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Mumbai/METRO n Vol. XVI No. 79 n Price ₹4.00 n 12 Pages + 2 Pages of HT Café (for Mumbai only). Area specific pages extra.
AWARD-WINNING SINGER ADAM SCHLESINGER
DIES OF CORONAVIRUS AT 52
ONE MILLION AND COUNTING
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC Cases hit seven figures worldwide, deaths exceed 50,000; spike in India
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI: At exactly 12pm IST on
December 31, a 280-word report
from news agency AFP made its
way to newsrooms around the
world. Citing local media, the
report said a mystery virus was
causing “viral pneumonia of
unknown origin” in the city of
Wuhan, where 27 people had been
infected till then. The story drew
little attention, as the world pre-
pared to celebrate the beginning
of a new year later that night.
In less than 100 days in the new
year – Thursday is the 93rd day to
be precise – the virus has infected
1 million people and killed 50,000,
ripping through 203 countries in
a rampage that will likely exact as
severe an economic, social and
psychological toll as the number
of casualties by the time human-
ity can beat it. Till now, a little
over 200,000 have recovered from
the disease.
In India, infections crossed
2,000 on Wednesday and the coun-
try was on course to add 514 more
on Thursday -- the first time daily
new cases crossed the 500 mark.
New fatalities too logged a big
jump -- 19 -- taking the total toll to
72 in the country, which is in the
middle of a three-week long
nationwide shutdown to ensure
the coronavirus disease (Cov-
id-19) outbreak does not assume
the proportions it has in coun-
tries such as Italy and the United
States.
The United States is now the
worst-hit region, accounting for
more than a third of all daily new
cases around the world. New
York has lost 2,200 people and the
virus was on course to surpass
the 9/11 terror attacks in the next
36 hours as the deadliest tragedy
in a city that is at the heart of mod-
ern day pop culture.
Almost 10 million Americans
filed for unemployment benefits
in the last two weeks.
The United States and Europe
are largely being regarded as the
current hot spots of the pan-
demic, with world leaders expect-
ing “the roughest two or three
weeks” in their country. “We’re
going to lose thousands of peo-
TRACKING THE VIRUS
GLOBAL
CASES DEATHS
100, 0168 51,354
INDIA DATA COMPILED BY COVID19INDIA.ORG AND CROSS-CHECKED
FROM INPUTS BY HT’S CORRESPONDENTS AND NEWS AGENCIES
‘No evidence Covid
will go away; need
to reorganise lives’
Sanchita Sharma
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI: There is no evidence to
suggest that the coronavirus dis-
ease will suddenly disappear,
says Dr David Nabarro, the WHO
special envoy on the disease, add-
ing people may have to consider
new norms for the foreseeable
future. Commenting on India’s
response to the threat, Nabarro
told HT: “This was really a far-
sighted decision because it gave
the whole country the opportu-
nity to come to terms with the
reality of this enemy. “ ››P11
Payment of motor,
health insurance
premiums deferred
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI: Last dates for paying all
health and third-party motor
vehicle insurance premiums fall-
ing in the lockdown period —
March 25 to April 14 — have been
extended to April 21, 2020, finance
minister Nirmala Sitharaman
said. “The government has pro-
vided relief for third-party auto
insurance policy holders and
health insurance policy holders
in light of the #Covid19 situa-
tion,” the minister tweeted.
CONTINUED ON P 8
www.twitter.com/htTweets
>HT CAFÉ P14
FROM A MYSTERY TO A PANDEMIC, IN 93 DAYS
Headlines from news reports that tell the story of how Covid-19 spread to change the world
DECEMBER
DEC 31:
China probes
pneumonia
outbreak in
Wuhan for
SARS links:
State media
First news report covering the
outbreak, at the time thought to
be similar to SARS
JAN 30:
India's first
coronavirus
case detected
in Kerala
APRIL 2: COVID-19 CASES WORLDWIDE SURPASS 1 MILLION
ple,” US President Donald Trump
said earlier in the week, while
projecting that up to 240,000 peo-
ple could die.
Italy, with a large ageing popu-
lation that is the most vulnerable
to the Sars-Cov-2 pathogen, has
seen the highest number of
deaths at 13,000. Spain, the United
Kingdom, France and Germany
together account for close to
20,000 fatalities.
China, where the pathogen is
believed to have mutated in
either bats or pangolins to jump
to humans, has recorded 3,300
deaths – with a rate of growth that
slowed into single digits only
after what has been a close two
months of lockdown in large
parts of the country.
CONTINUED ON P 8
INDIA
CASES DEATHS
2,520 (+514) 72 (+19)
17 companies asked
to help meet 38mn
unit PPE shortfall
Sunetra Choudhury
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
NEW DELHI: How do you produce
millions of coveralls (a key part of
personal protective equipment or
PPE) that health care workers
need when dealing with some-
thing as infectious as the corona-
virus disease (Covid-19), when,
till last month, they were mostly
imported ?
How do you do so, and quickly,
when no one had a design specifi-
cation till February 27?
For 17 firms that have been
tasked with making the coveralls
— Hindustan Times spoke to six
of them — it is a race against time
that involves dealing with raw
material shortage, workers wor-
ried about their safety, and learn-
ing to quickly produce under the
watchful and anxious eyes of the
government.
And for the only laboratory
that tests them, it simply means
working around the clock.
It’s an experience that Tanmay
mustread
TRUMP SAYS CHINA’S FIGURES DODGY
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the coronavirus
numbers being reported by China were “a little bit on the light side”.
China reacted sharply, with a foreign ministry spokeswoman telling
reporters that “to slander, to discredit, to blame others or to shift
responsibility cannot make up (for) the time that has been lost”.
n DOWNLOAD OUR iPAD APP
JANUARY
JAN 4: China pneumonia
outbreak spurs WHO action as
mystery lingers
First official response from WHO.
Infections in China rise to 44
JAN 9: Chinese report says
illnesses may be from new
coronavirus
New virus, tentatively titled
nCov-2019, identified
JAN 11: China reports first death
from mysterious pneumonia
outbreak
JAN 23: China locks down
epicentre of virus outbreak; nearly
600 infected
JAN 24: WHO says 'bit too early'
to declare coronavirus a global
emergency
JAN 31: WHO declares
‘international emergency’
over novel coronavirus
By now, more than 7,700 people
have been infected in 18 countries
across 4 continents
Seven deaths, 88 more cases
in Maha; count rises to 423
Surendra P Gangan
and Swapnil Rawal
n Surendra.gangan@htlive.com
MUMBAI: Maharashtra recorded
88 coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
cases on Thursday and seven
deaths, the highest in a day, as the
state revved up its machinery to
combat the pandemic, including
sealing off high-risk areas and
aggressively applying the 3-T for-
mula (trace, test and treat) for
suspected cases.
As of Thursday, Maharash-
tra’s coronavirus case tally stood
at 423, the highest in the country.
Of the new cases, 54 are in Mum-
bai, 11 in Pune, 9 in Ahmednagar,
9 in MMR (excluding Mumbai),
two in Aurangabad, one each in
Satara, Osmanabad and Buld-
hana.
The state health department,
however, said the number
includes cases diagnosed by pri-
vate laboratories over the past
IT IS A RACE AGAINST
TIME THAT INVOLVES
DEALING WITH RAW
MATERIAL SHORTAGE
AND LEARNING TO
QUICKLY PRODUCE
UNDER THE WATCHFUL
EYES OF THE GOVT
Singhal, a recent graduate of OP
Jindal School, didn’t anticipate
in the first year of joining his
father’s business. Their Harya-
na-based firm, Sai Synergy, was a
supplier of fire protective gear
that was used by oil rig workers in
West Asia, till February. That’s
when it received an SOS from the
textile and health ministries of
the Government of India.
Director of Research and Devel-
opment in the textiles ministry,
Balram Kumar, reached out to
the company to attend a meeting.
CONTINUED ON P 8
››P9
www.hindustantimes.com/iPad
MANUFACTURING
ACTIVITY HITS
4-MONTH LOW
IT’LL BE A JULY WITHOUT ROGER FEDERER
CANCELLATION OF WIMBLEDON DASHES VICTORY HOPES OF FANS >P12
>p11
FEBRUARY
FEB 11: Novel
coronavirus
named
'Covid-19':
UN health
agency
‘Co’ stands for corona, ‘vi’ for virus and
‘d’ for disease
FEB 23: Italy battles surging
coronavirus outbreak as cases rise
over 100
Iran's neighbours impose travel
bans as coronavirus toll rises (AFP)
New epicentres of the contagion
outside of China
MARCH 25:
MODI DRAWS
LAXMAN
REKHA
India orders
21-day lockdown
to break chain
of infection
n Mumbai Police keep watch at Mahim, on Thursday.
few days and which were con-
firmed by the state on Thursday.
Of the state’s 20 deaths, 17 are in
Mumbai, while Pune, Buldhana
and MMR (excluding Mumbai)
reported a death each.
“The total new cases in Mum-
bai today are 17, while the
Jamaat accounts
for lion’s share of
Delhi’s infections
Sweta Goswami
n sweta.goswami@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: At least 182 of the total
293 coronavirus cases in Delhi —
or 62% — are linked to the
Tablighi Jamaat congregation
that took place in Nizamuddin in
mid-March, chief minister Arv-
ind Kejriwal said on Thursday,
and maintained that the Capital
is still safe from a community
spread of the virus.
CONTINUED ON P 8
Pak court overturns conviction in Daniel Pearl Celebrated gurbani
case; death sentence commuted to 7-year jail singer dies, eye on
Rezaul H Laskar
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Ahmed Omar Saeed
Sheikh, the terrorist convicted of
the 2002 kidnapping and murder
of journalist Daniel Pearl, had his
death sentence commuted to a
prison term of seven years by a
Pakistani court on Thursday.
The Sindh high court delivered
its ruling in response to appeals
by Sheikh and three other men
convicted in connection with the
killing of the Wall Street Journal
reporter in Karachi.
The high court overturned the
verdict of an anti-terrorism
court.
Sheikh, 46, a British citizen of
Pakistani origin, was freed by
India with Jaish-e-Mohammed
MARCH
MARCH 11: WHO describes
coronavirus outbreak as
pandemic
By now, there are over 118,000
cases in 114 countries. 4,291
people are dead
MARCH 19: ITALY OVERTAKES
CHINA'S CORONAVIRUS
DEATH TOLL
Italy becomes the world’s
worst-hit country, with deaths
exceeding China’s. A day later,
global deaths top 10,000 as
virus’s spread accelerates
MAR 30: New York state
surpasses 1,000 coronavirus
deaths
By now, New York is a global hot
spot, less than a month after
reporting its first case. The US
too has the highest number of
infections
SATISH BATE/HT
remaining were from the past few
days. Most of them are from pri-
vate aboratories. State authori-
ties have confirmed them today,”
said an official from the state
health department.
CONTINUED ON P 8
››REPORTS ON P2, P3 & P4
ICMR suggests antibody
tests in all new hot spots
Rhythma Kaul
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR)
advised on Thursday antibody
tests (or blood tests) in areas that
are emerging as hot spots of the
coronavirus disease (Covid-19),
a move that will ensure faster
detection of all possible cases in
these clusters and help authori-
ties buy some precious time to
contain the fast-spreading pan-
n Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh,
the alleged mastermind behind
Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl's abduction, at a
Karachi court. AP FILE
founder Masood Azhar and ter-
rorist Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar in
exchange for the passengers of
Indian Airlines flight IC-814,
which was hijacked by a group of
n OUR EDITION ON KINDLE
Plan staggered exit from
lockdown, PM tells CMs
HT Correspondents
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: Underlining India’s
goal of ensuring minimum loss of
life and detailing the next steps in
India’s strategy to deal with the
coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
pandemic, Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi on Thursday indi-
cated that once the lockdown
ends, the Centre and the states
will together ensure a staggered
re-emergence of the citizenry.
Interacting with the state chief
ministers over a video conference
from his residential office at 7,
Lok Kalyan Marg, the PM empha-
sised that in the next few weeks,
“testing, tracing, isolation and
quarantine” should remain the
focus areas of the local adminis-
trations, according to an official
statement. Many CMs praised the
Centre’s role in dealing with the
outbreak, especially in identify-
ing and quarantining suspect
cases arising from Nizamuddin
Markaz in Delhi. But nearly all
states demanded more financial
support and help with ramping
up health care infrastructure to
meet the surge in the Covid-19
Health workers, police Second virus case
attacked in some states linked to Dharavi
Venkatesha Babu and Ranjan
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
BENGALURU/BHOPAL:For five years,
Krishnaveni has been going door-
to-door in north Bengaluru’s
cramped Sadiq Palya area, col-
lecting information, spreading
awareness about Malaria and
Cholera, and helping the low
income neighbourhood access
health care.
An Asha worker in her forties,
Krishnaveni was well known to
many local residents but her
painstakingly developed ties to
the local community came
undone on Wednesday evening
when she and her colleagues
were assaulted by a group of
young men. The reason: They
were going to every home, asking
if something was coughing or had
fever – some of the most-common
symptoms of Covid-19. “They
heckled us, snatched our belong-
ings and we couldn’t call any-
body. We are here for their health
demic.
The test used now -- PCR
(polymerase chain reaction) --
identifies the Sars-Cov-2 virus
from throat of nasal swab sam-
ples of people with symptoms or
high-risk individuals (health
workers and family members)
who might have come in contact
with a Covid-19 patient.
The antibody detection blood
test will identify people who
already have been infected, but
have mild or no symptoms,
Pakistani terrorists from Kath-
mandu to Kandahar in December
1999.
The murder conviction of
Sheikh was overturned by the
high court, which found him
guilty of the lesser charge of kid-
napping, for which he was given
the seven-year prison term.
The court also acquitted and
freed the three other men – Fahad
Naseem, Salman Saqib and
Sheikh Adil, who were earlier
sentenced to life imprisonment.
“The court has commuted
Omar’s death sentence to a seven-
year sentence,” defence lawyer
Khawaja Naveed told Reuters.
“The murder charges were not
proven, so he has given seven
years for the kidnapping.”
Naveed added, “Omar has
http://read.
FRIDAY, APRIL 03, 2020
CASH-STRAPPED STATES ASK
CENTRE FOR URGENT FUNDS
NEW DELHI: The government
may borrow about ~40,000
crore to compensate cash-
strapped states for their rev-
enue shortfall under the
GST regime, and push its
departments and public sec-
tor firms to clear their ven-
dors’ dues , to rescue them
from an acute liquidity
crunch caused by the 21-day
coronavirus lockdown,
three officials aware of the
developments said. Apart
from states, government
departments also owe
money to companies across
cases.
According to an official, all
states were represented in the
meeting. However, only a select
number of CMs spoke. West Ben-
gal chief minister Mamata Baner-
jee was the only CM who was not
present at the meet, but the state
WHILE AN ASHA
WORKER WAS ATTACKED
IN BENGALURU, TWO
WOMEN DOCTORS WERE
SURROUNDED BY A
HOSTILE MOB IN INDORE
and look how they treat us,” she
fumed, after city police rescued
the group of health workers.
Across India, front-line health
workers and doctors are battling
attacks by locals, complicating
the already uphill battle against
Covid-19. The central and state
governments have praised health
workers and appealed to the citi-
zenry to help them, but to little
effect.
In Indore city’s Tatt Patti
Bakhal area on Wednesday, two
women doctors were surrounded
by a hostile mob while combing
the area for people with Covid-19.
››FULL REPORT, P7
according to experts who say the
move will help us know how
many have been able to fight off
the infection and have become
what could be called a “corona-
blocker”.
The antibody test uses a few
drops of blood to determine
whether a person has antibodies
against the coronavirus.
While the results of PCR tests
take up to five hours, the anti-
body test results will be available
in 15-30 minutes.
››P2
already served 18 years, so his
release orders will be issued
sometime today. He will be out in
a few days.”
It was not immediately clear
whether the Pakistan govern-
ment will appeal against the high
court’s ruling.
A two-judge bench headed by
Justice Mohammad Karim Khan
Agha announced its verdict on
the appeals filed by the four men
18 years ago after hearing argu-
ments by prosecution and
defence lawyers and examining
the records of the case.
The high court also dismissed
the prosecution’s appeal that the
life sentence given to the three
other men should be enhanced to
capital punishment.
CONTINUED ON P 8
sectors for products bought,
services rendered, or such
things as subsidies.
In a meeting with PM
Modi though video confer-
ence on Thursday, several
state chief ministers
demanded that the Centre
pay their GST compensa-
tion, immediately release
the wages of workers
enrolled under MGNREGS
and sought help in Corona-
virus relief efforts. The gov-
ernment is considering
their proposals, the three
officials said. ››P6
was represented by its chief sec-
retary. During the interaction,
Modi spoke about formulating a
“common exit strategy” to ensure
“staggered re-emergence of the
population” once the lockdown
ended.
CONTINUED ON P 8
worries officials
MUMBAI: Mumbai’s overworked
public health workers have a
new, daunting challenge on their
hands — Dharavi. After a
56-year-old garment shop owner
died of Covid-19 in India’s largest
slum on April 1, 70 high-risk resi-
dents were quarantined. On
Thursday, a second case
emerged – a municipal worker
who was assigned to the area
tested positive for Sars-Cov-2. It
is not just Dharavi’s population
that is the worry, its inhabitants
live in some of the most cramped
spaces in the country. In an area
measuring 2.1 sq km, the slum
has over 57,000 shanties, and
small flats, almost all of them
illegal. ››P3 & P4
PM Modi to share
video message
at 9am today
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi will share a video
message with countrymen on
Friday amid a nationwide lock-
down to combat the coronavirus
outbreak.
“At 9 AM tomorrow morning,
I’ll share a small video message
with my fellow Indians,” the
prime minister tweeted on
Thursday.
Modi held a meeting with chief
ministers on the Covid-19 out-
break via video-conferencing on
Thursday. In his last address to
the nation on March 24, the
Prime Minister had announced
a 21-day lockdown in the country
to contain the spread of the dis-
ease.
event he attended
AMRITSAR: Bhai Nirmal Singh
Khalsa, 67, a Padma Shri awardee
and a former hazoori ragi (gur-
bani exponent) at Amritsar’s
Golden Temple, died of a heart
attack on Thursday a day after he
was diagnosed with coronavirus.
“A health department team
visited his (Khalsa’s) house on
March 3 after we got the informa-
tion that two guests... from the US
visited him. They were found
asymptomatic,” said civil sur-
geon Dr Prabhdeep Kaur Johal.
Khalsa then went to Chandigarh
for a devotional event on March
19 where over 100 people had
gathered. The Chandigarh civic
body has quarantined 84 people,
who attended the event. ››P5
02 hindustantimes
sp t g t
htspotlight
Is your body fighting Sars-CoV-2 sans
symptoms? Blood test to tell in 5 mins
NOT OFFICIAL TEST FOR COVID-19 Tope says mass testing to begin soon, to cost ₹300­₹400; if tested positive, you will have to take swab test
Swapnil Rawal
n swapnil.rawal@hindustantimes.com
MUMBAI: With Covid-19 positive
cases continuing to soar in
Maharashtra, the state govern-
ment plans to start “rapid”
blood tests to ascertain in less
than five minutes if you have the
antibodies that are fighting the
Sars-Cov-2, even if you are
asymptomatic.
State health minister Rajesh
Tope on Thursday said they will
soon start random “mass test-
ing” to ascertain the number of
people infected with the virus. It
is not officially a test for Cov-
id-19, which detects the virus
based on its genetic material, as
a person who tests positive will
have to undergo the swab test
and be quarantined.
Besides the government test-
ing facilities in Maharashtra,
seven private laboratories are
allowed to test for Covid-19. Now
with the antibody test, the state
government aims to get an
indicative figure of the number
of people attacked by the virus,
even if they are not showing
symptoms.
Tope said the state got a
go-ahead from the Centre to
start the “rapid” antibody tests
on Thursday and agencies will
be given the task to carry out the
tests.
“Rapid test is an important
decision taken today. Through
the test, we will get a primary
report or will be able to screen a
person in less than five minutes.
It is an important step for mass
screening. If we get to know the
total number through these
rapid tests, we will quarantine
or keep the people in isolation
and start further treatment,”
Tope said.
The immune system fights a
virus by making antibodies also
known as immunoglobulins. It
combats the infection by pre-
venting the virus from entering
the cells. They remain in the
bloodstream even if a particular
virus is cleared. This is to pro-
tect the person to encounter the
same virus again. As antibodies
are specific to a particular virus,
the antibody test will help the
state identify such people, said a
senior health official.
Dr Tatyarao Lahane,
director, Directorate of Medical
Education and Research
(DMER), said, “The antibody
test will be conducted to see IgG
and IgM levels in the body. We
will start it from those being
quarantined and exposed to cor-
onavirus patients.”
It has become necessary as
more than 80% of the positive
patients were found asympto-
matic, which means they were
showing no symptoms despite
being infected, officials pointed
out.
A senior Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation official,
however, said they could take
up the testing on a “pilot” level
with a group of around 100 to 200
people.
“We will not use the test with
patients or high-risk contacts of
State govt records ICSE, CBSE schools start new
₹25-K-cr revenue academic yr with online classes
loss; set to worsen HAVEN’T APPROVED TIMETABLE
FOR SUMMER EXAM YET: MU
Surendra P Gangan
n surendra.gangan@htlive.com
MUMBAI: The state government
has recorded loss of over ~25,000
crore revenue, due to the Cov-
id-19 outbreak. The first quarter
of the new financial year, which
began on April 1, is expected to be
worse, according to finance offi-
cials.
The Maharashtra government
had estimated annual revenue of
~2.57 lakh crore from tax revenue
at the rate of ~21,400 crore per
month. However, given that tax
collections are typically more
than double in the last month of
the financial year, monthly tax
revenue was expected to be
around ~44,000 crore. According
to the preliminary estimates, the
state was able to accumulate only
around ~19,000 crore due to the
major drop in collection of GST,
excise and stamp duty following
the coronavirus pandemic.
“We were anyway expecting a
drastic drop of ~16,000 crore in
annual GST due to the slowdown,
but the Covid-19 outbreak has
now hit it further. Similarly,
there will be a drop of ~2,600 crore
in excise against the estimated
annual revenue of ~17,977 crore.
The losses from stamp duty are
n Despite warnings to maintain social distance, shoppers throng Bazaar Road in Bandra during the nationwide lockdown.
3 ENGINEERS QUARANTINED
AFTER COLLEAGUE TESTS +VE
Mehul R Thakkar
n mehul.thakkar@htlive.com
MUMBAI: Three civic engi-
neers from the Brihan-
mumbai Municipal Corpo-
ration’s (BMC) C ward, cov-
ering areas like Marine
Lines and Charni Road,
have been home quaran-
tined on Tuesday after a
28-year-old junior engineer
from the same ward tested
positive for Covid-19 on
Monday.
Chakrapani Alley, assist-
ant municipal commis-
sioner of BMC’s C ward con-
firmed that the engineers
have been home quaran-
tined. The three engineers
from the maintenance
department have under-
gone testing for the corona-
virus, and their results
have come back negative.
One of the home-quaran-
the positive. This is just to check
the resistance power of the per-
son against the infection,” the
official said.
“Once the antibody test is
positive, the person is corona
positive. Swab test, which is pre-
cise and a confirmatory test,
will be done simultaneously
along with the treatment,” said
Dr Anup Kumar Yadav, director
of National Health Mission
(NHM).
Tope said the cost of the test
expected to be more than ~5,000
crore against the estimated
annual revenue of ~29,500 crore.
The state government’s decision
of a 1% reduction in stamp duty
had resulted in many homebuy-
ers deferring their plans to the
new financial year, hence we
were expecting a drop in revenue.
However, the pandemic has wor-
sened it,” said an official from the
finance department.
Deputy chief and finance min-
ister Ajit Pawar had demanded a
special central package of ~25,000
crore, after reviewing the reve-
nue deficit early this week. He
also had reminded the Centre of
the dues of ~16,654 crore owed
towards the devolution of central
taxes and grant-in-aide.
The government is expecting
April and the first quarter of
2020-21 to be worse with the drop
in the collection to more than 60%
of its tax revenue.
“Against only one week of
lockdown in March, April has
two weeks [of lockdown] with no
business and revenue. It will take
at least a few months for the busi-
ness and industrial sectors to reg-
ularise. It will result in major rev-
enue losses to the government,”
the finance department official
said.
tined engineers said, “We
were tested, and our results
have come out negative.
However, we will be tested
again in the coming 14
days.” He said that their col-
leagues from other depart-
ments are now being
checked daily before they
enter the office, and saniti-
sation of the whole ward
office has been undertaken.
The family of the 28-year-
old junior engineer has also
been home quarantined.
The engineer does not have
any travel history but there
are chances he came in con-
tact with someone who was
infected, said BMC officials.
Akash Purohit, local BJP
corporator, said, “There
were no cases in our area
till the one from the BMC
office. It is worrisome and
all engineers entering are
being screened now.”
could be around ₹300-₹400. He
further said that the rapid tests
can be conducted by the govern-
ment and private agencies who
have the permission of the
Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR).
“We can also partner with
some companies that conduct
rapid testing. The government
may also appoint some agencies,
which has the permission of
ICMR, for conducting rapid
tests,” he added.
Ankita Bhatkhande
n ankita.bhatkhande@htlive.com
MUMBAI: Even as parents and
teachers are uncertain over the
reopening of schools in the wake
of the lockdown, several private
schools, especially the ones affili-
ated with the Indian Certificate of
Secondary Education (ICSE) and
the Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE), which begin
the new academic year in April,
have started classes online.
“We have started online teach-
ing sessions for Classes 10 and 12.
It is a good experience to use a
wide array of resources available
on the internet for online teach-
ing. It is challenging for schools
but is also a very good learning
experience,” said Kavita
Sanghvi, principal of Chatrabhuj
Narsee Memorial School in Vile
Parle.
EuroSchool and Billabong
High have started conducting live
sessions through video confer-
encing and recorded sessions for
the new academic year. The
learning is further supplemented
with digital textbooks, question-
and-answer (Q&A) sessions and
home assignments.
Teachers said the experience
has taught them to use the tech-
nology which they otherwise
would not have tried. “The only
issue with the younger kids is
that it is more challenging to keep
City cases rise to 235; civic
body seals off 212 more areas
Shrinivas Deshpande
n shrinivas.deshpande@hindustantimes.com
MUMBAI: Figures released by the
Mumbai civic body on Thursday
showed an increase of 57 coro-
navirus cases and three deaths,
taking the total number of cases
in the city to 235.
The Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation (BMC) said that
17 new cases were detected on
Thursday, whereas 40 Covid-19
patients have been identified
through private laboratory
tests over the past four days.
Meanwhile, the BMC has
sealed off 212 areas and has
taken over 10,000 rooms in
hotels, residential complexes to
accommodate those who have to
be quarantined.
Municipal commissioner
Praveen Pardeshi told HT, “Yes,
the number of coronavirus
patients is increasing by the
day. In order to deal with the sit-
uation, we have already sealed
off 191 areas and will increase
this further to prevent spread of
disease.”
Pardeshi added, “Till date,
the civic body has taken over
almost 10,000 rooms from the
different hotels, lodges, residen-
tial complexes and vacant flats
of builders across the city. This
is where we are planning to keep
quarantined suspected
patients.’’
MUMBAI: After several col-
leges and students pre-
sented queries about exam
timetables posted on social
media, the University of
Mumbai (MU) on Thursday
has clarified that it has not
approved any new timetable
for the summer exam ses-
sion. MU’s statement has
come two days after the var-
sity postponed all its 750-
plus exams of the current
examination session until
after April 15.
“Due to Covid-19 out-
break, the government has
declared lockdown up to
April 14 and accordingly,
University of Mumbai
issued a circular that the
varsity and colleges affili-
ated with us will not conduct
any exam until April 14,”
them engaged virtually and avoid
distractions,” said a teacher of a
suburban school, which has
started some of its classes online.
However, experts have
warned against the complete
replacement of classroom teach-
ing with online medium. Francis
Joseph, from SLN Global Net-
work, a network of schools, said,
The BMC has also tied up
with the Maharashtra Housing
and Area Development Author-
ity (MHADA), under which
MHADA decided to give 625
vacant homes that can be used
for quarantine facilities. These
include 265 flats in Mankhurd
colony, 170 rooms in Charkop
and 190 homes in Kandivli’s
Mahavir Nagar, informed a sen-
ior BMC official.
This move of MHADA came
after the municipal commis-
sioner came out with an order
for requisitioning of empty resi-
dential buildings, lodges, hotels,
dharmashalas, clubs, exhibi-
tion centres, colleges, hostels,
dormitories, residential cruise
ships, marriage halls, gym-
khanas, banquet halls, institu-
tions with immediate effect dur-
ing last week
This was the largest increase
in the number of cases within a
day in the state, said officials
from the state health depart-
ment. A day after a Dharavi res-
ident who had contracted the
coronavirus passed away, a 54-
year-old sweeper in the locality
tested positive for the virus on
Thursday.
According to the BMC, the
sanitation worker lives in
Worli, but works near the
Mahim Phatak road in Dharavi.
He developed symptoms three
days ago, following which, he
said a statement released by
Vinod Patil, director, board
of examinations and evalua-
tions (BEE), MU. He further
clarified that MU will not
issue any timetable-related
circular before April 14.
His statement high-
lighted that during such
“unprecedented times”, it is
the collective responsibility
of the staff and students to
not fall prey to rumours.
“We have realised that the
staff and students are for-
warding timetables of differ-
ent colleges on WhatsApp
groups to seek authentica-
tion, which eventually finds
its way to others who
assume the information
shared is true. We have to
stop this,” stated Patil’s
statement. HTC
“Online academic learning can-
not replace face-to-face teaching.
Besides, our teachers need train-
ing to be online tutors. With elite
schools turning to ‘online only’
instruction, disparity between
privileged schools and affordable
schools are bound to widen due to
varying contexts in the students’
home environment.”
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03, 2 02 0
CORONAVIRUS: METRO
CASES IN THE STATE 423
235 Mumbai
CASES
(17 deaths)
20
DEATHS
61 Pune
45 MMR
city and
rural (1 death)
excluding
Mumbai (1 death)
MAHARASHTRA
3 Aurangabad
25 Sangli Source:
Maharashtra 1 Jalgaon
health department
16 Nagpur 1 Gondia
17 Ahmednagar 3 Satara
2 Kolhapur 1 Nashik
4 Yavatmal 1 Ratnagiri 1 Osmanabad
5 Buldhana
(1 death) 1 Sindhudurg 1 Gujarat
(Treated in Mumbai)
EMERGENCY NUMBERS
COVID-19
State control room 020 26127394
WhatsApp +912026127394
Twitter handle: @MantralayaRoom
Email: ssoidspmah@gmail.com/ssumaharashtra@gmail.com
OTHER EMERGENCY HELPLINE NUMBERS
Abhay Yawalkar, director, disaster management
022 22026712/ 22027990
Email: director.dm@maharashtra.gov.in/
controlroom@maharashtra.gov.in
BMC doctor 022 47085085/ 022 47085085 (10am to 7pm) BMC 1916
BEST 1800227550
CITY-WISE LIST OF CONTROL ROOMS IN KONKAN REGION
Mumbai city 022 22664232
Mumbai suburbs 022 26556799 / 26556806
Thane 022 25301740
Palghar 02525 297474
Raigad 02141 222118
SATYABRATA TRIPATHY/HT PHOTO
Ratnagiri 02352 226248
Sindhudurg 02362 228847
ICMR-APPROVED PRIVATE LABS FOR TESTS
Metropolis 8422801801 Thyrocare 9702466333
Suburban
SRL Labs
SOCIAL MEDIA HELP
022 61700019
1800222000
Sir HN Reliance 9820043966
was quarantined at the Seven- Kasturba Hospital: kasturba.hospital@yahoo.com
Hills Hospital in Mumbai, BMC health department: phdmcgm@gmail.com
where he tested positive on
Thursday. Twitter: @MahaDGIPR
Social
In addition to this, three civic Facebook: http://facebook.com/MahaDGIPR
media links
engineers from C-Ward, which Instagram: http://instagram.com/mahadgipr
to get official
covers areas such as Marine
information Telegram: http://t.me/MahaDGIPR
Lines and Charni Road, are
home quarantined for 14 days Helo: http://m.helo-app.com/al/ySeYTxhjY
after a 28-year-old junior engi-
neer from the same ward tested
positive for coronavirus on
Monday. According to BMC offi-
cials, the 28-year-old engineer WHAT’S SHUT, WHAT’S OPEN
from C-Ward tested positive at
Fortis Hospital and immedi-
ately, his three colleagues, who
were his close contacts, were
CLOSED OPEN
put on home quarantine for 14
days from Tuesday. n Shops related to essential
Transport commodities such as groceries,
No new cases or deaths in
n Suburban trains milk and vegetables
Worli, after 15 cases were con-
n BEST buses n Medical stores
firmed on Wednesday. 192 high-
n App-based taxis n Essential services such as water
risk persons were moved to Pod- supply, power supply, conservancy
dar Hospital. n Metro
services, among others
The BMC chief has also given n Monorail n Financial institutions such as
directives that all private hospi- n ST buses, private buses banks, ATMs, stock exchanges
tals/dispensaries, which are Places n Restaurants, hotels, home
closed amid the coronavirus n Private establishments
delivery and courier services
outbreak in the city should be n Petrol pumps
n Schools, Colleges, Universities
opened. Many private hospitals n Print and electronic media
and Coaching classes
in the city are closed to ward off n Police
n Religious places
possible infection from the n Fire brigade
n Shopping malls
patients. n E-commerce of essential
n Cinema theatres and supplies will be excluded from
The BMC has issued a circu-
Auditoriums the shutdown
lar on Thursday, saying that
n Gymnasiums n Black-and-yellow taxis
action should be taken if private
n Swimming pools n Autorickshaws
hospitals are not opened and
suggested patients should be
attended with proper care.
81% DROP IN Frequently Asked Questions
Here is what you can or cannot do during the national
NO2 LEVELS IN
lockdown in view of the Covid-19 pandemic
SIX WEEKS
1 2 3
I don’t own a car, My home is Can my
what do I do running out of domestic help
in case of vegetables. Can I come home?
Badri Chatterjee
n badri.chatterjee@hindustantimes.com
emergency?
The govt has allowed
black-yellow taxis and
get groceries?
Yes, all vegetable
markets are functioning.
Experts have
recommended that
social distancing be
MUMBAI: A six-week assessment
autorickshaws to ply. Trucks to deliver enforced. It is
of air pollution data using satel- If it is a medical vegetables, fruits advisable to
lite images showed an 81% emergency, and daily kitchen ask house
decline in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) call for an essentials are help to not
levels in the air above Mumbai ambulance. allowed to ply. come
Metropolitan Region (MMR)
4
during the lockdown imposed to There is a power cut in my house, what can I do?
contain the spread of the Sars-
Cov-2 virus. The analysis was Power is an essential service. All power distribution companies
released on Thursday by have been ordered to provide uninterrupted power. If there is no
power, please call the provider’s helpline number.
research group Centre for
Research on Energy and Clean
5 6
Air (CREA). I have run out of I am a diabetic, can I go
“The absence or reduction of money, where can I go? shop for insulin?
almost all major sources of air All ATMS are functional. Yes, you can. All pharmacies
pollution led to a drastic drop in Branches of banks are are allowed to stay open.
emissions [during the lock- functioning, but with However, some of them
down], which shows that the air limited capacity. may have staffing issues
can be cleaned if emissions are
7
controlled. Clean air does not My dog is cooped up at home, can I take her out?
necessarily have to come at the Pet stores and veterinary clinics are classified as “essential
cost which we are paying now services” by the government. You will be able to treat your pet
due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but in case of an emergency or buy pet food. If the pet wants to
this crisis should be used as an go for a walk, you could use your car park, your terrace,
opportunity to learn from and etc. There are no specific instructions for walking pets
move forward,” said Sunil in public areas, but it is not encouraged either.
Dahiya, an analyst working with
8 9
CREA. I need physiotherapy, I want to order food. Is it
CREA’s assessment showed can I go? permitted?
an 81% decline in NO2 levels over
Yes, you can visit the local Yes. Please ensure your preferred
six weeks, based on the Central
hospital. In case you restaurants are open.
Pollution Control Board’s
are immobile, your They may have staffing
(CPCB) readings across 10 real- registered issues given the
time stations in Mumbai, and physiotherapist can restrictions on
satellite imagery (TROPOMI/ visit your home. public movement.
S5P satellite data).
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03 , 2 02 0 hindustantimes 03

