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Nepal extends lockdown in Kathmandu Valley till May 12

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KATHMANDU: Authorities in the Nepalese capital on Wednesday extended the lockdown in Kathmandu and surrounding districts till May 12 due to the spike in COVID-19 cases.

Nepal on Tuesday recorded yet another highest single-day rise of 7,660 new cases of the coronavirus.

The health ministry also confirmed 55 new deaths in the past 24 hours, which is so far the highest number of fatalities recorded in a single day.

The local authorities have extended the ongoing prohibitory orders in the Kathmandu Valley till May 12.

The decision to extend the lockdown by another one week in three districts Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur comes as the COVID-19 cases continue to rise every day across Nepal, authorities said.

The first phase of lockdown comes to an end on Wednesday midnight.

During the lockdown period, all transportation services except those operating for emergencies remain shut and markets remain closed.

However, grocery stores can operate between 7 am and 9 am only, according to officials.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed in Kathmandu Valley and some other districts since April 29 with the outbreak of second wave COVID-19 pandemic.

Out of 77 districts across the country, lockdown is in place in 42 districts.

Nepal has also halted all domestic flights this week and international flights would be stopped from Thursday.

No oxygen lifeline, 14 more die in Karnataka

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BENGALURU: Close on the heels of the 24 Covid deaths in Chamarajanagar due to shortage of oxygen, at least 14 more such cases were reported from various parts of the state on Tuesday. Even as the deaths were attributed to oxygen shortage and messages went viral on social media, the authorities have remained in denial that the life saving gas was in short supply.

Two of the patients died due to Covid-19 while two others, who were brought to the hospital in critical condition, suspected Covid-19 patients, on Monday afternoon, died in the evening. Sources said it was not possible to even take the throat swabs of two of them as they were brought in a critical condition.Officials, however, maintained that there was no shortage of oxygen in any of the hospitals in Kalaburagi district and that the district administration is rushing oxygen cylinders as soon as requests are received.

Three persons of a family died in a span of 10 days, allegedly due to shortage of oxygen in a private hospital in Belagavi where they were admitted after they had tested Covid19 positive. The deceased are Parvati Krishna Teragaon (76), her husband Krishna Bhimappa Teragaon (80) and son Prashant Teragaon (46), all from Vidya Nagar, Belagavi. Parvati died due to Covid-19 on April 24, Krishna died on April 29 and Prashant on May 3. One of the deceased was suffering from asthma, sources said.

Chamarajanagar limping to normal
A day after 24 patients died due to lack of oxygen in Chamarajanagar, the district is limping back to normal amidst adequate supplies of oxygen, and patients getting admitted at the district hospital.

No curfew extension in Karnataka for now:BS Yediyurappa

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BENGALURU: At a time when hospitals are running out of oxygen and fresh Covid-19 cases in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are seeing a surge, fueling speculation over a possible extension of the existing Corona Curfew, CM BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday said that curbs already in place will continue for now. The state is under a strict ‘close down’ till May 12 with a six-hour daily window.

A miffed Yediyurappa is said to have lashed out at ministers in the cabinet meeting for failing to stay in the districts they are in charge of during this public health crisis. Yediyurappa’s government has come under severe public scrutiny, especially after 24 people — 23 of them Covid-19 patients — died in Chamarajanagar. To manage the crisis better, the CM has appointed five senior ministers of his cabinet and entrusted them with specific responsibilities.

“Jagadish Shettar will be in charge of oxygen centres and will coordinate with the Central Government to see that there is no shortage of oxygen. Deputy CM Dr C N Ashwath Narayan will coordinate with all medical colleges in the state and see to it that there is no shortage of Remdesivir doses and human resources. Ministers Basavaraj Bommai and R Ashok will look into the requirement of beds in government and private hospitals and medical colleges while Aravind Limbavali will be in charge of the BBMP War Room and ensure smooth connectivity for helplines,” he said. 

AlL district in-charge ministers have been asked to immediately camp in their districts to coordinate pandemic containment efforts.The State Government has also decided to rope in final-year nursing and AYUSH students for Covid-19 management. “We discussed the immediate need for increased oxygen supply to the state. After our request, the Union Government increased allocation from 350 tons to 850 tons per day. There is a delay in transporting oxygen from other states. Now that cases are reducing in Maharashtra, we are requesting the government to reallocate their oxygen quota to Karnataka from Jindal Steel’s supply,” Yediyurappa said. The government has appealed to the media to create awareness about patients who require hospitalisation.

