State’s tally...

Doctor and hospitals will have to more careful now as there could be a rise in pneumonia patients, he said in his address to the state through Facebook, adding, “If anyone is found suffering from fever, cough and cold, get an X-ray and a haemogram test conducted and if found with any symptoms, refer to government facilities immediately.”

Public health minister Rajesh Tope said China and other countries experienced a very big spike in the number of cases there after a certain period. “We have started taking measures much in advance so that we don’t have to face any such situation here,” Tope said.

The state government has already asked all private hospitals to provide maximum beds with isolation wards and ventilators. The government hospitals have been directed to ready maximum beds to deal with any exigency. It has also alerted the Army for making makeshift hospitals, in case the spike is big.

Thackeray also said people need to take more care of those in the high-risk group — pregnant women, babies, senior citizens who are suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure etc. “It has been observed that the severity of the epidemic in this group of people is more than others. We have to take care of them at this point of time,” he said.

To reduce crowding and consequently the risk of community transmission, the state government is also planning to temporarily shift the Navi Mumbai’s, Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) market to Kharghar. “The state has a plot of over 500 acres in Kharghar, where the market can function with proper social distancing. We are planning to shift the market in the coming days,” said another senior official, requesting anonymity.

At APMC, the wholesale market is spread around 170 acres.

As hundreds of migrant workers are trying to return to their homes by violating lockdown restrictions, Thackeray asked them to stay where they are and not to rush back home as the state government is making arrangements for their food and stay. The state government has empowered all district collectors to make the expenditure for providing them basic and medical needs from the emergency response fund of the state.

As the 21-day lockdown has affected poor and migrant labourers, the chief minister slashed the prices of the subsidised meal thali under the Shiv Bhojan scheme by half. The meal will now cost ₹5 for the next three months, instead of ₹10. Food, civil supplies and consumer protection minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday said that the timings of the centres that serve the thalis have been extended. He also declared to provide 1 lakh plates under the scheme after April 1 so that those in need will be able to get its benefit.

The state government has started 262 relief camps across the state so far, where 70,399 migrant labours and homeless have been provided food and shelter.

It has decided to waive off toll of all vehicles supplying essential commodities at toll nakas managed by the state public works department from midnight till further notice. The state has also made arrangements to provide online passes to such vehicles so that they don’t have to face any difficulty.

According to Bhujbal, the reduced price of the meal will be applicable till June. It will be available from 11am to 3pm, against the earlier time slot from 12pm to 2pm. “As many as 1 lakh meals would be distributed under the Shiv Bhojan scheme at the taluka level every day during this period. Moreover, the number of thalis allotted to each district has been increased fivefold,” Bhujbal said.

A senior official from the food and civil supplies department said that the state government has increased the daily meals from 25,000 to 1 lakh and has also opened new centres. Till Sunday, the maximum plates have been increased to 72,000. “We are adding more centres daily. In a day or two, we will reach 1 lakh thalis,” the official said.

Bhujbal said that the state government would bear the additional burden on the subsidised thali. “The government will give ₹45 per thali for urban areas and ₹30 for rural areas. The state government has made provision of ₹160 crore for the purpose. Orders have been issued to district collectors and food grain supply controllers to start new Shiv Bhojan centres at the taluka-level in their districts by April 1,” the minister said.

Of the two people who died of Covid-19 on Sunday, one is the 40-year-old wife of a taxi driver, a Kandivli resident. She had been suffering from chest pain for the past three-four days. When she was brought to KEM hospital, she had severe respiratory distress with breathlessness, according to health officers from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Her husband said they hadn’t travelled anywhere, domestic or international, in the past 14 days. She was admitted to the ICU on Saturday morning, in the presence of other critically ill patients. Her condition deteriorated soon and she succumbed on Saturday night. As she had breathing problems, doctors sent her swab sample for test. But before they could get the report, they sent her body to the morgue without wrapping it in infectionproof cover, as per the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry. The doctors realized the woman was suffering from Covid-19 only after getting her swab test report, which came in too late. Five of them have now been asked to get home quarantined, until their samples come negative of the virus.

In Buldhana, a 45-year-old man, who was undergoing treatment at government-run general hospital there, passed away on Saturday. His sample tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, making him the eighth person to die of the virus in the state. According to reports, the victim had gone to Akola last week to meet his relatives who returned from Saudi Arabia after their Hajj pilgrimage.

The victim, who is a chronic diabetic patient, had been suffering from cold, body aches, pain and fever for the past few days. The patient’s condition worsened owing to high blood-sugar levels and comorbidities of hypertension, before he succumbed to the infection. He initially was admitted to a private hospital and later at the government general hospital where he died on Saturday evening.

