Coronavirus: Mumbai’s cases cross 42,000-mark after 1,117 new infections

10.46 pm: Read today’s top updates here.

10.39 pm: The Indian Railways says it has operated 4,155 ‘Shramik Special’ trains ferrying more than 57 lakh passengers since May 1, PTI reports. The top five states or Union Territories from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat (1027), Maharashtra (802), Punjab (416), Uttar Pradesh (288) and Bihar (294).

10.37 pm: The Himachal Pradesh government constitutes a four-member committee to probe alleged irregularities in purchase of ventilators for the treatment of coronavirus patients, PTI reports.

10.36 pm: The Maharashtra Police file a case against a coronavirus patient for violating home quarantine rules and attending a marriage function in Jalna district of the state, PTI reports.

10.34 pm: The Haryana government has sent more than 3.5 lakh migrant workers to their native states in 96 ‘Shramik Special’ trains and over 5,500 buses, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar says, according to PTI.

10.32 pm: The number of cases in West Bengal rises to 6,168 after the state records 396 new cases in the last 24 hours, ANI reports, quoting the state health department’s figures. The toll from the virus is 263.

10.31 pm: Jharkhand records 37 more positive cases, taking the state’s total tally of infections to 712, ANI reports, quoting the state health department.

10.30 pm: The number of cases in Delhi rises to 22,132 after 1,298 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, ANI reports, quoting the Delhi Health Department. The toll is now 556.

10.29 pm: Telangana reports 99 new cases of the coronavirus, taking the state’s total tally of infections to 2,891, ANI reports. The toll is 92.

10.27 pm: A mob in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district disrupted the funeral of man who died of Covid-19 and forced his family members to flee with his half-burnt body, PTI reports

8.42 pm: The total number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai has crossed the 42,000-mark, reports The Hindu. With 1,117 new cases, the city now has 42,216 total infections and the toll has risen to risen to 1,368 after 49 new deaths.

8.40 pm: Maharashtra records another massive increase of 2,287 new coronavirus cases to take the state’s cumulative tally to 72,300, reports ANI. With 103 new deaths, the toll has risen to 2,465. Meanwhile, 31,333 patients have recovered from the infection.

7.42 pm: Five people test positive for Covid-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, taking the number of active cases in the state to 26, PTI reports.

7.40 pm: Six new cases of Covid-19 reported in Goa, taking the state’s tally to 79, ANI reports, quoting the state health department.

7.24 pm: Kerala registers the biggest single-day rise in infections with 86 cases, PTI reports. The total number of coronavirus cases in the state is now 1,412. The toll is 11.

7.19 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Punjab rises to 2,342 after the state reports 41 new infections, ANI reports, quoting the state health department.

7.15 pm: The West Bengal government says it will set up 15 more dedicated hospitals for coronavirus patients in the state, PTI reports.

7.13 pm: The Kendrapara district administration in Odisha increases the period of mandatory institutional quarantine to 14 days from the original period of one week amid a rise of infections, PTI reports.

7.12 pm: The Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan in Delhi, which houses the offices of the Civil Aviation Ministry and Airports Authority of India, has been sealed for sanitisation after four AAI employees test positive for the coronavirus, PTI reports.

6.57 pm: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says it is criminal of the government to not give immediate cash support to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, which are closing down because of the economic fallout of the pandemic.

6.51 pm: The Tamil Nadu government asks salons, beauty parlours to collect details of customers including name, address, Aadhar card number as part of preventive measures against Covid-19, ANI reports.

6.48 pm: The district administration of Gurugram issues guidelines for ‘Unlock 1’, The Indian Express reports. Under the new rules, offices will be allowed to work on full strength. There will be no restrictions on intrastate movement but interstate movement will continue to be regulated. All places of worship and hotels will remain closed.

6.33 pm: Nagaland reports six more cases of the coronavirus, taking the state’s total tally to 49, health minister S Pangnyu Phom says, according to PTI.

6.32 pm: A 50-year-old woman in Tripura’s Agartala dies by suicide, a day after she tests positive for the coronavirus, PTI reports. The woman hanged herself in the bathroom of the GB Panth Hospital, which has been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 facility.

