All trains to come to halt tomorrow
India records 47 new cases in 24 hours; Modi holds video-conference with CMs
India would come a halt on Sunday as train services have been suspended for a day in view of the ‘janata curfew’ announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
All mail and express trains will stop services from 4 am to 10 pm on Sunday while all suburban train services will be reduced to a bare minimum as well.
“All passenger trains originating between midnight of March 21/March 22 to 10 pm of March 22 (approximately 2,400 services) shall not be run. However, the passenger train services already on run at 7 am hours on the day will be allowed to run to the destinations. Divisions should keep a watch and trains which are empty could be short terminated, if required,” the railway order said.
While IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by flights, has decided to operate only 25 per cent of its services, GoAir has voluntarily suspended all flights on March 22.
The railways said people who find themselves stuck at stations due to the cancellation of connecting trains would be accommodated in waiting halls, waiting rooms and on the concourse.
With the number of positive novel coronavirus cases multiplying fast in India — 47 fresh cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total positive cases to 223 — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a meeting with the chief ministers of several states in which it was suggested that the Centre urgently look at ways to augment testing facilities by roping in private labs and hospitals in larger numbers, consider economic and other packages to support vulnerable sections, and advance the disbursement of funds for 2020-21 to the states.
The meeting, held through video-conference, was attended by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and top health ministry officials, was called to discuss ways to check the spread of novel coronavirus, capacity building of the states and extending training to local health officials. Mr Modi said the next three-four weeks are crucial in the effort to contain the spread of the virus, and the most important measure of containment is “social distancing”.
“We are in a critical phase of tackling spread of the virus. There is no need to panic… No stone should be left unturned in our common endeavours to fight Covid-19,” Mr Modi said.
Mr Modi suggested that all chief ministers take steps to prevent black marketing and undue price rise of essential goods.
Dr Balram Bhargava, the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that India is currently in Phase 2 of transmission and has the window to take action and minimise the risk of transmission to Phase 3.
There was also a video conference of global health experts, organised by China, that an Indian team from New Delhi attended, while foreign secretary Harsha Vardhan Shringla participated in a conference call with counterparts from the US, Australia, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, New Zealand and Japan.
On Friday, the total positive cases in India stood at 223, out of which 196 cases are active and 22 have been cured. Four deaths have been reported while one person, a foreign national, has migrated to his country.
Out of this 223, 191 are Indians and 32 foreign nationals. Health agencies are monitoring 6,700 contacts of positive cases while adding that “contact tracing is a constant effort”.
In Bhopal, BJP workers crowded at party headquarters raising questions on the efficacy of government advisories on lockdowns and social distancing.
The Union health ministry has clarified that the death of an Italian tourist in Jaipur on Friday cannot be linked to Covid. The tourist was among the 16 who had tested positive for Covid. “He was cured and discharged from hospital after testing negative twice following his treatment. This man was a chain smoker and he died of cardiac arrest during treatment for his heart ailment,” said Union health ministry joint secretary, Lav Aggarwal.
The health ministry is also trying to ascertain how one patient with no foreign travel history contracted Covid. They, however, dismissed concerns of community transmission of the virus. Mr Aggarwal added that since the number of cases are on the rise, states with higher number of cases are being helped by teams from the Centre. Several states have warned shopkeepers and distributors of criminal action if they hoard masks and sanitisers.
The government has given test license to 14 private companies for evaluation of the quality of Covid-19 testing kits. All these companies will evaluate the quality of testing kits and submit their data to the Drug Controller General of India. Star Health and Allied Insurance has launched a benefit policy to cover all those who test positive for novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and require hospitalisation.
Meanwhile, in the runup to the “Janta Curfew” that is to be observed this Sunday, Delhi Metro announced that its services will remain closed and Delhi government said all its Delhi Haats and HoHo bus services of tourism department will remain shut till March 31.
The Delhi government issued an advisory for the private sector to allow their employees to work from home till March 31, while the Central government directed PSUs to enforce work from home for half of their non-executive staff with immediate effect.
As Maharashtra reported three fresh cases of Covid-19 on Friday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray announced shutdown of non-essential services including private offices in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur metropolitan regions effective midnight on Friday.