The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 96,169 on Monday morning and the toll went up to 3,029. The country recorded the biggest single-day surge with 5,242 new cases and 157 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The fourth phase of the lockdown to combat coronavirus cases began on Monday and several states announced relaxations in line with the Centre’s guidelines. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, meanwhile, said that his government would not ease the lockdown. Maharashtra is India’s worst hit state with over 35,000 cases.
Here’s a list of what’s allowed and what’s prohibited during lockdown 4.0.
China’s president Xi Jinping said that his country would support a “comprehensive review” of the coronavirus pandemic after it been brought under control. Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 47 lakh people and claimed over 3.16 lakh lives, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
Read today’s top updates here.
The national helpline number for the coronavirus is 011-23978046, and a toll-free number 1075.
Here are the helpline numbers for states and the Union Territories.
11.13 pm: Here are the top updates of the day:
- India on Monday recorded the biggest single-day increase of 5,242 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s tally of infections to 96,169, according to the figures from the health ministry. With 157 deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll rose to 3,029. The cases in Maharashtra rise to 35,058 after 2,033 people tested positive on Monday. The toll climbed to 1,249. Mumbai has so far reported 21,152 cases.
- Several states announced relaxations, including opening up public transport, in the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19. These were mostly in line with the Centre’s guidelines. A day after extending the nationwide lockdown till May 31, the Centre said states and Union Territories cannot dilute restrictions despite the relaxations in the guidelines.
- It is now no longer compulsory for employers to pay their staff wages during the period of the coronavirus-forced lockdown, even if their establishments remain shut. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday issued an order countermanding any orders issued by the National Executive Committee under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, from Monday onward.
- India along with 61 nations have called for an “impartial” evaluation of the World Health Organization’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. According to a draft resolution proposed for the 73rd World Health Assembly meeting beginning Monday, the countries will seek to identify how the Sars-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 was transmitted from animals to humans.
- The United States-based multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs has predicted that the Indian economy will experience the worst recession ever after its already weakened state was further dragged down by the countrywide lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic. This is the third time that Goldman Sachs has slashed its forecast for India’s economic growth for 2020-’21.
- Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 47 lakh people and claimed over 3.16 lakh lives, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
10.49 pm: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao says the Centre’s Rs 20 lakh-crore economic package is an “empty shell and a statistical jugglery”, The Hindu reports.
10.41 pm: Chinese President Xi Jinping says Beijing will support a probe into the origin of Covid-19 and a review of the World Health Organisation’s response to the pandemic, The Guardian reports.
9.49 pm: New cases in other states:
Madhya Pradesh: 259 new cases, tally rises to 4,977
Gujarat: 366 new cases, tally rise to 11,746
Odisha: 48 new cases, tally rises to 876
9.47 pm: Rajasthan reports over 300 new cases. The state’s tally rises to 5,507. The toll stands at 138.
9.44 pm: Pakistan’s Supreme Court directs the government to open shopping malls and markets, PTI reports. The court observes that the shopkeepers will “die of hunger rather than the coronavirus”. Pakistan has reported over 42,000 cases.
9.42 pm: The Centre directs 50% of its junior employees, below the level of deputy secretary, to start working from office, PTI reports.
9.39 pm: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says 440 people scheduled to arrive in Goa from Italy on Saturday will be tested for Covid-19, ANI reports.
9.35 pm: The Telangana government announces relaxations in line with the Centre’s guidelines.
9.30 pm: The cases in Maharashtra rise to 35,058 after 2,033 people test positive, PTI reports. The toll climbs to 1,249 with 51 new deaths.
9.28 pm: Mumbai’s coronavirus tally rises to 21,152 with 1,185 new cases.
9.10 pm: Thackeray adds the projection for coronavirus cases in Maharashtra was frightening but the government controlled the situation. “We have not allowed those numbers to spike to those levels,” he says. He appeals to the people to help restore normalcy in the state.
9.05 pm: The Maharashtra chief minister adds that he will not allow the coronavirus situation in the state to deteriorate like it did in Italy and the United States. “What if we lift the lockdown, and this virus spreads like we have seen in Brazil, US, Italy?” he says. “I don’t want that to happen in Maharashtra, I won’t let that happen in Maharashtra.”