6.29 pm: Gym owners and fitness trainers in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, stage a protest demanding that gyms be reopened amid the lockdown ANI reports. The opening of gyms will be decided after the Centre assesses the situation in the third phase of ‘Unlock 1’, according to home ministry guidelines.

6.21 pm: The Supreme Court notifies all advocates and party-in-person to give their joint consent over the willingness to physically appear for court hearings, ANI reports.

6.16 pm: The toll from the coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh rises to 223 and the total number of cases in the state rises to 8,532, as 171 more people test positive for the disease, PTI reports, quoting the state health department.

6.14 pm: Bangladesh confirms its first coronavirus death among the Rohingya refugees, after a 71-year-old man dies in the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar city, PTI reports, quoting the country’s BDNews24.

6.12 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 1,091 more cases, taking the state’s tally of coronavirus infections to 24,586, ANI reports, quoting the state health department’s figures.

5.59 pm: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope says that he visited a few government hospitals in Mumbai to check if the government’s rules for treating coronavirus patients are being adhered to. “I found that the implementation [of the rules] was not up to the mark at some places and [so], show cause notices were issued,” he adds.

5.57 pm: The Thane Municipal Corporation announces that clubhouses and common halls of housing societies in the district will serve as Covid Care Centres where any member, who develops mild coronavirus symptoms, shall be shifted, PTI reports.

5.49 pm: A four-month-old girl tests positive for the coronavirus in Amravati in Maharashtra, PTI reports.

5.47 pm: Himachal Pradesh reports five new cases of the coronavirus, taking the state’s tally to 345, ANI reports, quoting figures from the state’s health department.

5.45 pm: The Karnataka excise department grants permission to microbreweries in the state for the brewing or production of beer to be sold as takeaway orders, PTI reports.

5.40 pm: Researchers at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology in Pune develop an artificial intelligence enabled Covid-19 detection tool, which uses chest x-rays of patients to identify the infection, PTI reports.

5.19 pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami says that because of the proactive measures taken by his government, the coronavirus situation in the state is under control in majority of the districts, The Indian Express reports. The state has 23,495 cases of today and 184 people have died, according to health ministry’s figures.

5.15 pm: The Maharashtra government serves a show cause notice to Bombay Hospital, Jaslok Hospital, Hinduja Hospital and Lilavati Hospital for allegedly violating government norms on the admission and treatment of coronavirus patients, ANI reports.

5.11 pm: A 36-year-old woman who returned to Arunachal Pradesh from Delhi tests positive for Covid-19 in Lohit district, PTI reports.

5.09 pm: The number of cases in Chandigarh stands at 301, ANI reports, quoting the health department. The toll is five.

5.03 pm: A plea is filed in the Delhi High Court seeking immediate directions to the government to de-seal the Delhi border so that citizens living in the NCR regions are able to access central government hospitals and medical facilities in the Capital, PTI reports.

4.52 pm: The health ministry in today’s press briefing claims that there has been no under-reporting of the number of coronavirus deaths in India. The states are doing the causality assessment and attributing cause of death accordingly, it adds.

4.47 pm: The number of coronavirus infections in Assam stands at 1,513, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sharma says, according to ANI. Of these, 1,182 are active cases, 324 have recovered and four have died.

4.29 pm: “It is imperative that high-risk people take required preventive action based on medical advice in case they experience Covid-19 symptoms,” Agarwal says. “One out of every two Covid-19 deaths in India has been of senior citizens who constitute 10% of our total population.”

4.22 pm: India’s fatality rate is constantly declining and is now 2.82%, which is among the lowest in the world compared to the global fatality rate of 6.13%, Agarwal adds.

4.20 pm: Joint secretary Lav Agarwal claims it is wrong to only look at the total number of coronavirus cases in the country and mention that India has the seventh highest number of infections in the world. “Our population too should be considered,” he says. “Fourteen countries with population levels similar to India’s have reported 22.5% times more cases and 55.2% times more deaths.”

4.17 pm: The health ministry claims that India’s recovery rate is continuously improving, and is now 48.07%, up from 11.42% on April 15. A total of 95,527 patients have recovered so far, it adds. The ICMR’s Dr Nivedita Gupta claims that India is “far from the peak” of infections.