sp t g t
htspotlight CORONAVIRUS: METRO

In Mumbai, an uphill battle called Dharavi

2 COVID-19 CASES With quarantining residents of the dense slum proving to be a tough task, BMC forms 2 teams of 25 each, ropes in 800 community health workers
Rupsa Chakraborty

DHARAVI: INDIA’S LARGEST SLUM

n Rupsa.chakraborty@htlive.com
MUMBAI
MUMBAI : Mumbai’s overworked
public health officials face a new WHY SOCIAL DISTANCING
challenge this week: Dharavi. AREA IS TOUGH HERE
After a 56-year-old garment shop
owner living in India’s largest,
most-densely populated slum
240 ha SPACE: The sheer lack of living space
NO SOCIAL SECURITY:
In the absence of adequate social
succumbed to Covid-19 on April HOUSES security from the state or private
1, two teams of 50 officers and
volunteers landed up in the area
to spread awareness about Sars-
57,000 insurance, residents rely on their
only insurance policy— family
and social networks.
DHARAVI
Cov-2, the virus responsible for
POPULATION SANITATION: With one
the global pandemic, and to toilet per 1,440 residents,
quarantine 70 high-risk resi-
dents of an eight-building Slum
Rehabilitation Authority com-
8.5 lakh maintaining distance is not easy

SOLUTIONS MAHIM
KINGS
CIRCLE
plex in which the victim stayed. JUNCTION
The locality also has 91 shops. All POPULATION n Proactive testing
n Quarantining asymptomatic and
of them have been ordered shut, DENSITY symptomatic persons in different
even those selling essential sup-
plies. The next day, an additional 66,000 isolated locations
MATUNGA
MATUNGA

Dr
n Temporary or mobile toilets

Ba
2,500 persons were home-quar- RD
per sq km

babs
n Tankers to provide clean water
antined, and will probably be

aheb
Tulsi Pipe Rd
tested for exposure to the virus. SOURCE: Centre for Sustainability (CFS)

Amb
On Thursday morning, just as Demographics: A

edka
the two teams and an additional significant THE REVAMP PLAN Dadar (W)

r Rd
Maharashtrian and
army of 800 community health
₨28,500CR The Dharavi revamp DADAR

volunteers were getting ready
for another busy day at Dharavi,
a second case emerged – a munic-
ipal conservancy worker from
south Mumbai who was assigned
the area, tested positive for Sars-
Cov-2. Twenty of his friends and
co-workers had to be quaran-
tined.
Neither the garment shop
owner nor the conservancy
worker has a travel history,
according to information
released by the city’s health
department. “It is going to be an
uphill task identifying asympto-
matic patients in an area that has
more than 8.5 lakh people,” says
Kiran Dighavkar, assistant com-
missioner, BMC, and the officer
is in charge of the city’s G-North
ward where Dharavi is situated.
It is not just about Dharavi’s
population. Its inhabitants live
in some of the most cramped spa-
ces in the country. In an area
measuring 2.1 sq km, the slum
has over 57,000 shanties, huts
and small flats, almost all of
them illegal. Its estimated popu-
lation density – 66,000 people per
square kilometre – is more than
double that of Mumbai (32,303
people per square kilometre), the
fifth most-densely populated city
in the world, according to a
United Nations Population
Prospects study released in July
2019. Mumbai is also the worst
Covid-19-affected city in India,
with 235 positive cases and at
least 17 deaths on April 2. With
private laboratories also testing
for Covid-19, state health offi-
cials say this number will only
rise.
Mumbai’s – and Dharavi’s –
population numbers make social
distancing – one of the key pre-
ventive measures recommended
n Amid restrictions on movement, a resident outside his home in Dharavi on Wednesday.
n Daily wage workers in a queue to get the food packets being
distributed by NGOs.
by the World Health Organisa-
tion (WHO) – almost impossible
to sustain. “It is almost certain
that the cases will spike in Dhar-
avi due to overpopulation,” says
Baburao Mane, a former state
legislator from Dharavi. “There
are, on average, 10-12 people liv-
ing in thousands of 250 sq ft huts.
As summer approaches and the
temperature soars, it will be
almost impossible to prevent
home-quarantined people from
coming out of their cramped spa-
ces.”
For Dharavi, therefore, BMC
SATISH BATE/HT PHOTO
has a special plan in place. It has
created two teams of 25 people
each that work round the clock
in two shifts. These teams
include a sanitary inspector,
medical officers, police person-
nel and community volunteers.
In addition, the ward officer has
got on board 800 community
health volunteers whose pri-
mary responsibility will be to
trace vulnerable residents such
as senior citizens, patients with
respiratory ailments and preg-
nant women.
“I have sought permission to
convert the Rajiv Gandhi Dis-
trict Sports club in a quarantine
facility with 300 beds,” says
Dighavkar. “Once approved, we
will shift high-risk people.”
He says the primary concern
for health officers is cooperation.
“People in slums don’t cooper-
ate. The statements given by the
dead man’s wife and children
have confused us. We are unable
to trace his contacts. We don’t
even know if he had visited his
shop during the lockdown.
Despite symptoms, has he
roamed around the slum? The
family can’t confirm this activ-
ity, and we don’t know how
many people he may have
infected.”
Sanitation and water supply
are other issues here. In line with
WHO recommendations, the
Maharashtra state health
department too has advocated
regular hand-washing with
water and soap to avoid any pos-
sible transmission of Sars-Cov-2.
In Dharavi, this is a distant
dream. Neena More, a local
social activist, says the slum
averages one toilet per 500 people
(official figures peg the number
at one toilet per 1440 people), and
most residents use the nearby
Mahim creek for urination and
defecation. “Every morning,
people stand in long queues to
use the toilets making them sus-
ceptible to the infection,” she
says.
And then, there is economic
desperation. Almost every fam-
ily in Dharavi faces the prospect
SATISH BATE/HT PHOTO
of spending more than two
months without wages on
account of the nationwide lock-
down and shutting of private
business establishments. Shib-
ani Salvi, a 26-year-old mother of
two lost her last source of income
in the third week of March. Prior
to the lockdown, she earned Rs
20,000 a month working as a
domestic help in five flats in the
neighbourhood. “Now,” she
says, “I cannot even go out of my
house to collect my salary even
though one of my employers
called me. We have enough food
to last only three more days. I
don’t have money to buy even
masks or sanitisers for my fam-
ily.” One of Salvi’s employers is
Divya Dhar, a 36-year-old
designer who stays with her
mother and two-year-old daugh-
ter at the affluent Shivaji Park.
Even after the lockdown began,
she would drive to Dharavi to
fetch her domestic help and cook
to help her concentrate on being
Muslim popula-
tion, followed by
south Indians and
Cost of Dharavi
revamp
north Indians
a single working mother. From
Wednesday – the day the news
broke about the first Covid-19
fatality in Dharavi – Dhar has
stopped the practice. “I can’t risk
my daughter who is already an
asthma patient. I will get tested.
Until then, I have locked myself
in a room,” Dhar says.
Drinking water is another of
Dharavi’s challenges. Qamrud-
din Sheikh, who runs an NGO
named Bal Vikas Shikshan San-
stha the area, says that in an area
that has scant drinking water, it
is impractical to think they will
keep washing their hands. “Peo-
ple are using handkerchiefs and
cotton masks, both of which are
of no use to stop the virus trans-
mission. BMC should provide
quarantined people with proper
masks and hand sanitisers,” he
says.
Dighavkar says the primary
challenge for health officers will
be tracing the people who were
in close contact with infected
project has been given
to Seclink Technology
Corporation
patients. One health officer HT
spoke to said on the condition of
anonymity, “Many of the shops
in Dharavi are illegal, and people
do not share information openly.
Getting accurate information
here is the work of a full-time
detective.”
According to the ward officer,
BMC has been providing rice,
wheat and dal to those in home
quarantine, but residents HT
spoke to, said the ration does not
include essentials such as oil and
vegetables. Besides, he says,
there is little awareness.
Sagar Kamble, a Dharavi resi-
dent, says, “Almost 80% of the
slumdwellers here are unedu-
cated and do not understand the
gravity of the situation. Only a
few gated colonies in the area
have locked their premises; the
rest of the population is roaming
around freely.” Mane says this is
the main reason he has been ask-
ing for compulsory screening of
all of Dharavi’s residents. “BMC
Gokhale Rd
Dadar TT
Chitra Cinema
needs to screen all the locals and
if needed, send them back to
their respective villages using
available public transport.
There is no other way to enforce
social distancing or to contain
the virus.”
But this is not possible, says
BMC. The city’s health officers
have overruled the possibility of
running universal tests in Dhar-
avi. “There are just not enough
test kits,” says a health officer.
“There is a shortage of masks
and sanitisers in the slum, so
with the help of NGOs and phi-
lanthropists, we are trying to
procure protective masks for
quarantined people.” He adds,
“There is also large-scale igno-
rance. When our volunteers
counsel on the importance of
sanitation and social distancing,
many from the Muslim commu-
nity respond by saying their
immunity is high as they eat
meat. It’s not going to be easy at
all.”

WHAT THE CIVIC

BODY IS DOING
The civic body has started
disinfecting Dharavi. People
have been quarantined and
provided with ration at home,
so they don’t step out for
food. “Our concern is keeping
the quarantined at home. The
police station has been given
the list. We have stamped
people’s palms, so if they
come out, their neighbours
can identify them,” Kiran
Dighavkar, assistant commis-
sioner, BMC. Also, the Dadar
wholesale market, which was
shifted to SB road near
Pramod Mahajan Udyan, has
been shut till further notice.

