Coronavirus: China to evacuate its citizens from India amid health crisis and border tension

11.10 pm: Here are today’s top 10 coronavirus updates.

10.55 pm: China says it will evacuate its citizens from India, the Hindustan Times reports. A notice published by the Chinese embassy in India says students, tourists and businessmen who have been stranded in India will be allowed to fly back to China on special flights. Those willing to return should register by May 27, the embassy says.

10.17 pm: Uttar Pradesh government releases 2,257 convicts, lodged in different jails in Lucknow, on parole for eight weeks, ANI reports.

10.09 pm: The World Health Organization temporarily suspended the trial of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus, over safety concerns, AFP reports.

10.03 pm: Pune district has reported 459 new cases, ANI reports. The district now has 6,153 infections, including 280 deaths.

9.57 pm: Nagaland has reported cases of the coronavirus for the first time, according to PTI. Three persons who recently returned to the state from Chennai have been found infected, a health department official said.

9.34 pm: Karnataka reports 93 new cases and two deaths on Monday, according to PTI. Of the 93, 69 are people who returned from Maharashtra. The total number of cases in Karnataka is now 2,182, including 44 deaths.

9.12 pm: Haryana reports 29 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, its health department says, taking the total number of cases to 1,213.

8.32 pm: Jharkhand’s Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni says 14 new Covid-19 cases have been found in the state today, reports ANI.

8.30 pm: In India, the Indian Council of Medical Research says the Centre came up with an “intelligent testing strategy” and ramped up its preparedness against the pandemic after taking lessons from the 2009 swine flu outbreak, reports The Indian Express.

8.28 pm: Spain has appealed to foreign tourists to return from July as one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns eased, reports Reuters.

8.26 pm: Mongolia will keep up strict coronavirus restrictions until a vaccine is found, the nation’s prime minister has said, according to AFP.

8.24 pm: A large group of migrant workers are returning to Myanmar from Thailand after weeks of waiting at the border, reports AFP.

8.23 pm: Madagascar’s government has said it will send soldiers and medical professionals to an eastern town after many bodies were found on the streets, where two people died of the coronavirus, reports AFP.

8.20 pm: A special repatriation Air India flight has left from Vancouver for Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad with 195 passengers, reports ANI. This is the second Air India repatriation flight from Vancouver.

8.15 pm: The Gautam Buddha Nagar district administration in Uttar Pradesh has mandated 14-day home quarantine for incoming passengers. “All domestic flight passengers coming to Noida/GBNagar/UP are requested to self-register using the link given in the doc below,” says a tweet from the official account of the district magistrate. “CISF [Central Industrial Security Force] has also been requested to check registration at the time of exit. After arrival into UP, you are requested to follow home quarantine rules as below.”

8.12 pm: Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweets about the resumption of domestic flight services. “From no domestic passenger flights yesterday to 532 flights and 39,231 passengers today, action has returned to Indian skies,” he writes. “With Andhra Pradesh set to resume operations from tomorrow and West Bengal from 28 May, these numbers are all set to increase further.”

Also read:

Covid-19: Nearly 80 flights in Delhi, over 20 in Bengaluru cancelled, chaos at airports on day 1

8.05 pm: Kerala reports 49 new coronavirus cases today, taking the state’s tally to 896, reports PTI.

8.03 pm: Maharashtra’s Health Department records 2,436 new coronavirus patients today, reports ANI. The state has reported 60 deaths and 1,186 recoveries today. The state’s tally rises to 52,667, including 1,695 deaths and 15,786 recoveries.

7.58 pm: Himachal Pradesh Minister Suresh Bhardwaj says the state government has only authorised district magistrates to extend curfew under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that bars the assembly of over four people.

“District administrations can take a decision as per the situation there,” he tells ANI. “But this decision isn’t applicable to the state in its entirety, state government hasn’t taken any such decision.”