9.01 pm: Thackeray asks local workers to take up the jobs that migrant workers have left. “Come out and take up jobs in industries in green zone,” he says. “Let’s be Atmanirbhar [self-dependent] here. Let’s take up the challenge wherever human resource is falling short.”
9.00 pm: He appeals to the migrant workers to not walk home. “ We are making provisions, trains and buses have started,” he says. “Please don’t get impatient. We will send you home safely.”
8.57 pm: The chief minister is now addressing citizens on the coronavirus situation.
8.23 pm: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray hands over a Covid-19 health centre with a capacity of 1,000 beds to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, PTI reports.
8.20 pm: Over 1,200 people, stranded in Mumbai and Goa due to the coronavirus lockdown, arrive in Himchal Pradesh on two special trains, PTI reports.
8.16 pm: Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury says the economic package announced by the Centre is “nothing but a recipe for large scale privatisation, enriching the rich and impoverishing the poor”, PTI reports.
8.11 pm: Chinese President Xi Jinping pledges $2 billion in financial support over the next two years for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports. He backs the World Health Organization as it faces criticism over its handling of the health crisis.
8.07 pm: Mumbai’s Dharavi slum reports 85 new coronavirus cases. The area’s tally rises to 1,327.
8.04 pm: Gujarat allows restaurants to accept home delivery orders. It also permits beauty parlours and barber shops to open.
8.02 pm: The Rajasthan government allows taxis in orange and green zones. Barber shops, salons and beauty parlours will also be allowed to open.
6.50 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 536 new coronavirus cases and three deaths, taking the total number of cases in the state to 11,760. This includes 7,270 active cases and 81 deaths.
6.40 pm: The Sikkim government allows restaurants and eateries to open but places restrictions. Only takeaways will be allowed. So far, Sikkim has no cases of the coronavirus.
6.35 pm: Cases in Himachal Pradesh rise to 85, ANI reports.
6.30 pm: A total of 2,715 coronavirus patients have been “reported cured”, the Centre says, according to ANI. “We have presently a recovery rate of 38.29%,” the government says. “In terms of confirmed cases per lakh population, India has so far about 7.1 cases per lakh population.”
6.20 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says private offices, even those inside shopping malls, can work with up to 50% employees during this fourth phase of the lockdown. “Inter-district buses will be allowed from May 21,” she says, according to ANI. “Auto-rickshaws can operate from May 27 with two people. Beauty parlours and salons can open but all equipment must be sanitised.”
6.15 pm: A part of the Krishi Bhawan building in New Delhi was sealed on Monday after an employee in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying tested positive for the coronavirus. The official worked as a personal secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
Read more here:
Covid-19: Krishi Bhawan building in Delhi sealed after employee of fisheries ministry tests positive
5.58 pm: Kejriwal says markets will open on an odd-even basis. “Shops selling essentials will be allowed to open every day,” he adds.
5.56 pm: The Delhi government also allows construction activity, but only with labourers who are in the city presently.
5.45 pm: “Barber shops, spas and saloons will remain closed,” Kejriwal adds.
5.42 pm: Kejriwal adds that taxis and cabs will also be allowed, but with not more than two passengers.
5.39 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says buses will start running in the Capital. “The passengers will be screened,” he says. “Only 20 passengers will be allowed.”
5.35 pm: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan says shopping complexes in the state can open with 50% capacity on a rotational basis.
5.25 pm: Karnataka reports 99 new coronavirus cases. The state’s tally rises to 678.
5.10 pm: Uttar Pradesh’s tally rises to 4,511 with 158 new cases.
4.49 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says there will be no night curfew in the state, but requests people to avoid stepping out after 7pm, The Indian Express reports. “Hawkers will be allowed to reopen shops in non-containment zones in the state from May 27,” she adds.
4.49 pm: The number of Covid-19 cases in Chandigarh rises to 196 after five more people tested positive for the virus today, ANI reports.
4.44 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says her government will try to arrange 115 more trains for migrant workers in the coming days ANI reports. The government will bear the cost of train fares, she adds.