PROBLEMS
FOR HEALTH
OFFICERS
In the absence of sufficient
testing kits, health officers
have overruled the possi-
bility of running tests on
all residents. “There is a
shortage of masks and
sanitisers. We are trying to
take help from NGOs and
philanthropists,” said a
health officer. “When we
send our volunteers to
counsel people on the
importance of sanitation
and social distancing,
residents, especially the
minority population
responds saying as they
eat meat, their immunity is
high and virus can’t affect
them,” said the officer.
They have instructed local
mosques to announce the
precautionary measures at
regular intervals.
Contact tracing is difficult
as 90% of the people have
addresses with sketchy
details. “Tracing people
works like a pyramid. Our
first line of information is
the patient. Without
accurate addresses, the
task becomes tougher. We
are taking help from
locals,” said the officer.
04 hindustantimes
spotlight
htspotlight
1,400 from Maha attended Jamaat event
PREVENTING SPREAD 1,300 identified, 127 are from Mumbai; 105 of Mumbai’s 127 have been traced, kept in quarantine
Shrinivas Deshpande, Vijay Kumar
Yadav, Manish K Pathak, Sajana
Nambiar
n shrinivas.deshpande@htlive.com
MUMBAI: A total of 1,400 people
from the state attended the
Tablighi Jamaat event at Nizam-
uddin in Delhi, the state authori-
ties said on Thursday. Of them,
the district administrations have
identified 1,300 people, including
127 from Mumbai, and quaran-
tined most of them. Of the 127
identified from Mumbai, 105 have
been traced and kept in quaran-
tine.
State health minister Rajesh
Tope said, “According to the
guidelines issued by the central
government, we have success-
fully tracked 1,300 people who
attended the Markaz congrega-
tion from different districts.
Their samples will be collected
for coronavirus testing.” “We
gave ward-wise lists to all ward
officers to track the 127 persons.
The search operation for the rest
is going on,” said a senior official
from the Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation (BMC). “Of the
remaining, most of them are
either out of Mumbai or Maha-
rashtra. Many of them have given
wrong residential addresses with
telephone numbers, which is why
we couldn’t track them,” he said.
BMC officials said considering
the chaos in Delhi, many people
are unwilling to reveal that they
attended the event. A senior IPS
officer said the tracing was done
in coordination with the special
branch-1, the intelligence wing of
the city police, which has units in
2.5K Dharavi society residents 94 FIRs filed, police continue
to remain in home quarantine action against city violators
Sagar Pillai
n Sagar.Pillai@hindustantimes.com
MUMBAI: Around 2,500 residents of
Dr Baliga Nagar in Dharavi have
been directed to remain under
home quarantine after a 56-year-
old man died of Covid-19 on
Wednesday, while a 52-year-old
man who worked as a sweeper in
the area was tested positive for
the virus 24 hours later.
The colony with 308 flats and 91
shops has already been sealed by
the authorities. Local ward office
has said no resident will be per-
mitted to step out of their homes
and that food and other essential
items would be provided by the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Cor-
n Rituals being performed on the occasion of Ram Navami at Ram Mandir in Wadala.
Thane society sets up medical helpline for residents
livingin
lockdown
Yesha Kotak
yesha.kotak@hindustantimes.com
n
MUMBAI: A co-operative housing
complex in Thane has set up its
own medical helpline for its 2,000-
odd residents and restricted the
entry of outsiders into its prem-
ises as part of its preventive
measures against the spread of
Covid-19.
Tarangan Complex Federa-
tion in Thane comprises three
societies and nine residential
buildings. Among its residents
are around 30 practicing doctors
who work in some of the promi-
nent hospitals in the area.
“There are three high-profile
doctors in our complex who have
committed that they will be avail-
able 24x7, in case anyone from the
society needs help. This has been
done because in a situation like
this, there should be no panic and
members will have guidance
from the right source,” said Man-
ohar Kataria, treasurer, Tar-
n Shazia Merchant, who is suffering from a kidney ailment, and her brother Adil pack food for the homeless
at Mazagaon.
all 13 zones in city, and the zonal
police. Police officials said nine
people from south Mumbai’s zone
one area (Mohammed Ali Road,
Dongri areas) have been quaran-
tined, 20 from zone 8 (Bandra
East, Nirmal Nagar, Vakola and
nearby areas) and 10, including
some Indonesian nationals, from
zone 9 (Bandra West, Khar areas).
Police said 20 members in zone 8
area hail from Gujarat and other
states and had come to Mumbai
from the gathering and got stuck
owing to the lockdown. Twenty-
poration (BMC).
The 52-year-old Worli resident
has been undergoing treatment
at Seven Hills Hospital in And-
heri. The civic body has also
stamped 23 workers, who had
worked with him in Dharavi, to
remain under home quarantine.
Meanwhile, the 56-year-old
was suspected to be among those
who had returned from the
Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi.
However, assistant municipal
commissioner Kiran Dighavkar
said, “The family and the patient
had denied any visit to the
Jamaat event in Delhi. We are
tracing all his close contacts and
getting them in quarantine.”
Around 70 high-risk contacts,
n A physician has stocked essential medicines and will provide home consultancy for Tarangan Complex
Federation residents in Thane.
angan Complex Federation. A
physician, who runs a clinic, has
stocked essential medicines and
is available on call and for home
consultancy, he added.
Movement of residents outside
the complex’s premises have
one of the identified are from
Andheri and Jogeshwari (zone
10).
“Two people have been traced
to Pathanwadi in Malad (east),
while four from zone 12. These
people were traced with the help
of their phone call locations and
also with assistance from the
community leaders,” said an offi-
cer.
Sources said the police will
share the travel details of the
members with the railways to get
details of their co-passengers.
including his family, neighbours
and a physician, will be tested for
Covid-19 on an immediate basis.
The high-risk contacts of the vic-
tim also include 50-60 people in
Sion Hospital whom the 56-year-
old had met during his treatment.
They too have been quarantined
too. BMC is also tracing his close
contacts from a nearby mosque
which the patient regularly
visited.
“Meanwhile, four people,
three from Dharavi and one from
Mahim, who had returned from
the Tablighi Jamaat event have
also been quarantined at a nearby
hotel. They will undergo tests and
we are also tracing their contact,”
said a civic official.
VIJAYANAND GUPTA/HT
been restricted as has the entry of
outsiders. Vegetable and fruit
vendors are allowed in an open
space in the premises and there is
a supermarket next to the hous-
ing society where residents can
shop for groceries.“We have
ANSHUMAN POYREKAR/HT PHOTO
Twelve people from Kalyan
and five from Bhiwandi, who
attended the congregation, have
been put in home quarantine,
said the health department of the
Bhiwandi Nizampur City Munic-
ipal Corporation (BNCMC).
“None of them have shown any
symptoms so far,” said Jaywant
Dhule, medical officer, BNCMC.
Sandeep Malvi, deputy munici-
pal commissioner of Thane
Municipal Corporation, said,
“Twenty-five people had come to
Mumbra. Some of them were
HT Correspondents
n htmetro@hindustantimes.com
MUMBAI: The Mumbai Police on
Wednesday lodged 94 first infor-
mation reports (FIRs) against
those violating the lockdown
orders. While 59 were against
those gathering in one place, 24
were for unnecessary use of
vehicles and the rest against
hawkers and shop owners.
Madhukar Pandey, joint com-
missioner, Mumbai traffic
police, said, “If we catch motor-
ists more than twice for using
their vehicles unnecessarily, we
will suspend their driving licen-
ces.” Since March 20, 709 cases
have been registered in Mumbai,
of which 246 are from north
region (Goregaon to Dahisar)
and 204 are from east region
(Chembur to Mulund). In all
1,364 people have been booked, of
which 1,100 have been arrested.
In Dharavi, a 19-year-old man
was arrested, 17-year-old was
detained and 12 others were
booked for pelting policemen
with stones.
According to Dharavi police,
the incident took place around
6.30pm when 47-year-old consta-
ble Ashok Chavan and his col-
league were patrolling the area.
A group of 10, mostly youngsters,
gathered near Joglekar Nullah
road near Om Dutta CHS. Cha-
van along with his colleague
asked them to go to their homes.
One of the youngsters started to
abuse them.
As the constables threatened
them with their batons, one of
them started to throw stones,
which forced the constables to
move out of the area. “We
detained a minor, who was
PRAFUL GANGURDE/HT
restricted movement of the peo-
ple in open areas, except a few
who have pets. All our common
facilities are now shut since the
government ordered gyms
should be shut. We have two lifts
in our building, of which only one
n People in a queue outside a
rationing shop at Worli to
collect their monthly grocery,
amid the lockdown.
ANSHUMAN POYREKAR/HT
from Bangladesh, a few from
Malaysia while one was from
West Bengal. All 25 have tested
negative.” The police have regis-
tered a case against the trustee
and cleric of the mosque in Mum-
bra for keeping the foreign
nationals. Five attendees have
been traced to Tulinj, Vasai,
Nalla Sopara and other areas in
the Palghar district.
Of the 1,300 people, a majority
are from Pune.
Two persons from Pimpri-
Chinchwad who attended the
gathering tested positive. So far,
the Pune administration has
identified 182 persons, of which
106 have been sent to quarantine.
n Police patrolling at Maharshi Karve Road.
If we catch motorists more than twice for using their
› vehicles unnecessarily, we will suspend their driving
licences.
MADHUKAR PANDEY, joint commissioner, Mumbai traffic police
released after counselling,” said
Ramesh Nangare, senior police
inspector at Dharavi police sta-
tion.
Meanwhile, the Dongri police
arrested two people for circulat-
ing fake messages on social
media . The police said the
arrested accused are identified
as Sadik Yakub Shaikh,30, and
his friend Siddique Ayub Mada
,34, both residents of Amachi
wala building, Dongri. “Action
was taken as per the rules,” said
Sandeep Bhagdikar, senior
inspector, Dongri police station.
The police have started to
seize vehicles of citizens who
refuse to stay at home and vio-
late the lockdown order. A total
of 190 vehicles – 38 from central
zone, 38 from south, 33 from east,
20 from west, and 61 from north.
There are 3 doctors in
› our complex who have
committed they will be
available 24x7, in case
resident needs help. In
such a situation, there’s no
panic and members will
have guidance from the
right source.
MANOHAR KATARIA, treasurer,
Tarangan Complex Federation
is allowed to function,” said
Rajan Junagade, secretary, Tar-
angan Complex Federation.
The complex also has its own
“task force”, which takes care of
the elderly and has followed up on
those residents who had travelled
abroad recently but were not
stamped at the airport upon their
return to Mumbai. “The task
force, which consists of around 40
volunteers from the complex,
looks after the elderly to help
them in case of any necessity and
also co-ordinates others tasks,”
said Dr Hrishikesh Iyer, a dentist
and resident of the society.
EVENT WAS TO
BE HELD IN VASAI
n The controversial Tablighi
Jamaat congregation was
to be held in Vasai on March
14 and 15, but was cancelled.
Abdulqayum Abdul Ahmed
Azmi, general secretary,
Shamim Education and
Welfare Society, Vasai, on
January 22 wrote to Gaurav
Singh, SP, Palghar, seeking
permission for the congre-
gation.
n “On 5 February, I had given
them the permission for the
two-day meet as there was
no alert issued by the
Centre. But after the
warnings on March 6, I
cancelled the permission,”
said Singh.
ANSHUMAN POYREKAR/HT
In Bhiwandi, the police have
started drone patrolling at major
junctions. A total of 500 person-
nel have been deployed at 16
spots across the city. “We have
two drone cameras. We will
tighten the vigil,” said Rajkumar
Shinde, deputy commissioner of
police, Bhiwandi.
The Palghar Police district
has seized 418 vehicles and filed
cases against 89 people. In Thane
Rural area, cases have been filed
against 3085 people for unneces-
sary traffic movement and
₹11,46,800 has been collected as
fine. From March 18 to April 2,
Thane police filed 284 cases .
Milind Bharambe, special
inspector general, law and order,
Maharashtra, said, “We have
registered 13,680 FIRs across
Maharashtra till today.”
‘As Covid-19 cases
rose, commuters
started to opt for
private transport’
MUMBAI: More commuters began
opting for private transport to
travel to work in the third week of
March till the lockdown, stated a
study by the Indian Institutes of
Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and
Hyderabad (IIT-H).
The study was based on the
responses of more than 1,900 par-
ticipants from tier-1, tier-2 and
tier-3 cities . Most responses were
received from tier-1 (63.6%) fol-
lowed by tier-2 (20.6%) and tier-3
cities (15.8%). In Tier-1 cities,
about 12% of the respondents
switched from public to private
mode during the third week of
March. This modal shift was
around 9% in Tier-2 cities and
about 7% in Tier-3. “Given the
uncertainties in commuters’
minds regarding their travel
behaviour due to social distanc-
ing, policymakers must under-
stand the change in travel pat-
tern,” said Digvijay S Pawar,
assistant professor, civil engi-
neering department, IIT-H.
SHREYA BHANDARY
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03, 2 02 0
CORONAVIRUS: METRO
virusupdates
AI CABIN CREW OF
AN INT’L FLIGHT
TESTS POSITIVE
MUMBAI: A member of the Air
India cabin crew, who recently
operated an evacuation flight,
has tested positive for Covid-19.
According to sources, the staff
member, who had operated the
Newark- Mumbai flight on March
20, has been admitted to Kas-
turba Gandhi Hospital. The
national carrier has operated
special flights to China, Germany,
Iran, Israel and is expected to
operate flights to the US, UK and
Canada. HTC
AIR INDIA TO
FERRY STRANDED
FOREIGNERS
MUMBAI: National carrier Air India
will operate charter rescue flights
to London between April 4 and
April 7 from Delhi and Mumbai to
fly stranded foreigners to London.
The airline will use Boeing 777
aircraft for the operation. Delhi-
London flights will take off at
2am from Delhi and will operate
on all four days. However, Air
India’s flights from Mumbai will
operate only on April 5 and April 7.
NEHA LM TRIPATHI
2,502 PRISONERS
RELEASED FROM
JAILS IN STATE
MUMBAI: Maharashtra govern-
ment released 2,520 from 47
prisons till Thursday since it took
a decision to release close to
11,000 undertrials who were
facing prison terms of less than
seven years. The maximum
number of prisoners were
released from Arthur Road prison
with 379 prisoners, followed by
236 prisoners from Thane, 201
prisoners from Taloja and 161 from
Yerwada jail. FAISAL TANDEL
HEAD CONSTABLE
TESTS POSITIVE,
KIN QUARANTINED
MUMBAI: A 57-year-old head
constable from Worli has tested
positive for Covid-19., said a senior
IPS officer from city police. He
said the civic authority informed
the police about this on Thursday.
However, the civic authorities
have not responded to HT’s query
on the same. The constable along
with his wife and two kids have
been kept in isolation for the time
being. A police inspector, at-
tached to the same police station,
said preliminary probe revealed
the constable had visited Lona-
vala on March 18.
VIJAY KUMAR YADAV
NO LABOURERS TO
CLEAN NULLAHS
ACROSS THANE
THANE : The Thane Municipal
Corporation will clean nullahs
using machines because they
might not get labourers to carry
out the work before monsoon.
The tenders for the nullah-clean-
ing work were floated on
Wednesday. With the entire TMC
mechanism busy in tackling
coronavirus outbreak and labou-
rers not being available. A TMC
official said, “We have a robotic
excavator and we will hire
excavators and JCBs.”
MEGHA POL
DISINFECTION
CONTRACTORS
PROTEST IN THANE
THANE: Contractors in charge of
disinfection protested outside the
Thane Municipal Corporation
(TMC) headquarters in Panchpa-
khadi on Thursday, claiming that
TMC has not paid them for the
last eight months. In the back-
drop of coronavirus pandemic,
TMC was carrying out fumigation
across Thane. The corporators
claimed that if TMC does not pay,
they will seek help from residents.
MEGHA POL
ULHAS GROUP
USES LOCKDOWN
FOR E­SESSIONS
KALYAN: In view of the lockdown,
Ulhasnadi Bachao Kruti Samiti
started an online session on
Thursday to discuss and explain
the importance of water bodies.
Around 40 people from across the
country and also from abroad
logged in for the sessions. “We
will make this a weekly activity
and get more experts on board,”
said Ravindra Lingayat, a volun-
teer. ANKITA G MENON
33K 3­PLY MASKS WORTH ₹8L SEIZED
MUMBAI: Mumbai Police’s crime
branch unit 2 seized 33,000 3-ply
masks worth ₹8.25 lakh from
Agripada on Thursday and
arrested a shop keeper. The
arrested accused, Abdulsamad
Subroti Ansari, 42, has been
booked for allegedly illegally
storing the masks at his home in
Bharucha compound and selling
them in black market. “We got
tip-off, following which a consta-
NURSE ALLEGES
ILL­TREATMENT
BY NEIGHBOURS
KALYAN: A 26-year-old nurse from
Kalyan, who works at Nair
hospital in Mumbai, has com-
plained that her neighbours are
ill-treating her, accusing her of
spreading the virus. She said she
complained to the police but has
not received any help. The nurse,
Darshana Bahiram, said, “My
neighbours tell me to stay in the
hospital and not return home.”
The police said they would visit
her place and counsel the resi-
dents. SAJANA NAMBIAR
LOCKDOWN TO
BENEFIT WORK
ALONG E­WAY
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra State
Road Development Corporation
(MSRDC) will demolish a British-
era Amrutanjan bridge along the
Mumbai-Pune Expressway using
controlled blasting. Officials said
the work was not possible owing
to heavy traffic . However, with a
nation-wide lockdown imposed,
the work will be completed in 10
days. The authority has proposed
a 10-km traffic diversion for
goods vehicles for 10 days. HTC
GOAIR ALLOWS
RESCHEDULING
TILL APRIL 30
MUMBAI: GoAir has extended the
‘Protect Your PNR’ scheme till
April 30 in order to support
passengers who are not willing to
travel as a precautionary meas-
ure. “GoAir is extending the
industry’s most generous ‘Protect
Your PNR’ scheme till 30th April,
2020 wherein customers are
eligible to reschedule their flight
for the next one year, ie until 30th
April 2021,” said a GoAir spokes-
person. HTC
RAILWAYS START
PARCEL TRAINS
TO CARRY GOODS
MUMBAI: n a bid to maintain
supply of essential commodities
in the country, Indian Railways
started operating parcel trains to
carry milk, essential commodities,
fast moving consumer goods. Two
such parcel trains carrying
essential commodities including
rice and wheat arrived in Nagpur
from Uttar Pradesh on Wednes-
day. The railways ministry has
asked Western Railway to operate
parcel trains between New Delhi
and Mumbai if required. Central
Railway will operate four special
trains from Kalyan to Madhya
Pradesh and to Assam. HTC
MAHARERA GIVES
THREE MONTHS TO
FINISH PROJECTS
MUMBAI: In view of the lock-
down, the Maharashtra Real
Estate Regulatory Authority
(MahaRera) has extended the
completion deadline of all
projects by another three months.
The order issued on April 2 stated
that all MahaRera-registered
projects whose completion or
revised completion or extended
completion expires on March 20,
2020 has been given an extension
of three months. MahaRera has
also deferred hearings and asked
its staff to work from home. HTC
GROUP HELPS
VENDORS AMID
LOCKDOWN
NAVI MUMBAI: A residents’
organisation from Kamothe, Ekta
Samajik Sanstha, is helping
vegetable vendors tie-up with
housing societies so that resi-
dents get fruits and vegetables at
their doorstep. Amol Shitole,
president of the residents’ group,
said, “We coordinate over the
phone and maintain zero contact.
We are catering to 40 housing
societies.”
NAVI MUMBAI
COPS MARCH
PADMJA SINHA
AROUND CITY
NAVI MUMBAI : The Navi Mumbai
police are carrying out route
marches across the city in teams
of 10 to 15 members, including
police officers and constables, to
enforce the lockdown and social
distancing. The marches are
carried out in the afternoon and
at night when people are likely to
flout lockdown rules. Announce-
ments on social distancing and
self isolation are also made. HTC
ble visited Ansari’s home as a
customer to buy a mask. Ansari
took ₹25 from the constable for
one mask, despite the govern-
ment putting a price cap of ₹10 on
the sale of 3-ply masks,” said
police inspector Sanjay Nikumbhe
of crime branch unit 2. The A team
of police officers then raided
Ansari’s house and handed him
over to Agripada police for
further probe. HTC
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03 , 2 02 0
sp t g t
htspotlight
Hoarding, transport snags
choke supply of essentials
LOCKDOWN Businesses blame lean inventories on panic-buying and issues with the transportation of food supplies
Zia Haq and Anisha Dutta
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI:A supply crunch of con-
sumer items has cascaded across
states, as buyers, rich and poor,
scour markets for everyday
needs amidst a lockdown to stop
the spread of Covid-19.
Businesses blame their lean
inventories on panic-buying of
goods equivalent to two-three
months of household supplies by
affluent classes, as they hun-
kered down for the shutdown.
They also blame issues with
the transportation of food sup-
plies, including grains, edible oil,
fruits, vegetables, milk, even
consumer products. Some stores
are selling limited quantities of
items to discourage hoarding.
“The excess buying has strained
back-end stocks and godowns,”
said market tracker Comtrade in
a note. Inventories that should
have lasted two months were
exhausted in a week, it said.
And deliveries at the last-mile
are hobbling under tight local
rules of individual states.
Federal instructions and
orders issued by state adminis-
trations are not in tandem, first-
hand reports suggest. India is one
economy but many individual
markets. Steering all of them in
one direction, all of sudden, has
been a key challenge, ground
reports indicate.
Part of the problem is also that
modern supply chains are intri-
cate. A bread maker typically
depends on three: agriculture,
biological and chemical leaven-
ing agent producers and the pack-
aging sector, each with its own
supply chain.
A soaring milk demand ahead
of the lockdown followed by a
sharp fall now has upset supply
schedules, RS Sodhi, the manag-
ing director of Amul, India’s larg-
est dairy cooperative, said . Small
milk suppliers and aggregators
were under pressure but the
overall availability is adequate,
he added.
Some states have seen milk
demand drop, leading to farm
losses. “Owing to regulatory
measures in the wake of Covid-19,
there is a decline in milk and milk
products, and difficulties have
arisen in interstate movement for
Risks in absence
of safety kits: Ggm
doc who recovered
Archana Mishra
n archana.mishra@hindustantimes.com
GURUGRAM: Of the 10 confirmed
cases of Sars-Cov-2 in Gurugram
nine have recovered. One among
them is 35-year-old Dr Sheenam,
a resident of Sector 9 who is also
the nodal officer at the Covid-19
sample collection lab at Sector 10
Civil Hospital, who tested posi-
tive on March 20 after she began
handling a series of suspected
cases in the first week of March.
“I had to be admitted to a private
hospital on March 21. Leaving my
eight-month-old son and hus-
band behind was not easy,” said
Sheenam. “They were tested but
found negative and are in home
quarantine,” She is believed to
have contracted the virus while
interacting with a patient in the
hospital, without protective gear.
“I had to meet a patient who was a
bit disturbed. At the time, I was
wearing a mask, gloves, and
apron. We did not have sufficient
safety kits. It was a risk and my
bad luck that I too got the virus,”
she said, adding the issue of safety
kits has been resolved now.
Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa dies a day after testing +ve
Mandeep Kaur Narula
n letters@hindustantimes.com
AMRITSAR: Bhai Nirmal Singh
Khalsa, 67, a Padma Shri awar-
dee and a former hazoori ragi
(Gurbani exponent) at Amrit-
sar’s Golden Temple, died of a
heart attack on Thursday a day
after he was diagnosed with cor-
onavirus (Covid-19).
Amritsar’s civil surgeon, Dr
Prabhdeep Kaur Johal, said
Khalsa was put on ventilator on
Wednesday night after his con-
dition worsened due to his bron-
chial asthma.
“He had visited England in
November. A health depart-
ment team visited his house on
March 3 after we got the infor-
mation that two guests–his
uncle and aunt–from the US
n Stranded migrant workers stand in a queue to collect food in New Delhi on Thursday.
its conversion to milk powder,”
Rajesh Kumar Singh, additional
chief secretary of Kerala said.
Hundreds of trucks are stuck
on state borders, despite home
ministry’s orders allowing move-
ment of both essentials and non-
essentials. “The home ministry’s
orders have not percolated to the
ground level... Trucks are still
being stopped at state borders ...,”
Kultaran Singh Atwal, president
of the lobby group All-India
Motor Transport Congress said.
The Food Corporation of India
is ramping up supplies.
“During the lockdown, the FCI
is replenishing 10 lakh (1 million)
tonne of foodgrains through 352
rakes of Indian railways,” Union
food minister Ram Vilas Paswan
said in a tweet.
But there is a problem. It only
stocks cereals (rice and wheat),
and limited quantities of pulses
and sugar. The crisis is concen-
trated in a clutch of other items:
flour, biscuits, edible oil, soaps,
Sanitation workers in hotspots claim
they are working without safety gear
Ashish Mishra
n ashish.mishra2@htlive.com
NEWDELHI: With Nizamuddin and
Dilshad Garden emerging as the
Covid-19 hot spots in Delhi, and
more quarantine facilities being
developed across the city, sanita-
tion workers have raised con-
cerns about their safety.
The Akhil Bhartiya Safai Maj-
door Sangh, an association of san-
itation workers, has demanded
they be provided more effective
protective gear, along with regu-
lar screenings of sanitation work-
ers and their families.
On Thursday, the South Delhi
Municipal Corporation (SDMC)
said it will start screening staff
deployed in Nizamuddin.
With close around 40-50 sanita-
tion workers deployed in Nizam-
uddin and a similar number in
Dilshad Garden, Sanjay Gehlot,
president Akhil Bhartiya Safai
Majdoor Sangh, said sanitation
employees work at the forefront
and, as a result, are prone to be
infected with the highly conta-
gious virus.
“The civic bodies should iden-
visited him. When the home
quarantine period of the guests
was over on March 17, they were
found asymptomatic. Bhai Nir-
mal Singh then went to Chandi-
garh for a kirtan samagam [a
devotional event] on March 19
where over 100 people had gath-
ered,” Johal said.
She added he tested positive
for coronavirus on Wednesday.
“He may have caught the infec-
tion during his trip to Chandi-
garh. He died of sudden cardiac
arrest on Thursday.”
With his death, the toll from
Covid-19 in Punjab has risen to
six.
Khalsa was referred to the
Guru Nanak Dev Hospital on
March 30 after he complained of
breathlessness.
The Chandigarh Municipal
handwash, some lentils, vegeta-
bles, baby food, packaged juices,
medicines for a variety of condi-
tions, even matchboxes.
“Earlier, wholesalers would
deliver to my shop. Now, I have to
make beeline to the wholesaler,”
general provisions store proprie-
tor Ravindra Ghosh said from
Ranchi’s Kokar locality.
To resolve logistics issues, the
Union government has formed a
committee under the ministry of
home affairs.
It comprises secretaries to
various ministries, apart from
railway board chairman. It is
tasked with ensuring supply of
essential and medical goods.
On the ground, however, bro-
ken chains of command are test-
ing the limits of ensuring a billion
people’s needs are met. The coun-
try went into a lockdown with
less than four hours of notice.
Police crackdown on agricul-
tural activities have upended
harvesting and transportation of
n The SDMC used drones to spray disinfectant in areas surrounding
the Nizamuddin markaz on Thursday.
tify those who have worked in hot
spots. Such employees and their
families should immediately be
screened for the coronavirus,”
Gehlot said.
A senior SDMC official said the
civic body was “concerned”
about its workers and all neces-
sary steps would be taken.
“So far, no symptoms of Cov-
id-19 have been observed in sani-
tation workers. We will screen
these workers in two or three
days,” the official said.
n Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa.
Corporation has quarantined 84
people, who had attended the
religious gathering where
Khalsa performed in the city on
March 19.
An official said the 84 include
14 members of a family.
The religious gathering was
crops. Md Moinuddin, a vegeta-
ble wholesaler in Assam’s Kam-
rup district, said he has not been
able to hire trucks to get stocks
into Assam city after police seized
trucks plying without permits.
Cultivators are piling perisha-
bles in cold chains, as buyers
aren’t purchasing in large quan-
tities, unsure of transport.
Truckers have sought exten-
sion of the due date for payment of
road tax and GST to September
30.
“On the 8th day of the country-
wide lockdown, the government
is making efforts to restore sup-
ply chains. There is no clear pol-
icy on whether to run vehicles or
not, especially those with non-es-
sential goods,” Singh said.
Three major wholesale hubs
run by state-regulated agricul-
ture produce market committees
— Lasalgaon in Maharashtra,
Mullana near Haryana’s Ambala
and Gollapally in Telangana’s
Karimnagar — said they were
BIPLOV BHUYAN/HT PHOTO
But sanitation workers said
they are not being provided
proper protective gear.
“In the name of protective
gear, employees have been given
substandard masks and gloves.
Many are made to work even
without these. I have convened
several meetings with the
authorities of the three munici-
palities but to no avail,” he said.
Lokesh Kumar, a sanitation
employee working in Dilshad
Garden, under the East Delhi
THE CHANDIGARH CIVIC
BODY HAS QUARANTINED
84 PEOPLE, WHO HAD
ATTENDED A RELIGIOUS
GATHERING WHERE
BHAI NIRMAL SINGH
KHALSA HAD
PERFORMED IN THE
CITY ON MARCH 19
held at a house in Chandigarh’s
Sector 27. After Amritsar health
authorities alerted their Chan-
digarh counterparts about
Khalsa’s condition, tracing of
his contacts was started in
Chandigarh.
A Sector 27 resident said the
RAJ K RAJ/HT PHOTO
operating with 30-40% less staff.
In this vacuum, Indian Rail-
ways has stepped up.
A railway ministry official said
issues at many terminal points,
loading and unloading opera-
tions were being resolved now.
There are issues of shortage of
labour, he said. As many as
1,43,458 wagons of essential goods
were loaded over the past three
days. Special focus is being given
to essential commodities like
foodgrains, sugar, fruits & vege-
tables, petroleum products and
fertilisers.
Scheduled passenger flights
have been pressed into service to
supply cargo nationwide. Over
the past few days, 85 flights have
carried 76 tonnes. All passenger
flights are grounded till April 14.
“We are operating flights
despite logistical challenges in
transportation of cargo to and
from airports and in movement of
aviation personnel,” a ministry of
civil aviation official said.
Municipal Corporation (EDMC),
said authorities have not yet pro-
vided him with PPE kits.
“We have been given low qual-
ity masks and gloves. These
masks become useless within two
hours of work, so it is like work-
ing without any protection,”
Kumar said.
An EDMC spokesperson said
that as per standard guidelines,
tests for Covid-19 are done only a
person displays symptoms.
“None of our sanitation staff has
shown symptoms, so till now
there is no need to conduct Cov-
id-19 tests,” he said.
The official also claimed PPE
kits were meant primarily for
doctors, paramedic staff other
workers engaged in hospitals
treating Covid- 19.
The SDMC on Thursday
started a drive to sanitise areas