4.15 pm: India’s fatality rate is 2.82%, one of the lowest in the world, Agarwal adds.

4.13 pm: Joint secretary of the health ministry Lav Agarwal says that 10% of India’s population accounts for nearly 50% of the coronavirus related deaths in the country. Of the total deaths, 73% were patients with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and respiratory diseases, he adds.

4.10 pm: Indian-make RNA extraction kits are now available in good number, the medical body adds. “ RT-PCR kits produced by 11-12 indigenous vendors are now being used... We are now in a comfortable position because of identification and hand-holding of domestic players.”

4.06 pm: The Indian Council of Medical Research says it has been focusing on increasing Covid-19 testing capacity in the country, adding that 1.2 lakh samples are tested every day. “We now have testing facilities in every state and Union Territory,” it says. “We now have 681 labs out of which, 476 are in the government sector.”

4.05 pm: The health ministry begins its press briefing on the coronavirus situation.

3.59 pm: Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad says that 119 samples of migrant labourers tested positive for the coronavirus in the state, ANI reports. There were a total of 450 samples.

“We are tracking migrant labourers returning to the state with the help of ASHA workers,” Prasad says. “[Over] 11,68,917 labourers have been tracked till now, out of which 1,036 are symptomatic. Their samples have been collected for test[ing].”

3.48 pm: A ‘Shramik Special’ train carrying 1,250 migrant workers leaves for Bardhaman district in West Bengal from Madhya Pradesh, PTI reports. The train will also halt at Bhopal and pick up 350 more workers during its journey via Durgapur and Asansol, an unidentified official tells the news agency.

3.43 pm: Shops open in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar market as lockdown guidelines are relaxed, ANI reports.

3.40 pm: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu participates in a procession in Chitradurga city and violates physical distancing norms, ANI reports.

3.38 pm: Uttarakhand nears the 1000-mark, as 41 more people test positive for coronavirus in the state. There are a total of 999 cases in Uttarakhand, and Covid-19 has killed seven people so far.

3.32 pm: A 30-year-old man, out on parole from Thane Central Jail, tests positive for coronavirus in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, PTI reports. Palghar district civil surgeon Dr Kanchan Wanere says that after his release on Saturday, the man travelled to his sister’s place in Wada taluka and later went to Jawhar district, where he was allowed to enter the village without a coronavirus test.

3.28 pm: Two mirgrant workers in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar booked for violating home quarantine norms, PTI reports. They recently returned from other states. “During a surprise check, Mukul and Shivam were not found in their home,” Station House Officer of Sikrada police station Ajay Kumar says.

3.19 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa interacts with District Collectors and Superintendents of Police to take stock of the coronavirus situation in the state.

3.10 pm: The Maharashtra government decides to shift 150 coronavirus patients being treated at Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex facility, after the weather department’s warnings about a cyclone, India Today reports. They will be shifted to the Covid facility at Worli. The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority Commissioner RA Rajeev says that the state government took the call as a precautionary measure.

3 pm: Nagaland reports six more coronavirus cases on Tuesday, all from Dimapur district, which is the state’s commercial hub. The state now has a total of 49 cases. Nagaland Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom says that all six people had returned from Chennai.

2.56 pm: At least 55 people test positive for the coronavirus in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district on Tuesday, PTI reports. The region now has a total of 1,642 cases.

2.33 pm: Indonesia cancels haj pilgrimage this year over coronavirus concerns, Reuters reports. Every year, more than two lakh Indonesians go on the haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, where Islam’s two holy sites – Meccan and Medina – are located.

2.17 pm: Check-in begins for the 10th flight of the second phase under the Centre’s Vande Bharat Mission.

2.07 pm: Delhi High Court decides to monitor implementation of the Aam Aadmi Party government’s recent order on the disposal of Covid-19 infected bodies, PTI reports. The court says it wants to see how the Delhi government health department’s May 30 order has worked at the ground level. Timely disposal of the coronavirus-infected bodies is the responsibility of the Medical Director of the hospital, where the patient died or was brought dead. “Respective municipal corporations shall make all the arrangements to cremate/bury such dead bodies,” the order reads.

