Bengal tally rises to 80 as 12 more test positive: CM
KOLKATA: Twelve more people tested positive for Covid-19 in West Bengal, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 80, West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said here on Thursday.
Banerjee, who chaired a review meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat, also said that three more persons have been discharged from hospital following recovery.
“Yesterday, the total number of active cases stood at 71. Today, three persons were released but 12 fresh cases were reported. The total number of active cases now stands at 80 in Bengal,” Banerjee said.
So far, 104 people have tested positive for novel coronavirus in West Bengal. Of them five have died, and 19 recovered from the disease
Banerjee also said that as many as 177 people, including 108 from various countries, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, have been quarantined in the state.
“108 of those who were at the event (at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi) from various countries, we have kept them in quarantine, and 69 people who had attended it from Bengal, they are also in quarantine. The state health ministry is directly monitoring the situation,”she said.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which runs temples in southern India including Kerala’s Sabarimala shrine, has informed its 3,500-odd employees that there could be a possible salary cut even as it plans to accept online offerings to overcome a shortage of funds amid the national lockdown imposed to check the coronavirus pandemic. It is deploying a skeleton staff for performing important rituals at the shrine for the purpose.
“At Sabarimala, we do have a system for online offerings in a small way. We are planning to diversify it in a big way. For some of the offerings, a devotee’s presence is a must but for others including archana, ganapati homam, and neeranjanam, offerings can be made from anywhere. So, we are planning a campaign to popularise this,” said TDB president N Vasu. He said they have alerted the employees that they may have to forego at least onemonth salary. “Earlier the government used to come to our rescue but now we cannot turn to it,” said Vasu.
T h e T D B h a s mad e a n announcement about online offerings on its website and plans to issue advertisements in this regard in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana, where Sabarimala temple gets the bulk of its devotees from.
The Sabrimala Temple was closed after monthly puja on March 18 days before the lockdown was imposed on March 25. At least 14,000 devotees trekked to the hill shrine in Pathanamthitta district despite the government