On Day 20 of the nationwide lockdown, India reported 905 new cases of coronavirus taking the country's tally to 9352. With 2,064 cases Maharashtra continued to be the worst affected state followed by Delhi with 1,154 cases and Tamil Nadu with 1075 cases. In what could be a ray of hope, 25 districts across 15 states did not report any case in the last 14 days.
On Monday, the PMO India twitter handle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that PM Modi will address the nation on the last day of the 21-day nationwide lockdown across the country. During a meeting with Chief Ministers of several state, the CMs had suggested the Centre to extend the lockdown amid the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.
Following Odisha and Maharashtra, the Tamil Nadu government on Monday announced an extension of the lockdown in the state till April 30. With the rise in the number of positive cases in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister also said that besides lockdown, Section 144 will also be in effect till April 30. After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu is the worse affected state with over 1200 positive cases of COVID-19.
In photo: Safety first! A man was caught in a candid moment while he was trying to put a face mask on his son's face at Dharavi.
In a shocking incident, the excise department registered as many as 102 cases of illegal sale of liquor and 46 people arrested across the state of Maharashtra amid total lockdown. The excise department sieged eight vehicles and recovered liquor worth Rs 16.34 lakh during the raids.
After 15 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Dharavi on Sunday, BMC officials said that the virus has spread to other pockets of the slum which were unaffected earlier and sealed another area, Shastri Nagar slum. According to the BMC data, 10 of the 15 new coronavirus positive patients in Dharavi are in the age group of 18 to 30.
Uber on Monday announced Uber Essential to facilitate essential travel service for the residents of Mumbai amid the ongoing national lockdown. In order to operationalise the Mumbai service, Uber is partnering with the city's traffic police and has identified a select fleet of vehicles for pick-up and drop from and/or to city hospitals. All drivers have been issued curfew passes by local law enforcement authorities to ensure seamless movement to medical facilities.
In photo: A BMC staff sprays disinfectant at Dharavi as Asia's largest slum has been sealed amid rising number of COVID-19 cases.
After Dharavi, a total of 2,335 people from the G south ward (Worli, Prabhadevi, Mahalaxmi and Lower Parel) have sent been sent into quarantin as the ward remains one of the highly affected area of Mumbai with 267 positive cases of COVID-19. As per the data accesses by mid-day, out of the total 267 cases, 145 are males whereas 122 are female patients.
On Monday, as many as 25 staff members of Mumbai's Bhatia hospital tested positive for the novel coronavirus. According to an official statement issued, all the staff members, who have tested positive are being treated at ICU of the hospital itself. While the staff members are stable and doing good, the hospital has shifted other patients to other hospitals.
In an unprecedented move, a resident of Pune camp area was convicted by Pune court on Monday for not wearing a mask in public place and roaming outside while riding a vehicle during nationwide lockdown across the country. The 31-year-old man was fined Rs 1000 by the court.
By the end of Day 20 of the lockdown, Mumbai reported 150 positive cases and nine deaths due to COVID-19. Out of the nine deaths, seven had co-morbidity. According to the official statement, a total of 141 people have been discharged in the state while the city has witnessed over 100 deaths due to the deadly virus. The total number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai stands at 1,549.
Maharashtra Housing Minister and NCP leader Jitendra Awhad on Monday said that his COVID-19 results have declared him negative but the doctors have advised him to be in quarantine for 14 days. The NCP leader was advised to go into quarantine after a policeman with whom Awhad had come into contact a few days ago tested positive for COVID-19. Besides a policeman, a journalist who had interviewed Awhad had also tested positive.
The women of Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) Western Region, on Monday stitched around 1500 face masks in order to safeguard the naval community from the threat of COVID-19. The face masks were distributed to the Indian Navy personnel and their families in the residential areas of Colaba in South Mumbai.
In photo: A Mumbai Police Traffic personnel snapped while wearing hand gloves to fight the spread of coronavirus.
While coronavirus positive cases were reported from several states, Nagaland reported its first COVID-19 case on Monday, following which several localities and a hospital in Dimapur have been sealed. On the other hand, Uttarakhand Health Department said that no new positive COVID-19 case emerged in the state for the fifth day in a row.
While addressing a press conference, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that they have conducted 2,06,212 COVID-19 tests till yesterday. ICMR's head scientist Dr. Raman R Gangakhedkar said that the consignment of COVID-19 kits is expected to arrive from China on April 15.
After Mumbai and Pune, Ahmedabad joined the list of cities which have made it compulsorily for people to wear face mask at public places to combat coronavirus spread. On the other hand, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that in the last 100 hours no positive COVID-19 case has been reported in the State while seven patients have returned home after recovering fully.
ADVERTISEMENT