4.37 pm: Karnataka records the biggest single-day rise in cases after 84 people test positive, PTI reports. The total number of infections in the state is now 1,231, with 37 deaths.
4.32 pm: The People’s Action for Employment Guarantee welcomes the decision of the Centre to increase the allocation under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act by Rs 40,000 crore, amid an economic crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the group says that according to its calculations, the minimum inflation-adjusted allocation for the scheme in 2020-’21 should be Rs 1,02,044 crore.
Read more here:
MNREGA allocation should be over Rs 1 lakh crore, says People’s Action for Employment Guarantee
4.29 pm: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu says people will have to learn to live with the novel coronavirus and calls for adopting “new ways of life” based on the lessons from the pandemic, PTI reports.
4.10 pm: Uttar Pradesh Police seize two trucks carrying 95 migrants illegally from Maharashtra in Rishikesh over the last two days, PTI reports. “One truck with 33 migrants on-board from Pune was seized near Saptrishi barrier of Raiwala, while another carrying 62 migrants from Nasik was seized in Muni ki Reti police station area.
4.03 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Assam rises to 104 after two more people tested positive today, ANI reports.
4.02 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address a press conference at 5:30 pm, ANI reports.
4.01 pm: Uttar Pradesh Additional Secretary Awanish Awasthi writes to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, accepting her proposal to deploy 1000 buses for migrants, ANI reports.
3.47 pm: The West Bengal government forms a team of nodal officers to coordinate with other states to ensure a hassle-free movement of migrants and other people stranded due to the lockdown, PTI reports.
3.45 pm: The Maharashtra government tells the Bombay High Court that it is “scrupulously taking all measures to control the spread of Covid-19,” and sought dismissal of a petition which said the state government should adopt the “Kerala model” to tackle the pandemic, PTI reports.
3.40 pm: The Indian Council of Medical Research revises its strategy for Covid-19 testing to allow tests for migrant workers, returnees and all frontline workers involved in efforts to combat the pandemic.
3.12 pm: Delhi University announces that the varsity will remain closed till May 31 in view of extension of the lockdown, PTI reports. It asks all employees to download the Aarogya Setu app on their phones.
3.08 pm: Puducherry allows the sale of liquor in the Union Territory between 7 am to 7 pm, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy says, according to ANI. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting. The lockdown has been extended in Puducherry till May 31.
2.47 pm: Chinese smartphone maker Oppo shuts down operations at a manufacturing facility in Greater Noida after at least eight employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
Read more here:
Oppo shuts factory in Greater Noida after at least 6 employees test positive for coronavirus
2.45 pm: Rajasthan reports 33 new cases and two deaths till 2 pm today, according to ANI. The state’s total tally of cases is now 5,375 and the toll is 133.
2.40 pm: Bihar reports 37 more cases of Covid-19, ANI reports, quoting the state health department. The total number of cases in the state is now 1,363.
2.38 pm: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences is likely to restore services at the hospital from this week, The Indian Express reports. “Discussions on whether the services should be partially opened or in one go are going on with all the heads,” Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent of the hospital, tells the newspaper. “Suggestions regarding limited registrations have also poured in. We are working on the plan.”
2.29 pm: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath blames the Congress government in Punjab and Haryana for the death of 26 migrant workers who were killed in a road accident in the state’s Auraiya district, PTI reports.
“The Congress leadership should understand that one truck [involved in the accident] was from Rajasthan, while the other was coming from Punjab,” Adityanath says. “A hefty amount of money was taken from the migrant labourers, who were returning to Bihar and Jharkhand. What were they [The Congress] doing then?.”
2.22 pm: Restaurant aggregator Swiggy will lay off 1,100 of its employees, spanning across grades and functions across cities over the next few days, The Indian Express reports.
2.17 pm: The Animal Husbandry Department office in Delhi is sealed for 48 hours after one employee tests positive for the coronavirus, the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying says, according to ANI. The employee had last visited the office on May 13. All employees who came in contact with him have been directed to put themselves in quarantine at home.
