Coronavirus LIVE Updates: The World Health Organisation on Monday “temporarily paused” the trial of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treatment of Covid-19, days after the Union health ministry issued an advisory expanding the use of the medicine as a prophylactic to prevent them from contracting the infection. “The Executive Group has implemented a temporary pause of the hydroxychloroquine arm within the Solidarity Trial while the data is reviewed by the Data Safety Monitoring Board”- @DrTedros #COVID19 (sic),” WHO tweeted.
Blaming India for spread of Covid-19 in the hill country, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli today said that those coming from India are “entering without proper check, which is leading to further spread of the virus”. He added that nonetheless, fatality in Nepal is less in comparison to other countries of South Asia.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said 2,000 new beds will be available in private hospitals for novel coronavirus patients from today as the government ordered private hospitals and nursing homes with a capacity of 50 beds or more to reserve 20 percent of their total bed strength for coronavirus patients.
India reported 4,021 deaths and 138,845 cases due to Covid-19, with the biggest spike in 24 hours of 6,977 cases and 154 deaths. While cases in Maharashtra, the worst affected state, have crossed 50,000, those in the national capital are nearing the 14,000-mark. The rise in cases comes even as Indian skies opened up for domestic passenger services from today after a gap of two months, with Delhi-Pune and Mumbai-Patna flights being among the first to take off.
All scheduled commercial passenger flights have been suspended since March 25 when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Both the flights were operated by IndiGo today morning. While the Delhi-Pune flight was scheduled to depart at 4.45am, the Mumbai-Patna flight departed at 6.45am. It was announced last Thursday that one-third of pre-lockdown domestic flights will operate from Monday. All international scheduled commercial passenger flights remain suspended. As India resumed flights in a graded manner, hundreds of people reached the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi to take early morning flights to their hometowns and workplaces. Those who took first flights included paramilitary personnel, army men, students and migrants, who failed to book a ticket on special trains being run by the railways.
Many said they shelled out more to reach the airport as there were limited public transport options available. With trains running full and inter-state buses remaining off the roads, Sandeep Singh, 19, spent Rs 5,500 to reach Delhi from Dehradun where he studies. “I remained stuck in my PG. Mummy and papa were a worried lot. I am taking the first flight home,” he said.
Aamir Afzal, a mechanical engineer from Patna, who had come to Delhi on an official visit on March 23, was among those who took the flights to celebrate Eid with family and friends. “I had been staying in a hotel in Mahipalpur with my co-worker. The hotel charged us Rs 900 per day. We could not get a confirmed ticket on a train back home,” he said. Due to the lesser number of trains, the tickets get sold out within 5-10 minutes. It is difficult for a person to book a ticket using a mobile phone, Afzal said.
Afzal’s friend Rahid Ali said he was happy he would be able to join his family in Bihar’s Begusarai district on Eid. “But it will be a muted affair as so many homeless and hungry migrants who cannot afford to travel on train or flight are still stuck in various parts of the country. It doesn’t suit one to celebrate the festival in such circumstances,” he said.
A few people travelled long distances only to find that their flights had been cancelled. Naik Satish Kumar’s Kolkata-bound flight got cancelled as the state decided not to resume operations till May 28. “I travelled all the way from Ambala on a bus to take a 6-am flight to Kolkata. When I reached here, I got to know the flight had been cancelled. I am returning home now,” he said.
Excited to meet his two-year-old daughter, Santu Mandal, a resident of West Bengal’s Bardhaman district, reached the airport along with brother, Nasiruddin Mandal, at 1 am, unaware that the flight to Kolkata had been cancelled. The Mandal brothers, engaged in hand embroidery, spent Rs 12,000 to book the tickets “because we could not get a confirmed train ticket”.
It is the first time Sudhir Kumar will be on a plane. The Army personnel posted in Punjab’s Bhatinda district says he never considered taking a flight home earlier as train travel is convenient and cheap. But trains are full already, he said.
Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.
Comments
0 comment