 hours, 148 Covid-19 deaths have been reported across the country. The total number of cases is now 1,18,447, and the disease has killed 3,583 people so far.

Meeting for the first time since the imposition of the lockdown on March 25, leaders of 22 opposition parties asked the BJP-led government to desist from indulging in “showmanship” and “one-upmanship”. The Reserve Bank of India, meanwhile, offered the first official acceptance that GDP growth will slip into negative territory this year.

Over 5 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus globally, including 3,35,941 deaths. US President Donald Trump has declared places of worship as essential places that provide essential services. The US is under a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus that has so far claimed over 95,000 lives in the country, the most among affected countries.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Tracker India News Live Updates: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will interact with migrant workers today at 9 am. Follow LIVE updates

A study published on Friday in The Lancet has found links between the use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine and increased rates of mortality and heart arrhythmias among hospital patients with Covid-19. The study’s authors say that these drug regimens should not be used to treat Covid-19 outside of clinical trials, and that urgent confirmation from randomised clinical trials is needed. United States President Donald Trump has been a persistent and vocal promoter of hydroxychloroquine.

Parks in Delhi under the jurisdiction of MCDs and the Delhi Development Authority are set to open on Saturday, with a set of riders. Children below 10 years and people aged above 65 will not be allowed entry, and wearing of masks is mandatory for visitors. Parks in colonies are owned by South, East and North MCDs, and the bigger community ones are managed by DDA. According to the South MCD, jogging on tracks is allowed from 7 am to 7 pm. “Visitors will ensure the Aarogya Setu app is installed on their phones… Wearing masks is mandatory,” state the guidelines issued by the South MCD.

“I am a laboratory doctor in Spanish public health. I have obtained 24 blood samples and infected sputum of the new COVID-19. I am willing to sell for a price of $100. I could send tests when payment is made, I ship worldwide by ‘seur refrigerator’ to not let the bacteria die and ensure viral life.”

The darknet marketplace has been swamped by messages on purported Covid-19 “antidotes”, sold in the form of blood samples of patients who have recovered from the disease, since the outbreak of the pandemic. Also, up for sale on the darknet are Covid “detectors” and “vaccines”. Read more here

From open shops and milling crowds to easily available public transport, a semblance of normality seemed to return to various parts of Maharashtra after lockdown 4 rules kicked in from Friday.

“Logon ko fir se raste par dekh kar aisa lag raha hai ki corona chala gaya (Seeing people back on the road, it seems like coronavirus has gone),” said Sonu Rathod, a resident of Palghar town, one of hundreds who came out on the streets as the district administration did away with stringent lockdown rules in the area. Read more here

Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Friday allowed online sale of liquor through home delivery in the city from Saturday. However, the service – to be allowed from 10 am to 6 pm – will not be allowed in containment zones.

Officials said the shops selling liquor can use e-commerce platforms for home delivery. Customers, however, would be able to avail the services only from Sunday at the earliest, as liquor retailers have to take permissions from the Mumbai collector and excise department for the same. Read more here

Three-fourths of those infected by Covid-19 in Dharavi are frontline workers in healthcare and other essential services. The BMC, which has profiled each of the cases, said the infected are between the age group of 21 to 60 years.

Officials said that among the affected are many lower-level employees of BMC and private essential service providers. Read more here

India has been able to contain the virus through early implementation of nationwide lockdown.

Even by a simple model, at least 14-29 lakh coronavirus cases and between 37,000 and 71,000 deaths have been averted, said the Centre Friday, highlighting how India has been able to contain the virus through early implementation of nationwide lockdown.

In a routine press briefing to apprise media about the coronavirus situation in the country, Praveen Srivastava, a senior officer with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), said the government has shared publicly available data with independent experts to model the impact of lockdown, adding that “in pandemic like this there are no parallels to compare”.

“Two independent economists have estimated that we have averted 23 lakh cases and 68,000 deaths. According to some retired scientists about 15.9 lakh cases and 51,000 deaths have been avoided, my ministry worked with Indian Statistical Institute and found 20 lakh cases were averted,” said Srivastava. “The way we are opening up economy, the way people are sensitised, it will have significant impact,” he added.

In a country of over 1.15 lakh coronavirus infections, the serene and calm islands of the union territory (UT) of Lakshadweep remain an outlier with no positive cases so far. Nagaland and Sikkim are the two other Covid-free states.

Health officials of the UT, whose 64,000 population is highly dependent on Kerala for their medical needs, attribute the success so far to early preparedness, mandatory testing of its residents and strict quarantine. The achievement is especially remarkable as there had been constant movement of people and essential supplies between Kerala and the islands till mid-March.

It was only rational for the UT authorities to test and treat them in Kerala as the islanders anyway depend on the state for treatment of advanced and critical medical cases. Health officials also utilised the initial few weeks of the lockdown to spread awareness among the remote inhabited parts of the islands about the virus and ramp up health facilities in case of an accidental transmission.

Reserve bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das (Express Photo by Prashant Nadkar)

Explained: Impact of RBI’s decisions to slash repo rate, extend loan moratorium on corporates, consumers

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday slashed its key policy rates to stabilize the financial system and tackle the economic fallout from the ongoing nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The RBI panel unexpectedly cut the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 per cent and the reverse repo rate by 40 basis points to 3.35 per cent. In another significant move, the RBI also announced extension of moratorium on loan repayments by another three months to August 31.

What will be the impact of rate cut?

The 40 bps cut in the repo rate – the interest rate that the RBI charges for funds given to banks – will make funds cheaper for banks thus aiding them to bring down lending rates. This comes at a time when credit offtake is sluggish and investments have halted in the economy. EMIs on home, auto, personal and term loan rates are expected to come down in the coming days.

However, banks will also slash deposit rates on various tenures to manage its asset-liability position. Savers and pensioners will see their returns coming down.

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