RBI governor Shaktikanta Das vowed on Friday to do “whatever it takes” to cushion the economic blow of the coronavirus pandemic, before drawing from the central bank’s arsenal to cut the reverse repo rate to nudge banks to lend, provide liquidity support to struggling non-banks and ease asset classification norms. In neighbouring China, the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pushed the country’s economy into its first contraction in decades in the first quarter, with its GDP shrinking 6.8% from a year ago, the worst performance since at least 1992 when official releases of quarterly GDP started. Meanwhile, China’s coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan admitted missteps in tallying its death toll as it abruptly raised the count by 50% or nearly 1,300 people even as Beijing dismissed claims that there had been any kind of cover-up.
RBI steps into boost liquidity, prompts banks to lend more
The measures by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) set the stage for the second round of a fiscal stimulus package that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce any day now. Governor Shaktikanta Das’s pledge to do all that it takes to save the economy indicates that the central bank will take aggressive steps, including further rate cuts, to support economic activity in a nation that has been locked down since March 25. Business leaders and economists have also sought a ₹9-10 trillion fiscal stimulus package. Read more
Covid-19: What you need to know today
In an admission that must have surely prompted millions of I-told-you-so moments across the world, China on Friday, through its state media, raised the death toll in Wuhan, the city where the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 first emerged, by around 50%. Read more
Rapid testing begins as kits from China get clearance
Rajasthan began conducting rapid testing for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Friday with the arrival of 10,000 testing kits from Delhi. All the 52 persons tested at the urban PHC Topkhana Desh on Friday evening tested negative. Read more
Covid-19 update: On April 20, about 45% of economy will resume operations
The Union government’s guidelines, envisioning a slow return to work starting April 20, will see up to 45% of the economy becoming operational again, up from just 25% during the initial lockdown from March 24 to April 14, economists said. Read more
No mutation found in three virus strains in India: ICMR
Evidence available with scientists suggests there has been no mutation in the three known strains of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 outbreak in India, government officials said on Friday, even as they claimed that the steps taken by authorities have helped the country slow the doubling rate of the infection to 6.2 days from three days before the announcement of a nationwide lockdown last month. Read more
MHA releases new list of activities exempted from lockdown curbs
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Friday released a new list of activities exempted from the extended national lockdown, including services offered by non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs) and cooperative credit societies with minimum staff and construction in rural areas. Read more
Record one-day spike in Covid-19 deaths, Donald Trump unveils reopening guidelines
The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus spiked to a new one-day high of 4,591 on Friday, nearly double the previous record, as President Donald Trump issued guidelines for reopening the country but left it to the states to decide; some of whom announced extended restrictions instead. Read more
China adds 1,300 deaths to Wuhan toll, citing early lapses
China on Friday revised upwards by nearly 1,300 the Covid-19 fatalities in the first pandemic epicentre, the city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late last year, admitting that the infection hit China harder than it initially projected. Read more
China’s economy contracts for first time in decades
China’s economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020, government data showed on Friday, confirming the damage done to the second largest economy in the world by the coronavirus pandemic. Read more
Kerala case raises fears over incubation period
A man who returned from Dubai on March 18 tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, 29 days after what health officials say was his likely exposure to an infection source, raising concerns that the disease could take longer to manifest and quarantine periods as short as 14 days may not be enough. Read more
BIS retracts new guidelines for coveralls in PPE kits
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on Friday withdrew the specifications for coveralls – one of the components of the personal protective equipment (PPE) – just three days after they were released because they were found to be too stringent. Read more
Study links obesity to severity of disease, death in young patients
Obesity has been identified as a risk factor for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19)among people aged below 60 and is likely to lead to more severe forms of the disease and death among the overweight, a new study suggests. Read more
IAS officers’ training focuses largely on fight against Covid-19
From watching Virus, a Malayalam film on the 2018 Nipah virus outbreak, to understanding the Epidemic Diseases Act, the next batch of IAS officers graduating from the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration is gearing up to fight the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Read more
Coronavirus update: Woes mount, migrants stare at long road to normalcy
After the government announced an extension of the national lockdown till May 3, distress among stranded workers and the unemployed is rising. State governments have been asked to provide relief to stranded workers but not allow them to move back across state borders to their villages. Read more
250 buses to bring back UP students from Kota
The Uttar Pradesh government dispatched 250 buses to Kota on Friday to bring back over 7,000 students from the state who are enrolled in the Rajasthan city’s many coaching centres and have been stranded because of the lockdown for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Read more
Sense of duty drives AIIMS biomedical waste collector
Three days after Odisha’s second Covid-19 positive patient — a 19-year-old youth studying in the United Kingdom — was admitted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Sanjay Dehury got a call from his boss. Read more
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