7.46 pm: Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has criticised the Maharashtra government over its delayed response related to the “Shramik Special” trains for migrant workers.

Read more here:

Covid-19: Piyush Goyal lashes out at Maharashtra CM, says state has provided list of only 41 trains

7.40 pm: Mahindra Group Chairperson Anand Mahindra has said that the number of Covid-19 cases will continue to rise and “the focus must be on rapid expansion of field hospital beds with oxygen lines”.

Read more here:

Covid-19: Anand Mahindra says extended lockdown will have damaging psychological impact on people

7.32 pm: Ghaziabad’s traffic Sub-inspector Vishal Singh says vehicles providing essential services, goods carriers and those with passes are being allowed to go to Delhi. Earlier in the day, the district administration closed its border with the national Capital amid a rise in cases.
“Order came in afternoon, so not many know about it,” Singh tells ANI. “We’re telling people about it otherwise they won’t be allowed to enter Delhi.”

Also read:

Covid-19: Ghaziabad administration once again seals border with Delhi due to rise in number of cases

7.01 pm: The Central Reserve Police Force reports four new coronavirus cases in Delhi today, reports ANI. The total number of active cases in the force is 141, and 220 people have recovered. Two Covid-19 patients have died so far.

6.59 pm: Punjab records 21 new Covid-19 cases in the state today, reports ANI, citing the state’s Department of Information and Public Relations. This takes the state’s tally to 2,081. The number of patients currently being treated is 128.

6.51 pm: Maharashtra’s Disaster Management Department issues Standard Operating Procedures for passengers of domestic flights. “All passengers will be stamped and will have to go to 14-day home isolation, passengers coming for short duration will be exempted if they submit return travel details,” the order says.

6.48 pm: Jammu and Kashmir Principal Secretary Rohit Kansal says 1.30 lakh tests have been conducted in the state so far, reports ANI. “Our testing rate works out to over 10,000 per million. As I speak today, Jammu and Kashmir’s testing rate is the highest in the entire country,” he adds.

6.43 pm: In Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district, 14 new coronavirus cases have been reported today. The district’s tally has gone up to 359, with 119 active cases, says the district surveillance officer, according to ANI.

6.41 pm: Assam records 48 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 514, reports ANI. As of now, 445 people are being treated in the state, says state Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

6.41 pm: Rail Bhavan to be shut on Tuesday and Wednesday after another employee tests positive for Covid-19, reports PTI.

6.33 pm: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh condemns the attack on a special train transporting migrants from the state stranded in Goa. “A mob attacked the train on Sunday when it halted in Bihar,” he tweets. “I appeal to Bihar Chief Minister Shri NitishKumar to book the miscreants immediately. Requesting Shri Piyush Goyal to look into this.”

6.05 pm: Tamil Nadu’s Health Minister C Vijayabaskar says 805 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths reported in the state today, reports ANI. Of these, 549 cases are from Chennai and 407 patients have been discharged today. The state’s tally rises to 17,082.

6 pm: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat says coronavirus cases have risen in his state after the return of migrants, but the government is fully prepared to deal with the situation, reports PTI.

5.58 pm: Special repatriation flight from Doha, ferrying 146 Indians arrives at Gaya international airport, reports PTI.

5.54 pm: Industrialist Anand Mahindra raises concern over extension of the nationwide lockdown. “Lockdown extensions aren’t just economically disastrous, as I had tweeted earlier, but also create another medical crisis,” he tweets.

Mahindra tagged an article published in Forbes and wrote: “This article highlights the dangerous psychological effects of lockdowns and the huge risk of neglecting non-Covid patients. The choices aren’t easy for policymakers but a lockdown extension won’t help. The numbers will continue to rise and the focus must be on rapid expansion of field hospital beds with oxygen lines. The Army has enormous expertise in this.”

Also read:

Covid-19: Anand Mahindra says extended lockdown will have damaging psychological impact on people

5.50 pm: Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli says his country’s fatality due to the coronavirus is less in comparison to other countries of South Asia. “Those coming from India are coming in without proper checking which has contributed to the further spread of Covid-19,” he adds, according to ANI.