neighbouring the markaz. It used
drones to spray disinfectants in
Nizamuddin East, Nizamuddin
Basti and surrounding areas.
The drones conducted 18
rounds, of 20 minutes each, of dis-
infecting operations, an official
said.
gathering was held for a pre-
wedding ceremony.
“The next day there was a
ladies Sangeet [music cere-
mony] and then the wedding.
During three-four days, lots of
functions were held and many
people visited the house and
roads were blocked with vehi-
cles,” said another neighbour.
A third neighbour said after
reading the news about Khalsa’s
death, she called police to
inform them about the event in
Sector 27.
“One of the former judicial
officers residing in the neigh-
bourhood had advised them to
postpone the wedding, but as
their children had come from
abroad, they could not change
the plan at the last moment,”
said the neighbour.
hindustantimes
In lockdown, farmers
despair about future
Smriti Kak Ramachandran, Neeraj
Mohan, Tanmay Chatterjee and
Venkatesha Babu
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI/KARNAL/KOLKATA/BENGA-
LURU: Vegetable farmer Jagdish
Kumar cultivates cabbage and
cauliflower on his farm in Theog,
in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla
district . The crop is ready for har-
vest, but Kumar has a prob-
lem:there are no farm workers
around in the village.
“Even if I myself harvest the
produce, there is no way I can
send it to the market. It will rot in
fields, I have no option,” he said.
In neighbouring Punjab’s Lud-
hiana, Sukhwinder Singh, who
grows cauliflower and peas, is
confronting the same problem.
“We have a large amount of vege-
tables waiting to be moved out of
our fields. We need to remove
them to prepare the fields for the
upcoming kharif season but there
is no labour,” Singh said.
Down south, in Karnataka’s
Koppal, grape farmer Sharana-
basappa Hiregoudar is heart-
broken— he is letting a bountiful
harvest of seedless grapes on his
seven-acre plot rot on the vines.
In previous years, he has sold
them at ~23-25 a kg; this year, he
was offered ~2-3.
The plight of Kumar, Singh
and Hiregudar illustrates a larger
problem confronting India — a
disruption of the agricultural
supply chain — in the aftermath
of the nationwide, three-week
lockdown that took effect on
March 25 as part of an attempt to
contain the spread of Covid-19.
The lockdown prompted an
exodus of migrant workers back
home to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Odisha and West Bengal from the
farming states of Punjab, Hary-
ana and Himachal Pradesh,
depriving farmers of labour to
harvest their crops. Transport
too has been disrupted because of
strict enforcement of the lock-
down by the police although
essential services are exempt
from the restrictions.
In many states such as Karna-
taka, Assam and West Bengal,
there have been reports of farm-
ers dumping their vegetables and
milk because of the absence of
buyers and a dip in the prices of
fruits and vegetables.
In Haryana’s Yamunanagar
district, farmer Sushil Kumar of
Radaur village sold cauliflower
for ~10 per kg on Wednesday com-
pared to ~24-27 per kg before the
lockdown came into effect.
Minister of state for animal
husbandry, dairying and fisher-
ies Sanjeev Kumar Balyan
admitted to problems in these
sectors, adding that the Centre
has already issued an advisory
allowing the transportation of all
farm and dairy products.
“We have also asked coopera-
tives to purchase more milk from
farmers. Already, the collection
has increased by 8% since the
Cops on boats at
Nepal border to
stop infiltration
Mohan Rajput
n letters@hindustantimes.com
RUDRAPUR: Uttarakhand govern-
ment has deployed jal police
along the Indo-Nepal border on
the Sharda river after reports of
people crossing the river ille-
gally amid a 21-day nationwide
lockdown and sealing of inter-
national borders to curb the
spread of Covid-19.
Uttarakhand and Nepal share
275 km on the international
boundary, along which the
Sharda river flows.
According to police, Tanak-
pur, Banbasa, Jhulaghat, Dhar-
chula, Baluakot and Jauljibe
are the points which provide the
facility to cross the border.
Hwever, after the borders
were sealed due to the coronavi-
rus disease outbreak, the num-
ber of people trying to cross the
border by swimming through
the river has increased, an offi-
cial said.
Teams of Champawat Jal
police are patrolling over
Sharda river to monitor and
stop illegal crossing the river by
the people, the official added.
“Jal police personnel are con-
ducting patrolling over Sharda
river to watch or to stop people
of both sides for crossing the
river in view of coronavirus epi-
demic. People of both sides cross
the border by swimming in
remote areas,” said Bipin Pant,
circle officer (CO) Tanakpur
Chamapawat.
There are around 1000 Nepa-
lese citizens who are stuck in
the Dharchula area, awaiting
opening of border so that they
can go to their native places in
Nepal.
CORONAVIRUS: NATION
n People carry vegetables on a cycle rickshaw at Preet Vihar in New
Delhi on Thursday.
lockdown started,” he said.
States have been asked to oper-
ate wholesale markets to ensure
supplies across India even as
Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and
UP have deferred procurement of
winter crops.
In UP, farmers have not been
able to sell their produce since
March 22, the day of the Janata
Curfew, said two of them. Similar
reports came from Madhya Pra-
desh, Karnataka and Rajasthan.
A food industry representa-
tive, who requested anonymity,
said factories engaged in process-
ing and producing packaged
foods were running at half their
capacity because of a shortfall in
the supplies of raw materials. He
said input provisions were run-
ning at a fifth of the normal sup-
plies. A dip in supplies from farm-
ers has disrupted the entire chain
from markets to wholesale buy-
ers to factories, this person said.
According to the agriculture
ministry’s website, agmark-
net.gov.in, which monitors daily
arrivals and sales at various
wholesale markets, the arrivals
after the lockdown have dipped
by up to 70%. For instance, at the
Azadpur market in New Delhi,
132,000 tonnes of cabbage arrived
on March 1; this fell to 19,500 ton-
nes on March 31.
In states with poorer road con-
nectivity such as West Bengal,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha,
the arrival of several vegetables
was in single digits in tonnes, a
fall of 80% since March 1.
DAIRIES
While vegetable farmers are
struggling to sell their produce,
milk producers in states that do
not have a strong cooperative
network of collection centres and
milk processing units, such as the
one that exists in Gujarat, are in
dire straits.
Ajit Singh, a dairy owner in
UP’s Gosaiganj, said the demand
for milk has declined because
sweet shops were closed. “I use to
sell milk for ~50 per litre but now
I am not getting even ~25-30 per
litre. I am left with no option but
n Municipal workers spray disinfectant on the building of Rajiv
Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Wednesday.
All 75 new TN cases
linked to Jamaat
Sowmiya Ashok
n letters@hindustantimes.com
CHENNAI:Tamil Nadu on Thursday
reported 75 fresh cases of Cov-
id-19 of which 74 had attended the
Tablighi Jamaat religious confer-
ence held in Delhi in March. The
75th person who is from Chennai
contracted the virus from coming
in contact with someone from the
group, state officials said.
The state now has 309 positive
Covid-19 cases, of which 264 are
related to the religious confer-
ence, which is now being treated
as the largest cluster in the coun-
try.
Including Thursday’s fresh
cases, the virus has now spread
across 20 districts in Tamil Nadu.
“There are 75 fresh cases in
Tamil Nadu today of which 74
were people who took part in this
Delhi Conference. One person
had contact with someone who
has travel history to Delhi,”
health secretary Dr Beela Rajesh
said.
Nearly 1500 persons from
Tamil Nadu are believed to have
05
SUSHIL KUMAR/HT PHOTO
to throw unsold milk,” he said.
In Karnataka, unverified vid-
eos emerged of people purport-
edly dumping 1,500 litres of milk
into a drain and a river in Belgavi.
Similar videos were put up on
social media from West Bengal,
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Sixty per cent of the milk pro-
duced in Bengal every day is used
by confectioners, but with eater-
ies shut, most of the milk is going
waste. “One of the main reasons
behind this crisis is that retail
outlets are either closed because
of the lockdown or operating only
for limited hours,” said Bhaskar
Nandy, managing director of
Bhagirathi Milk Cooperative
Society in West Bengal’s Mur-
shidabad district.
Ranjit Singh, procurement
manager at the Haryana Dairy
Development Cooperative Feder-
ation (HDDCF), known as VITA,
said, “There is no demand; we are
able to sell only 5,000 litres per
day against 20,000 litres before
the lockdown. Even we don’t
have enough containers to keep
the remaining 95,000 litres of milk
we procure daily as there is no
demand for milk products.”
POULTRY
Sandeep Punia, a farmer in
Ambala’s Nagla village, said
poultry farmers were selling
broiler chicken at ₹20 per kg
whereas the rearing cost is ₹80
and were also losing money on
the sale of eggs.
Atul Sonkar, president of the
Chandigarh Meat Market Wel-
fare Association, said the it was
the “worst of times” for the busi-
ness and if the pandemic contin-
ues to rage, the industry would be
dead. In some places, poultry
owners have started home deliv-
ery of chicken and eggs.
Balyan said the government
was taking stock of the situation
on a daily basis.
“We have also issued an advi-
sory to the states to ensure that
meat and poultry items are
included in the list of essential
commodities,” he said.
(With inputs from state bureaus)
ANI
attended the religious conference
held in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin.
Until Wednesday, the state had
traced 1103 persons.
“All 1103 people have been
tested but some of the results are
under process. Of these 264 have
tested positive,” she said. “All
have been tested but results are
under process.”
Rajesh said that the state was
increasing the testing facilities
and six more labs will be added
soon. Each lab can carry out 100
tests every day.
Tamil Nadu was using the
lockdown time to ramp up testing
facilities and focus on infrastruc-
ture and equipment.
“We have enough masks, Per-
sonal Protective Equipment kits,
enough to give all nurses who are
working in isolation wards. We
have made it mandatory for all
who have to see patients in isola-
tion wards. Daily there is a
20-minute ‘mock drill’ on how to
put on the PPE and remove it,
how to interact with the patients,
and how to maintain the dis-
tance,” she said.
06 hindustantimes
sp t g t
htspotlight
Govt may borrow ₹40K crore as
DISPATCH 16
cash-strapped states seek funds
Covid-19: What
you need to
know today
R Sukumar
s Delhi prepared?
I
That isn’t a question designed to be
alarmist. On Thursday, the number of Cov-
id-19 cases in Delhi rose to 293, driven
upward by more people who attended the
gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat at its HQ
testing positive. That trend is likely to con-
tinue — in terms of both an increase in
cases, and more from the Jamaat gathering
testing positive. Hundreds evacuated
from the Markaz Nizamuddin are in
hospitals in Delhi; around 1,800
LESSONS are in quarantine. Which is why
this is an opportune time to ask
FROM NY the question.
Is Delhi prepared?
New York City clearly wasn’t pre- New York City clearly
pared to handle the contagion. As wasn’t. On Thursday, the
Delhi’s Nizamuddin becomes a hot number of Covid-19 fatalities in
spot, officials in India would do well the city touched 1,374. On
to study what NYC got right and Wednesday, the New York
what it didn’t Times listed the wishlist, in terms
of critical medical equipment, of the
city’s mayor Bill de Blaiso: 3.3 million
N95 masks, 2.1 million surgical masks,
100,000 isolation gowns, 400 ventilators. All
these are incremental numbers — require-
ments additional to what the city currently
has.
Administrators and health care profes-
sionals shaping India’s response to the pan-
demic would do well to study what is hap-
pening in New York City — what it got right
and, more importantly, what it didn’t.
It emerges that the big issue in Delhi
right now is the shortage of PPE (personal
protective equipment). This is a problem in
other cities and states, and, indeed, in many
parts of the world. Last week, the Indian
government said it has placed orders with
local and global manufacturers for around
six million units of PPEs. Work on these to
be proceeding apace, despite the hurdles
posed by the lockdowns.
Delhi government officials and doctors
also say the city-state has enough isolation
wards, ICUs, even ventilators, but many of
these assessments are based on conserva-
SERIOUS
tive estimates of the number of daily cases,
in some cases, as low as 100. On April 1, New
York City reported 3,144 new cases in a day.
CONCERNS That’s the kind of number for which Delhi
With at least two positive should be ready — and then heave a sigh of
cases linked to Asia’s
largest slum, Dharavi, in
Mumbai, there are serious
relief and celebrate when the numbers stay
low.
It’s also the kind of number for which
concerns over the
Mumbai should be ready. On Wednesday, a
infection raging through
the area, which has a 56-year-old man in Dharavi, Asia’s largest
slum, in Mumbai, died of Covid-19. On
population density of
Thursday, another person who worked in
66,000 per square km
Dharavi tested positive. The prospect of the
infection raging through the shanty town
with a population density of 66,000 per
square km is the stuff of which nightmares
are made.
Parts of Mumbai are already being
treated as hot spots where clusters of
infected people are found. There are around
13 such across India. The area around
Markaz Nizamuddin is another cluster —
where door-to-door surveys of people
within a 3km and a 5km radius of the epicen-
fiscal tre (in this case, the six-storey HQ) were
undertaken on Thursday.
Amidst all these local developments, US
unemployment numbers soared to 6.6 mil-
lion from 3.3 million last week — a statistic
that should worry India because it shows
the extent of economic havoc that can be
FISCAL wreaked by the pandemic.
Around the world, companies are being
PACKAGE forced to lay off people to cope — in India,
Amid the crisis, US apart from the few companies providing
unemployment numbers essential products and services that con-
soared to 6.6 million from
tinue to function through a 21-day lock-
3.3 million a week before ,
down, every other business is idle, incur-
signalling the havoc that
can be caused by the ring costs with no revenue. The US has
pandemic. With this in already announced a fiscal package
mind, India – following in amounting to roughly 10% of its GDP, with
the footsteps of the US some of this amount going to businesses.
and France -- should also France has said it will pay companies to not
think of a fiscal package retrench people. India, too, needs to think in
for businesses terms of a fiscal package for businesses.
Even with one, the recovery will be slow
and painful. Without one...
htweather
ALMANAC TEMPERATURE
Today is
3rd April 2020 IN FOUR METROS
l 8 Shaban 1441
FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY l Chaitra, Shukla
Mainly clear sky Mainly clear sky Mainly clear sky Paksha, 10
l Samvat 2077
Sunset: Friday at
06:53 p.m.
Sunrise: Saturday
at 06:30 a.m.
33°c I 24°c 33°c I 24°c 33°c I 24°c
Moonrise: Saturday
at 03:08 p.m.
• • Moonset: Sunday
at 04:22 a.m.
RELIEF MEASURES Move aimed at compensating states for their revenue shortfall under GST regime, say officials
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The government may
borrow about ₹40,000 crore to
compensate cash-strapped states
for their revenue shortfall under
the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
regime, and push its departments
and public sector firms to clear
their vendors’ dues , to rescue
them from an acute liquidity
crunch caused by the 21-day coro-
navirus lockdown, three officials
familiar with the matter said.
Apart from states, government
departments also owe money to
firms across sectors for products
bought, services rendered, or
such things as subsidies.
In a meeting with the Prime
Minister Narendra Modi through
video conference on Thursday,
several state chief ministers
demanded that the Centre pay
their GST compensation, imme-
diately release the wages of work-
ers enrolled under the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employ-
ment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) and sought help in
Coronavirus relief efforts. The
government is considering their
proposals, the three officials said.
The cabinet secretariat and the
department of expenditure are
continuously monitoring the sit-
uation so that the states do not
face a funding crunch in fighting
the coronavirus pandemic and
companies, particularly micro,
small and medium enterprise
(MSME), receive their dues in
time to tide over the crisis, the
officials said on condition of ano-
nymity.
Several states have cited a
funding crunch and announced
salary cuts for their employees
for March. Industry, particularly
the MSME sector, has asked for
the speedy release of outstanding
payments by government agen-
cies. “The expenditure secretary
has told all ministries and CPSEs
(central public sector enter-
prises) not to sit on vendors’
money and clear their dues expe-
ditiously,” one of the officials
familiar with the matter said.
An official in the West Bengal
government said the Centre must
pay the entire compensation
amount due to the states at this
crucial juncture to meet their
Covid-19 expenses. Punjab has
asked for the release of ₹6,752.83
Tracking to testing: Control rooms at
forefront of efforts to curb virus spread
HT Correpondents
letters@hindustantimes.com
n
New Delhi: With more than 100
positive Covid-19 cases detected
in at least nine states around the
country -- apart from Delhi --
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu and Kerala, among
others, have set up control
rooms to act as nodal centres to
track the spread of the virus by
processing real-time data from
the districts, coordinating door-
to-door surveillance, and testing
people. Here is a look at what
how these control rooms func-
tion.
UTTAR PRADESH
A 1,600 sq feet hall on the fourth
floor of the health directorate
office in Lucknow has about 20
people sitting before computer
screens processing data, making
calls, and coordinating with
health officials in 75 districts.
“We are connected to the state
helpline (18001805145) to get
inputs from across the state. We
are also in touch with officials to
pass on necessary inputs to dis-
tricts,” said a staff member,
requesting anonymity.
The control room has data of
nearly 60,000 people with names,
cell numbers and addresses.
“The number of outbound
calls had gone up to 2,000 a day
when migrant workers were
entering the state last week,” a
control room official said. UP
has earmarked 246 hospitals to
treat Covid-19 patients.
TELANGANA
Control rooms have been set up
at the state secretariat in Hyder-
abad, the Greater Hyderabad
Municipal Corporation office,
and at all three major police com-
missionerates in Hyderabad,
Cyberabad and Rachakonda.
Delhi Apart from these, each district
32°c I 18°c
Mumbai
has its own control rooms to
monitor Covid-19 cases and to
33°c I 24°c enforce the national lockdown.
Kolkata The statewide control rooms
are monitored by two IAS offi-
37°c I 26°c
Chennai cers, Rahul Bojja and Anil
36°c I 25°c Kumar; while the state ministers
of information technology,
MAHARASHTRA
n ~16,000 cr pending
GST compensation to
be released
n Permission to procure
WEST BENGAL
n ~25,000
n ~36,000 cr under different accounts
and manufacture PPE
kit and N-95 masks
n Approval to start
antibody testing on a
n Immediate release of GST compensa-
n Protective suits for medical staff
mass scale
ANDHRA PRADESH
n Immediate supply of
medical and safety
equipment
n Release of all pending
funds
n Raising fiscal deficit limit
for the next financial year
ODISHA
n Unemployment allowance
for registered MGNREGA
workers
n Funds to buy protective
equipment for medical
staff
crore in GST arrears immedi-
ately; the payment has been
pending since October , 2019.
A recent report on Covid-19
prepared by the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce
and Industry (Ficci) also asked
the Centre to provide liquidity to
states by increasing the overdraft
facility available to them from the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and
pay pending GST compensation
immediately.
According to the Union gov-
ernment officials mentioned
above, the total compensation
payout to the states in 2019-20 is
expected to be over ₹1.20 lakh
crore while total collection from
GST compensation cess was less
than ₹80,000 crore. “The govern-
ment will put up a proposal to the
GST Council to borrow from the
market to pay compensation to
states,” the second official said.
The GST law assures the states
a 14% increase in their revenue
for five years and the Centre is
committed to meeting any short-
fall in revenue through the cess
levied on luxury goods and sin
products such as liquor and other
tobacco products.
n A man stands inside a decontamination tunnel outside a hospital in
Srinagar on Thursday.
health, animal husbandry and
home coordinate regularly with
the chief minister’s office.
The district control room
interacts with the police and
medical teams tracking Covid-19
suspects through door-to-door
surveillance. An application,
TSCop, helps geotag the houses
of foreign returnees .
TAMIL NADU
The state has a 200-person strong
24x7 control room run out of the
Directorate of Public Health
office in Chennai, in addition to
specific control rooms in each
district. “We have a portal (stop-
corona.tn.gov.in) on which we
put out information,” a senior
official from the National Health
Mission - Tamil Nadu said.
Districts provide three
updates to the state control room
every day: one on medical sup-
plies, and two daily reports on
the number of people quaran-
tined; their health status, how
many samples have been tested,
and how many have tested posi-
tive. Responsibilities have been
divided at the state control room:
collecting data on home quaran-
tines; an integrated disease sur-
veillance portal desk where the
acute respiratory infection
details are entered; and a dedi-
cated call centre for the public.
KERALA
One-hundred and twenty offi-
cials work in the central control
pandemic
crore grant to fight the
that had not been released earlier
tion and cess amount
WHAT
STATES
WANT FROM
CENTRE
BIHAR
n Raising
fiscal deficit limit to
4% from existing 3%
n A million N-95 masks, half a
million PPE kits and 100
ventilators
n Availability of medicines,
medical equipment
Most of the states asked the
Centre to relax their borrowing
limits,and demanded an addi-
tional grant in the aftermath of
Covid-19 and advance wage pay-
ments to MGNREGS workers.
Bihar chief minister Nitish
Kumar requested the Union gov-
ernment to consider raising the
fiscal deficit limit for the state to
tide over the emergency. A simi-
lar demand also came from the
Punjab and Rajasthan govern-
ments. The states’ current fiscal
deficit limit stands at 3 % of Gross
State Domestic Product (GSDP).
West Bengal has demanded a
grant of ₹25,000 crore to fight the
pandemic, besides face masks,
gloves, sanitizers to fight the
virus and protective suits for
medical staff. It also demanded
that the Centre release ₹36,000
crore under different accounts
that had not been released ear-
lier. “...to uphold the spirit of
cooperative federalism, we need
this minimum help from the cen-
tral government to cope with the
unprecedented impasse at this
hour to fight against the Covid-19
pandemic,” chief minister
Mamata Banerjee wrote to the
WASEEM ANDRABI /HT
room in three shifts. Kerala’s toll
free helpline (1056) is monitored
from this facility.
The network of people on the
ground who survey their areas
submit reports to district medi-
cal officers every day. These are
fed to the district control room,
which sends it to the state con-
trol room, where at least four
people have been assigned to
each district.
Apart from giving instruc-
tions to the ground staff, these
control rooms track people who
have returned from overseas
and made self-declarations at
airports and police stations.
Those under quarantine use a
geo-tracking application that
maps their movements if they
step out of their homes. Informa-
tion about them is tracked by
local body workers and sent to
the control rooms.
Kerala has six Covid-only hos-
pitals and each of the 14 districts
have Covid care homes.
KARNATAKA
The central control room has at
least 120 people from various
government departments tasked
to update district-wise numbers,
track developments, field calls,
and coordinate efforts across the
states.
Bangalore-based Pro-digital
labs helped the government
setup the control room. While
initially the tracking was
through excel sheets, now a spe-
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03, 2 02 0
CORONAVIRUS: NATION
RAJASTHAN
n ~1
n
lakh-crore grant
Cancellation of interest
payment to RBI and
other central financial
institutions
n Allowing the state to
take loans of up to 2%
of its GDP
CHHATTISGARH
n Deposit of ~750 per month for
next three months in every Jan
Dhan account
n Special relief package,
including advance payment
and unemployment allowance,
for MGNREGA workers
PUNJAB
n Release of ~6752.83 crore
towards the state’s arrears of
GST compensation
n 15-day unemployment
allowance per month for three
months on 90:10 Centre-state
sharing pattern
PM on Wednesday. She did not
take part in the video conference
with PM Modi on Thursday.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav
Thackeray sought the release of
GST compensation worth ₹16,000
crore. The state government also
sought help with procurement
and manufacturing of personal
protective equipment (PPE) kits
and N-95 masks, a government
statement said.
Punjab also demanded pay-
ment of 15 days’ unemployment
allowance per month for three
months to mitigate rural distress
on account of the national lock-
down, suggesting a 90:10 centre-
state sharing for these. It asked
for a special insurance package
for frontline workers such as the
police and sanitary workers.
Rajasthan demanded ₹1 lakh
crore from the Centre to fight
Covid-19. In a statement after the
video conference with the PM,
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok
Gehlot said he had sought a relief
package and asked for an
enhancement of the state’s bor-
rowing limit.
Gehlot requested an inter-
state supply chain protocol for
cialised app called “Quarantine
Watch” has been built in-house
by the government.
All those under home quaran-
tine are required to upload
hourly photos/selfies. This app
automatically sends location
data, which is checked to ensure
that those being tracked are
actually at the location they
claim to be. Locally, information
at district level is fed by Asha
workers, Anganwadi workers
and village volunteers. The data
is centrally collated at the war
room to monitor progress and
track patients.
Several government and pri-
vate hospitals have been set
aside for Covid-19 patients.
MAHARASHTRA
The state has set up a dedicated
control room in state secretariat,
with 14 senior bureaucrats han-
dling different responsibilities.
For instance, Manoj Saunik,
additional chief secretary,
finance, has been tasked with
ensuring that all government
departments receive the grants
allotted to them, while Rajiv
Jalota, additional chief secre-
tary, has been directed to formu-
late measures to implement all
policy decisions taken by differ-
ent departments.
The state has earmarked 30
government hospitals and 1,000
private hospitals for free treat-
ment of Covid-19 patients.
ANDHRA PRADESH
A control centre at Vijayawada
operates round-the-clock with
staff from 21 government depart-
ments working in shifts. It fields
about 1,000 calls every day on a
toll free number (104) for Cov-
id-19 related questions and con-
cerns.
A state-level task force has
been set under CM’s office, while
each district has separate con-
trol centres. Village and ward
volunteers, secretariat employ-
ees, auxiliary nurse midwives
(ANMs) and Asha workers sur-
vey houses and record details of
people who have come from
abroad or other states and check
for symptoms.
essential items, medicines and
medical equipment, advance pay-
ment of wages to registered and
active MNREGS workers and
demanded cancellation of pay-
ment of interest to the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) and other cen-
tral financial institutions. Some
CMs including Thackeray also
demanded immediate distribu-
tion of Coronavirus safety equip-
ment and testing kits.
Odisha chief minister Naveen
Patnaik did not present any wish-
list in the video conference with
PM Modi, but he wrote to him ear-
lier this week demanding unem-
ployment allowance to 3.61 mil-
lion MGNREGS workers in the
state for the lockdown period of 21
days. He requested the Centre to
allow the state to utilise ₹380.39
crore from the MNREGS fund to
provide the unemployment
allowance for 21 days.
Chhattisgarh chief minister
Bhupesh Baghel in a letter to PM
Modi on Wednesday demanded
the allocation of a special relief
package for labourers under
MGNREGS. He also requested a
support of ₹750 per month to all
Jan-Dhan account holders for the
next three months. Under a relief
package announced last week,
the government will pay ₹500 a
month for three months to
women who hold Jan Dhan
accounts.
The Union government has
also received industry requests to
release payments that are due to
private sector units.
According to an industry esti-
mate, the outstanding payments
to companies run into lakhs of
crores. The Associated Cham-
bers of Commerce and Industry
of India (Assocham) estimated
payments owed by state distribu-
tion companies to power genera-
tion units at ₹90,000 crore. In the
delayed payments monitoring
portal MSME Samadhaan, only
14% of the ₹3,774.36 crore (against
11,619 claims) filed by MSMEs
have been settled so far, it said.
Assocham president Niranjan
Hiranandani said the payment
delays had created a massive
liquidity crunch in two ways:
“One, government is taking over
all the cheap borrowing in the
system (though inadequate), and
two, they do not release cash flow
to vendors – so the liquidity crisis
has exacerbated. ”
Will decide on int’l
flights after curbs
end: Minister Puri
Anisha Dutta
anisha.datta@hindustantimes.com
n
NEWDELHI: The civil aviation min-
istry is clear that the 21-day
nationwide lockdown (due to the
Covid-19 pandemic) will cease in
mid-April, after which the
resumption of international
flights will be considered on a
case-by-case basis, Union civil
aviation minister Hardeep Puri
said on Thursday.
The lockdown suspending
railways, road and air transport
was announced by the Union
government on March 25 for
three weeks till March 21. All
domestic and international
flights stand suspended till then.
“The government has to exam-
ine this, both the health ministry
and the home ministry will have
to take a holistic view on the fact
that when conditions become
safe in other countries, we can
think of opening the interna-
tional flights,” ministry of civil
aviation secretary Pradeep
Kharola said.
Puri also said incoming flights
to bring Indians back home will
have to remain suspended for
now. “We have a lockdown for
the next 15 days, and any incom-
ing flights to bring Indians back
home will have to await the lift-
ing of the lockdown,” Puri said.
“But in so far as the lockdown is
concerned, the lockdown is till
April 15, and we can start consid-
ering the resumption of (interna-
tional) flights, on a case by case
basis, dependent on where they
are coming from after that.”
He said airlines can begin
advance bookings as per their
own discretion. “...we are pro-
ceeding as a ministry on the
basis and on the understanding
that the lockdown is till mid-
April.”
PURI SAID INCOMING
FLIGHTS TO BRING
INDIANS BACK HOME
WILL HAVE TO REMAIN
SUSPENDED FOR NOW
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03 , 2 02 0
spotlight
htspotlight
Front-line health
staff battle attacks
PANDEMIC FEAR Docs, police assaulted while making inquiries
Venkatesha Babu and Ranjan
n letters@hindustantimes.com
BENGALURU/BHOPAL:For five years,
