Cases plateauing in some states: Ministry

NEW DELHI : A senior health ministry official pointed to recent Covid-19 case data from across India to suggest that there are early signs of improvement in the number of daily cases, and a plateauing of cases in some parts of the country, but experts said it was far too premature to arrive at any such conclusion.

NEW DELHI: Citing coronavirus restrictions, the Election Commission Monday deferred elections for two assembly seats in West Bengal and the by-election for a seat in Odisha, all of which were scheduled for May 16.The assembly polls in Jangipur and Samserganj constituencies of West Bengal and the bypoll for Odisha’s Pipli seat were adjourned due to death of contesting candidates of recognised political parties.

The polling was then slated for May 16. “Commission after taking all material facts and inputs of chief electoral officer of West Bengal and CEO Odisha in consideration and taking note of lockdown and restrictions under Disaster Management Act, 2005...has decided to defer the scheduled poll...Fresh notification will be issued after assessing the pandemic situation,” the EC said in a statement.The poll panel also decided to lift the model code from the three constituencies with immediate effect. The code will come into force after fresh notifications for the three elections are issued.

West Bengal was among 12 states that had more than one lakh active coronavirus cases on Monday, according to the Union health ministry.