5.39 pm: Karnataka records 93 new coronavirus cases and two deaths, taking the state’s tally to 2,182. The toll stands at 44. There are 1,431 patients being treated in the state, reports ANI.

5.32 pm: Hamirpur and Solan districts in Himachal Pradesh have extended the curfew till June 30, PTI reports. Hamirpur has so far recorded 63 cases of Covid-19, and Solan 21. The state has a total of 214 cases, including five deaths.

5.26 pm: A Janata Dal (United) MLA’s reply to a labourer questioning the lack of jobs in Bihar has triggered huge backlash.

Read here: Did your father give you a job?: JD(U) MLA’s reply to a migrant worker’s query on employment

5.19 pm: An employee at Rail Bhavan, the headquarters of the Indian Railways in Delhi, tests positive for the coronavirus, PTI reports. This is the fifth case in less than two weeks in same building.

5.13 pm: The Kerala High Court dismisses a petition challenging the state government’s decision to conduct Secondary School Leaving Certificate exams for class 10 and 12 on Tuesday, ANI reports.

5.10 pm: Passengers arrive at the Raja Bhoj Airport in Bhopal to board their flights.

4.41 pm: Delhi BJP Chief Manoj Tiwari denies allegations that he violated physical distancing norms while playing cricket in Haryana’s Sonipat district, ANI reports. “I have always followed social distancing and lockdown norms,” he says. “The home ministry permitted the opening of stadiums without spectators. Based on that, I went there and played.”

4.36 pm: The Mumbai International Airport says as many as 20 flights operated to and from the city till 12:45 pm on Monday, PTI reports. Airport officials add that they received around 1,900 passengers on day one of the resumption of flights.

4.29 pm: German air carrier Lufthansa signs a nine-billion-euro ($9.8 billion) rescue deal with Berlin that would make the government a shareholder, AFP reports. The aviation sector has been one of the worst hit due to the enforcement of travel restrictions.

4.13 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city rises to 3,064 after 56 more people test positive, PTI reports.

4.08 pm: Two migrant workers, on their way home amid the lockdown, died in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district on Sunday, according to PTI.

A 38-year-old man heading to West Bengal in a bus from Maharashtra complained of breathing problems and died at a community health centre in Pithora town. In the second case, a 45-year-old migrant worker got off at the Mahasamund railway station from an Odisha-bound train after his health deteriorated and died in a nearby hospital.

4.02 pm: Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district extends curfew till June 30, PTI reports.

3.56 pm: New cases reported in states:

Uttar Pradesh: 273 new cases, tally rises to 2,606; toll at 165

Uttarakhand: 15 new cases, tally rises to 332; toll at four.

3.53 pm: Punjab issues new guidelines for international and domestic passengers.

3.46 pm: Ghaziabad seals border with Delhi amid rising coronavirus cases.

Read more here:

Covid-19: Ghaziabad administration once again seals border with Delhi due to rise in number of cases

3.43 pm: Japan lifts the state of emergency imposed to combat the coronavirus, following a sharp decline in the number of new cases.

3.27 pm: Officials in Thiruvananthapuram place about 100 people, including a magistrate and some police personnel, under quarantine after a man who was produced before a court following his arrest tested positive for the coronavirus, PTI reports.

3.19 pm: Nagaland reports first three cases of the coronavirus.

3.13 pm: A 58-year-old sanitation supervisor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi dies of Covid-19, PTI reports.

3.08 pm: With erratic physical distancing practices and abrupt cancellations of flights, day one of resumption of domestic air travel has been somewhat chaotic so far.

Watch: Scenes from airports across India as domestic air travel is resumed after two months

3.02 pm: Rajasthan’s tally rises to 7,173 with 145 new cases. The toll stands at 163.

