Coronavirus roundup: Developments in India and rest of world

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said it intends to give 15 days to the Centre and states for transporting all stranded migrant workers to their native places and will pronounce its order on June 9 on the issue including their registration and employment opportunities. The SC took note of the submissions of the Centre and state governments on steps taken so far to mitigate the miseries of the migrant workers stranded across the country during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Meanwhile, a record jump of 9,851 cases and 273 fatalities in 24 hours took the country’s Covid-19 tally on Friday to 2,26,770 and death toll to 6,348.

Here are the top developments:

India

During the last 24 hours, a total of 5,355 Covid-19 patients have been cured, said the Union health ministry on Friday. So far, a total of 1,09,462 patients have been cured. The recovery rate is 48.27 per cent among Covid-19 patients.
The aim of standard operating procedures for religious places, shopping malls, restaurants, hotel and offices is to instil appropriate behaviour among people to contain Covid-19 transmission chain while allowing resumption of social and economic activities, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
Some of these places have already re-opened in parts of the country and a few others are scheduled to re-start in the next phase of unlocking from next Monday.
The finance ministry has asked all ministries and departments not to initiate any new scheme in the current financial year and said that there is a need to use resources prudently in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
Five employees of the Union health ministry, including a director, an under-secretary have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last seven days, prompting the authorities to carry out a “major and comprehensive disinfection and sanitisation” of office premises from June 6-7.
The country’s biggest container handling port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, has converted its multi-skill training centre at Bokadvira in the state into 120-bed hospital for treating people infected with coronavirus.
In view of the Covid-19 outbreak, the Jamia Millia Islamia has said its offices would be opened with 50 per cent staff and asked employees above 60 years to work from home.
When schools reopen, the way classroom learning used to happen so far is going to change, HRD school education secretary Anita Karwal said asserting that the Covid-19 pandemic has put the focus on quality of digital education which was postponed so far.

States

UP: Uttar Pradesh recorded its biggest single-day jump of 496 Covid-19 cases, taking the state’s tally to 9,733, while 12 more people succumbed to the disease.
Puducherry: Five fresh Covid-19 cases were reported in Puducherry, taking the total number of active cases in the Union territory to 62.
Nagaland: Fourteen more people, all Chennai returnees, tested positive for Covid-19 in Nagaland, taking the state’s tally to 94.
Andhra Pradesh: As more and more people are coming into the state from various parts of the country and abroad, Andhra Pradesh is witnessing a spurt in coronavirus cases as the total climbed to 4,250 with the addition of 138 in the last 24 hours.
Goa: With seven frontline workers from the health department testing positive for Covid-19 in Goa, there is a fear that the viral infection might travel to the interiors of the state. Mangor Hill was declared a Covid-19 containment zone after over 40 cases were detected in the area since early this week.
Utarakhand: The state’s Covid-19 tally rose to 1,199, with 46 more people testing positive for coronavirus.
Jharkhand: A maximum of 50 people are allowed to take part in wedding ceremonies and 20 in last rite rituals in Jharkhand, according to the fresh guidelines issued by the state government for non-containment zones. Large gatherings at social, political, sports, entertainment, education, culture and religious programmes would remain banned.
Odisha: A 63-year-old man succumbed to Covid-19 in Khurda district, taking Odisha’s death toll due to the virus to eight.
Arunachal Pradesh: The state reported one more Covid-19 infection, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 42 in a span of 12 days.
J&K: The death toll due to Covid-19 in Jammu and Kashmir rose to 36 as a woman died at a hospital due to the coronavirus.
Mizoram: Five persons who returned to Mizoram recently tested positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of cases in the state to 22.
Rajasthan: The state reported 68 fresh cases of Covid-19, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 9,930.
Bihar: A 30-year-old man who had recently returned from abroad by a flight under the Vande Bharat Mission was found dead at the quarantine facility where he was lodged upon arrival.
Meghalaya: Churches and other places of worship in Meghalaya will reopen from June 14, after remaining shut for over two months, chief minister Conrad K Sangma said.
Maharashtra: The state reported 2,436 new coronavirus patients, taking the tally of cases in the state to 80,229. 139 Covid-19 patients died during the day, taking the death toll to 2,849.
Kerala: For the first time, Kerala’s Covid-19 daily figures touched three digits with the state recording 111 cases. The surge in positive cases has pushed the infection count to 1,699 while 1.77 lakh people are under observation.

World

The pandemic has killed at least 390,868 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year. At least 6,640,290 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories.
The United States is the worst-hit country with 108,211 deaths from 1,872,660 cases. At least 485,002 people have been declared recovered.
Europe could have its free travel zone up and running again by the end of the month, but travellers from further afield will not be allowed in before July, European Union home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson said after talks among the bloc’s interior ministers.
The number of daily new coronavirus cases in Iran has fallen back to under 3,000, a day after hitting a new peak. Authorities registered 2,886 new cases of infection, bringing the total number to 167,156 since the start of the outbreak in February.
The last three coronavirus patients in Wuhan, the first epicentre of the Covid-19, have been discharged and the central Chinese city has recorded zero cases of the virus after mass testing of about 10 million people.
Pakistan’s coronavirus cases rose to 89,249 after a record 4,896 new infections were detected in the country, while the death toll due to Covid-19 has reached 1,838.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a decision to impose a new, two-day weekend curfew in 15 of the country’s provinces that took many by surprise. The country has reported more than 167,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 4,630 deaths.
South Africa has seen its largest daily jump in new coronavirus cases. The 3,267 new cases bring the country’s total to 40,792. More than 27,000 of those are in the Western Cape province centered on the city of Cape Town.

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