India Not In Stage 3 Of COVID-19 Pandemic, Confirms Centre.
The government on Saturday refuted report that said India had entered Stage 3 of COVID-19 pandemic — propagated by an online news portal earlier in the day.
The news portal had quoted Dr Girdhar Gyani — an engineer who holds a PhD in Quality Management, saying they were calling it Stage 3. In pics: Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak around the world “Officially we may not call it — but it is the beginning of Stage 3,” Dr Gyani, the convenor of a task force on COVID-19 hospitals, had said in an interview to the news portal. The PIB, however, quashed this report, saying the headline was blown out of proportion. The headline of the said story was: "India May be in Stage 3: COVID-19 Hospital Task Force Convener" Also watch: Southern Naval Command personnel distributing cooked meals to migrant labourers in Kochi “If cases increase exponentially then only we can call it community transmission.
That situation hasn’t come till now. The numbers are increasing artihmetically,” the PIB said, in a post on Twitter, adding, “Dr Gyani meant we should be prepared if we enter Stage 3. He did not mean we are already in Stage 3.” For the unversed, Stage 3 of a pandemic refers to community transmission. In it, it gets difficult to trace the original source of transmission, and the number of cases rise exponentially. © Provided by WION Dr Gyani’s NGO – the Association of Healthcare Providers – advises the government with policy-making around healthcare. The NGO was also a part of a video conference of healthcare professionals with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24.
He is also designated as DG, AHPI. COVID-19 has till now claimed 19 lives in India, with the total number of cases shooting upto 837.
He is also designated as DG, AHPI. COVID-19 has till now claimed 19 lives in India, with the total number of cases shooting upto 837.
India Quarantines 15,000 After Virus Kills 'super-spreader' Guru
The guru and his two associates ignored self-isolation orders on their return from Europe, causing 15 villages to be sealed off under stricter conditions than India's nationwide lockdown At least 15,000 people who may have caught the new coronavirus from a Sikh religious leader are under strict quarantine in northern India after the man died of COVID-19.
The 70-year-old guru, Baldev Singh, had returned from a trip to Europe's virus epicentre Italy and Germany before he went preaching in more than a dozen villages in Punjab state. More: Nineteen people who were in contact with the preacher have already tested positive for the new virus, said Vinay Bublani, a local deputy police commissioner. Results are awaited for more than 200 other people, who were tested.
The case has sparked one of India's most serious alerts related to the pandemic, with special food deliveries made to each household under even tighter restrictions than the strict 21-day nationwide stay-at-home order imposed by the government. "The first of these 15 villages was sealed on March 18, and we think there are 15,000 to 20,000 people in the sealed villages," said Gaurav Jain, a senior magistrate for the district of Banga, where Singh lived. "There are medical teams on standby and regular monitoring," he told AFP news agency on Friday.
The guru and his two associates - who have also tested positive - ignored self-isolation orders on their return from Europe, and were on their preaching tour until Singh fell ill and died. The case has stunned India and a popular Punjabi singer based in Canada, Sidhu Moose Wala, released a song about Singh that has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.3 million times in less than two days.
"I passed on the disease ... Roaming around the village like a shadow of death," say the lyrics to the song, which Punjab's police chief Dinkar Gupta has encouraged people to listen to as a warning. With 918 confirmed coronavirus cases and 20 deaths, India's toll is lower than other countries afflicted by the pandemic, but experts say many infections have not been detected due to a lack of testing. The South Asian nation of some 1.3 billion people reported its first coronavirus case on January 30 but in recent weeks the number of infections has climbed rapidly. SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies
The 70-year-old guru, Baldev Singh, had returned from a trip to Europe's virus epicentre Italy and Germany before he went preaching in more than a dozen villages in Punjab state. More: Nineteen people who were in contact with the preacher have already tested positive for the new virus, said Vinay Bublani, a local deputy police commissioner. Results are awaited for more than 200 other people, who were tested.
The case has sparked one of India's most serious alerts related to the pandemic, with special food deliveries made to each household under even tighter restrictions than the strict 21-day nationwide stay-at-home order imposed by the government. "The first of these 15 villages was sealed on March 18, and we think there are 15,000 to 20,000 people in the sealed villages," said Gaurav Jain, a senior magistrate for the district of Banga, where Singh lived. "There are medical teams on standby and regular monitoring," he told AFP news agency on Friday.
The guru and his two associates - who have also tested positive - ignored self-isolation orders on their return from Europe, and were on their preaching tour until Singh fell ill and died. The case has stunned India and a popular Punjabi singer based in Canada, Sidhu Moose Wala, released a song about Singh that has been viewed on YouTube more than 2.3 million times in less than two days.
"I passed on the disease ... Roaming around the village like a shadow of death," say the lyrics to the song, which Punjab's police chief Dinkar Gupta has encouraged people to listen to as a warning. With 918 confirmed coronavirus cases and 20 deaths, India's toll is lower than other countries afflicted by the pandemic, but experts say many infections have not been detected due to a lack of testing. The South Asian nation of some 1.3 billion people reported its first coronavirus case on January 30 but in recent weeks the number of infections has climbed rapidly. SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies
India Unveils Aid Package To Help Low-income Population Affected By Coronavirus Lockdown
The Indian government announced an economic spending plan worth 1.7 trillion rupees, $22.5 billion, on Thursday. The measure was designed to help low-income households cope with the county's 21-day lockdown in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of the virus was crucial for a country where millions of people live in proximity, some in densely populated slums and where access to health care is scarce.
And while officers throughout India are enforcing lockdown restrictions — in many cases by using force — the country's working class and small business owners are bearing the brunt of the shelter-in-place situation. According to the international labor organizations, 90% of India's workforce is employed in the informal sector, and most do not have access to pensions, sick leave, paid leave or any kind of insurance. The stimulus package plans to boost the amount of food security and cash transfers for the most vulnerable of the country's 1.3 billion citizens. "Those affected directly, particularly the poor, the migrant workers, the woman and the disadvantaged of the society will be reached out with tangible help and assistance," said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a news briefing.
"We do not want anyone to remain hungry." The government aims to distribute 5 kilograms of wheat or rice for each person free of cost every month, with 1 kilogram of pulses, which includes beans, lentils, chickpeas and dry peas. The food security measures will affect 800 million people, according to Sitharaman. The plan also includes insurance coverage of 5 million rupees, or $66,000, for every front-line medical worker, three months of free cooking gas for the poor and state-sponsored contributions to retirement funds for the same duration. Sitharaman did not provide details on how the program will be funded in a country that always walks a line in terms of its fiscal deficit. The program will be effective from April 1, the beginning of India's new fiscal year 2020-21. However, some economists argue the package will not be enough to support the country, and that a nationwide lockdown may still hurt its economy.
"The fresh announcements related to cash transfers appear to be relatively modest at this stage," said Aditi Nayar, an economist at ICRA, according to Reuters. India's growth fell to a 4.7% in October-December, its lowest in more than six years, and is likely to fall to 2.4% in January-March, Nayar said. As of Friday, infection numbers in India have risen to nearly 900 and the death toll is 20, according to Johns Hopkins. An Indian woman covering her face with a mask walks in a crowded marketplace, as nationwide lockdown continues over the novel coronavirus in New Delhi, India.
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