1.56 pm: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh says he had a telephonic conversation with French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly today, ANI reports. He says they discussed matters of mutual concern, including the Covid-19 situation, and appreciated the efforts made by the Armed Forces of India and France in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

1.27 pm: Kejriwal says of the total 302 ventilators available in Delhi, 210 are lying unused. “All this information will be updated on this app twice a day, 10 am and 6 pm, to give you latest details,” he adds.

1.17 pm: He says the app will provide information about all the hospitals in Delhi, private as well as government. “It will tell you the number of vacant beds in every hospital,” adds the chief minister.

Also read:

Covid-19: Arvind Kejriwal launches ‘Delhi corona’ app to help people find hospital beds, ventilators

1.14 pm: Kejriwal claims there are 4,100 vacant hospital beds in Delhi. “However, there have been instances where people are complaining of shortage of beds and medical facilities, so clearly there is gap in information,” he adds.

1.10 pm: Kejriwal says the number of cases in Delhi are increasing, but there’s no need to worry about medical care. “If any member of your family tests positive, then they’ll get the required medical services,” assures the chief minister.

1.05 pm: Kejriwal launches an app that he says will give everyone the status of hospital beds and ventilator availability in Delhi.

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

12.51 pm: Jharkhand’s total count of cases stands at 675, including 296 recoveries and five deaths, says the state health department.

12.35 pm: Manipur’s active cases rise to 74 with two more people testing positive.

12.34 pm: Delhi health minister says the government is preparing for at least one month in advance. “It is important to plan in advance,” says Satyendra Jain.

12.19 pm: Five family members of Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj have been readmitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh hours after being discharged from the facility, reports PTI.

12.17 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 82 new cases in the last 24 hours.

12.14 pm: Five police personnel from Anand Parbat area have tested positive, say Delhi Police.

12.01 pm: Odisha reports 141 new cases, taking the total number of people infected with the disease to 2,245 in the state. Of the new patients, 110 had recently returned to the state from various parts of the country.

11.44 am: Over 600 Indians return from Sri Lanka on INS Jalshwa that arrived at a port in Tuticorin.

11.41 am: Rajasthan reports 171 new cases and two deaths till 10.30 am today. With this, the state’s tally stands at 9,271 and toll at 201.

11.35 am: Modi speaks on self-reliant India campaign. “There will be new opportunities for the young...we have opened up many public sectors for private players,” he says. “Atmanirbhar Bharat will fuel MSMEs. We will be integrated with the world but it does not mean that we will depend on other countries for strategic needs.”

11.34 am: The prime minister says India now needs to manufacture products that are “made in India” but are “made for the world”.

11.33 am: Modi says India now needs to invest in the creation of a robust local supply chain that will strengthen its stake in the global supply chain. “In this campaign, a big institution like Confederation of Indian Industry [CII] will also have to come forward in a new role post-corona,” he adds.

11.32 am: Modi tells India Inc that he as the prime minister is standing with them. “Trust me, getting growth back is not so difficult,” he adds.

11.30 am: “We have tried our best to eliminate middlemen,” says Modi. “I had told people from the Red Fort that we are trying to reduce government interference from people’s lives. Laws that were made post independence left farmers in the hands of middlemen. We have done a lot to help and protect farmers. We have brought significant changes to the APMC act.”

11.22 am: Modi says the pandemic has affected every single sector but India has made sure that its industries are ready to face the fallout and return towards prosperity.

11.15 am: Modi says intent, inclusion, infrastructure, innovation and investment are very important along with important bold decisions that have taken to bolster the economy.

11.12 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that India will again come out on top and get its growth back and strengthen the economy. He adds that Unlock 1 will pave the path towards growth and take the first steps towards prosperity.

11.06 am: Thirteen people have tested positive at Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s Office, ANI reports.

11.03 am: China delayed its Covid-19 response when it came to releasing the decoded genome and other important information to WHO, reports AP. The WHO China said that they released it to WHO, 15 minutes before Chinese CCTV had the information.

11.02 am: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will address a digital press conference at 1 pm.

10.56 am: Assam reports 22 new cases.