An Air India ground staff has been admitted to a government hospital in Jogeshwari after she tested positive for Sars-cov-2. The employee, working for Air India Air Transport Services Ltd. (AIATSL), had operated the last flight that landed at Mumbai airport before domestic operations were shut. Sources said the employee complained of breathing issues and fever, after which she was admitted to hospital. While AIATSL’S head did not respond to HT’S calls till the time of going to press, a source from the airline said the employee is doing better. “She will be kept in isolation for 14 days,” said the source . activity and caused an exodus of migrant workers from cities towards their villages, often on foot — in the process enhancing the risks of spreading the disease. The PM took into account precisely this situation at the beginning of his 35-minute address, and said: “I first want to apologise to the citizens of this country. We have had to take some decisions which have caused difficulties. Many people would be angry at me — and wonder how I have locked everyone at home. I understand your pain and difficulties.” But the PM added that he was confident he would be forgiven because there was no other way for a country of India’s size to battle the pandemic, which had, in a way, chained the entire world. He underlined that it was important to battle an illness at a nascent stage, for if it escalated, defeating it would become far more difficult. Amid reports that those who had got infected, or were in quarantine, were facing a degree of stigma, the PM said:“this is deeply unfortunate. They are not criminals...in fact, they are staying in quarantine to protect others. They are displaying responsible behaviour.” He added that this was a period where social distancing had to be enforced and increased, while emotional distancing had to be decreased. Modi also spoke about people who thought that by staying at home, they were doing a favour to others, or did not understand the importance of social distancing. “Don’t be under any such illusion. With this lockdown, you are saving yourself, you are saving your own family...there are people who are still not understanding the gravity of the situation. If you break the rules of the lockdown, you will find it hard to save yourself from the virus.” The PM once again acknowledged the role of the front-line workers in this battle — doctors, paramedics, nurses, safai karamcharis, those who had kept the supply chain intact for essentials, those who had kept basic infrastructure running, those at the forefront of banking services, and others. He then spoke to patients who had recovered from the infection — and who narrated the sequence of how they got infected, the process of getting tested, the hospital care they received — and to doctors — who spoke about how they were providing care specific to the disease as well as counselling to those infected and fearful of the future. Modi also conveyed the experiences of those who were staying home and using this period to strengthen their bonds with their children, contribute to household work, and pursuing hobbies.

Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said: “The Prime Minister need not apologise for imposing lockdown but must apologise for the unplanned lockdown impacting especially the 48-crore strong labour force in the informal sector. The moot question is that he gave three days notice for ‘taali and thaali’ ceremony but only three hours notice for locking down 1.2 billion people...it is high time that the PM provide solutions.” Neelanjan Sircar, political scientist at Ashoka University and Centre for Policy Research, said, “PM Modi’s greatest strength is as a communicator with the people, which he has leveraged in times of distress — like demonetisation and the coronavirus outbreak. He is well-suited to get the people focused on social distancing — the need of the hour to slow the spread of the virus. But his biggest strength will continue to be to address the needs of the most vulnerable over the course of the lockdown, as they will need government assistance to meet basic needs.” from various departments within hospitals while others say various forms of medical training recognised by the Medical Council of India (MCI) could be provided.

“Many doctors, nurses and technicians have already been freed up by stopping elective procedures. If there is a surge in the number of cases, doctors from other clinical departments who don’t usually manage critical care can be roped in after a short training. Then, there are several private medical colleges that are underutilised but have good ICU facilities and the necessary staff as per MCI requirements; these can be utilised too,” said Dr MC Misra, former director of AIIMS.

In Delhi, doctors can be diverted from various hospitals to centres managing Covid-19 patients, according to Dr SK Sarin, who headed the committee guiding chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in readying a preparedness model. “We are preparing infrastructure and manpower for a surge of up to 1,000 cases a day. Right now, we are not even getting 100 cases in a day, but in case that happens we have two hospitals ready,” he said. MCI allowing people with various forms of training to join the Covid-19 fight will increase young manpower, said Dr Devi Shetty.

“Around 50,000 postgraduate students are training in various specialties, including some who might have failed the certification exams before. They have experience of working in hospitals and can be allowed to treat Covid-19 patients without waiting for examinations. The MCI had derecognised the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Maharashtra that has trained 40,000 specialists; we can ask them to work in district hospitals in return for recognition. There are 2,000 specialists who have been trained by the Society for Emergency Medicine and another 2,000 in cardiology by IGNOU; MCI can recognise all of them and let them work in district hospitals,” he said.