Krishnaveni has been going door-
to-door in north Bengaluru’s
cramped Sadiq Palya area, col-
lecting information, spreading
awareness about Malaria and
Cholera, and helping the low
income neighbourhood access
community health care.
An Accredited Social Health
Activist or Asha worker in her
forties, Krishnaveni was well
known to many local residents
but her painstakingly developed
ties to the local community came
undone on Wednesday evening
when she and her colleagues
were assaulted by a group of
young men. The reason: They
were going to every home, asking
if something was coughing or had
fever – some of the most-common
symptoms of Covid-19.
“They heckled us, snatched
our belongings and we couldn’t
call anybody. We are here for
their health and look how they
treat us,” she fumed, after city
police rescued the group of health
workers. Taken aback, the Asha
workers have now vowed to
never go back to the neighbour-
hood without police protection.
They aren’t the only one.
Across India, front-line health
workers and doctors are battling
attacks by local residents, com-
plicating the already uphill battle
against the coronavirus disease
(Covid-19) that has infected at
least 2,500 people. The central and
state governments have praised
health workers and appealed to
the citizenry to help them, but to
little effect.“The doctors are
doing humantarian work under
difficult circumstances and they
need the state’s support. Without
them, we will not be able to con-
tain Covid-19,” said KK Aggar-
wal, head of medical associations
of Asia and Oceania, calling for
enhanced security.
Many of the attacks have been
reported while health workers
are out collecting samples or
spreading awareness. Experts
blame panic, misinformation and
Fire dept sanitises
Tablighi Jamaat
HQ in Nizamuddin,
adjoining areas
Anvit Srivastava
n anvit.srivastava@htlive.com
NEWDELHI: Firefighters on Thurs-
day sprayed thousands of gallons
of disinfectant in south Delhi’s
Nizamuddin and adjoining areas,
which has emerged as the single-
largest source of the Covid-19
across India.
A six-storey building — the
Tablighi Jamaat headquarters —
has emerged as the biggest Cov-
id-19 hot spot in India so far, with
at least 182 people from there test-
ing positive for Covid-19 in the
Capital alone, and more than xx
in hospital for showing Covid-
like symptoms. More than 1,810
people who attended the congre-
gation have been placed in quar-
antine in the city.
Senior officers from the fire
department said Nizamuddin is
the first hot spot they were tasked
with sanitising and the exercise
will be carried out in other parts
of the city as well, if required.
Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire
Service (DFS), said on Thursday
that his team had sanitised the
building (markaz) in Nizamud-
din, the lanes surrounding the
building and other adjoining resi-
dential areas.
“We sprayed at least two fire
trucks full of disinfectants. One
fire tender usually carries 10,000
litres of water mixed with sodium
hypochlorite. On Thursday, we
sprayed at least 5,000 gallon of dis-
infectant,” he said.
Garg added that they sprayed
disinfectant on shutters of shut
shops, footpaths, walls, parked
vehicles and other buildings in
the vicinity.
On Wednesday, in a meeting
with the chief secretary and top
bureaucrats in Delhi, lieutenant
governor Anil Baijal had directed
that the fire department be used
in carrying out a disinfection
drive in Covid-19 hotspot clus-
ters, quarantine centres and vul-
nerable public places in the city.
Garg said that even though the
department is handling such a sit-
uation for the first time, they are
fully prepared. “We have four
dedicated teams, each having one
fire tender. If need be, more teams
will be pressed into action,” he
said.
n Residents of Tatt Patti Bakhal apologise to a team of doctors a day
after health workers were attacked by locals.
deliberately planned rumours as
having fuelled the assaults.
In Indore city’s Tatt Patti
Bakhal area on Wednesday, two
women doctors were surrounded
by a hostile mob while combing
the area for people with Covid-19.
A police official said the mob
started gathering when the doc-
tors asked an elderly local
woman, who was suspected to
have come in contact with a Cov-
id-19 patient, to accompany the
medical team to a hospital for
tests. Television visuals showed
the 100-strong mob chasing the
doctors and hurling stones at
them. “We have been visiting the
locality for the past three days for
the screening of residents. We
had information about a person
coming in contact with a Covid-19
patient…We were talking to the
person (the elderly woman)
when, all of a sudden, residents
got agitated and attacked us,”
said one of the doctors on condi-
tion of anonymity because of
safety concerns.
State police arrested seven
people on Thursday and Chhatri-
pura police station incharge
Karni Singh Shaktawat said the
accused were identified on the
basis of a video clip and they have
been booked for rioting, endan-
gering the lives of public ser-
vants, and disobeying govern-
ment orders. “At least three of the
accused arrested have criminal
record. A manhunt has been
launched for arrest of 15 other
n A health worker disinfects a Nizamuddin resident’s house. One of the occupants of the house recently returned from the UAE and tested
positive for Covid-19. Health workers on Thursday went from door-to-door in the area as part of sanitisation operations.
Most of city’s 293 Covid-19
cases now linked to Jamaat
Sweta Goswami
n sweta.goswami@htlive.com
NEWDELHI: At least 182 (62%) of the
total 293 coronavirus cases in
Delhi are linked to the Tablighi
Jamaat congregation that took
place in Nizamuddin in mid-
March, chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal said on Thursday, while
maintaining that the Capital is
still safe from a community
spread of the virus. Between
Wednesday and Thursday, Delhi
saw 67 new confirmed coronavi-
rus (Covid-19) cases, an increase
of 44%.
The chief minister, in a digital
media address, said the toll of
Covid-19 deaths in Delhi
increased from two to four
between Wednesday and Thurs-
day afternoon. The two new
deaths have also been traced to
the Nizamuddin Markaz. While
the total 293 positive cases
includes the four deaths, the
number also includes the eight
who have recovered and the one
PTI
accused,” he added.
The state government also
vowed strong action against the
assaulters. “I have directed police
to provide adequate security to
health workers and have asked
them to take strict action against
those who harass health work-
ers,” chief minister Shivraj Singh
Chouhan said.
But reports of similar attacks
kept pouring in from different
parts of the country.
In Bihar, police and medical
personnel were attacked by resi-
dents of Munger town when they
tried to collect samples. Stones
were hurled at the quick response
team (QRT), comprising police-
men and an ambulance.
In Hyderabad, relatives of a
49-year-old coronavirus patient
who died at a government hospi-
tal assaulted the doctor and the
staff on duty, alleging negligence.
Telangana director general of
police M Mahendar Reddy prom-
ised strong action against them.
In Maharashtra, a group of
local villagers assaulted a
56-year-old man in Solapur dis-
trict for informing a village offi-
cial about those who attended the
Tablighi Jamaat gathering in
Delhi.
In West Bengal, police clashed
with locals in the north 24 parga-
nas district after residents pre-
vented health workers from col-
lecting Covid-19 data.
(With inputs from HT Correspondents
in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Patna)
person who left the country.
Kejriwal also announced that
the one-time compensation
scheme of ₹5,000 for Delhi’s con-
struction workers will be
extended to cover those operating
public service vehicles such as
auto-rickshaws, taxis, e-rick-
shaws and so on.
“We currently have 208 active
coronavirus patients in various
hospitals, out of which one is still
on ventilator and five are on oxy-
gen. The remaining 202 are sta-
ble,” Kejriwal said.
He, however, gave separate
numbers on those evacuated
from the Nizamuddin Markaz. As
per his statement, out of the 2,346
people evacuated from the
Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in
Nizamuddin, 536 are in the hospi-
tal as they showed Covid-19
symptoms.
This means the total number of
people in Delhi hospitals is over
700 (208 active confirmed
cases+536 Markaz suspects).
The remaining 1,810 Markaz
Three suicides in
UP linked to Covid;
police, authorities
on high alert
S Raju, Utkarsha Tyagi &
Tariq Khan
n letters@hindustantimes.com
MEERUT/BAREILLY: A 35-year-old
vegetable vendor was found
hanging from a ceiling fan at a
quarantine centre in Uttar Pra-
desh’s Shamli on Thursday,
police said, adding that it is the
latest in a spate of suicides linked
to the coronavirus (Covid-19) out-
break in the state.
“A ward boy spotted his body
hanging from the ceiling fan and
chief medical officer Sanjay Bhat-
nagar informed the authorities
about the incident,” said Shamli’s
police superintendent Vineet
Jaiswal. He added the vendor’s
body has been sent for a post mor-
tem examination.
The vendor allegedly commit-
ted suicide even as the result of
his Covid-19 test was yet to come.
He had returned to his village
from Delhi on March 30 amid the
21-day lockdown imposed across
the country to check the spread of
the disease. He was quarantined
the next day as he was feeling
unwell.
Another 23-year-old migrant
worker allegedly committed sui-
cide in Bareilly after escaping
from a quarantine centre. Police
said he had earlier escaped from
the centre twice to meet his fam-
ily, but was brought back on both
occasions.
Sub-divisional magistrate Dig-
vijay Singh said the worker was
quarantined following the gov-
ernment’s directions. “We told
him that the isolation was a pre-
cautionary measure to ensure the
safety of his family members and
neighbours. The victim had fled
from the camp to meet his family.
When police reached the village
searching for him, he escaped and
was later found hanging.”
The 23-year-old was the young-
est among six siblings and was
quarantined at a school after
returning from Gurugram on
March 28. Police said his body has
been sent for autopsy and the dis-
trict administration will provide
compensation to his family.
A farmer suffering from fever
and cold committed suicide to
“save his village from being
infected” in Mathura on Tuesday.
cases have been put in seven gov-
ernment quarantine centres,
including the one in Tughlakabad
Railway colony, and the DDA
Flats in Bakkarwala, Narela and
Sultanpuri.
The chief minister reiterated
that the number of cases could
increase further as the govern-
ment will now begin testing even
those Markaz evacuees who are
under government quarantine.
“The patients who were
brought out from the Markaz are
serious. So, we will conduct tests
on each of the 2,346 persons evac-
uated from there. Some of them
could be corona positive as more
results arrive in a day or two. The
Delhi tally will then shoot up,”
Kejriwal said.
He said it is vital that everyone
follows the lockdown in the battle
against the virus.
To drive home his point, Kejri-
wal narrated a tale from Maha-
bharata in which Yudhishthir
tells Vidur that neither the
strongest nor the fastest would
BY APRIL 14
Must break virus chain: Gen Rawat
Shishir Gupta
n shishir.gupta@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI: India’s Chief of Defence
Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat
believes that India must break
the Covid-19 virus chain by April
14, through the lockdown and
social distancing, or be prepared
to weather the long-term conse-
quences of the pandemic.
“The military dictum is ‘pre-
pare or perish’, but in these times
of Covid we have refined it to ‘pre-
pare or suffer’. We must arrest
the spread of the virus through a
100% lockdown and social dis-
tancing by April 14. With the har-
vesting season around the cor-
ner, India cannot afford the num-
bers to go up. The military is
totally prepared to stand up to the
demands made by government
and the people,” Gen Rawat said
in a phone interview.
He said that the army, navy
and air force have moved into
action by dedicating 17-18 hospi-
tals to care for the infected, and
the total bed capacity in the forces
has been ramped up to 15,000 so
far. “We have hospitals ready
even in far-off places like Dima-
pur and Zakhama in Nagaland,
Ex-servicemen being Navy’s temperature
mobilised to aid fight guns to cost ₹1,000
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The defence ministry
on Thursday announced that it is
mobilising thousands of ex-ser-
vicemen (ESM) to assist state gov-
ernments and district adminis-
trations, wherever required, to
supplement the country’s efforts
to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
A ministry spokesperson said
the department of ex-servicemen
welfare has taken the initiative.
“Rajya Sainik Boards, Zila Sainik
Boards are playing a dynamic
role in identifying and mobilising
maximum ESM volunteers to
assist the state and district
administration in performing
public outreach activities such as
contact tracing, community sur-
veillance, management of quar-
antine facilities or any such tasks
assigned to them,” the ministry
said in a statement.
BIPLOV BHUYAN/HT
survive a forest fire and only
those animals that live in bur-
rows would see themselves
through the fire.
“This coronavirus is like a for-
est fire. Those who will stay home
will remain healthy,” Kejriwal
said.
Giving the latest figures of
those under quarantine, he said
2,943 people are in the govern-
ment’s quarantine facilities out of
which 1,133 are those who came
from abroad and 1,810 are the
Markaz cases. Besides, 21,307 are
under home/self quarantine.
The chief minister announced
that the Delhi government will
give a one-time compensation of
₹5,000 to those who have a public
service vehicle (PSV) registered
in Delhi.
The decision is likely to benefit
more than 2.5 lakh owners of
PSVs such as auto-rickshaws
(nearly 95,000), e-rickshaws
(around 85,000), taxis (nearly
75,000) and Gramin Sewas (over
6,100).
n Gen Bipin Rawat. PTI
even though the virus has not
spread in North-east India. We
have now two to three hospitals
ready in each zone to treat, man-
age and control the infection,” he
said.
The CDS said that the military
and its doctors were constantly in
touch with the Union health min-
istry, and he, as secretary of mili-
tary affairs, was attending meet-
ings with PK Mishra, principal
secretary to the Prime Minister,
and cabinet secretary Rajiv
Gauba.
Gen Rawat said that one ward
in each hospital, including places
such as Delhi where the base hos-
pital is normally crowded, will be
dedicated for Covid-19 patients.
More than 8,500 military doc-
tors and support staff are ready to
help the government, while 9,000
hospital beds have been prepared
to meet emergency require-
ments, the armed forces told the
government on Wednesday.
It said more than 4,200 ESM are
assisting in data collection from
villages in Punjab, Chhattisgarh
has employed veterans to help
the police, district collectors in
Andhra Pradesh have sought the
assistance of ESM volunteers and
retired medical personnel have
been kept on standby in Uttar
Pradesh.
The ministry also said the
National Cadet Corps (NCC) has
issued guidelines for temporary
employment of its cadets, aged
over 18, to augment relief efforts
and the functioning of various
agencies involved in battling the
pandemic under ‘Exercise NCC
Yogdan’.
At Delhi virus tracking hub,
markaz takes centre stage
Anonna Dutt
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: “No entry from this
gate due to Covid-19”. This note is
stuck on the door of the four-room
office in a Delhi government
building in Laxmi Nagar. The
door opens to the hub from where
all coronavirus disease (Cov-
id-19) cases in the city are tracked
and containment plans are
charted for the infected.
So far, Covid-19 has infected
293 people in Delhi, of which four
have died. An alarming 182 of
these cases, including two deaths,
are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat
headquarters at the Markaz
building in Nizamuddin Basti,
which has emerged as the biggest
coronavirus hot spot in the coun-
try over the past three days.
With staff from other offices
assisting the Covid-19 team as
numbers swell, there are around
20 people here at any given time.
They type out letters, official
orders, and guidelines to be sent
to health authorities; they call
nodal officers in Covid-19 hospi-
tals and quarantine facilities for
an update on the number of
vacant beds; and they make
arrangements for resources that
may be needed in the wake of a
possible rise in cases.
This is also where the lists of
positive cases and the people they
might have come in contact is
generated. These lists are then
sent to teams in all the 11 districts
of Delhi over e-mail and What-
sApp to arrange home visits and
calls or what is referred to as
“community surveillance”. If the
contacts have developed symp-
toms, they are transported to iso-
lation facilities in dedicated Cov-
id-19 ambulances for testing.
There are five computers in
the office, several files and lists
are arranged in piles, and geospa-
tial maps of all cases are pinned
up on walls to aid the officers.
The biggest task the authori-
ties have at the moment is finding
the people who might have left
the Nizamuddin Markaz building
before they started testing people
there on March 25.
“We did not get a list of all those
who had been in the Markaz but
left before the operations to
vacate the premises started.
However, our teams are going to
mosques around the city to check
hindustantimes
CORONAVIRUS: NATION
“We have created isolation and
quarantine facilities in Jais-
almer, Jodhpur and Jhansi to
accommodate 500 patients each
for treatment, to add to the capac-
ity of para-military facilities,
such as the one in Manesar,” he
said.
The single-point military
advisor to the government said
that since army, navy and air
force schools are closed due to the
lockdown, the premises can be
prepared as quarantine centres.
“We have three army public
schools, one navy school and one
air force public school in Delhi. It
has been decided that these
schools should be made ready to
be made quarantine centres, if
required. Even though the capac-
ities of these schools is about 1,500
patients each, only 200 will be put
up in each school due to proper
sanitation requirements. The
same model is being readied in
other parts of the country if there
is a requirement, or in a worst-
case scenario.”
Gen Rawat also said that the
defence ministry has made an
important change in the procure-
ment manual by allowing
advance payments to be made to
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Naval Dockyard,
Mumbai, has designed and devel-
oped a hand-held infrared tem-
perature sensor, and has the
capacity to scale up its produc-
tion, if agencies require the
instruments in large numbers to
screen people for fever amid the
Covid-19 outbreak, the navy said
in a statement on Thursday.
The navy said the instrument
has been developed due to the
scarcity of temperature sensors
in the market, where these are
being sold for a high cost. “The
instrument has been manufac-
tured for under ₹1,000 using
in-house resources. The cost is a
fraction of the price of the temper-
ature guns in the market,” the
statement said, adding that the
country’s medical infrastructure
was being tested by the surge in
We did not get a list of all those who had been in the
› Markaz but left before the operations to vacate the
premises started. However, our teams are going to
mosques around the city to check whether they have
anyone who had been at the Markaz living with them.
DELHI HEALTH DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL
whether they have anyone who
had been at the Markaz living
with them,” said an official from
Delhi’s health department who
asked not to be named.
The surveillance teams also
keep an eye on the amount of food
being prepared at these establish-
ment to see whether there may be
several people living in the same
compound. The district surveil-
lance officer takes down a
detailed travel history of anyone
infected, trying to figure out if the
source was someone they came in
contact with, or if they passed on
the infection to someone else. The
teams – comprising of staff from
dispensaries -- then visit houses
in the vicinity of the patients to
see if any of their contacts are
showing symptoms. All the con-
tacts are asked to self-quarantine
at home, and are placed on com-
munity surveillance.
Officials from the district mag-
istrate’s office have been roped in
for surveillance. “If we find that
the address provided is wrong or
the people no longer live there,
then we send the list of the people
to the district magistrate’s office.
They take the help of the police to
find these people and bring them
to quarantine facilities if need
be,” said a second official from
Delhi’s health department.
The officials also keep in touch
with their counterparts from
other states for tip-offs on Delhi
residents who might have come
in contact with positive patients
from other states. Alerts from
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir
and Andoman & Nicobar are
what prompted the state authori-
ties to first inspect the Markaz
building last week.
All the hospitals in the city
with isolation facilities for Cov-
id-19 patients also have a nodal
officer who sends updates to the
office in Laxmi Nagar as soon as
someone tests positive.
07
the manufacturers of medical
equipment such as ventilators,
masks and protection suits. “We
have already placed an order of
370 ventilators with the DRDO
{Defence Research and Develop-
ment Organisation} and are ask-
ing ordnance factories also for
manufacture of masks and PPE
{personal protective equipment}
suits. The power to make advance
payments has been given to
director generals of armed medi-
cal services, army commanders,
corps commanders and brigade
commanders so that there is no
shortage of any medical supplies,
both for troops and the public,” he
said.
The CDS also said that two
naval medical ships were ready to
help neighbouring countries in
case of a medical emergency. The
air force, which recently flew a
14-member team to the Maldives,
is prepared to ferry medical sup-
plies in and out of the country.
Although Gen Rawat is opti-
mistic that India can contain the
virus, he is “keeping his fingers
crossed” and hoping that “social
distancing, lockdown, and the
Indian summer heat” will end the
threat.
the count of Covid-19 cases.
The dockyard’s temperature
sensor has an accuracy to 0.02
degree Celsius, as per the state-
ment. The temperature guns will
be used for screening the 20,000
personnel who visit the dockyard
daily. “In view of Covid-19, initial
screening of these personnel
entering the dockyard was essen-
tial to prevent the spread of the
disease within the yard and the
navy’s Western Fleet. The most
preliminary method to screen a
probable patient is to check for
body temperature by non-contact
means,” the statement said.
As the country prepares to
handle a rising number of cases
and meet its need for ventilators,
which about 5% of the Covid-19
patients may require, the navy
has also pitched in with an inno-
vative ventilator design that can
cater to six patients simultane-
ously.
The Delhi government has
declared five of its hospitals -- Lok
Nayak, Deen Dayal Upadhyay,
Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Guru Teg
Bahadur, and Rajiv Gandhi
Super Speciality – as designated
Covid-19 centres. The five hospi-
tals, when fully converted to Cov-
id-19 centres, will have at least
5,850 beds for the patients.
There are also 75 isolation beds
in Safdarjung Hospital, at least 32
beds at Ram Manohar Lohia Hos-
pital, and over 100 beds in the AIl
India Institute of Medical Scien-
ces (AIIMS) Jhajjar campus for
Covid-19 cases. The AIIMS
trauma centre, with 250 beds and
100 ventilators, has been con-
verted into a Covid-19 facility.
Another key area the Laxmi
Nagar office tracks is testing. It
receives real-time updates from
government centres and, most
importantly, eight private labs
across the city authorised to test
patients. “Since these are
patients who are not under our
surveillance, our team is immedi-
ately sent to their home to take
history and start contact trac-
ing,” according to a third official.
Data is shared with the state
health minister and the chief
minister every day. The officials
from the hospitals, the integrated
disease surveillance programme
(IDSP), and other government
departments, also have regular
meetings with the ministers to
track the number of infections
and preparedness measures.
The ministers and health sec-
retary are in touch with the cen-
tral government for require-
ments such as PPE, testing kits,
and viral transport medium
needed to collect samples. As of
now, the health department, and
by extension the Laxmi Nagar
anti-Covid hub, is on high alert to
track people who might have
come in contact with those from
the Nizamuddin Markaz build-
ing.
08 hindustantimes
frompageone
Conviction...
Pearl, an American national
and the South Asia bureau chief
of the Wall Street Journal, was
kidnapped in Karachi on January
23, 2002 and later beheaded by his
captors.
The four men were convicted
by the anti-terrorism court on
July 15, 2002. They filed appeals in
the high court four days later, and
the defence lawyers had con-
tended the prosecution had failed
to prove beyond reasonable
doubt that the men participated
in or abetted the crime.
Sheikh is currently being held
in a prison in Hyderabad city of
Pakistan’s Sindh province. A
former student of the London
School of Economics, Sheikh was
accused by officials of India and
several Western countries of hav-
ing long-standing ties with the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
agency.
Several media reports from
2002 said Sheikh had given him-
self up after Pearl’s murder to his
ISI contact, Ijaz Shah, who is Pak-
istan’s current interior minister.
Those reports also said Sheikh
was held by the ISI for a week
before he was handed over to
police.
Pearl disappeared in Karachi
on January 23, 2002, while
researching links between Paki-
stani militants and Richard Reid,
who was arrested the previous
month on a flight from Paris to
Miami with explosives in his
shoes. Pakistani prosecutors said
Saeed lured Pearl into a trap by
promising to arrange an inter-
view with an Islamic cleric, who
police believe was not involved in
the conspiracy. A video later
emerged of Pearl being beheaded.
Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, one
of the key plotters of the 9/11
attacks, confessed in 2007 to behe-
ading Pearl, according to a state-
ment issued by the Pentagon.
Sheikh was also a member of
the Harkat-ul-Ansar and was
involved in the 1994 kidnapping of
four foreign tourists – three from
the UK and one from the US – in
New Delhi. The tourists were sub-
sequently freed and Sheikh was
arrested by police. He was in
prison in connection with the kid-
nappings when he was freed
along with Masood Azhar.
Perhaps the most bizarre inci-
dent involving Sheikh was the
phone call he reportedly made
from prison to then Pakistan
President Asif Ali Zardari at the
time of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Sheikh pretended to be then
Indian external affairs minister
Pranab Mukherjee and appar-
ently threatened Pakistan with
military action.
The Pakistan government
feared an escalation and the situ-
ation was defused only after then
US secretary of state Condoleeza
Rice intervened with both sides.
A report by Pakistan’s Dawn
newspaper in November 2009
quoted investigators as saying
that Sheikh was the person who
made the hoax call from a jail in
Hyderabad city.
BUSINESS OFFERS
One million...
Stock markets around the
world suffered historic losses in
the first three months of the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Aver-
age and London’s FTSE 100 saw
their biggest quarterly drops
since 1987, plunging 23% and 25%
respectively.
In India, Bombay Stock
Exchange investors lost around
₹33.38 lakh crore (in market
value) in March, the month when
the coronavirus contagion
spread to equities.
In an age largely defined as the
era of social media, Covid-19 has
now introduced a new zeitgeist:
social distancing. Jobs that can be
done are now being done from
home -- as are classes for schools
and college, and even the UK par-
liament. As a result, digital pipe-
lines are sagging under the load of
unprecedented video streaming
and conferencing.
In India, authorities have now
begun preparations to deal with
what may be an inevitable surge
in infections, and chart out strate-
gies to allow at least some people
to resume work when the lock-
down ends on April 15.
“It is important to formulate a
common exit strategy to ensure
staggered re-emergence of the
population once the lockdown
ends,” Prime Minister Narendra
Modi told chief ministers on
Thursday, asking states to send
their suggestions for such an exit
strategy.
“It can’t be business as usual,”
a government release quoted the
PM as saying, perhaps summing
up the reality the rest of the world
will need to confront – at least for
the next 12-18 months by when a
viable, mass-produced vaccine is
expected to be a reality.
Research labs and pharmaceu-
tical companies in the US, China
and European nations are work-
ing at full tilt to develop a vaccine
that can fight stem the pandemic.
Trials have begun in China,
United States and Germany with
first participants taking shots of
the first vaccine candidates.
A drug used in the treatment of
malaria has also held out hope,
and prompted India to prescribe
it as a prophylactic for medical
staff dealing with the cases.
Hydroxychloroquine when
paired with azithromycin (an
antibiotic) has been shown to
clear patients of the virus at a
much faster rate than seen usu-
ally.
Plan...
The PM asked the state gov-
ernments to brainstorm and send
suggestions to the Centre on how
to do this. He emphasised that
even after the lockdown ends, the
importance of social distancing to
prevent the spread of Covid-19
must be kept in mind.
This is the first hint of the gov-
ernment’s thinking on what hap-
pens after April 14; it suggests
that while a complete lockdown
will not continue, neither will
there be entirely free movement
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of people, with restrictions in
place for certain geographical
clusters, demographic groups
and on travel. The Prime Minis-
ter announced on Tuesday last
week that a 21-day lockdown was
being put in place to control the
spread of Covid-19, which has
infected at least a million people
across the world since last
December.
Experts believe that this may
be a sensible approach. Ravindra
Mehta, chief of pulmonary and
critical care medicine at Apollo
Hospitals, Bengaluru, said:
“Staggered re-emergence of the
public is the best option at the
point as continuous lockdown for
a long term is not sustainable.
The government will test the
waters and even when people
come out, the government must
enforce social distancing and
restrict all non-essential activi-
ties such as foreign travel. But in
the next few weeks, the top prior-
ity should be accorded to beefing
up health care infrastructure.”
But the staggered re-emer-
gence will have implementation
challenges. Yashovardhan Azad,
a retired senior Indian Police Ser-
vice officer, said: “Even after the
lockdown is officially lifted, the
identified hot spots of the virus
need to be protected. But now, the
states get about 13-14 days to plan
their exit routes well. And they
must use it well.”
The video conference with
CMs took place two weeks after
the first such meeting on the pan-
demic on March 20. Thursday’s
meeting focused on the current
strategies in force and the next
steps in the battle against the pan-
demic that has killed at least
51,000 people worldwide.
The PM praised different
states for their “teamwork”
which helped check the speed of
the virus, and thanked them for
supporting the lockdown, due to
which, the PM suggested, India
had achieved some success in
limiting the spread of Covid-19.
He emphasised the need for
quick identification of virus hot
spots and to encircle them to
ensure the virus does not spread
out.
The PM also pointed to the
need to maintain law and order
across the country — law and
order is a state subject.
He also asked the states to