2.31 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh rises to 2,886 after 89 more people test positive, PTI reports. The toll stands at 56.

2.25 pm: Over 700 passengers from Delhi arrive in Jammu.

2.17 pm: The Andhra Pradesh government makes seven-day institutional quarantine mandatory for people flying in from Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, The Hindu reports.

2.10 pm: Delhi records 635 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 14,053. The toll stands at 276.

2.07 pm: Panipat lies 90 km north of New Delhi. Once known as handloom city, famous for hand-woven carpets and dhurries, it annually produces Rs 10,000-crore worth of every possible home furnishing: bedsheets, blankets, bath mats, towels, curtains, home linen. Its buyers range from pheriwalas in Uttar Pradesh to home decor companies in the United States.

Read here: End of lockdown does not mean start of work in this textile town. Here’s why

2.03 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Russia climb to 3,53,427 as 8,946 more people test positive, Reuters reports. The toll reaches 3,633 with 92 more deaths.

1.56 pm: Indian citizens from the US arrive in Kerala.

1.46 pm: Rural India is incapable of absorbing the estimated 23 million interstate and intrastate migrant labour who might return home from urban areas due to the Covid-19 lockdown. This is because the rural economy is already overburdened, excessively dependent on agriculture, and has widespread hidden underemployment, data shows.

Read here: At least 23 million migrants are returning to India’s villages. Can the rural economy keep up?

1.38 pm: Spain’s Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto says foreign tourists can book vacations in the country from July as the two-week self-quarantine for overseas travellers is likely to be suspended by then, Reuters reports.

1.36 pm: A special flight from Qatar, carrying 146 Indian citizens, lands in Bihar.

1.32 pm: Several people are seen outside a liquor shop in Bhubaneswar. The shop is selling liquor in violation of the state government’s order.

1.29 pm: People observe physical distancing while offering Eid prayers in Lucknow.

1.23 pm: The son and wife of an advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor JC Murmu test positive for the coronvirus, according to PTI. They had returned from Delhi recently.

1.18 pm: The Union health ministry says India has significantly increased the production capacity of personal protective equipment kits and masks, with three lakh units each being manufactured on a daily basis, PTI reports. The health ministry adds that the quality of protective equipment is being ensured through stringent protocols.

1.12 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan rises to 56,349 after 1,748 more people test positive, PTI reports. The toll rises to 1,167.

1.08 pm: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo names Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian-American physician Sid Mukherjee and higher education leader Satish Tripathi as members of a commission meant to focus on rebuilding the state’s economy, which has been severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, PTI reports.

1.06 pm: The authorities at Chhattisgarh’s Swami Vivekananda Airport put up acrylic sheets at counters to ensure the safety of passengers and staff members.

1.03 pm: Karnataka reports 69 new coronavirus cases. The state’s tally rises to 2,158. The toll stands at 43.

12.59 pm: Here is a map showing cities with the maximum number of active coronavirus cases in India.

12.55 pm: Passengers undergo thermal screening at the Kalaburagi Airport in Karnataka before boarding flights.

12.51 pm: The Central Board of Secondary Education will hold the remaining exams for classes 10 and 12 at over 15,000 centres across India, Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal says. Earlier, the board was slated to hold the exams at only 3,000 centres.

12.36 pm: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath announces that any state that wants to employ migrant workers from his in the future will have to first seek permission from his government. He says that the migrant labourers were “not properly taken care of” by various states in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown.

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States will have to seek permission to employ workers from Uttar Pradesh, says Adityanath

12.35 pm: The total number cases in Himachal Pradesh rises to 209 including four deaths.

12.31 pm: Himachal Pradesh government asks all Class-I and Class-ll officers of the state government to attend office on all working days.

12.30 pm: Jharkhand’s tally rises to 378, of which 148 patients have recovered. There are 226 active cases in the state now, says the state health department.

