(TibetanReview.net, May01’20) – India’s Ministry of Home Affairs has on May 1 evening announced that the current nationwide lockdown, which ends on My 3, will be extended by another two weeks, till May 17. “After a comprehensive review and in view of the lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the Covid-19 situation, the government has decided to further extend the lockdown,” the order read.
However, travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road, subject to exceptions, as well as running of schools, colleges, and other educational and training/coaching institutions, besides other specified group activities, continue to remain banned across the country.
The announcement came as India reported another steep rise in the number of new Covid-19 cases and deaths in the past 24 hours on May 1 morning.
The country saw the highest ever number of 1993 new cases and 73 new deaths over the past 24 hours as of Apr 30 at 8AM (GMT+5:30), taking their cumulative totals to 35,043 cases and 1,147 deaths, according to the tally of the country’s Ministry of Health.
Maharashtra, the worst-hit state by a huge margin, had a total of 10,498 (+583) cases, followed by Gujarat with 4,395 (+313) cases, Delhi with 3,515 (+76) cases, Madhya Pradesh with 2,660 (+90) cases, Rajasthan with 2,584 (+146) cases, Tamil Nadu with 2,323 (+161) cases, Uttar Pradesh with 2,203 (+69) cases, Andhra Pradesh with 1,403 (+71) cases, Telangana with 1,038 (+28) cases, West Bengal with 795 (+37) cases, Jammu & Kashmir with 614 (+33) cases, Karnataka with 565 (+30) cases, Kerala with 497 (+2) cases, Bihar with 414 (+26) cases, Punjab with 357 (+0) cases, Haryana with 313 (+3) cases, Odisha, 142 (+17), and Jharkhand, 109 (+2).
Other badly hit states/Union Territories were Uttarakhand, 57 (+2); Chandigarh, 56 (+0); Assam, 42 (+4); Chattisgarh, 40 (+2), Himachal Pradesh, 40 (+0); Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 33 (+0); Ladakh, 22 (+0); and Meghalaya 12 (+0).
Besides, Puducherry (8), Goa (7), Manipur (2), Tripura (2), Mizoram (1), and Arunachal Pradesh (1) and had reported cases. One case in Nagaland was transferred to Assam.
Maharashtra also had the most number of deaths at 459 (+27), followed by Gujarat, 214 (+17); Madhya Pradesh, 137 (+8); Delhi, 59 (+3); Rajasthan, 58 (+7); Andhra Pradesh, 31 (+0); Uttar Pradesh, 39 (+0); Telangana, 26 (+0); Tamil Nadu 27 (+0); West Bengal, 33 (+11); Karnataka, 21 (+1); Punjab, 19 (+-); Jammu & Kashmir, 8 (+0); Kerala, 4 (+0); Haryana, 3 (+0), Jharkhand, 3 (+0); and Bihar 2 (+0). Besides Odisha, HP, Meghalaya, and Assam had 1 death each. (Source: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/)
***
On Apr 30, two more Covid-19 patients recovered in Himachal Pradesh, taking the total number of those cured in the state to 27, reported tribuneindia.com Apr 30, putting the district on course to become a green zone. The district is now coronavirus free.
After the outcry over the mass entry into the state by residents stranded in other parts of the country, the government has decided to suspend issuing new permits, said another tribuneindia.com report Apr 30. It added that about 17,000 people had entered Kangra in the last few days.
***
Across the world the total number of Covid-19 cases had reached 3,269,667 and the deaths 233,688 as of May 1 at 2:02:25 PM (GMT-4), according to the Dashboard maintained by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
The countries with the most number of reported cases thus far are US (1,070,032), Spain (213,435) Italy (205,463), UK (172,481), France (167,299), Germany (163,009), Turkey (120,204), Russia (114,431), Iran (94,640), Brazil (87,187) and China (83,956). The tally of India, the country with the 16th most number of cases on the Johns Hopkins dashboard, stands at 35,043 cases.
Brazil has overtaken China as the country with the 10th most number of cases.