make available dedicated hospi-
tal facilities for Covid-19 patients,
tap into the resource pool of
AYUSH doctors, organise online
training and utilise paramedical
staff and civil society volunteers.
States could consider setting up
crisis management groups at the
district level, in line with groups
of bureaucrats formed by the
Union government, and appoint
district surveillance officers, he
suggested.
At a time when there remains
a debate about whether India is
testing enough, the PM under-
lined that data for testing must
come from accredited labs so that
there is congruence in data of dis-
trict, state and the Centre.
The PM also asked for stag-
gered release of funds to the bene-
ficiaries under PM Garib Kalyan
Yojana to avoid crowding at
banks.
State governments put forth
their demands at the meeting.
The Rajasthan government
asked for a package of ₹1 lakh
crore, while West Bengal sought
a grant of ₹25,000 crore, over and
above their dues of ₹36,000 crore.
States such as Andhra Pradesh
and Bihar asked for more fiscal
flexibility, while Odisha
demanded unemployment allow-
ance for the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)
workers.
Experts believe that the crisis
demands a strong Centre-state
collaboration, and the former
needed to be more supportive of
financial needs of the states.
Yamini Aiyar, president and
chief executive of the Centre for
Policy Research, said: “Genuine
cooperative federalism is impera-
tive. States are at the front lines
and best placed to devise inter-
ventions suited to their contexts.
But they are fiscally strapped.
The Centre needs to devise a
mechanism for support that is
untied and flexible and buttresses
state action rather than under-
mine it with central schemes. The
demand for greater financial sup-
port from states is critical and the
Centre must take heed.”
Many CMs also sought medical
equipment apart from cash to
tackle the situation. Rajasthan
wanted to take loans of up to 2% of
the state’s GSP and asked for the
Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) to be made the
nodal office for buying personal
protective equipment (PPE) and
ventilators so that they are avail-
able to every state at best price
and on time. It also underlined
the need to focus on interstate
supply chain protocol for essen-
tial items, medicines and medical
equipment.
West Bengal demanded more
face masks, gloves, sanitisers,
special suits for medical staff and
also immediate release of the
Goods and Services Tax
(GST) compensation and cess
amount. Maharashtra, too,
wanted immediate release of
pending GST compensation, and
permission to procure and manu-
facture PPE kits and N-95 masks.
Speaking to the media after the
interaction, Karnataka CM BS
Yediyurappa said: “The PM said
that migrant labourers should be
provided all facilities; lockdown
should be implemented in full;
food, medicine and other essen-
tial items should be made easily
available; there should be no
shortage of doctors or medical
facilities; the PM Garib Kalyan
package should be implemented
smoothly; and states should
ensure that there is no impact of
lockdown on agricultural activi-
ties.”
On agriculture, according to
the official statement, the PM said
that the Centre has provided
some relaxation of rules to har-
vest crops but monitoring and
social distancing must take place
during harvesting. He also asked
the states to think of other plat-
forms for procuring grains apart
from agriculture produce mar-
keting committees, and explore
the possibility of creating pooling
platforms for rural areas, like
that in ride-sharing apps, which
can be used for this purpose.
The Opposition asked the PM
to be more consultative in his
approach. The chief spokesper-
son of the Congress, Randeep
Singh Surjewala, said that if the
PM had consulted the CMs before
announcing the nationwide lock-
down, all the problems emerging
now could have been avoided.
“It’s better late than never. The
battle against Covid-19 is not
between political parties but a
nation’s fight against the pan-
demic. Hence, the government
should discuss all measures with
the Opposition. The PM should
take into confidence the entire
Opposition and try to implement
the suggestions given by the lead-
ers of different political parties.”
Seven...
Of the deaths, one was of a
61-year-old male at Nair hospital
with underlying illness of blood
cancer. Another 58-year-old male
patient, who died in Sion hospital,
had high blood pressure and was
admitted to the hospital on March
29. Another 58-year male patient
died in a private hospital. A
63-year male patient died in Kas-
turba hospital.
The spike in cases, which has
been attributed majorly to the
Tablighi Jamaat programme, has
forced the state government to
press the alarm button. The state
government has asked local
authorities — district collectors
and municipal commissioners —
to identify areas where there is a
high risk for Covid-19 spread and
contain them. Tope said the state
government has identified 1,300
of the 1,400 people linked to the
programme and they have been
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03, 2 02 0
kept in isolation. “We have traced
them to their respective districts
shops open on alternate days, so
as to reduce the crowds at these
17 companies... will this fulfil India’s protective
gear deficit? Last week, Reuters
after we received a list from the places. At the meeting, there were a reported that India needed
Centre. We have all details about The state government has once handful of other companies; all around 38 million masks and 6.2
them and the people who came in again appealed to migrant work- had one thing in common: they million pieces of PPE to take care
contact with them,” he said. ers to not attempt to travel to their worked with or made unwoven of Covid-19 patients, quoting an
During a video conference respective states and assured to fabric (used to make the protec- internal report from Invest India.
with Prime Minister Narendra take care of their stay, meals and tive clothes). Invest India said it had contacted
Modi on Thursday, Maharashtra health services. There are about The agenda of the meeting was 730 companies for ventilators,
chief minister Uddhav Thack- 3.25 lakh migrants, including simple: could these companies ICU monitors, protective equip-
eray apprised him about the workers, employees and students, make PPEs? ment, masks and testing kits, of
major decisions being taken by put up in 3,000 shelters that have “We were ready but it took which 319 firms had responded.
the state government. Modi been set up across the state. some time and paperwork for the An official of the textile minis-
hinted at not extending the 21-day On Thursday, five new cases of manufacturing to start,’’ said try, which is tasked with the all
lockdown period beyond April 14. Covid-19 were reported from Kal- Singhal. The work started two important coveralls and masks,
When Thackeray asked about yan and Dombivli, taking the total weeks ago and, on a good day, said that they are hopeful of hit-
how the states should maintain number of positive cases to 19 in when trucks aren’t stuck at the ting peak production by the mid-
the situation after the 21-day lock- the twin cities. highway because of the lock- dle of the month.
down, Modi said that the state Of the five, three attended the down, the unit produces 12,000 to Last week, the government
government should not lift the wedding in Dombivli on March 19. 15,000 of these suits. issued a statement detailing its
lockdown immediately from One from Dombivli (East) was “The raw material is coming plans to procure 6.2 million PPEs
April 15, but it should happen in infected after coming in contact from Bangalore for us and so desperately needed across the
phases and depending on the with them. Kalyan has reported many times they get stranded, country. The three-week lock-
severity of the outbreak in the one case. else we didn’t have any problems down in India till April 14 will, if
state. The four people from Dombivli delivering our order,’’ said Sing- successful, flatten the curve of
The Prime Minister also are at Kasturba Hospital in Mum- hal. Neither Singhal, nor the the disease’s spread -- giving the
advised states to desist from bai and the one from Kalyan has other firms, were willing to spec- administration enough time to
announcing relief packages to been admitted to a private hospi- ify the exact orders that the gov- stockpile enough medical equip-
gain publicity. “Don’t announce tal. ernment had placed with them. ment, including masks. People
the packages to gain publicity. Out of the 19 cases, seven have However, supply of raw materi- like Singhal are at the forefront of
This is a serious fight and there been traced to the wedding in als is a common challenge for all that effort.
should be co-ordination among Dombivli, which was attended by of them.
all states. It may be given public-
ity in newspapers for few days,
a 25-year-old infected man who
had come from Turkey.
Nisheeth Dand of the Vadodar-
a-based firm, Sure Safety, which
Payment...
but the corona crisis is much big- Kalyan has three positive cases is also involved in the production This means health and auto
ger in reality,” said the PM. till now and one has recovered of these coveralls, said that the insurance policies will not lapse
Apart from chief minister after treatment, said civic offi- company is slowly trying to even if policy holders are unable
Uddhav Thackeray, the video cials. increase the pace of production to pay their premiums, due
conference was attended by Tope, The Dombivli police have pre- but the lockdown isn’t helping. between March 25 and April 14 on
home minister Anil Deshmukh, pared a list of those who attended His raw materials also come from time and two separate notifica-
environment and tourism minis- the wedding and have asked the different parts of the country and tions have already been issued in
ter Aaditya Thackeray and state civic body to trace them. their flow is proving to be a bottle- this regard. The decisions have
government officials. “Most parts of Dombivli (East) neck. There is help, though -- in been taken in the public interest,
Tope added that the Prime have been sealed. We have also the form of nodal and field offi- a finance ministry spokesperson
Minister has also asked the state stopped the entry and exit of pri- cers that the government has said.
to focus more on tracing, track- vate vehicles. We are continu- assigned to each of these firms, so “The policy holders whose
ing, testing, and treatment. “The ously surveying all buildings in that they can troubleshoot, call motor vehicle third party insur-
PM has asked us to use drones, which people tested positive were the local administration in the ance policies due for renewal falls
GPS or any other technology to found and also sending those sus- area that a particular truck is during the period on and from the
track the movement of quaran- pected for testing,” said a civic stuck in, but the delays are inevi- 25th March, 2020 up to the 14th
tined people to prevent the spread official. table. April, 2020 and who are unable to
of coronavirus,” said Tope, add- Thane reported two Covid-19 Then, there are other obsta- make payment of their renewal
ing that the PM has asked the positive cases on Thursday. cles. premium on time in view of the
state to observe strict curfew in The 48-year-old general practi- “I have 180 workers in my unit prevailing situation in the coun-
containment areas without any tioner who tested positive does but right now only 44% are com- try as a result of Corona Virus dis-
lapse. not have any travel history and ing to work,’’ said Dand. “Their ease (COVID-19), are allowed to
Thursday saw 648 more people Thane Municipal Corporation families won’t allow them, they make such payment for renewal
admitted with the coronvirus (TMC) suspects he might have are scared so the only thing I can of policies to their insurers on or
symptoms. Until Thursday, contracted it from a patient. The offer them is higher pay.’’ before the 21st April, 2020 to
10,873 tests have been conducted civic body is tracing all patients he So for coming to the factory in ensure continuity of the statutory
in various laboratories, of which, has come in contact with. times of lockdown, Dand says, he motor vehicle third party insur-
10,280 have tested negative, while The doctor has been admitted pays a worker who would usually ance cover from the date on
423 are positive. 42 patients have to Thane civil hospital, which has get ~15,000 , ~25,000. “It’s not just which the policy falls due for
been discharged from the hospi- a separate isolation ward. An offi- labour, even the raw materials renewal,” a notification issued by
tals, while 38,244 are home quar- cial from TMC said, “The doctor have become expensive. I know the department of financial servi-
antined. 2,138 are in institutional has a clinic in Kajuvadi and must banks have been told to help us ces (DFS) on Wednesday said.
quarantine. have come in contact with more but they are totally unrespon- A similar notification for the
Of the 1,062 people who had than 100 patients in the past four sive. They should be giving us health insurance policy has also
links with the Tablighi Jamaat days. His wife and son are home interest-free credit.’’ been issued by the department.
programme organised in a masjid quarantined.” Despite these hurdles, Sure
in Nizamuddin in Delhi, 890 have A total of 13 people from Thane Safety is producing more and THIS MEANS HEALTH
been identified and 576 from them have tested positive for coronavi- more kits every day. If it was 500
have been admitted in isolation rus till now. earlier, it is now 700 and the com- AND AUTO INSURANCE
wards. Four of them — two each The official added, “We were pany hopes to be able to increase POLICIES WILL NOT
from Pimpri-Chinchwad and trying to shift the doctor to Kas- it to 1,500 soon.
Ahmednagar — have tested posi- turba Hospital in Mumbai or any If it isn’t a supply problem, it’s LAPSE EVEN IF POLICY
tive. big hospital in Mumbai but, there the problem of learning to run a HOLDERS ARE UNABLE
Meanwhile, Maharashtra has
set up 30 new hospitals dedicated
was no bed available.”
The other case, 59-year-old
factory with social distancing, to
take care of workers’ needs and
TO PAY THEIR
to treating Covid-19 patients, man, is from Kalwa. TMC said he concerns. At the Mumbai-based PREMIUMS, DUE
with a total bed capacity of 2,305.
Tope said the total capacity of the
does not have any travel history.
As many as 40 medical staffers
Venus Safety and Health Private
Limited factory, which is the only
BETWEEN MARCH 25
sample tests for coronavirus has from Shatabdi hospital, Kandivli, one of two producers of N 95 AND APRIL 14 ON TIME
increased to 5,000 a day. The Cen- have been quarantined at ESIC masks in the country, this AND TWO SEPARATE
tral government has also been hospital after they unknowingly involves free food, free medical
requested for an adequate supply came in a direct contact with a camps and upping the hygiene NOTIFICATIONS HAVE
of equipment required for the COVID-19 patient. “The patient conditions for the 700-800 work- ALREADY BEEN ISSUED
treatment of Covid-19 patients. was admitted for some other ail- ers that work there.
According to officials from the ment but later, after getting dis- The company’s chief market- IN THIS REGARD. THE
health department, the Central charged, got diagnosed with coro- ing officer, Ravi Shinde, said: “We DECISIONS HAVE BEEN
government is not supplying Per-
sonal Protective Equipment
navirus. So, we have quarantined
the people who were in direct con-
have increased the space that’s
occupied by individual workers
TAKEN IN THE PUBLIC
(PPE) kits, N-95 masks in ade- tact with him,” said Dr Pramod and even though I am sure they INTEREST, A FINANCE
quate numbers. Against the
demand of one lakh masks and
Nagarkar, medical superintend-
ent of the hospital.
have concerns, they know that
this is for the country and so
MINISTRY
PPEs, the Maharashtra got only Currently, four coronavirus haven’t really objected to work- SPOKESPERSON SAID.
about 2,000, a couple of days ago. patients are undergoing treat- ing.’’ Earlier the company was
The minister said, “We have ment at the hospital where BMC producing 2.5 lakh masks daily
sought availability of PPE kits,
N-95 masks, ventilators as qual-
has constructed a 90 bed Covid-19
isolation facility. The non-emer-
and now it is hoping to amp up
their production to 3.5- 4 lakh per
Jamaat...
ity equipment were not available gency and OPD at the hospital has day.
in the market. We will not play been closed down for 14 days. Every step of the way, the tex- Between Wednesday and
with the safety of our healthcare Also, a 57-year-old head consta- tile ministry’s officials are keep- Thursday, Delhi saw 67 new con-
workers, therefore, we will need ble from Worli has tested positive ing an eye. Vijay Shankar of firmed coronavirus disease
to augment the capacity of the for COVID-19. A senior IPS officer Shree Hari Healthcare in Chen- (Covid-19) cases -- a 44%
manufacturing of these machines from city police confirmed with nai said that several ministry offi- increase.
and devices or give encourage- HT that on Thursday the police cials arrived at his unit on March The chief minister, in a digital
ment to the manufacturer to set were informed by the civic 20, the day production started. media address, said the toll of
up [units] at a new place,” Tope authority about the head consta- “We normally wouldn’t work Covid-19 deaths in Delhi
said. ble testing positive. The police- with the government but this was increased from two to four
Despite repeated appeals, peo- man along with his wife and two an urgent moment and we felt we between Wednesday and Thurs-
ple are flocking to vegetable mar- kids have now been kept in isola- had to pitch in,’’ said Shankar. He day afternoon. The two new
kets and grocery shops, for which tion. On March 19, the head con- has been lucky with raw materi- deaths have also been traced to
the state government is expected stable’s brother admitted at the als for his coveralls, with the min- the Nizamuddin Markaz.
to take drastic steps. After shut- Sion hospital for some ailment. istry suggesting alternative sour- “We currently have 208 active
ting down vegetable markets that “The policeman had been visiting ces when his were stuck. How- coronavirus patients in various
saw crowding in the past few his brother at this hospital, where ever, the challenge has been to hospitals, out of which one is still
days, the state government is most of the COVID-19 suspects take care of his workforce, major- on ventilator and five are on oxy-
expected to tweak its policy for from Dharavi area are rushing ity of which are women. gen. The remaining 202 are sta-
grocery shops and departmental to,” an officer said. “We are working at a feverish ble,” Kejriwal said.
stores. State health minister Tope
hinted that the state is consider-
(with inputs from Sajana
Nambiar, Megha Pol and Vijay
pace but we can’t do so at the cost
of their health,’’ he said. The com-
He, however, gave separate
numbers on those evacuated
ing keeping the markets and Kumar Yadav) pany has mandatory hand wash from the Nizamuddin Markaz.
hygiene breaks every hour and a According to his statement, out
compulsory Sunday off but the of the 2,346 people evacuated
POOMPUHAR SHIPPING CORPORATION LIMITED pace of production is “satisfac- from the Tablighi Jamaat head-
692, Anna Salai, IV Floor, Nandanam, Chennai - 600 035, India tory”. quarters in Nizamuddin, 536 are
Telephone No: 044-24330505 / 807 Fax: 91-44-24344593,
E-mail : pscship@gmail.com / pscship@dataone.in The Kolkata-based Frontier in the hospital as they showed
Protective Wear has just started Covid-19 symptoms.
CORRIGENDUM GLOBAL TENDER production of its coveralls in its This means the total number
NOTICE INVITING TENDER FOR LONG TIME CHARTERING OF ONE Gurugram unit and will start in of Covid-19 cases at Delhi hospi-
SELF-TRIMMING SUPRAMAX GEARED VESSEL WITH ABOUT DEAD the Kolkata unit on Monday. tals is over 700 (208 active con-
WEIGHT CAPACITY OF 50000 TO 60000 DWT. “The ministry has assured us firmed cases+536 Markaz sus-
Sealed tenders are invited from the owners /disponent owners of Indian / that we will continue to get all pects).
Foreign flag vessels or through their authorized brokers for long term supplies that we need, so I am con- The remaining 1,810 Markaz
time chartering of one Self- trimming Supramax geared Bulk carrier for fident that we can deliver on members have been put in seven
coastal transportation of thermal coal, on account of TANGEDCO are as time,’’ said Sweta Chaudhry government quarantine centres,
follows: Singh, one of the promoters. including the one in Tughlaka-
One Self Trimming Supramax geared vessel with the lay days from The one place that is stretched bad Railway colony, and the
20.04.2020 to 15.05.2020. is Sitra, the government testing Delhi Development Authority
lab in Coimbatore that is receiv- (DDA) flats in Bakkarwala,
TENDER NO. H/OP/ LTSGED/116/002/19-20
Period - 6 months + 3 months ing each of the samples from the Narela and Sultanpuri.
manufacturers. “Before, we The chief minister reiterated
Tender box to be closed at - on 22.04.2020 at 15:00 hours
Tender box to be opened at - on 22.04.2020 at 15:30 hours would get one sample a week,’’ that the number of cases could
EMD - Rs.10 Lakhs – For Indian flag vessels said Prakash Vasudevan of Sitra. increase further as the govern-
“Now we are getting 15-20 sam- ment will now begin testing even
- USD 17,000 - For Foreign flag vessels
ples a day.’’ Considering that the those Markaz evacuees who are
Cost of tender document - Rs.5,000/- each (Indian Flag) lab has only four or five people under government quarantine.
- USD 100 each (Foreign Flag) working during the lockdown, it Kejriwal also announced that
Separate Tender document for long term time chartering are means that workdays go on till 2 the one-time compensation
available in our website from 31.03.2020 & the same may be downloaded or 3am. “We need to clear each scheme of ₹5,000 for Delhi’s con-
from our website: www.tamilship.com / www.tntenders.gov.in at free of sample that comes in daily and so struction workers will be
cost. we are really stretched.’’ extended to cover those operat-
For more details visit our website www.tamilship.com. / So when all 17 of these firms ing public service vehicles such
www.tntenders.gov.in
GENERAL MANAGER (OPS) have fulfilled their orders and as auto-rickshaws, taxis, and
DIPR/ 1589 /TENDER/2020
they are tested and ready to go, e-rickshaws.
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03 , 2 02 0
spotlig t
htspotlight
US Covid-19 cases surge past 2L
GRIM RECORD FOR USA 884 reported dead in country in 24 hours; fatalities cross 5,000; six-week-old baby dies in Connecticut
Agencies
n
›
letters@hindustantimes.com
WASHINGTON: The US death toll
from the coronavirus pandemic
topped 5,000 late on Wednesday,
while nearly one million people
have been infected worldwide.
Within 24 hours, the global death
toll is projected to cross 50,000.
US, now the worst-hit country,
witnessed a single-day record of
884 people killed in 24 hours. The
US death toll is lower than those
of Italy and Spain but above the
3,316 recorded for China, where
the pandemic first emerged in
December. According to Johns
Hopkins, the US leads the world
in number of cases of coronavi-
rus, with 215,417.
US President Donald Trump,
who earlier had downplayed the
pandemic’s impact on the US,
said on Wednesday that “we’re
going to have a couple of weeks,
starting pretty much now, but
especially a few days from now,
that are going to be horrific”.
New York rushed to bring in an
army of medical volunteers as the
statewide death toll from the cor-
onavirus doubled in 72 hours to
more than 1,900, while the global
number of people diagnosed with
the illness edged closer to 1 mil-
lion on Thursday.
As hot spots flared around the
US in places like New Orleans
and Southern California, the
nation’s biggest city was the
hardest hit of them all, with bod-
ies loaded onto refrigerated
morgue trucks by gurney and
fork-lift outside overwhelmed
hospitals. The wail of ambulan-
ces in the otherwise eerily quiet
streets became the heartbreaking
soundtrack of the crisis.
Trump acknowledged that the
federal stockpile is nearly
depleted of personal protective
equipment used by doctors and
nurses and warned of trying
ISRAEL’S HEALTH
MIN TESTS +VE,
NETANYAHU BACK
IN QUARANTINE
Agence France-Presse
n letters@hindustantimes.com
JERUSALEM: Israeli health minister
Yaakov Litzman has tested posi-
tive for Covid-19, forcing Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
re-enter precautionary quaran-
tine, officials said Thursday.
Netanyahu’s previous quaran-
tine, imposed earlier this week
after one of his staffers tested pos-
itive for the novel coronavirus,
had ended on Wednesday night,
his office said.
The premier’s new seven-day
self-isolation was imposed fol-
lowing his contacts with the
71-year-old Litzman, the prime
minister’s office said.
Litzman of the Gur Hassidic
sect - whose wife also tested posi-
tive - is the most prominent mem-
ber of the hard-hit ultra-Ortho-
dox community to test positive
for the virus that has infected
more than 6,200 Israelis.
“Litzman and his wife feel well,
are receiving treatment and will
be quarantined and supervised,”
a health ministry statement said.
The ministry added that its
director-general, Moshe Bar
Siman Tov, along with other sen-
ior officials, will also enter quar-
antine following contacts with
Litzman.
Israeli media also reported
that the head of the Mossad spy
agency, Yossi Cohen, may also be
compelled to self-isolate after
having had contact with Litzman.
The rising caseload has
spurred Israel to tighten restric-
tions, with the latest measures
aimed directly at ultra-Orthodox
Jewish communities that have
resisted social distancing rules.
Privacy-loving Germany mulls app to track spread
Agence France-Presse
n letters@hindustantimes.com
BERLIN: Personal data protection
is a thorny subject in privacy-
loving Germany, but the country
is nevertheless considering
using a smartphone app to help
manage the spread of the new
coronavirus. Even Chancellor
Angela Merkel — who often
refers to her youth in surveil-
lance-ridden communist East
Germany — said on Wednesday
that if it turns out to be a helpful
way of tracking the spread of the
virus “I would... of course be
willing to use it for myself”.
In some ways, Germany
appears to be faring better than
many of its European neigh-
bours in its battle against the
We’re going to have a
couple of weeks,
starting pretty much now,
but especially a few days
from now, that are going to
be horrific. But even in the
most challenging of times,
Americans do not despair.
We do not give in to fear.
DONALD TRUMP, US President
times to come.
A six-week-old baby girl has
died from Covid-19 in the US state
of Connecticut, governor Ned
Lamont said on Thursday, stress-
ing that the death is a reminder
that “nobody is safe with this
virus”. A report in the Hartford
Courant newspaper quoted offi-
cials as saying that the infant
arrived at the hospital unrespon-
sive and tested positive for the
coronavirus post-mortem.
Meanwhile, the main US disas-
ter response agency has asked the
Defense Department for 100,000
body bags as the toll mounts, the
Pentagon said on Thursday.
White House experts have said
that US deaths from the disease —
currently at more than 5,100 —
are expected to climb to between
100,000 and 240,000, even with mit-
igation efforts in force. The Pen-
taon said its Defense Logistics
Agency was tending to the
request by the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency
(FEMA). The DLA “is currently
responding to FEMA’s prudent
planning efforts for 100,000
pouches to address mortuary
contingencies on behalf of state
health agencies,” Pentagon
spokesperson Lieutenant Colo-
nel Mike Andrews said.
China rejects US intel claim it hid cases
Bloomberg
n letters@hindustantimes.com
WASHINGTON/ BEIJING: China
rejected the American intelli-
gence community’s conclusion
that Beijing concealed the extent
of the coronavirus epidemic, and
accused the US of seeking to shift
the blame for its own handling of
the outbreak.
Foreign ministry spokes-
woman Hua Chunying on Thurs-
day defended as “open and trans-
parent” China’s response to the
virus first identified in December
in the central Chinese city of
Wuhan. She was responding to a
Bloomberg News report saying
that the US intelligence commu-
nity had concluded in a classified
report to the White House that
Beijing under-reported both total
cases and deaths from the dis-
LOCKDOWN ACTION
Shoot violators dead, UN climate talks in Glasgow WORST-HIT NATIONS
says Philippine Prez postponed until at least 2021 COUNTRY
Reuters
n letters@hindustantimes.com
MANILA: Philippine President Rod-
rigo Duterte has warned viola-
tors of coronavirus lockdown
measures they could be shot for
causing trouble and said abuse of
medical workers was a serious
crime that would not be tolerated.
In a televised address, Duterte
said it was vital everyone cooper-
ates and follows home quaran-
tine measures, as authorities try
to slow the contagion and spare
the country’s fragile health sys-
tem from being overwhelmed.
The Philippines has recorded
96 coronavirus deaths and 2,311
confirmed cases, all but three in
the past three weeks, with infec-
coronavirus. Europe’s biggest
economy has so far managed to
limit the number of deaths from
Covid-19 to under 1,000, partly
thanks to aggressive testing
modelled on the South Korean
approach. It has also avoided a
strict lockdown like those in
France, Italy or Spain.
Merkel and her government
are already looking ahead to the
next phase, when they hope it
will be possible to relax social
distancing rules and reopen
some public spaces. And accord-
ing to Health Minister Jens
Spahn, “for that to be possible,
we need to be able to identify and
reach anyone who has had con-
tact with an infected person very
quickly”.
When the government first
n The Empire State Building building is lit with a white and red "siren" in its mast to pay tribute to medical workers battling the coronavirus
outbreak, on Wednesday night in New York City, USA.
Nearly 3K sailors to leave virus-hit US carrier
Associated Press
n letters@hindustantimes.com
WASHINGTON: Nearly 3,000 sailors
aboard a US aircraft carrier
where the coronavirus has
spread will be taken off the ship
by Friday, US Navy officials said
as they struggle to quarantine
crew members in the face of an
outbreak.
So far, fewer than 100 of the
nearly 5,000 sailors assigned to
the USS Theodore Roosevelt,
now docked in Guam, have
tested positive for the virus, but
n A woman buys bananas from a vendor on the other side of a
barricade separating a residential compound in Wuhan, China.
ease. “Some US officials just want
to shift the blame,” Hua said in
Beijing. “Actually we don’t want
to fall into an argument with
them, but faced with such
repeated moral slander by them,
I feel compelled to take some time
49,279
CASES
tions now being reported in the
hundreds every day.
“It is getting worse. So once
again I’m telling you the serious-
ness of the problem and that you
must listen,” Duterte said late on
Wednesday.
“My orders to the police and
military ... if there is trouble and
there’s an occasion that they fight
back and your lives are in danger,
shoot them dead.”
“Is that understood? Dead.
Instead of causing trouble, I will
bury you.” His comments came
after media reports of a disturb-
ance and several arrests on
Wednesday of residents in a poor
area of Manila who were protest-
ing about sufficient government
food aid.
n Different types of face masks on display for sale outside a shop in
Berlin's Kreuzberg district on Thursday.
proposed using mobile phone
data to help track the spread of
the virus in mid-March, it was
forced to back down after a pub-
lic outcry. However, the govern-
the Navy is moving sailors into
various facilities and probably
will begin using hotel rooms in
the coming days. Navy leaders
are talking with government
officials in the US territory to
identify rooms for the crew
members.
Acting US Navy secretary
Thomas Modly, however, made
it clear on Wednesday that while
several thousand will leave the
ship, other sailors will remain on
board in order to continue to pro-
tect the ship and run critical sys-