Woman jumps on funeral pyre of father, who died of COVID-19

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BARMER: In a tragic incident, a 34-year-old woman sustained severe burns here after she jumped on the funeral pyre of her father, who died after contracting COVID-19, police said on Wednesday.

Damodardas Sharda (73) passed away at a hospital here on Tuesday after suffering from the viral disease, they said.

While Sharda was being cremated, the youngest of his three daughters, Chandra Sharda, suddenly jumped on the pyre, the police said, adding that although she was pulled out of it by people, she sustained around 70 per cent burn injuries.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital and from there, referred to Jodhpur for treatment, they said.

“Damodardas Sharda had three daughters. His wife passed away some time back. The youngest of the sisters jumped on the funeral pyre,” Station House Officer, Kotwali police station, Prem Prakash said.

Sharda, a resident of Rai Colony of Barmer, was admitted to the district hospital on Sunday.

The police officer said the youngest daughter had insisted to go to crematorium for the last rites.

Karnataka to inoculate journalists on priority basis treating them as frontline workers

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“Our government has decided to consider journalists as frontline workers and accord priority in vaccination against Covid-19. We appeal to mediapersons, especially television journalists, to help us create awareness and avoid panic over the need for hospitalisation, oxygen, ventilators etc. You can help create awareness about who needs hospitalisation and who doesn’t. During times of a public health crisis, all of us have to come together,”  Yediyurappa said. Since the state is facing a shortage of vaccines, inoculating journalists under the ‘frontline workers’ quota may take a day or two to take off. 

State governments to recognise journalists as frontline workers. In April this year, the Editor’s Guild had even written to the Centre to acknowledge the work of journalists as frontline services.More than 150 journalists have died due to Covid-19 while on duty in India. Karnataka joined the likes of Punjab, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu in deeming journalists as frontline workers.

Opposition leaders as well as those from the BJP has been calling for the government to identify journalists as frontline workers and administer vaccines to them considering they report on the ground and come in close contact with Covid-19 patients and their kin apart from doctors, healthcare workers and crematorium staff. 

Chorus for India Second wave lockdown gets louder

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NEW DELHI:  A day after CII president Uday Kotak called for a national lockdown to break the chain of transmission of coronavirus, many corporate leaders came forward to support the idea saying it is all right to take an economic hit to save lives. However, health experts are divided over the effectiveness of such a move at this stage. Many CII members including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, JCB and Kotak Mahindra Bank have already taken action on their own keeping the safety of employees in mind.

“A complete economic lockdown will cast a dark shadow on economy and lead to more fatalities due to increased unemployment,” he said. Rohit Poddar, MD, Poddar Housing and Development Ltd the government should strike a balance between a full lockdown and allowing business operations. Ashish Mishra, CEO of advisory firm, Unnault, said the Centre should take steps and push people to stay at home. America’s top public health expert and White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr Anthony Fauci, too, recently said India must impose a nationwide lockdown for a few weeks.

However, experts in India are not convinced of the need for lockdown when the infection is already rampant. Dr Oommen John of the George Institute for Global Health India pointed out that it will be difficult to ensure that people stay within their homes in densely populated urban contexts. “At the current stage of the pandemic, unrestricted access to diagnostic tests is critical,” he said. A senior virologist based in Delhi said lockdown is most effective when enforced just when the infections begin to surge.

“Scientifically speaking, I am not sure how much can be achieved by a widespread national lockdown considering the unique challenges we have in our country, especially in high density population areas such as slums where people share toilets and water taps.” Having faced widespread criticism last year for imposing a nationwide lockdown without warning, the Centre this time is not in favour of shutting down the economy. On April 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told states to manage the Covid situation without imposing a lockdown.

COVID-19 Update India adds 3,780 deaths 3,82,315 new covid cases in last 24 hours

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NEW DELHI: A record 3,780 fresh COVID-19 fatalities were registered in a single day in India taking the death toll to 2,26,188, while 3,82,315 new coronavirus infections were recorded, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

With the fresh cases, the total tally of COVID-19 cases in the country climbed to 2,06,65,148.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 34,87,229 comprising 16.87 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 82.03 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1, 69,51,731 while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.09 per cent, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past  60 lakh on September 28,  70 lakh on  October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29,  90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.

According to the ICMR, 29,48,52,078 samples have been tested up to May 5 with 15,41,299  samples being tested on Tuesday.

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