12.28 pm: In the last 24 hours, 51 police personnel in Maharashtra have tested positive, reports ANI. The total number of cases in Maharashtra Police is now 1,809, including 18 deaths.

12.22 pm: Manipur has 34 cases of infection after two more people tested positive.

12.19 pm: “The situation is under control in Delhi though I admit that Covid-19 cases are increasing slowly,” says Kejriwal. “Most of the cases have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic and being treated at home.”

12.16 pm: Kejriwal says the Delhi government has issued a show-cause notice to a private hospital that denied treatment to a Covid-19 patient. “It is the hospital’s duty in such a case to provide an ambulance to the patient and take them to a Covid hospital,” he adds.

12.15 pm: Kejriwal says cases have increased in Delhi due to relaxations in lockdown. “But there is nothing to worry about unless the mortality rate or the number of serious cases rises rapidly,” he adds.

12.14 pm: The Delhi CM says 3,314 people are undergoing treatment at home.

12.12 pm: Kejriwal says 2,000 new beds will be available in private hospitals from today for Covid-19 patients. He adds that 20% of the beds in 117 private hospitals will be reserved for coronavirus patients.

12.11 pm: Kejriwal says till Sunday, there were 13,418 positive cases of Covid-19 in Delhi. “Out of this 6,540 have recovered and 6,617 are active cases,” he adds.

12.10 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses the media.

11.43 am: Andhra Pradesh health department says the total number of cases in the state is now 2,671 with 44 fresh infections in the last 24 hours.

11.42 am: Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tells ANI that when 60,000 people come into the state, 300 more cases are expected.

11.41 am: Suzuki Motor Gujarat resumes manufacturing operations after over two months, reports The Indian Express.

11.40 am: Supreme Court judge Justice DY Chandrachud says increased government action might be necessary during a public health crisis, but it is also the duty of the courts to ensure accountability and protect rights of its citizens.

Also read

Despite public health crisis, it is courts’ duty to protect rights of citizens: Justice Chandrachud

11.33 am: The Maharashtra government seeks 50 trained specialist doctors and 100 nurses from Kerala to deal with the dearth of medical staff in the state, reports The Hindu. These medical staff will be recruited on a “temporary basis”.

11.30 am: Assam minister HB Sarma says resident commissioners of different northeastern states will receive the people of their states at Guwahati airport. “They can take them to their respective bhawans or directly to the states,” he tells ANI.

11.28 am: Assam has 35 new cases today.

11.25 am: Eight flights are arriving at Guwahati airport today, says state minister HB Sarma. He adds that all passengers will be scanned for Covid-19 at the airport.

11.22 am: Justice Bobde adds that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and Air India are free to alter any norms during the pendency of the matter.

11.20 am: Air India shall be allowed to operate non-scheduled foreign flights with middle seats booking for next 10 days, says Chief Justice SA Bobde. He was hearing an urgent petition filed by the Centre and Air India against the Bombay High Court order to keep middle seats vacant in international flights.

11.08 am: The total number of containment zones in Delhi is now 90 with three new zones added to the list, reports ANI. Forty-one zones have been “de-contained”.

10.53 am: Till 9 am today, there have been five arrivals and 17 departures and nine flights cancelled at Bengaluru airport, reports ANI.

10.50 am: Odisha health department says the state has reported 103 new cases in the last 24 hours. The total number of infections in the state is now 1,438.

10.27 am: Several passengers at Mumbai airport complain that they have not been informed about their flights being cancelled. “We were going to Delhi,” one of the passengers tells NDTV. “We were told when we arrived here that the flight has been cancelled. One of the customer care employees told us that there is a flight that runs tonight and that may be, we have been rescheduled. But nothing is confirmed yet.”

Around 80 flights from Delhi airport have been cancelled, reports ANI.

Also read

Coronavirus lockdown: Long queues, cancellations on day 1 of resumption of domestic flights

10.06 am: Chandigarh’s tally rises to 265 after nine people test positive.