10.48 am: Twelve people have tested positive in Mizoram, reports PTI. Ten out of the 12 new patients had returned from Delhi while two came from Kolkata. All the new patients are asymptomatic, says Health Department spokesperson Pachuau Lalmalsawma.

10 am: China reported 15 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the health authority said on Tuesday, according to PTI. Wuhan, where the virus originated initially, did not register any asymptomatic cases for the first time.

9.50 am: South Korea plans to use a new quick response code system to log visitors at high-risk venues such as restaurants, nightclubs, bars, discos, indoor gyms and maybe even churches and libraries to track coronavirus cases and prevent the disease’s spread. The QR code system will roll out from June 10 and is currently being tested, Reuters reports.

9.48 am: Tripura reports 107 new cases in a single day – its highest ever – taking the state’s tally to 421.

9.45 am: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday directed the state government to test all frontline workers in the Vidarbha region for coornavirus, ANI reports.

“We hold that all asymptomatic frontline workers... working in the hospitals and the containment zones... in the entire Vidarbha region shall be entitled to be tested for COVID-19 on RT-PCR method on expressing their willingness, if they are found to be in direct and high-risk contact of laboratory-confirmed cases,” the bench of Justices RK Deshpande and Amit B Borkar said.

They also directed the Indian Council for Medical Research to frame a policy for periodic testing of frontline workers in Vidarbha.

9.30 am: Khan added that the lockdown had caused massive suffering and cited the example of India. “Just look at India,” Khan said. “They imposed a strict lockdown. And look at the effect of it on their migrant workers. Dozens have died on train tracks. Poverty has become rampant there. And the virus is still spreading.”

Pakistan has so far reported 72,460 cases and 1,543 deaths. A government report that was leaked on Monday, however, alleged that there were more than 6.7 lakh cases in Lahore alone.

9.25 am: “The reality of our country is that there are 25 million labourers whose families will starve if they don’t work,” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said. “So I, personally, have always believed that a lockdown was going to affect these workers. When we impose and enforce lockdowns, people starve. Those who live in DHA don’t care about these things.”

9.20 am: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday announced that lockdown measures would be eased in the country and urged people to adopt precautionary measures. “I want to request all of you [the nation] to follow the SOPs we have outlined to prevent the spread of this virus,” Dawn reports. “If we don’t take precautions then we will continue to suffer.”

He announced that the government will open all sectors apart from those areas where the threat of “virus is still present”. He added that people must learn to live with it.

“The world has agreed, the richest countries have come to the conclusion that the virus will spread no matter what,” he said. “Nothing can be done about it. The virus will spread and our death toll will also rise [...] I told you that from day one.”

9.10 am: India has 97,581 active cases, while 95,526 people have recovered. Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state, with 70,013 cases and 2,362 deaths. This is followed by Tamil Nadu, which has 23,495 cases and 184 deaths, and Delhi, with 20,834 cases and 523 deaths.

9.07 am: India reports 8,171 new cases in 24 hours since Monday morning, taking the overall tally to 1,98,706. As many as 204 more deaths were also reported in this period, taking the overall toll to 5,598.

8.55 am: The Centre on Monday limited its export ban on alcohol-based hand sanitisers to only those that are in containers with dispenser pumps, PTI reports. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers in any other form or that have been packaged in other ways can be exported, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said.

The Centre had banned exporting all sanitisers in March. It was modified to a ban on only alcohol-based hand sanitizers in May.

8.43 am: “Foreign experts have concluded that home quarantine is the best quarantine,” Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, according to The Indian Express. “Yet, we have run quarantine centres giving migrants all kinds of facilities, including reimbursement of train and bus fare and necessary items kit worth Rs 1,000.”

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Covid-19: Bihar says it will not test returning migrant workers or send them to quarantine

8.40 am: The Bihar government has announced that migrant workers returning to the state will no longer be registered or quarantined from Tuesday, The Indian Express reports.

“We have carried out the biggest-ever evacuation exercise by bringing back over 30 lakh migrants,” Pratyaya Amrit, principal secretary at Bihar’s Disaster Management Authority, said. “We are closing registration on Monday evening. In any case, maximum people have returned.” While door-to-door health monitoring would continue, thermal screening at railway stations will not be.