2.09 pm: The Central Board of Secondary Education announces the date sheet for the pending class 10 and 12 board exams, now to be held from July 1 to July 15, PTI reports. Students will be required to carry their own sanitiser bottles and wear masks.
2.02 pm: Four doctors in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, test positive for the coronavirus, ANI reports. They had been treating a Covid-19 patient, says Head of the Chest Disease Hospital, Dr Naveed Shah.
1.47 pm: Singapore reports 305 new cases, the smallest increase in over a month. The country’s total count is now 28,343.
1.34 pm: The first repatriation flight to Kolkata, carrying 169 people from Bangladesh, lands at NSCBI Airport, reports PTI.
1.32 pm: Five more doctors have tested positive for coronavirus in Kashmir, reports PTI. With this, 16 healthcare workers in the Valley have been infected.
1.23 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa says they will not to allow entry of people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu till May 31.
1.19 pm: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has directed cooperative housing societies in Mumbai to monitor the health of their members and changed its policy related to containment zones in the city. For more than a month, Mumbai has seen India’s biggest spread of infections, with over 19,000 cases recorded so far.
Also read
1.15 pm: From 5 pm on Sunday till Monday noon, Karnataka has recorded 84 new cases, says the state health department. Toll of the state stands at 37.
1.14 pm: He adds that all shops will be allowed to open and all trains running within the state will be allowed.
1.12 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa lists out the activities allowed and prohibited in the state. He says buses, including both run by the state transport corporation as well as private ones, will ply. “Strict lockdown measures in containment zones and economic activities will be permitted in other areas,” he adds. “Sundays will be total lockdown across state. Home quarantine will be strengthened.”
12.48 pm: Number of cases in Assam rises to 102, including three deaths, says the state health department.
12.45 pm: States and Union Territories cannot dilute restrictions despite widespread relaxations, the government says in a statement. “Despite widespread relaxations given in Lockdown 4 restrictions, States and UTs cannot dilute the restrictions imposed in home ministry guidelines,” the home ministry adds.
12.40 pm: He requests the central government to reconsider the package.
12.38 pm: Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram says that the Centre’s economic package “has left several sections high and dry”, reports PTI.
12.31 pm: Two police personnel have been injured in a clash with migrant labourers in Ahemadabad, reports PTI.
12.15 pm: As many as 1,273 personnel of the Maharashtra Police have tested positive so far, reports ANI.
12.06 pm: Chhattisgarh extends restrictions in all districts of state under CrPC Section 144 for next three months in a bid to contain spread of coronavirus, reports PTI quoting an official.
12.04 pm: The Muzaffarnagar Police seize six container trucks carrying over 500 migrant workers from Yamuna Nagar in Haryana to Bihar and West Bengal, reports PTI. The migrants have been shifted to shelter homes.
11.55 am: Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Sunday asked Overseas Citizen of India card-holders to not worry about the temporary suspension of their long-term visas and assured them the government will soon take an “appropriate decision,” PTI reported. He said that Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Home Minister Amit Shah were personally aware of their problems and they have “no doubt whatsoever about the Indianness of the overseas Indian community”.
Also read
Covid-19: Modi will soon take decision to bring back OCI card holders stranded in US, says minister
11.33 am: Andhra Pradesh reported 52 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, says the state health department. The total number of cases rises to 2,282, including 50 deaths.
11.18 am: OPPO India says it will only allow employees with negative test results to resume office. “We are undertaking stringent measures to keep the employees safe and disinfecting the premises,” it adds.
11.17 am: Six employees of OPPO mobile company’s factory in Greater Noida have tested positive, reports ANI. All operations at the factory have been suspended.
11.13 am: Total number of cases in Odisha till 9 am stands at 876 with 48 new infections, reports ANI.
11.07 am: 299 new cases in Delhi in the last 24 hours. However, the national Capital did not report any death. The total number of cases in Delhi stands at 10,054, including 160 fatalities.
10.01 am: Rajasthan reports 140 cases and two deaths, says the health department. The total number of cases in the state rises to 5,342, including 133 deaths.
9.46 am: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao extends the prohibitory orders under Section 144 (1) till May 19 in the city, reports ANI. Bengaluru city is classified under the red zone.