tems. “We cannot and will not
AFP
and clarify the truth again.”
Hua questioned the speed of
the US response to the virus after
banning arrivals from China on
February 2. “Can anyone tell us
what the U.S. has done in the fol-
lowing two months?” she said.
HT Correspondent
n letters@hindustantimes.com
LONDON: The COP26 UN Climate
Change Conference scheduled to
take place in Glasgow in Novem-
ber has been postponed due to
the coronavirus pandemic after
a decision was taken during a
virtual meeting on Wednesday
evening attended by UN climate
chief Patricia Espinosa.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi was one of the leaders due
to attend the meeting that will
now take place in 2021, which
will be hosted in Glasgow by the
UK in partnership with Italy.
The COP26 president-designate
is business secretary Alok
Sharma.
AFP PHOTO
ment is now reviewing proposals
and will come up with a new plan
“in the coming days”, according
to Spahn, who is convinced that
“the use of mobile phone data
remove all sailors from the
ship,” Modly told Pentagon
reporters. He said officials will
send as many sailors off the ship
as possible while still maintain-
ing safety. He said around 1,000
have gone ashore, and that num-
ber will grow to at least 2,700 in a
couple of days.
Modly and Michael Gilday,
the chief of naval operations,
declined to say how long the ship
will be sidelined. But if crew
members are required to be
quarantined for 14 days, on a
rotational basis, the Roosevelt
China’s public reporting on
cases and deaths is intentionally
incomplete, Bloomberg reported
Wednesday, citing three officials,
who asked not to be identified
because the report is secret. Two
of the officials said the report con-
cludes that China’s numbers are
fake. The report was received by
the White House last week, one of
the officials said.
Since China first disclosed a
new form of pneumonia on
December 31, the country has
publicly reported about 82,000
cases and 3,300 deaths, according
to data compiled by Johns Hop-
kins University.
US President Donald Trump
said on Wednesday that he hadn’t
received an intelligence report
saying Beijing had concealed the
outbreak, but that their statistics
appeared low.
The Scottish government
announced this week that the
SEC Arena, where COP26 was
due to take place, will be turned
into a field hospital to cope with
coronavirus cases. “The world is
facing an unprecedented global
challenge and countries are
rightly focusing their efforts on
saving lives and fighting Cov-
id-19. That is why we have
decided to reschedule COP26. We
will continue working tirelessly
with our partners to deliver the
ambition needed to tackle the cli-
mate crisis,” said Sharma.
UN climate chief Espinosa
said, “Covid-19 is the most
urgent threat facing humanity
today, but we cannot forget that
climate change is the biggest
will be a key factor against the
spread”. Under the new plans,
data will be shared “on a volun-
tary basis”, according to Justice
Minister Christine Lambrecht.
A proposed smartphone app
will track and record people’s
interactions via bluetooth for
two weeks, without using geolo-
cation tracking and with a prom-
ise that data will be securely pro-
tected.
If a person becomes infected,
the app will automatically send a
push notification to anyone they
have crossed paths with in the
past two weeks, to warn them of
the risk of infection. Only those
who have downloaded the app
will receive the infection warn-
ings, and the identity of infected
people will be kept secret.
hindustantimes
AFP PHOTO
could be out of duty for weeks.
The Navy leaders said that
they are trying to track down
any sailors who came in contact
with those now ill and place them
in quarantine. They said almost
1,300 sailors have been tested,
and as of Wednesday, nearly 600
of those tests came back nega-
tive. Officials are awaiting more
results and more testing.
The “long pole in the tent,”
said Gilday, is getting results
more quickly. At this point, no
sailors with the virus are hospi-
talized.
101-yr-old Covid-19
patient recovers in
the Netherlands
THEHAGUE: A 101-year-old woman
who contracted coronavirus in
the Netherlands has recovered,
offering what her hospital said
was “a spark of hope”.
The woman was admitted to
the IJsselland Hospital near Rot-
terdam a week and a half ago
with breathing difficulties and
tested positive for coronavirus.
She was kept in isolation but has
now recovered enough to leave
hospital. The centenarian, who
lives independently, will rest in
a nursing home before returning
to her home, the hospital said on
its website. “She is a tough lady,
and it’s great to see her following
medical advice,” pulmonologist
Sunil Ramlal said. REUTERS
threat facing humanity over the
long term. Soon, economies will
restart.
“This is a chance for nations to
recover better, to include the
most vulnerable in those plans,
and a chance to shape the 21st
century economy in ways that
are clean, green, healthy, just,
safe and more resilient.”
Experts and officials involved
with the Paris Agreement
endorsed the postponement.
Ajay Mathur, director-gen-
eral of the Energy and Resource
Institute, said, “The momentum
for climate action has acceler-
ated considerably, and we will
have to ensure that this momen-
tum is sustained as COP26 is
moved to 2021.”
CORONAVIRUS: WORLD
Spain sees record
virus deaths, toll
crosses 10,000
Agencies
n letters@hindustantimes.com
MADRID: Spain’s death toll from
the coronavirus pandemic rose
above 10,000 on Thursday even as
France and Belgium announced
grim milestones of their own.
Spain has the world’s second-
highest death toll after Italy at
10,003. The total deaths rose by
just over 10%, with a record 950
people deaths overnight. The
number of registered coronavi-
rus cases rose about 8% from
Wednesday to 110,238, the minis-
try said.
“A glimpse of hope: the curve
has stabilised. We have reached
... the peak of the curve and we
have started the slowdown
phase,” health minister Salvador
Illa told parliament
France became the fourth
country to pass the 4,000 corona-
virus deaths threshold on
Wednesday, after Italy, Spain and
the United States. French health
authorities reported 509 new
deaths, taking the total to 4,032.
But, after speeding up the pre-
vious two days, the rate of
increase of deaths has deceler-
ated in France. State health
agency director Jerome Salomon
said that the number of cases had
risen to 56,989, a rise of 9%, versus
an increase of 17% on Tuesday.
Belgium passed the 1,000 mark on
Thursday, health officials said.
The official toll in the country of
11.4 million has doubled in the
space of three days.
There have now been 1,011
deaths and 15,348 officially
recorded cases since the start of
the outbreak, officials said.
The United Kingdom’s death
toll from the coronavirus rose 24
n Coffins with bodies of people who died of coronavirus kept in the
parking area of Collserola morgue in Barcelona, Spain.
VIRUS TRACKER
966,362
GLOBAL CASES
GLOBAL DEATHS
1 US
2 ITALY
3 SPAIN
4 GERMANY
5 CHINA
6 FRANCE
7 IRAN
8 UK
9 SWITZERLAND
10 TURKEY
(AS OF 9 PM IST)
09
percent to 2,921 as of April 1.
Russian officials registered 771
new cases on Thursday — 43%
more than the day before, bring-
ing the country’s total to 3,548
cases, with 30 death.
A new study quantifying the
hidden toll from coronavirus in
the province of Bergamo, at the
epicentre of Italy’s epidemic, has
found that the number of deaths
linked to the virus is double the
official tally. The study by the
daily L’Eco di Bergamo with the
InTwig data analysis agency puts
the number of virus deaths last
month at 4,500, compared with
the official toll of 2,060, in the
province of 1.1 million people.
UK LIKELY TO HAVE
VIRTUAL PARLIAMENT
Meanwhile, in the UK, plans are
afoot to enable MPs to question
the British government virtually
when parliament resumes after
the Easter break on April 21, after
speaker Lindsay Hoyle and sev-
eral lawmakers pushed for using
technology to continue parlia-
mentary work.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the
UK’s House of Commons, said in
a statement on Wednesday even-
ing that the government and par-
liament hoped appropriate tech-
nology would be in place by April
21, when MPs may or may not be
physically present in the House.
Rees-Mogg said, “Parliament’s
role of scrutinising government,
authorising spending and mak-
ing laws must be fulfilled and in
these unprecedented times that
means considering every techno-
logical solution available. We are
exploring options with the parlia-
mentary authorities in readiness
for parliament’s return.”
AP PHOTO
(BY CASES)
DEATHS
217,661 5,153
110,574 13,155
110,238 10,003
81,728 997
81,589 3,318
56,989 4,032
50,468 3,106
33,718 2,921
18,475 522
15,679 277
SOURCE: WORLDOMETER
10 hindustantimes
E STA B L I S H E D I N 1 9 24
§
Help the health Nizamuddin: Why liberals are wrong
workers, now The Jamaat’s action was criminal. Don’t defend it
because of a flawed notion of secularism
The absence of PPEs is having VIR
SANGHVI
disastrous implications
I
ndia cannot fight the coronavirus pandemic if its health
care warriors — doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, and
support staff in hospitals — are not safe. This is obvious,
A
s the full scale of the damage to
but needs to be reiterated because of the rapid rate at public health caused by the
Tablighi Jamaat meeting —
which members of the medical fraternity are getting and its aftermath — in Delhi’s
infected. In Delhi alone, eight doctors Nizamuddin area emerges,
have tested positive. In Chandigarh, ourtake clear about.
there are some things we can be
One of them is that attempts by Hindutva
two nurses and a doctor have tested
communalists to try and turn this into a Hin-
positive. Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital has scaled down operations du-Muslim issue are despicable. It is shame-
ful that TV channels allow terms like “bio-ji-
after two nurses tested positive. In Bihar’s Nalanda, according had” to be used.
to a report in the Los Angeles Times, doctors were exposed to a The second thing we can be certain of is
that various authorities are not blameless.
patient who tested positive — and developed symptoms them- There appears to have been laxness in grant-
selves. Yet, they were told to keep working, which in turn, has ing visas. The Delhi Police, who have a sta-
tion located next to the Markaz, failed to clear
potentially put all of them and the newer patients at risk. the building.
These are just illustrative examples of a larger pattern. The Equally, it is as clear that the Jamaat lead-
ers behaved with extreme irresponsibility,
implications are clear. One, this will lead to the spread of the using religion to encourage people to stay
inside the building and to ignore health
infection — for the interaction of medical workers with each
warnings. The videos and audiotapes that
other and patients is very high in these times. Two, India already have now been discovered show Jamaat cler-
ics saying things like “Yes there is a virus.
has a grave shortage of health care workers in relation to the But 70,000 angels are with me and if they can’t
population. An increase in cases is inevitable. This will require save me, who will? This is the time for more
such gatherings.” A voice, believed to be that
all available human resources — but if doctors and nurses get of Maulana Saad, is heard saying, “This is a
infected on a large scale, the opposite will happen. They will need plan to end amity between Muslims, to alien-
to be quarantined and treated, depleting resources. Three, it
deals a blow to the morale of the medical fraternity. There are
already reports of doctors and nurses contemplating mass resig- Covid-19 should lead to One mantra for India:
nations — which authorities are in no position to accept. While
this may seem irresponsible, it is important to recognise that
they are individuals, with anxieties and fears, families, and want
more investment in health Test-isolate-treat-trace
to survive. India cannot afford its health care workers to be low Invest in human resources and technology; strengthen
on motivation at a time when it needs them at their finest.
district hospitals; and consider universal health insurance
There is only one solution: Source and supply personal pro-
tective equipment (PPE) immediately. The government is aware NANDITA
BHAN
of the challenge. On Monday, it announced its plans to ramp up
manufacturing and procurement of protective gear. But on the MADHAVI
MISRA
ground, each passing day without adequate gear puts at risk the
lives of doctors, medical staff, their families, and patients they
are treating. This will undermine the lockdown, lead to the emer-
T
he coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19)
gence of many more “super-spreaders” and clusters, and under- has exposed the new nature of
health threats and emergencies,
mine the effort to flatten the curve with the lockdown. Empathise linked to food systems, human-wild-
with the frontline workers — and act on it by giving them what life and anthropogenic conflicts, and the
dynamics of globalisation. To counter this
they need, to save their lives and lives of citizens. emergency, an unrivalled response has
been initiated by all governments, the scien-
§
tific community and citizen groups.
On March 25, despite fewer notified cases
The dollar cements compared to other countries, India initiated
a 21-day national lockdown, adopting social
distancing and citizen isolation, state bor-
its position
der closures and a call to action for low-cost
innovations to support the government
through this crisis.
While the health care system attempts to
The Fed will exchange treasury bonds for ramp up for what seems like a long battle
ahead, this is a wake-up call and a chance to
overnight dollar loans. This is positive invest in health care systems like never
before. India’s investments in the health
sector have historically been low, at no time
T
he pre-eminence of the United States (US) dollar has over 1.3% of its GDP. Compare this to 5% in
China, 8.1% in South Korea, 10.9% in Japan.
been underlined with a thick green line during the
Despite instituting one of the earliest archi-
present pandemic. The dollar has surged against all tectures of rural primary care, the Indian
public health system is struggling to com-
currencies since the crisis began. Which is why there prehend the challenges that Covid-19 has
was a collective sigh of relief among central banks everywhere brought with it.
In 2005, the National Rural Health Mis-
when the US Federal Reserve announced on Tuesday that it sion (NRHM), now known as National
would exchange US Treasury bonds for overnight dollar loans. Health Mission (NHM), attempted to
strengthen the primary, secondary and ter-
The facility was also extended to the Reserve Bank of India tiary health services. But this was not fol-
(RBI), though it is yet to take advantage of the offer. It carried out lowed through with robust investments in
health infrastructure, workforce, supply
a $2 billion swap recently, and with oil prices having crashed, it chains, and community models for deliver-
ing care. While the Prime Minister’s Ayush-
has no urgent need for dollars. Like most major economies, the
man Bharat Yojna (PMJAY) has led to risk-
bulk of India’s international financial transactions are dollar-de- pooling and greater health access for poorer
households, the issue of quality assurance
nominated. If its external position unravels further, India’s cen- needs more attention in the future.
tral bank may yet need a dollar infusion. With the recently The response to Covid-19 provides an
opportunity for meaningful health reform.
announced swap arrangement, RBI can use its roughly $160 bil- India needs to make low-cost, client-centred
lion holdings of US Treasury bonds, about a third of the country’s medical and health innovations. A four-
pronged approach may help.
foreign exchange reserves, to match any dollar requirements. First, we need to invest in human resour-
The bank’s decision to greatly increase its dollar holding over the ces for health, now and in the future. India
must strive to meet the World Health Orga-
past several years has proved prescient. nization norms (2016) for health workforce
density: 44 health workers per 10,000 people.
While there has been much talk about the rise of the Chinese
Recent estimates indicate that current total
renminbi, about 90% of international transactions are denomi- human resource density is at 29 per 10,000,
with wide variations among states. While
nated in dollars. The sudden surge in dollar demand caused by India increases this number, it needs to also
the pandemic put many central banks in a tight spot, including look at enhancing quality through upskil-
ling. Through emergency response training,
that of China. The Fed’s decision immediately eased pressure on
the dollar as it meant the trillions of dollars of US Treasuries held
WE REQUIRE STATE-LEVEL
by other central banks were effectively as good as cash dollars. TASK FORCES THAT REPRESENT
Dollars represent 60% of global foreign exchange reserves. The NOT JUST ADMINISTRATORS
US central bank, in a simple and responsible action, has served AND DOCTORS BUT THAT
to remind that there is still only one central bank of central ENGAGE WIDER CIVIL SOCIETY
banks. TO ADDRESS SOME OF LONG-
TERM EFFECTS OF COVID-19
RNI No. MAHENG/2005/15186, Air Surcharge : Ahmedabad, Nagpur and beyond by Rail or Road - Rs. 2 /-.
Printed and published by DINESH MITTAL (Interim) for and on behalf of HT Media Ltd., 9th Floor, Tower 3, Indiabulls Finance Centre, Senapati Bapat Marg, Elphinstone Road (West), Mumbai-400013 at
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Executive Editor: SACHIN KALBAG
comment
ate them from each other.”
At a time when millions of Indians are
making sacrifices to fight the coronavirus,
this kind of behaviour is not just criminal, it
amounts to attempted murder.
All this seems clear cut enough. So, why is
there a problem?
Well, because of what seems like a knee-
jerk reaction from sections of the secular
establishment.
I cannot believe that any sensible person
— Hindu or Muslim, secular or communal —
can approve of the primitive fundamental-
ism of the Jamaat, an orthodox group that
would take Islam back several centuries to
fulfil its objectives.
And yet, such is the nature of our political
dialogue that many secular liberals believe
they must respond vigorously to everything
that Hindu communalists say. So, if Hin-
dutva extremists and trolls are using terms
like jihad and using the incident to attack all
Muslims, then the answer must be to find
some way to defend the Jamaat.
All of Wednesday, we heard the excuses.
There was, first of all, the constant blaming
of the authorities. “Why didn’t the police
break up the gathering?” “The IB was keep-
ing a watch on the Markaz: why did it allow
the foreigners who had attended to travel
around India?” And so on.
There are valid questions but they, in no
way, lessen the horror of what the Jamaat
did.
A murderer is no less responsible for his
actions because an inept police force failed to
capture him in time.
When their explanations fail to hold, some
secularists then switch to a tactic that is often
competencies such as testing, referral,
quarantining and using medical equipment
can be developed. The fight against Covid-19
cannot be won without the active involve-
ment of the private sector and other health
care providers who can play an important
role in identifying potential cases and
ensuring early quarantines. We need to
rethink the roles and responsibilities of
frontline health workers such as Accredited
Social Health Activists, Auxiliary Nurse
Midwives and multi-purpose workers, tak-
ing into account the skills they have.
Second, with citizens under lockdown
and their mobility restricted, the role of
community health centres and district hos-
pitals will be key. State and district adminis-
tration will need support from local commu-
nity bodies, panchayats, urban local bodies,
and citizen groups to ensure that cases are
isolated early and supply chains for drugs
and essential equipment are functioning
optimally. A communication plan to spread
the right messages will be important. Dis-
trict hospitals need appropriately trained
staff and medical equipment to ensure that
cases are managed effectively at the facility
and mortality is minimised. Effective use of
telemedicine can deal with complicated
cases, especially in inaccessible areas. We
should be careful to not concentrate servi-
ces in some cities alone.
Third, the government must make all
efforts to encourage low-cost innovations in
medical technology to meet the needs of
essential equipment, both to respond to the
pandemic now and to develop the capacity
for the next flu season. Identifying and eas-
ing the regulatory frameworks for develop-
ing new medical products can help enable
rapid responses. Regulating the prices of
essential drugs, low-cost mass production of
masks and protective gear, will ease the bur-
den. In the medium-to-long-term, India
needs to further strengthen its biomedical
research capabilities, and invest in cutting-
edge “made in India” health technologies
and make it easier for health technology
start-ups to function with tax cuts. Scientific
innovations hold the key to solving social
crises.
Finally, a task force to understand the
impact of Covid-19 on the health system and
households is required. The pandemic
presents an opportunity to expand the cov-
erage of the PMJAY, including considering
a universalised health insurance model.
Social distancing may lead to new challen-
ges of anxiety and mental health all round.
The costs of this pandemic could also be
borne by other health and nutrition pro-
grammes as services and attention are
likely to get diverted. We require state-level
task forces that represent not just adminis-
trators and doctors but that engage wider
civil society to address some of these long-
term effects.
Covid-19 presents an opportunity to bol-
ster India’s health system, sustain invest-
ment in technology and reorient budgeting
priorities towards what is truly essential —
our health. As our medical workforce fights
this invisible enemy, India owes them a
robust health system that can facilitate all
their efforts.
Madhavi Misra and Nandita Bhan have extensive
experience of working in the public health system
The views expressed are personal
n At a time when millions of Indians are
making sacrifices to fight the coronavirus,
this kind of behaviour is not just criminal,
it amounts to attempted murder HT
associated with their ideological opponents
on the right — whataboutery.
Ok, they say, if this was wrong, then why
was it okay for Parliament to remain in ses-
sion even when social distancing was the
norm? What about Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s
victory celebrations in Bhopal when legisla-
tors hugged each other despite the risk of cor-
onavirus infection? Why was it okay for Yogi
Adityanath to refuse to call off Ram Navmi
celebrations till the very end?
There are two answers to the whatabout-
ery.
The first is that not only were all of these
things wrong, they were widely criticised
and condemned at the time. The second
answer is that it does not matter what else
happened. You cannot explain away the 2020
Delhi riots by saying that the 1984 riots were
Even if all Indians stay home for 21 days, the virus will
only be down, not out. Increase testing tenfold
SUJATHA
RAO
T
he coronavirus pandemic (Cov-
id-19) may or may not be a viral flu.
It is infectious, but only a third as
lethal as SARS. In the recent past,
the world has witnessed more deadly epi-
demics: SARS, MERS, Ebola, and H5N1.
Yet, the coronavirus has been overwhelm-
ing due to the speed with which it has
spread, infected people, and claimed lives.
The virus breached India’s borders on
January 30 through the 1.5 million Indians
returning to India since then till the ban on
international travel. We do not know how
many among them were active and passive
carriers of the infection due to our abys-
mal state of testing.
Two months down the line, we have
over 2,000 infected, and over 50 dead.
These figures are not worrisome when
compared to other countries, except that
the curve is moving upwards and flatten-
ing horizontally: Today, more than double
the districts are affected than a week ago.
Due to poor testing, we have no idea
among whom the virus is lurking, and in
which direction it is spreading. Fighting a
war blindfolded has its risks. One hope is
the onset of the searing summer and if, as
is being said, this epidemic follows the
same trajectory as the 2009-10 swine flu,
we may end up with a more reasonable
count of the infected.
The response has been unprecedented
with heartbreaking consequences for the
poor, homeless and marginalised. I have
not found any compelling evidence in the
public domain to give the nation less than
four hours to lock down. Surely it is not
based on a model prepared by some indi-
viduals based in the United States that
estimates that 300 million people will get
the flu, and since questioned by other
experts?
Regardless, India has to take strong pre-
ventive measures. There were two models:
The China model of social distancing by
banning all movement, except for essen-
tials; and the South Korean model of mass
testing.
Both strategies seek to isolate the virus
and disrupt transmission. Of the two,
South Korea’s was more sensible, but not
possible as we messed up our testing pol-
icy and do not have enough testing kits.
On the other hand, social distancing
through lockdowns gave the government
time to marshal its scarce resources to
fight the next phase of the battle (treat-
ment) and getting related requirements —
doctors, nurses, personal protective
equipment, intensive care unit beds,
equipment, drugs, and trained personnel
— in place.
Given our iniquitous health system,
putting in place such infrastructure in the
event of a surge is vital, if we want to mini-
mise fatalities.
The suddenness of the lockdown with-
out preparation, however, has created
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03, 2 02 0
worse. All riots are bad and should be con-
demned.
The problem with knee-jerk secularism is
that it can sometimes offer up excuses for the
indefensible. We think we are defending the
Muslim community from attacks by bigots.
In fact, we are damaging Indian secular-
ism.
Each time secularists take a stand that
runs totally counter to morality or even to
common sense, we damage the liberal idea of
India. Yes, communalists will play the Hin-
du-Muslim game. But we must never fall into
the trap of doing the same thing.
We must condemn disgraceful and crimi-
nal behaviour wherever we see it. Once we
start defending people only because they
belong to a particular religion, we are no bet-
ter than the religious bigots on the other side.
Secularism does not mean that you rush to
the defence of every Muslim, no matter what
he or she has done. It means that you fight
against all religious bigots and their primi-
tive mindset that ignores science and pro-
motes religious mumbo-jumbo.
The issue with the Jamaat gathering is not
only that it endangered the lives of so many
people. It is that it did so in the name of reli-
gion. In the process, it strengthened the com-
munal Hindu propaganda that Muslims are
fundamentalists who do not regard them-
selves as subject to Indian laws.
Of course, this is complete nonsense. The
average Muslim is as sensible and as patri-
otic as the average Hindu. Many influential
Muslims have condemned the Jamaat.
But when secularists feel obliged to find
excuses for Muslim bigots, they obscure this
reality. If India is to move forward, then all of
us should unite to fight bigots, no matter
whether they are Hindu or Muslim. Find
excuses for one or the other and the battle is
already lost.
The views expressed are personal
another battlefront. In the best adminis-
trative system, at least three days are
required for a balanced response system to
implement such an order: Framing guide-
lines for clarity, understanding and opera-
tionalising them to reach the last mile. But
the sudden lockdown led to misunder-
standing and panic, forcing migrant work-
ers to flee cities.
The chaos that followed has, however,
diverted attention from what caused it,
besides creating the added worry of the
potential spread of the infection to the hin-
terland. It reminds me of the spread of HIV
in Surat. The sudden dismantling of a 400-
year-old brothel, by an enthusiastic police
chief, forced sex workers to flee, making
containment of the infection difficult.
But now, India has a window of opportu-
nity, provided it acts quickly and deci-
sively. The lockdown itself has limited
value. Even if all 1.3 billion stayed home
for 21 days, the virus will only be down, but
not out.
For optimal results, the lockdown has to
be accompanied by scaling up testing ten-
fold from the current levels, and rigor-
ously implementing the mantra — test-iso-
late-treat-trace. And for such a scale-up,
testing has to be free and accessible.
With several manufacturers of test-kits
now authorised, prices will fall with vol-
ume. This will be much cheaper than what
India is paying in terms of economic and
social costs. Removing the deterrence of
price and distance is critical in these
times.
The second measure is relaxing move-
ment restrictions for goods required for
the manufacture and delivery of all
health-related items — medical devices,
consumables, drugs and instruments —
and ensuring the running of the out-pa-
tient departments in hospitals. The Chhat-
tisgarh government is reportedly organis-
ing five additional vehicles per block to
ensure the steady supply of drugs for
tuberculosis and chronic patients, besides
transporting patients to and from hospi-
tals.
We cannot allow the tap to run dry for
the essential care of millions of sick people
who need their medicines and surgeries,
without creating another health crisis.
Closing down outdoor patient units could
also mean missing out potential carriers of
the virus.
It must be remembered that money can-
not buy all the essentials needed to cope
with a surge of cases, but quick decision-
making can. The Centre has now consti-
tuted working groups to deal with differ-
ent aspects of the pandemic. This is a posi-
tive step, provided they are empowered
and held accountable for delays. Indian
companies have also come forward, mak-
ing available all their resources — knowl-
edge, expertise, infrastructure. This is
inspiring.
Working together may give rise to inno-
vation with the long-term triggering of
more self-reliant and less dependent poli-
cies.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi said:
It’s a battle we have to win.
Sujatha Rao is former Union secretary of health
The views expressed are personal
HIN DUSTA N T IMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03 , 2 02 0
shortstories
MOODY’S CUTS
OUTLOOK FOR
INDIAN BANKS
MUMBAI: Moody’s Investors
Service slashed the outlook for
the Indian banking system to
negative from stable citing
disruptions to economic activity
from the coronavirus pandemic
that will worsen the ongoing
slowdown and impair lenders’
asset quality. A deterioration in
global economic conditions and a
21-day lockdown imposed by
India will weigh on domestic
demand and private investment,
the ratings agency said in a
statement Thursday. This in turn
will cause a spike in unemploy-
ment and worsen banks’ asset
across the corporate, small
business and retail segments,
pressuring their profitability and
capital, it said. India has an-
nounced a raft of monetary
easing measures including sharp
cuts to policy rates and a $50
billion cash line to lenders in order
to boost credit and ease financial
stress in a sector that was bat-
tered by a crisis among shadow
lenders and witnessed default by
a private sector bank even before
the viral outbreak hit India. The
country has the worst bad loan
ratio among major economies and
last month engineered its
biggest-ever bank rescue to
maintain confidence.
TELCOS SEEK
RELIEF MEASURES
AMID COVID-19
MUMBAI: While telecom service
providers have been grouped
under essential services to keep
businesses running during the
nationwide lockdown, the Cellular
operators Association of India
(COAI) has written to the Finance
Minister to offset the sector’s
financial concerns. The industry
body that represents private