8.30 am: The World Health Organization on Monday reiterated that the coronavirus was still a killer and has not become milder, AFP reports. “We need to be careful: this is still a killer virus,” WHO Emergencies Director Michael Ryan said. “We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that, all of a sudden, the virus, by its own volition, has now decided to be less pathogenic. It is not the case at all.”

Ryan’s comment was in response to an Italian doctor who said the coronavirus no longer exists in his country. Several other top scientists and health officials from Italy were also quick to counter Alberto Zangrillo’s claim.

Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan had said: “In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy. The swabs performed over the past 10 days have showed a viral load that is absolutely infinitesimal in quantitative terms compared to those carried out a month or two months ago. Someone has to take responsibility for terrorising the country.”

Also read:

Covid-19 still a killer virus, says WHO after Italian doctor claims it no longer exists in country

8 am: The police check vehicles at the Delhi-Noida border. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Monday said the borders of the national Capital would be sealed for a week.

7.55 am: Shah also said that the government wanted to strengthen healthcare facilities in states before migrant workers returned and claimed that the lockdown was used for this. He was responding to a query about whether the government should have given more than four hours of notice before imposing the lockdown in March. “Health facilities were not ready by then, states were also not ready, quarantine facilities were not in place by then. We got all of this ready in 2 months,” he said.

7.50 am: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said some migrant workers lost patience and took to the roads even though the Centre had provided facilities, News18 reports. “Some people lost patience and started walking on the roads,” he said. “Even then we started buses and transported them to railway stations from where they were safely taken to their villages.”

However, he admitted that many people faced troubles and said: “It is true that some incidents happened that should not have. For 5-6 days, it happened”.

Also read

Migrant crisis: Some workers ‘lost patience’ and started walking, claims Amit Shah

7.40 am: The number of deaths in Mexico rises up to 10,167 even as the country begins to gradually reopen its economy.

7.30 am: Odisha on Monday registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases with 156 new infections, taking the state’s tally to 2,104, PTI reports.

7.20 am: Thirteen people at the Saras dairy plant in Jodhpur test positive for the coronavirus, ANI reports. The plant’s Managing Director says: “They were contractual workers and used to work in the garden where waste water of dairy is utilised. They had not come in contact with packaging or milk.”

7.15 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:

• India is now the seventh most-affected country in the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The country has so far reported 1,90,535 coronavirus cases after a record daily jump of 8,392 new infections on Monday. The toll stood at 5,394. Maharashtra’s coronavirus cases crossed 70,000 after 2,361 new infections. The state has a total of 70,013 cases and toll is 2,362. Meanwhile, Delhi’s tally crossed the 20,000-mark after nearly 1,000 new infections in 24 hours.
• The Director General of Civil Aviation said that airlines should keep middle seats in flights vacant as much as possible. If a seat between two passengers is occupied, the DGCA said, the person in that seat must be provided with additional safety gear such as a “wrap-around gown” apart from the mask and face shield that airlines already have to provide to everyone on board.
• The Centre made several key announcements related to agriculture and businesses, including increase in the minimum support price of 14 crops and two packages to revive micro, small and medium enterprises, which have been severely hit by the coronavirus lockdown.
• Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb on Monday claimed that 162 Border Security Force personnel and their families, who tested positive for the coronavirus last month, violated quarantine protocols.
  
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi said violence, abuse and rude behaviour towards frontline workers combating the coronavirus crisis will not be tolerated.
• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the borders of the national Capital will be sealed for one week. The chief minister added that he has sought suggestions from the public on opening the borders with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
• The Delhi government also issued a showcause notice to four major hospitals treating coronavirus patients in the Capital, asking them to explain the reason for the delay in reporting deaths due to the disease.
• The principal of a medical college in Uttar Pradesh has attracted criticism after a widely shared video purportedly showed her referring to the Tablighi Jamaat members as “terrorists”.
• Global credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service on Monday downgraded India’s sovereign rating to “Baa3’’ from “Baa2’’, saying the country faces a prolonged period of slower growth relative to the country’s potential amid rising debt and persistent stress in parts of the financial system.