Today's Top Story
With a biggest single-day spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and the number of deaths, the total tally now stands at 46,711 and the death toll jumped to 1,583. As many as 3,875 new cases and 195 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, Mumbai has shut all its non-essential stores and liquor shops as the crowd failed to maintain social distancing. The death toll in Maharashtra touched 617, Mumbai alone reported 26 deaths since Monday.
Lockdown extended: The Telangana government extended lockdown in the state till May 29 as the number of cases continue to surge, announced chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. As per new norms, all non-essential shops in the state will remain shut in red zones, while a curfew has also been imposed from 7 pm to 6 am every day across all the 33 districts.
Prepping up: Over 14,800 Indians stranded abroad after the coronavirus lockdown will soon be brought home in nearly 64 flights. The special flights operated by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express will ferry residents from May 7 to 13. These special flights would be operated from 12 countries and the Indians abroad who wish to come back will have to pay for their own tickets. A flight from London to Mumbai or Delhi or Bengaluru, for example, will cost around Rs 50,000
Uncertainty ends: The JEE (Main) this year will be conducted from July 18-23 while NEET will be held on July 26, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced, ending days of uncertainty for about 25 lakh candidates. The National Testing Agency (NTA) had earlier deferred JEE Main 2020, which was to be conducted on April 5,7,8, and 11, to the last week of May. A decision will soon be taken on the pending CBSE Class 10, 12 board exams.
Vande Bharat Mission: More than three lakh Indians in Gulf countries have registered for evacuation but the government will bring back people on a priority basis, like pregnant women, elderly, students and those having "compelling reasons". More than 10,000 Indians in the Gulf region were found to have contracted the coronavirus while 84 of them have died.
Global front: The number of cases across the globe has now surpassed 3.5 million with 2,51, 510 deaths, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed down. The United States continues to be the worst-affected with 11,66,083 cases and over 70,000 deaths.. The United Kingdom death toll has topped 32,000, pushing past Italy to become the second-most affected country. While in Spain, more than 70 percent of new virus cases detected have been among medical staff.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities are clamping down as grieving relatives, along with activists, press the ruling Communist Party for an accounting of what went wrong in Wuhan
On Our Specials
Balance fiscal concerns: The country is slowly easing the lockdown, stranded migrants are being transported to their home states and economic activities are now allowed in many parts of India. However, as we stare at a long and hard road to economic recovery, the reiteration by Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee about providing direct cash transfers to a sizable part of the population to revive demand seems pertinent. Sindhu Bhattacharya writes how India will balance concerns amid hunger and poverty.
Empty-handed and hungry: Even with the relaxation of interstate travel rules and the introduction of trains for migrant workers, several people are under extreme distress. As part of a survey carried out by the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN), the data revealed that close to 96 per cent of migrant workers had not received rations from the government, while another 70 per cent had not received any cooked food, Nayan Raghu reports.
On Reel
Domestic violence cases soared during the Coronavirus-induced lockdowns. Since the imposition of the lockdown in March, till April 16, 587 domestic violence cases have been registered. India's child helpline received more than 92,000 SOS calls within the first 11 days of the lockdown.
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