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Odisha announces Rs 100-cr Covid-19 package, Rajnath holds review meet: 10 points
“The guidelines to allow limited activities and the measures announced by RBI were also appreciated,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted out after the review meeting on Saturday.
The total number of coronavirus cases in India is inching toward the 15,000-mark. On Saturday, the Ministry of Health updated the country’s tally to 14,378. The figure includes 11,906 active cases, 1,991 people who have been cured or discharged and 480 Covid-19 fatalities.
The country entered the fourth day of the extended lockdown on Saturday that was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14. The lockdown will now come to an end on May 3.
Here are the key developments:
1. Defence minister Rajnath Singh chaired a meeting of senior Union ministers at his residence on Saturday. The ministers discussed the coronavirus situation prevailing in the country and ways in which various ministries can tackle the crisis.
2. “The guidelines to allow limited activities and the measures announced by RBI were also appreciated,” the defence minister tweeted out after the review meeting.
3. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued a new rapid testing protocol that allows states to use rapid testing kits wherever they want, including in Covid-19 containment zones and hotspots.
4. With 1,099 coronavirus cases, Gujarat became the sixth Indian state with more than 1,000 coronavirus cases besides Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
5. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, in its editorial mouthpiece Saamana, lauded Rahul Gandhi’s recent press briefing on the coronavirus situation. “But Gandhi has to be praised for the stand he has taken in the present crisis. He has created a model code of conduct on how an opposition party should behave when the country is faced with a crisis,” it said.
6. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced a Rs 100-crore package to provide livelihood support to around 4.5 lakh urban poor families affected by the Covid-19 lockdown.
7. 25 naval personnel tested positive for coronavirus in Mumbai. Navy sources on Saturday said that most of them are asymptomatic and have been traced to a single sailor who tested positive on April 7. 20 of these sailors are from INS Angre, a shore establishment in Mumbai.
8. The department of telecommunication (DoT) has asked state governments to use its service for tracking people under quarantine through mobile telephony to augment measures to check the spread of the coronavirus.
9. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday was slammed by the leading opposition party in the state, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), for not evacuating students from Kota, Rajasthan.
10. In a bid to bridge the losses due to the coronavirus lockdown, the Railway Ministry may trim the salaries and allowances of over 13 lakh officers and employees, HT ‘s Hindi language publication, Live Hindustan reported.