10.02 am: China reports 51 fresh infections, including 40 asymptomatic ones.

10.01 am: Bihar reports 180 new cases from 15 districts. The state’s total count is now 2,574.

9.48 am: Rajasthan reports 72 new cases, but no deaths. The state’s tally now stands at 7,100.

9.37 am: Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel defends the state government’s health infrastructure to handle the coronavirus crisis. This comes a day after the High Court called the civil hospital in Ahmedabad worse than a dungeon. Patel adds that he took a risk by visiting several hospitals to take stock of the situation despite his age.

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Covid-19: Gujarat Deputy CM defends government after HC says Ahmedabad hospital ‘worse than dungeon’

9.35 am: The first flight from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport lands at Chennai airport.

9.33 am: Four more people test positive in Himachal Pradesh, taking the number of cases in the state to 208. The state’s toll rises to five after a 72-year-old woman died due to the disease.

9.31 am: India is now among the 10 countries with most cases, according to a tracker by the Johns Hopkins University.

9.13 am: The health ministry has updated coronavirus figures in India. The country now has 1,38,845 coronavirus cases and the toll stands at 4,021. In the past 24 hours, 6,977 new infections and 154 deaths have been recorded. This is the biggest single-day jump in the number of cases.

9.09 am: A passenger at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport says her Air India flight to Delhi has been cancelled without prior notice, reports ANI. Similarly, passengers of an Air India Bengaluru to Hyderabad flight say their flight has also been cancelled without any notice.

Air travel resumed across India this morning, two months after the nationwide lockdown was imposed to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

8.12 am: All passengers landing at Chandigarh airport will be tested for Covid-19 upon arrival, says Mohali District Magistrate Girish Dayalan, reports Hindustan Times.

8.07 am: A long queue of passengers outside Delhi airport’s Terminal-3.

7.59 am: Tamil Nadu limits the number of flights arriving in Chennai to 25, but there is no limit on the flights leaving.

7.55 am: Domestic flights will begin from Andhra Pradesh tomorrow, reports DD News.

7.16 am: US President Donald Trump bars travel from Brazil, reports AFP.

7.15 am: The toll in US rises by 638, bringing the total number of lives lost to 97,686.

7.10 am: Senior Congress leader and Maharashtra Public Works Department Minister Ashok Chavan tests positive, reports PTI. He is the second minister in the Uddhav Thackeray government to be infected after Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad.

7.08 am: Jama Masjid and Fatehpuri Masjid to remain closed for devotees on the occasion of Eid today.

7.07 am: Delhi airport authorities screen passengers with a thermometer gun before they board a flight to Bhubaneswar.

7.06 am: Passengers arrive at Lucknow airport.

7.05 am: Here are the top updates from Sunday.

• India on Sunday recorded 6,767 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours – the biggest single-day jump in figures so far. With this, the total number of cases reached 1,31,868 and the toll rose to 3,867 after 147 new fatalities.
• Maharashtra recorded its highest increase of cases in 24 hours as its numbers rose by 3,041 to 50,231. The toll is 1,635. Sunday was the eighth consecutive day Maharashtra reported more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours.
• As domestic flights are set to begin across the country on Monday, Kolkata will operate flights only from Thursday due to Cyclone Amphan relief work. 
• Maharashtra will allow 25 domestic passenger flights into Mumbai daily, and the  number will be gradually increased, state minister Nawab Malik said. Guidelines for domestic air travel in the state will be released soon.
• The Centre released guidelines for both domestic and international air travel. People flying into India from abroad will be quarantined for 14 days. 
• The government issued a Standard Operating Protocol for the return of Indians stranded abroad. According to the SOP. Flights for Indians stuck abroad will be a paid service, in which preference will be given to pregnant women, those who have lost their jobs, and those in distress.
• The Indian Railways said it would run an additional 2,600 special trains in the next 10 days to transport nearly 36 lakh stranded migrant workers.