9.44 am: The total number of active cases in Goa reaches 31.
9.42 am: Shops selling footwear, bag, helmet, electronic accessories reopen in Siliguri, West Bengal.
9.32 am: Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij says only those testing “negative for the coronavirus” will be allowed to enter the state, reports The Indian Express. The state will either insist on a recent negative test report or will perform tests at borders using rapid testing kits. “It will be mandatory for anybody entering Haryana to first go through a coronavirus test,” says Vij. “A person will only be allowed to enter Haryana, if he/she tests negative for the coronavirus.”
9.29 am: Vehicular traffic increases in Delhi. Visuals from ITO area.
9.21 am: The country recorded the biggest single-day surge with 5,242 new cases and 157 deaths in the last 24 hours.
9.18 am: India’s tally rises to 96,169, according to the health ministry’s update. The toll in the country in now 3,029
9.10 am: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan writes to his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee requesting her to inform the Ministry of Railways about the requirement of a “Shramik Special” Indore-Kolkata train for the migrant workers.
9.06 am: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says the Delhi-Thiruvananthapuram Rajdhani Express will not halt in the state, reports PTI. This comes after 18 people tested positive in the last few days. Some of the patients include those who had arrived in Goa by this train. “Since there are rising instances of passengers testing Covid-19 positive after their arrival in Goa by Delhi Rajdhani train, it has been decided that this train will not take a halt at Madgao railway station from Monday,” he adds.
9.02 am: China reports 25 new cases, including 14 asymptomatic patients in Wuhan. The toll in China remained at 4,634 as of Sunday with no new fatalities.
9.01 am: A special train reaches New Delhi Railway Station from Rajendra Nagar Railway Station in Patna.
7.52 am: Japan dives into its first recession since 2015, according to official data. The world’s third-largest economy contracts by 0.9% in the first quarter, reports AFP.
7.48 am: Heavy vehicular movement at Delhi-Gurugram border.
7.47 am: A total of 7 people who travelled on the Mumbai-Goa train on Sunday test positive, reports ANI. The total number of active cases in Goa reaches 29.
7.44 am: People arrive at wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Ghazipur.
7.41 am: India joins 61 countries that have backed an effort by Australia and the European Union to call for an independent inquiry into the World Health Organization’s response to the pandemic, reports The Indian Express. The 73rd World Health Assembly meeting will begin on Monday. The draft calls for “impartial, independent and comprehensive” probe into the coronavirus crisis, besides an inquiry into the actions of WHO.
Also read
Covid-19: India among 62 nations to push for probe into source of origin, evaluate WHO’s response
7.40 am: Here are the biggest updates from Sunday
- The Centre on Sunday directed states to continue lockdown measures till May 31. It permitted interstate and intrastate movement of buses and passenger vehicles in red zones, in addition to orange and green zones. The ministry also yielded to a key demand of states – to allow them to define red, orange, green and buffer zones.
- India has reported 90,927 cases of coronavirus so far, including 2,872 deaths, according to the Union health ministry.
- The Centre, in the fifth and final tranche of its Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, on Sunday increased the borrowing limit of the states from 3% to 5% and announced that Rs 40,000 crore will be spent additionally under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made seven announcements as part of a slew of measures to kickstart the economy.
- Maharashtra, which is the worst affected state in the country, recorded 2,347 new positive cases and 63 deaths in a day. This took the state’s total to 33,053 positive cases and 1,198 deaths. The state’s capital Mumbai reported a record 1,571 cases and 38 deaths in a day, taking the city’s tally rises to 19,967 and the toll to 734.
- The police in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday roughed up a doctor, tied his hands and dragged him on the road for allegedly creating nuisance and abusing the state government in an inebriated condition. The officers tied Dr Sudhakar’s hands and bundled him into an autorickshaw before taking him to the police station.
- Gujarat’s Ahmedabad Civil Hospital has come under the scanner after a Covid-19 patient admitted there was found dead at a bus stop 10 km away on May 15. The patient’s family was forced to carry the body to a crematorium themselves, without any protective gear, and claims they have not been given any information on how the body reached the bus stop.
- Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 46 lakh people and claimed over 3.12 lakh lives, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.