In Unlock 2 too, schools, colleges to remain shut

The government on Monday night issued guidelines for the month-long ‘Unlock 2’ — the “phased re-opening” of activities that had been barred to contain the coronavirus spread in the country — and said educational institutions, Metro Rail services, cinema halls and gyms will continue to remain closed.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued detailed guidelines that will be applicable from July 1 after the ‘Unlock

1’ phase ends on June

30. The fresh guidelines said schools, colleges and coaching institutions will remain closed till July 31.

It added metro rail, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places will also remain shut.

Similarly, social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious functions and other large congregations will continue to be disallowed.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu is fast moving up on the Covid-19 graph to replace Delhi as number two in terms of most-infected number of coronavirus cases.

Tamil Nadu on Monday registered 3,940 fresh cases taking its total to 82,275 while Delhi had 2,889 new cases of Covid-18 taking its overall to 83,077.

Maharashtra still remains number one in the caseload tally with close to 1.65 lakh cases out of which 5,493 were detected in a single day.

While Chennai and Madurai will continue to be under intense lockdown till July 5, other parts of Tamil Nadu will continue with current relaxations and curbs till July 31.

The Nagaland government also extended the lockdown in the state till July 15.

Another state of concern is Karnataka, which according to economist Prof Shamika Ravi, after weeks of control, is now reporting a major resurgence. The state detected 1,267 new cases in a day taking the total to 13,190. She said that infection is spreading faster in Karnataka, compared to all-India growth rates.

India in a single-day has registered 19,459 fresh cases and 156 new deaths taking overall figures to 5,48,318. Total number of deaths in the country is 16,475.

The recovery rate is now 58.67 per cent after

12,010 persons were discharged in a day. Overall cured persons in India are now 3,21,723 while 2,10, 120 are still under treatment.

Union health ministry said the difference between recovered and active cases has further increased to 1,11,602. The doubling rate in India of the virus is now 23 days.

To reduce fatalities in Delhi, the state government has announced creating a blood plasma bank and having a database of oxygen equipped ambulances for easy access for

Covid-19 patients. The total number of samples tested is showing an uphill trend, and has touched 83,98,362.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation on Tuesday evening, his office said.

“Prime Minister will address the nation at 4 PM tomorrow,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.