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Covid-19 wrap: Here’s the top 10 coronavirus news on May 6, 2020
Positive news reported from Kerala, where not a single Covid-19 case was recorded on Wednesday
India on Wednesday evening came close to hitting the 50,000- mark for coronavirus cases in the country while the Central government expressed concern with the situation in Maharashtra and West Bengal. Karnataka announced a relief package while raising prices of liquor and Uttar Pradesh, too, raised the prices on liquor and on fuel in order to generate some revenue.
Here are the top 10 coronavirus news stories on May 6, 2020.
1. India’s coronavirus tally is set to cross 50,000-mark on Thursday when the fresh official figures are released in the morning. The total number of Covid 19 cases in India stood at 49,391 on Wednesday. Country’s coronavirus death toll has risen to 1,694. Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state with 16,758 positive cases including the fresh 1,233 cases reported on Wednesday, the highest single-day spike for the state. 34 people have died in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours taking the combined death toll to 651. A total of 3094 people including, 275 persons in the last 24 hours, have recovered from the disease. Mumbai reported 769 new cases, taking the total number of infected in the maximum city past the 10,000-mark at 10,714. Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said he was concerned with Maharashtra situation and will hold a meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to review disease containment efforts.
Read: ‘Covid-19 situation in Maharashtra matter of concern, will hold meeting with CM’: Health minister
2. Karnataka announced a relief package worth Rs 1,610 crore to aid the poor including washermen, barbers, auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers, weavers, construction workers and farmers who have been hit hard due to the cessation of economic activities in the wake of coronavirus pandemic outbreak. The state government led by BS Yediyurappa also announced a waiver on electricity bills for two months for small scale industry while raising the liquor prices by 11% to generate revenues.
Read: In Karnataka’s Rs 1600-cr lockdown relief, Rs 5,000 for barbers, taxi drivers
3. The Uttar Pradesh government decided to hike prices of petrol, diesel and liquor with an aim to earn an additional Rs 4,429 crore in the current financial year. The government said the decision was taken to recover some of the economic loss suffered due to coronavirus pandemic outbreak. Petrol in the state is slated to be costlier by Rs 2 per litre while diesel will be costlier by Re 1.
The rise in liquor prices ranges between Rs 5 a bottle (for country-made liquor) to Rs 400 per bottle (for more than 500 ml) for foreign brands.
Read: Uttar Pradesh cabinet approves hike in petrol, diesel and liquor prices
4. At least 85 personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday taking the total number of Covid-19 infections in the Central Armed Police Forces close to 400. BSF is leading the chart with at least 152 cases followed by 146 from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 45 from the ITBP, 15 from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and 13 cases from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Around 10 lakh strong Central forces are deployed for counter-insurgency, border guarding and law and order duties across the country.
Read: 85 more BSF personnel turn Covid-19 positive
5. In a positive development, no new positive cases were reported in Kerala on Wednesday and eight of its 14 districts were left without any single case of Covid-19 infection. The state, now, has only 30 active cases of the disease that are under treatment in various hospitals, as over 468 positive patients have been treated successfully over the course of the last four months. State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his government has made all necessary arrangements to prevent a new chain of infections in the state when expatriates from the Middle East begin arriving from Thursday onwards.
Read: Covid-19 update: As expatriates return, Kerala vows to prevent past slip-ups
6. The Centre warned the West Bengal government that it was violating central laws and international treaties by blocking the movement of essential goods to Bangladesh. The letter written to Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said the state’s “unilateral action” had larger implications for the Indian government. The West Bengal government responded by saying that it will take a considered decision on the issue. The home ministry also faulted Bengal for alleged “poor” containment efforts citing the low rate of testing and a high mortality rate in the state along with its alleged failure to implement lockdown measures.
Read: ‘Bathing in rivers, playing cricket’: MHA on lockdown violations in Bengal
Read: Centre tells Bengal to open B’desh border, cites international commitments
7. Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has assured private operators that bus and taxi services were likely to resume soon with some guidelines in force to moderate their operation while the threat of rise in coronavirus infections remains. Gadkari said the challenge was to strike a balance between ensuring social distancing and commercial viability for bus operations.
Read: Public transport may open soon with some guidelines, says Nitin Gadkari
8. The Central government responded to claims made by an ‘ethical hacker’ that the Aarogya Setu app, developed by the Centre, was putting the privacy of its users at a big risk. The hacker had suggested that the data from the App could be used for surveillance or other activities. The government rubbished these claims and said there was no data or security breach and that personal information of any user was not at any risk as claimed by the hacker. It also added that the App will only remain in circulation until the coronavirus pandemic lasts.
Read: No privacy breach in Aarogya Setu app: IT min Ravi Shankar Prasad
9. Israel has promised to share the coronavirus antibody vaccine, it claimed was in the advanced stages of development, with the rest of the world including India. It added that 50 areas in health and science were suggested by the Israeli government for cooperation with India. These were aimed to find solutions to the Covid-19 crisis while an attempt to bring together private enterprises from both the countries for development of technologies to manage and overcome the pandemic were in the works.
Read: Covid-19: Israel suggests 50 topics in health for cooperation with India
Read: ‘Of course, we’ll share it with the world’: Israel’s ambassador to India on Covid-19 breakthrough
10. The Delhi government announced summer vacation in government-run and aided schools from May 11 to June 30. The government also made it clear that the students will not be asked to come to the schools for any vacation-related activity during the break to avoid crowding conducive to the spread of Covid-19.
Read: Delhi schools to observe summer vacation from May 11 to June 30: Officials
