1. India's COVID-19 Tally Reaches 8,447, Death Toll at 273
With 31 deaths and 918 new positive COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in India on Sunday, 12 April, evening climbed to 8,447, including 764 cured and discharged and 273 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
At present, there are 7,409 active COVID-19 cases in the country.
"A total number of COVID-19 positive cases rises to 8,447 in India, including 764 cured/discharged, 273 deaths and 1 migrated," said the Health Department.
The highest number of positive cases of coronavirus was reported from Maharashtra at 1,761, including 127 deaths, followed by Delhi (1,069 and 19 deaths), Tamil Nadu (969 and 10 deaths) and Rajasthan (700 and 3 deaths).
So far, Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 127, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.
(Source: Mint)
2. Red, Orange, Green Zones In Centre's Plan To Navigate COVID-19 Lockdown
Red, orange and green – the colour code for traffic lights will now be used on the country's map to COVID-19 and virus-free zones, and therefore people's movement.
After a meeting with at least 13 chief ministers on Saturday, 11 April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had indicated that the lockdown will be extended – but there will be relaxations in certain areas and cases to ensure the survival of the economy as well.
Green zones will be districts where there is no COVID-19 case. Sources said there are 400 districts, where there have been no COVID-19 cases.
Orange zones will be places which saw less than 15 cases and there have been no increase in the number of positive cases. Here, minimum activities like opening of limited public transport, harvesting of farm products will be allowed.
Any place which had more than 15 cases will be considered a Red zone, where there will be no activity.
(Source: NDTV)
3. Mild Earthquake Jolts Capital Amid Lockdown Silence
Delhi recorded an earthquake measuring 3.5 magnitude on Richter scale on Sunday, 12 April, evening with epicentre at Sonia Vihar in the national capital, according to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) under the ministry of earth sciences.
It’s not unusual for the epicentre to create relatively small tremors in Delhi and neighbouring Haryana, seismologists said. But this time the experience was much more intense for people in the national capital because of less noise associated with traffic movement, they said.
The seismologists at NCS also said that they had a “very good” recording of the event on their seismometer. “The recording is very clear because of no noise. People may have experienced the earthquake differently because most people are at home and not in a vehicle or not in movement. You can feel it the most during static conditions. I cannot comment on whether the sound heard (many people have reported to NCS that they heard a rumbling sound during the earthquake) is pertaining to the earthquake,” said AP Pandey, a seismologist at NCS.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
4.Punjab Cop's Hand Chopped, 2 Injured In Attack By Group Defying Lockdown
A police officer's hand was chopped off and two other officers were injured when a group of people attacked them at a vegetable market in Punjab's Patiala district this morning. The police said they were attacked when they were trying to ensure the lockdown was in place. Punjab – where thousands of people staying abroad returned after the outbreak started – has extended the lockdown till 1 May.
The officer whose hand was chopped off – Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Harjeet Singh -- went through a surgery that lasted nearly eight hours. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh tweeted the surgery to "repair the severed wrist of ASI Harjeet Singh" was successful.
(Source: NDTV)
5. Maharashtra COVID-19 Tally Near’s 2,000-Mark
With 221 people testing positive for COVID-19 in Maharashtra on Sunday, 12 April, the state tally of such patients has reached 1,982, a state health official said.
“Twenty-two coronavirus positive patients died due to the infection in the state on Sunday, which increased the death toll to 149,” he said.
"Of the 22 deceased, 15 were in the age group of 40 to 60 years, while six others were above 60 years of age. Rest of the patients were less than 40 years of age," he added.
Twenty of these 22 had high risk co-morbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart ailment, the official said.
According to BMC, Mumbai, the state's capital, has 1,399 cases and 97 fatalities. These included 43 cases in Dharavi, Asia' biggest slum, which recorded 15 new cases on Sunday and has reported at least four deaths so far.
(Source: Mint)
6. UK PM Boris Johnson Discharged From Hospital
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on Sunday, 12 April, moved from St Thomas’ hospital to the country house of Chequers in Buckinghamshire to rest and recuperate from coronavirus, as a senior government advisor admitted the UK could have the worst death rate in Europe.
With Saturday figures putting the death toll at 9,875, the weekend is set to see the figure cross 10,000. The government’s medical advisors believe that if the eventual figure is below 20,000, “it will have done well”.
In his first statement after emerging from ICU, Johnson thanked doctors: “I can’t thank them enough. I owe them my life.”
A Downing Street spokesman later said: “The PM has been discharged from hospital to continue his recovery, at Chequers. On the advice of his medical team, the PM will not be immediately returning to work.”
(Source: Hindustan Times)
7. Maha: Case Against 156 Foreign Attendees Of Delhi Mosque Event
A total of 156 foreigners who travelled to Maharashtra after attending the Tablighi Jamaat event in New Delhi last month have been booked on the charges of violating the Foreigners Act 1946, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said on Sunday, 12 April.
“These people, who were visiting India on a tourist visa, allegedly participated in religious activities including preaching,” he said.
The Health Ministry has attributed the spike in COVID-19 cases in various parts of the country to the religious congregation held at Nizamuddin Markaz in March.
"Section 14-B of the Foreigners'' Act has been invoked against the 156 people for forgery of passport which stipulates 2-8 years in prison and the fine between Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000," said an official from the home department.
These people hailed from 17 countries like Kyrgyzstan, Ghana, Djibouti, Malaysia, Togo, Indonesia, Bangladesh to name a few, Deshmukh said.
(Source: NDTV)
8. People's Bank Of China Acquires 1% Stake In HDFC Amid Markets Downturn
In a major development for the Indian financial sector, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has taken up 1.01 percent stake in the mortgage lending major Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). The central bank of China has acquired nearly 1.75 crore shares in HDFC during the quarter ended March, according to shareholding pattern of the company disclosed to the BSE.
The development comes at a time when the share price of the lender plunged. During the past one month the stock prices of HDFC fell over 25 percent amid the beating across stocks due to the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking to NDTV, HDFC's Vice Chairman and CEO Keki Mistry said that PBOC has been an existing shareholder and had owned 0.8 per cent in the company as of March 2019. The disclosure has been made now since the stake has hit the 1 percent regulatory threshold, Mistry said, adding that the bank has been accumulating the shares for over a year.
Foreign portfolio investors hold 70.88 percent stake in the company which also includes a 3.23 percent shareholding of the Government of Singapore.
(Source: NDTV)
9. 10 Foreigners Made To Write ‘Sorry’ 500 Times For Violating Lockdown
A group of foreigners was made to write "sorry" 500 times for flouting the lockdown guidelines on Saturday, 11 April.
Ten foreigners from different countries were caught taking a stroll in the Tapovan area amid the ongoing 21-day lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and not maintaining social distancing, sub-inspector Vinod Kumar Sharma said.
“Each one of them was made to write a sentence of apology 500 times as a punishment,” he added.
"I did not follow the rules of lockdown so I am so sorry," each one of them wrote 500 times, Sharma said.
Around 500 foreigners are staying in the Tapovan area these days and they are often seen violating the lockdown rules, throwing caution to the wind, he added.
The operation to penalise them was conducted to send out a strong message to those who tend to take the lockdown lightly, Sharma said.
(Source: NDTV)
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