telecom operators Bharti Airtel,
Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio
has requested for refund of
unitilised input tax credits, low
cost funding, rationalisation of
levies and reduction of spectrum
usage charges (SUC) among
others. According to various
reports, the telecom companies
differ from government numbers
on the increase in internet usage
and subsequent pressure on
telecom resources. While govern-
ment bodies noted up to 10%
increase in usage, COAI has given
an estimate of 20% increase.
REPORTERS AND AGENCIES
HTSPOTLIGHT
Cats susceptible to virus,
no proof of infecting people
RESEARCH Dogs, chickens, pigs and ducks are less susceptible, according to pre-print study
Jayashree Nandi
n jayashree.nandi@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: Ferrets and cats are
susceptible to contracting coro-
navirus (Covid-19) but not dogs,
ducks, chickens and pigs, a non-
peer reviewed study published in
bioRxiv has found and said these
findings can be important for vac-
cine and antiviral drug develop-
ment for the disease. BioRxiv is a
free online archive and distribu-
tion service for unpublished pre-
prints in life sciences.
There is, however, no reason
for panic among pet keepers or
cat lovers because the findings
are based on only lab experi-
ments, and there has been no
study on whether cats can pass on
the infection to humans. It is also
unclear which species of cats was
used for the study.
According to the authors Hua-
lan Chen et al, the experiments
were conducted to understand
how the virus behaves in animals
and which among them can be
used to model the efficacy of con-
trol measures in humans like
drugs or vaccines.
The authors are scientists affil-
iated to Harbin Veterinary
Sewage could give clue on virus circulation
Jayashree Nandi
n jatashree.nandi@htlive.com
NEW DELHI: Testing sewage water
could give clues about the circu-
lation of Covid-19 in cities, new
research has found. Scientists in
the Netherlands found the virus
in sewage water even when cases
of Covid-19 were very low and the
outbreak was still in its early sta-
ges in Dutch cities.
In another analysis, scientists
suggested the use of paper-based
devices (analytical devices for
rapid diagnostics of pathogens) to
trace these pathogens early on.
In the Dutch study, published
in pre-print service medRxiv,
Manufacturing activity
at 4-month low in March
MOUNTING STRESS Export orders, future activity indices signal falling demand
Asit Ranjan Mishra
n asit.m@livemint.com
NEW DELHI: India’s manufactur-
ing sector growth slowed to a
four-month low in March, with
the nationwide lockdown to
contain the covid-19 outbreak
throwing normal economic
activity out of gear, according to
a private survey released on
Wednesday.
The manufacturing Purchas-
ing Managers’ Index (PMI) for
India declined from 54.5 in Feb-
ruary to 51.8 in March. A figure
of above 50 indicates expansion,
while a sub-50 print signals con-
traction.
The survey by data analytics
firm IHS Markit tracks new
orders, output, jobs, suppliers’
delivery time, and stocks of pur-
chases for around 400 manufac-
turers.
The most prominent signs of
trouble for Indian manufactur-
ing came from the new export
orders and future activity indi-
ces, which indicated falling
global demand and softening
domestic confidence, respec-
tively, said Eliot Kerr, econo-
mist, IHS Markit.
“Should the trajectory of
injections continue in the same
vein, the Indian manufacturing
sector can expect a much
sharper negative impact in the
coming months, similar to the
scale seen in other countries,”
said Kerr.
Other lead indicators also
suggest substantial impact of
the covid-19 outbreak on the
economy. In March, India’s
goods and services tax (GST)
collection fell to ₹97,597 crore,
against the ₹1.25 trillion target
for the month.
India’s largest carmaker
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s
domestic vehicle sales also
declined sharply by 48%. It sold
76,976 units during the month,
compared to 147,613 units a year
ago.
With the disruption in eco-
nomic activity, most economists
n The study, however, is not conclusive.
Research Institute (China), Chi-
nese Academy of Agricultural
Sciences and National High Con-
tainment Laboratory for Animal
Diseases Control and Prevention
(China).
Animals studied were inocu-
lated and the viral RNA load was
quantified from organs of those
euthanised and faeces of animals
isolated.
“In summary, we found that
ferrets and cats are highly sus-
tests were conducted on sewage
water samples three weeks
before the first Covid-19 case in
the Netherlands but no markers
were found. When the test was
conducted again a week after the
outbreak, markers were found.
Scientists clarified there was
no evidence yet that sewage is a
transmission mode for the virus.
Although SARS-CoV-2 has been
detected in a significant propor-
tion of stool samples in earlier
studies, just two studies reported
finding infectious virus from
these samples. This indicates
virus doesn’t sustain in sewage
water for long possibly due to
treatment.
n The June quarter will witness hardships as the lockdown will lead to production cuts and job losses for
casual labourers, and even after the lockdown, it will be gradual step to see the implications of it on new
infections, say experts.
CRISIL HAD SLASHED ITS
GROWTH ESTIMATE FOR
FY21 TO 3.5% AND SAID
THAT ADVERSE EFFECTS
OF LOCKDOWN CAN
DWARF GAINS FROM
DROP IN CRUDE OIL
PRICES, AND STIMULI
projected a gross domestic prod-
uct contraction for the June
quarter, while slashing their
FY21 economic growth esti-
mates.
The June quarter will wit-
ness hardships as the lockdown
will lead to production cuts and
job losses for casual labourers,
said Indranil Pan, chief econo-
mist, IDFC Bank.
“Even as the lockdown opens
SATISH BATE/HT FILE
ceptible to SARS-CoV-2 [which
causes Covid-19], dogs have low
susceptibility, and livestock
including pigs, chickens, and
ducks are not susceptible to the
virus. Ferrets have frequently
been used as an animal model for
the study of human respiratory
viruses. Unlike influenza viruses
and other human SARS-corona-
virus, which replicate in both the
upper and lower respiratory tract
of ferrets, we found SARS-CoV-2
“Sewage surveillance could
also serve as early warning of the
re-emergence of Covid-19 in cit-
ies, much like the sewage surveil-
lance for poliovirus that has been
used for this purpose,” authors
from the KWR Water Research
Institute in the Netherlands said
in the study.
Another analysis published in
the Environment Science and
Technology journal by scientists
from the School of Water, Energy
and Environment, Cranfield Uni-
versity, and Chinese Academy of
Sciences spoke on the paper-
based devices.
Dr Zhugen Yang, lecturer at
Cranfield Water Science Insti-
up, we think that it will be grad-
ual, one step at a time, to see the
implication of it on new infec-
tions. Thus, there is potential
for domestic demand to remain
low and crunched for an even
more significant period,” said
Pan.
Rating agency Crisil Ltd had
last week slashed its growth
estimate for FY21 by 170 basis
points to 3.5% and said that the
adverse effects of the ongoing
lockdown can dwarf the gains
from the sharp drop in crude oil
prices, and the anticipated mon-
etary and fiscal stimuli.
The government is working
on a fiscal stimulus to jumpstart
the economy apart from provid-
ing support to the healthcare
and industrial sectors, eco-
nomic affairs secretary Atanu
Chakraborty had hinted on
Tuesday.
only replicates in the nasal tur-
binate, soft palate, and tonsils of
ferrets,” the study concluded.
But its too early to conclude
whether cats can contract the
infection in natural conditions
(non-experimental) and whether
they can infect humans.
Dr Nivedita Gupta, a viral dis-
eases expert at the Indian Council
of Medical Research, said some
animals will be susceptible to the
virus and that is how animal
models are created for research
on vaccines. “But to jump to the
conclusion that they can infect
pet owners and humans is not
right. We have domestic cats in
India which can be very different
from the cats in China. First, we
need to understand what is the
spill over point to cats there. Such
spill overs happen due to zoonotic
interface between humans and
wild animals. In the SARS epi-
demic also we saw that civet cats
were a reservoir of the virus.
Nobody keeps civets as pets.”
Some media reports have sug-
gested that even dogs can be
infected. Bloomberg carried a
report on March 19 saying two
dogs tested positive for the virus
in Hong Kong.
tute, said: “In the case of asympto-
matic infections in the commu-
nity or when people are not sure
whether they are infected or not,
real time community sewage
detection through paper analyti-
cal devices could determine
whether there are Covid-19 carri-
ers in an area.”
“Sewage surveillance has been
done for polio and non-polio
viruses in the past. But I think
that would be a post -pandemic
response in India. We need test-
ing kits to be available right now.
That’s a priority,” said Dr Shobha
Broor, former head of microbiol-
ogy at All India Institute of Medi-
cal Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.
BLOOMBERG
Finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman had last week
rolled out a ₹1.7 lakh crore relief
package, to limit the economic
damage caused by the coronavi-
rus outbreak and to address the
loss of livelihood of millions of
poor hit by the unprecedented
lockdown.
The relief package, under the
newly-framed Prime Minister
Garib Kalyan Yojana, aims to
alleviate the financial pain
faced by migrant workers, farm-
ers, urban and rural poor, and
women.
Pan said while everyone is
clamouring for a fiscal stimu-
lus, the first job for the govern-
ment now is healthcare, Pan
said. “A stimulus for the general
economy can be focused on only
after the lockdown has ended, to
ensure that the fiscal stimulus is
spent and not saved,” he said.
facetoface
DAVID NABARRO, Special envoy, World Health Organization
‘Lockdown in India was early, this
was far-sighted, courageous move’
NEW DELHI :There is no evi-
dence to suggest that the coro-
navirus disease (Covid-19)
will disappear, says Dr David
Nabarro, the World Health
Organization’s (WHO) special
envoy on the disease, adding
that people may have to con-
sider new norms for the fore-
seeable future. Declaring a
lockdown when there was rel-
atively a small number of
cases in India gave the coun-
try time to come to terms with
the new virus, he tells San-
chita Sharma in an interview.
Edited excerpts:
Can Covid-19 be stopped?
If you don’t get in early and
the outbreaks grow, they get
very big very quickly and
then managing them is a mas-
sive task.
So, where you have coun-
tries with not many cases and
strong, robust responses at
the community level sup-
ported by governments, we
are most hopeful.
Everything starts at the
community level, detecting
people with disease and isolat-
ing them, finding their con-
tacts and quarantining them,
and maintaining, as far as pos-
sible, a ready state to respond
to outbreaks quickly, and
widespread efforts to reduce
opportunities of transmission
through lockdowns. During a
lockdown, you must build
community capacity for inter-
rupting transmission where
its starts and I see it recog-
nised in India.
How would you rate India’s
response?
The lockdown in India was
quite early on, when there
was relatively a small number
of cases detected. This was a
far-sighted decision because it
gave the country the opportu-
nity to come to terms with the
reality of this enemy. People
understood that there is a
virus in our midst. It gave
Aurobindo Pharma
abandons $1 bn
deal with Sandoz
Swaraj Singh Dhanjal
n swaraj.d@livemint.com
MUMBAI: Aurobindo Pharma Ltd
has abandoned a proposed $1 bil-
lion purchase of the US derma-
tology business as well as three
manufacturing plants of Sandoz,
the generics unit of Swiss drug
maker Novartis, as it did not get
approval from the US Federal
Trade Commission (US FTC).
“Aurobindo today announced
the mutual agreement with San-
doz Inc. to terminate the agree-
ment to buy the Sandoz US
generic oral solids and dermatol-
ogy businesses from Sandoz Inc.
This decision was taken as
approval from the US Federal
Trade Commission for the trans-
action was not obtained within
anticipated timelines,” the com-
pany said in a regulatory filing
on Thursday.
Hyderabad-based generics
drug maker Aurobindo had
agreed in September 2018 to
acquire these businesses from
Sandoz for an upfront payment
of $900 million and performance-
based payouts of $100 million.
At the time, the transaction
was the largest outbound
pharma deal by an Indian com-
pany. The previous largest was
the acquisition of Gavis Pharma-
ceuticals Llc and Novel Labora-
tories by Lupin Ltd for $880 mil-
lion in 2015.
In 2016, Aurobindo bid for
Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuti-
cal Industries Ltd’s Actavis UK
Ltd and Actavis Ireland Ltd
units. It was pipped to the post by
domestic rival Intas Pharmaceu-
ticals Ltd, which paid close to
£600 million (around ₹5,000
crore).
Other notable transactions in
the outbound pharma space in
recent years include Cipla Ltd’s
acquisition of three products
from Teva in the US. In Novem-
ber 2016, Aurobindo had also
acquired a few products from
Teva’s France portfolio.
At the time of the Sandoz
acquisition, Aurobindo claimed
that the deal would catapult it to
the second position in the derma-
tological drugs segment and
would also make it the second-
largest generics company in the
US by prescriptions.
time to develop capacities at
the local level and sorting out
hospitals.
Of course, there is a lot of
debate and criticism, and
inevitably with a lot of frus-
tration and anger that life is
being disturbed this way. I
think it is courageous of the
government to take this step
and provoke this enormous
public debate and let the frus-
tration come out, to accept
that there will be hundreds of
millions of people whose lives
are being disrupted. For poor
people on daily wages, this is a
massive sacrifice. And to do it
now as opposed to waiting toll
when the virus is more wide-
spread, was very courageous.
Unlike in Europe and USA?
Comparisons between gov-
ernments are not very help-
ful, but I can say that there
have been countries where
that kind of strong action was
not taken early on and we see
they now have to struggle
with immense suffering. We
are seeing health workers
absolutely at the end of their
tether, and getting infected
because they are exhausted.
We see long term lockdowns
being talked about... some
people are talking about six
weeks, eight weeks.
Is a 21-day ockdown enough?
That all depends on how well-
organised the basic communi-
ty-level public health services
and hospitals are. And
whether people can see it as a
battle that requires solidarity
right across society. I don’t
hindustantimes
POWERED BY
Firms react to the
virus with pay cuts
Team Mint
n feedback@livemint.com
Amid a nationwide lockdown to
slow the spread of covid-19, com-
panies are reworking cost struc-
tures to survive, as remote work
and lower discretionary spend-
ing have become the new normal.
Companies in the worst-hit
sectors such as aviation and hos-
pitality have announced immedi-
ate pay cuts. Indigo, India’s most
profitable airline, was the first to
announce a 25% cut in senior staff
pay. Rival airlines SpiceJet and
GoAir too have announced simi-
lar pay cuts. GoAir has also
retrenched its entire workforce of
expat pilots, who are considered
expensive. It has introduced
leave without pay and up to 50%
pay cut for its top leadership.
On Thursday, SoftBank-
funded Oyo reduced salaries for
senior and top-level executives.
Founder and CEO Ritesh Agar-
wal decided to forgo his entire
FY21 salary while the company’s
executive leadership took a vol-
untary pay cut beginning at 25%.
Many companies are also
revisiting organisational struc-
tures to manage costs. Headhunt-
ers who spoke to Mint requesting
anonymity estimated that C-suite
hiring is already down by 50%,
worse than during the economic
slowdown in 2008-09. Many com-
Oil firms supply cleaner
BS-VI fuel across India
Rajeev Jayaswal
rajeev.jayaswal@htlive.com
n
NEW DELHI: State-run oil market-
ing companies (OMCs) have
launched cleaner BS-VI grade
petrol and diesel across the
country from Wednesday with
an investment of ₹35,000 crore
without raising their pump pri-
ces, thanks to the slump in inter-
national oil rates.
As per the commitment, the
three public sector companies –
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),
Bharat Petroleum Corporation
Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan
Petroleum Corporation Ltd
(HPCL) have fully transitioned
CORONAVIRUS: SCIENCE
make any recommendation
because I don’t know what is
happening [on the ground].
India is looking carefully to
make sure that when the lock-
down is lifted, there won’t be a
windfall, with lots and lots of
cases, hospitals overwhelmed
and a national crisis. I think
that strategy is right.
What about the people worst
affected?
We need to save the lives of
people who are badly affected.
We must be looking after our
hospitals, treating our health
workers like they have to be
treated considering they are
on the front line, protecting
them as much as we can and
supporting them in society so
they get looked after... really
making sure they are secure.
In imposing major lock-
downs, all governments are
having to juggle with the need
to really get on top of out-
breaks quickly and, at the
same time, ensure that people
through the lockdown are not
experiencing extreme impov-
erishment or shortage of food.
There is growing recogni-
tion all across the world that
we have to manage lockdowns
very carefully.
The size of some of these
lockdowns is really massive,
so having an integrated policy
of lockdown management
that deals with the social and
economic consequences is
always important. As far as I
know, there are 70 countries
and territories where lock-
down is being applied, which
is somewhere around one-
third or half of the world’s
population. So lockdown
management is a key activity
to get right alongside the
response to the disease.
Will the virus go away or will it
become a seasonal?
We don’t know how it will
behave over time or whether
it will become less serious and
11
SOME COMPANIES HAVE
STOPPED OR DELAYED
PAYMENTS TO SAVE
CASH BY INVOKING
FORCE MAJEURE
panies are trying to fill critical
roles internally even if the person
does not tick all the boxes.
E-commerce and online deliv-
ery companies have struggled to
keep operating, and some have
tapped technology solutions to
keep going. Ashish Jhina,
co-founder of Jumbotail, an
online wholesale marketplace for
food and grocery products, said
the company is working to reduce
delivery touch points by artificial
intelligence-driven delivery
promise, and route optimisation.
These have resulted in 50-60%
increase in productivity within
the last week itself, he said. “We
are working with non-essential
services companies to utilise
their workforce to ramp up deliv-
ery capacity,” Jhina said.
Some companies have stopped
or delayed payments to suppliers
to conserve cash, by invoking
force majeure clauses. One of
them is commercial vehicle
maker Volvo Eicher Commercial
Vehicles, which has decided to
temporarily delay payments to
some suppliers.
to BS-VI compliant petrol and
diesel across the country, an
IOC spokesperson said. Execu-
tives of the three oil companies
said on condition of anonymity
that consumer prices of petrol
and diesel have not been raised
to recover the investments in
upgrading refineries as prices of
auto fuels had been freezed
since March 16 despite a steep
fall in their international rates.
Petrol is currently sold at
₹69.59 per litre in Delhi and die-
sel is priced at ₹62.29 a litre since
March 16 despite India’s aver-
age crude oil purchase price
(Indian basket) has dropped by
over 27%.
whether it will have a particu-
lar distribution pattern. The
virus is four months old, to
our knowledge, and we are
learning.
I don’t know what will hap-
pen in hotter weather. I’m
really eagerly awaiting infor-
mation from your country
which is now going into the
summer to know whether or
not there is the same level of
transmission, or whether it is
the same level of illness that
we’ve seen in temperate cli-
mate.
I’m really hoping that it
won’t be quite so severe and
that weather will be on our
side. We also don’t know how
the virus will behave in com-
munities where there is quite
a lot of illness, like malaria or
other infectious diseases.
Will social distancing be the
new normal?
Let’s wait and see but let us
plan for the virus to be with us
for the foreseeable future.
There is no evidence to sug-
gest it will suddenly disap-
pear.I believe the coming real-
ity for the world will be one
where we are always defend-
ing against this enemy, like a
kind of fire brigade is needed
in place.
And within that defence,
then have the recovery of
social interaction and eco-
nomic activity but done in a
way that keeps us all safe. I
don’t think we have an impos-
sible task, but if we call on our
collective ingenuity to estab-
lish norms that will enable
society and business to get on
with what they do best, which
is enterprise that creates
wealth and enables people to
have a decent standard of life.
I’m asking people to consider
the new norms at the same
time they are imposing lock-
downs because the norms are
going to be key to exiting
safely from lockdowns with-
out exposing them to disease.
12 hindustantimes
p g
htspotlight
Big Sports lose in stoppage time
MAJOR CRISIS With top leagues and governing bodies set to face financial fallout, sports business may have to return to less profligate times
HT Correspondent
sportsdesk@hindustantimes.com
n
NEW DELHI : This is not just the era
of sports, this is the era of Big
Sports. And, for the moment, it
has come to a complete halt. The
billion-dollar broadcast deals, the
millions of viewers, the mega
sporting events that transform
entire countries (for better or for
worse) are all in limbo.
Every tournament, every
league, every team and every
sporting organisation around the
world will have to cope with the
immense financial fallout of this
stoppage. FIFA, world football’s
governing body, is already work-
ing on plans to tap into its vast
financial reserves—reportedly
worth over $2 billion, to assist the
football industry worldwide.
UEFA, the sport’s European
governing body, has lost $300 mil-
lion by having to postpone its flag-
ship Euro 2020 tournament by a
year. They will also incur huge
losses in sponsorship fee, broad-
cast and marketing rights
because of suspension of the
Champions League matches.
The Tokyo Olympics are in the
same trajectory—delayed by a
year, they are looking at esti-
mated losses of $5.94 billion.
The Indian Premier League is
holding on to the improbable
hope that they will be able to res-
chedule the season within the
year, but if they are unable to do
so, they are staring at a $1 billion
loss, spread across various stake-
holders (according to consult-
ancy firm Duff & Phelps). This is
not to mention the hundreds of
small clubs, leagues, and teams
that depend entirely on gate sales.
The sports business has
emerged largely unscathed
through past crises—none of
the great financial difficulties
the world has faced in the
past few decades made much
difference to its growth into a
financial behemoth.
Look at football, for example.
In 2000, Portugal’s Louis Figo
signed for Real Madrid for the
then record transfer fee of
(roughly) $40 million dollars.
By 2017, the record transfer fee
stood at around $243 million, paid
by PSG for Neymar. In the next
one year, there were four more
transfers worth $100 million or
more in Europe.
When the Covid-19 pandemic
passes, the world of Big Sports
will face its toughest ever chal-
lenge; it may have to make a
return to less profligate times.
GOAT on grass: Will we see
Federer at Wimbledon again?
BEYOND
THE NEWS
ADITYA IYER
O
ver the last fortnight,
have you found your-
self feeling deeply
apologetic about miss-
ing live sports?
Watching millionaires smack
a ball with their foot, racquet or
bat has always been a great way
to rise above the drudgery of
everyday life; but where we are
now, is very far from ordinary.
That perspective made it easy
to dismiss the personal anguish
of fellow sports fans. The suspen-
sion of Liverpool’s title-run in
the English Premier League?
Get a grip. The postponement of
the European Championship
and Tokyo Olympics? Forget
about it. The cancellation of the
Indian Premier League? About
time already.
That resolve remained firm
until the most highbrowed
sports event of them all got called
off for the year, and all perspec-
tive and apologies streamed out
of sanitised windows. For the
first time in 75 years, since the
end of World War II, Wimbledon
has been cancelled. More poign-
antly for those who have wit-
nessed the ongoing era in the
sport, this will be the first June/
July in 23 years without Roger
Federer featuring on his beloved
bed of grass.
In the bygone decade, Federer
didn’t win a single US Open,
started ignoring the French
Open and required great mira-
cles to survive at the Australian
Open. It was only at Wimbledon
that he remained omnipresent—
like his court coverage—and a
constant in the far reaches of the
second week of the tournament.
Those reasons alone are enough
to make the third Grand Slam of
the year the one that matters the
most to tennis fans; tradition and
BALL STOPS ROLLING, MONEY DOESN’T SPIN
The cancelling or postponing of events has potentially serious financial consequences and even if some teams or
leagues have insurance that can cover some of the lost revenue, a lengthy stop will have an impact that will last long
after the games resume. Here’s a look at some feeling the pinch
Projected revenue loss from broadcasting and commercial rights and gate sales due to suspension of all leagues.
PREMIER LEAGUE LA LIGA
$1,340 $1,083
million million
LIONEL
MESSI
SADIO
MANE
n If and when Roger Federer returns to Wimbledon next year, he will
be 39, and playing for both lost and leftover time.
strawberries can take a walk.
Surprisingly enough, the
greatest Wimbledon career on
the men’s side of the draw, which
saw eight titles, is enclosed
within two five-set losses to dif-
ferent Novaks—Jiri in first
round of 1998 and Djokovic in the
final of 2019. I cannot remember
the former and do not want to
remember the latter. For Roger
fans (and doesn’t that include
everyone who watches tennis?),
the life and times of Federer at
SW19 is bracketed within two
monumental victories: the first
against Pete Sampras, in the
fourth round of 2001; and the last
against Rafa Nadal, in the semi-
final of 2019, which set the record
straight against the Spaniard.
I can only illustrate the inter-
val between those two moments,
and hence Federer’s longevity,
using personal milestones.
When Federer snatched the
baton from the seven-time Wim-
bledon winner in Sampras, I had
just completed my 10th standard
board exams. More than half a
lifetime (or 18 years) later, I was
fortunate enough to be on Centre
Court for the father of all
rematches—Federer v Nadal at
Wimbledon for the first time
FOOTBALL
BUNDESLIGA SERIE A
$1,083 $780.9 $439.9
million million
ROBERT
LEWANDOWSKI
CRISTIANO
RONALDO
GETTY IMAGES
since their epic, era-defining
final in 2008. Apart from a period
of play in the fourth set, the
quality of that semi-final didn’t
quite live up to the hype. But
Centre Court’s immaculate love
for Federer did.
Federer is revered every-
where he plays around the
globe—his groundstrokes can
lift every spectator in the largest
tennis arena in the world, the
Arthur Ashe Stadium in New
York. But even that pales when
compared to Wimbledon’s pas-
sion for anything Federer. For
one, that romance has little to do
with his shot-making abilities.
2019: sometime in the second
set, Nadal ran along the length of
his baseline and curled in a mag-
nificent forehand down-the-line
winner. Urged by a sprinkle of
loud Rafa supporters, Centre
Court followed with a belated
and sympathetic ripple of
applause. Next point, Nadal
crashed his backhand into the
net and Centre Court exploded—
men in crocodile-leather shoes
and tweed jackets forgot time
and again that they weren’t at a
football match.
That Friday may mark the last
time Federer won a match at
LIGUE 1
$650
million million
$450 million
will be lost in gate
NEYMAR revenues alone as
there were 259 games
left when the season
was suspended.
LEBRON
JAMES
Wimbledon. It is still hard to
fully comprehend how he man-
aged to lose two days later on
Sunday. At 8-7 and 40-15 in the
fifth set, Federer had two match
points on his serve to win his
ninth trophy at Wimbledon and
tie Martina Navratilova for the
record. On the second match
point at 40-30, he even set up the
point just as he had set up the
match point against Andy Mur-
ray in 2012. Seven years apart,
Federer served down the T and
Murray and Djokovic blocked it
back. Federer then whipped his
forehand down-the-line and
charged towards the net to stifle
the angle of the return.
In 2012, Murray’s crosscourt
passing shot sailed wide and Fed-
erer slipped to his knees and
cried. In 2019, Djokovic’s cross-
court passing shot landed on the
edge of the service box. Every-
thing after that remains a blur. It
is hard to focus when you’re
blinking back tears.
Djokovic has now beaten
Federer in three Wimbledon
finals (three!) to take his SW19
count to five and over all Slam
tally to 17—three Biw Ws and
three majors away from tying
both of Federer’s all-time
records. Even the most rabid
Federer fans have probably
accepted that Djokovic is going
to reel Federer’s numbers in,
what with the Serb having won
five out of the last seven Slams
(including the only one played
this year) in what is already a
full-fledged hot streak, the third
such streak of his career.
A cancelled Wimbledon is
bound to hurt Djokovic’s rhythm
but not as much as it is bound to
impact Federer’s ticking career-
clock. If and when Wimbledon is
held next year and if—and that’s
the big if—Federer returns to
play it, he will almost 40, and
playing for both lost and leftover
time. But because it’s Federer at
Wimbledon and that occurrence
has often defied logic, his fans
will still expect him to win it.
NBA IPL
$513.5
million
total estimated
loss to BCCI if the
IPL is cancelled.
This includes
$433.97
million
broadcast and
streaming
revenue
VIRAT
KOHLI
Pressure mounts
on NRAI to cancel
New Delhi WC
Agencies
n sportm@hindustantimes.com
NEWDELHI:Pressure is building up
on the National Rifle Association
of India (NRAI) to call off the
upcoming shooting World Cup in
New Delhi after the cancellation
of the Munich edition, owing to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Delhi World Cup, origi-
nally scheduled to be held from
March 15-26, was postponed
barely four days before the start
of the event.
It was then decided to hold the
tournament in two parts—Rifle
and Pistol competitions from
May 5-12, while Shotgun competi-
tions from June 2-9. However,
with the Munich World Cup can-
celled, sources close to NRAI said
it is also under pressure to follow
suit, considering the uncertainty
arising out of the unprecedented
health crisis.
“There is pressure, especially
after the cancellation in Munich,
which was to be held after Delhi.
Given that lockdowns are being
enforced not just in India, how
will the shooters prepare for an
event like a World Cup now,” a
source told PTI.
UMPIRES AID SCORERS,
MATCH OFFICIALS
MUMBAI: The scoreboard has
stopped ticking for now owing to
the Covid-19 pandemic, but to
ensure that the city’s scorers are
not hit by hardship, a group of
former umpires has decided to
lend a helping hand. The group,
led by former Mumbai Cricket
Association (MCA) managing
committee member and ex-BCCI
umpire Ganesh Iyer, has set up a
fund to ensure assistance.
MCA tournament coordinator
Abhay Hadap said a scorer gets
₹1,500 per match per day and an
umpire is paid ₹2,000 per day per
match. He said, “Till now we have
been successful in raising ₹2.5
lakh and the process of raising
funds will continue. A few of the
current Apex Council members
of the MCA have also chipped in.”
HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I
FRIDAY, A PRIL 03, 2 02 0
CORONAVIRUS: SPORT
PL CLUBS MAY
HAVE TO PAY
EXTRA TAX ON
PLAYERS’ WAGES
Agencies
n sportm@hindustantimes.com
ONCE IN
LONDON: Premier League clubs
that use government money for
FOUR YEARS the salaries of non-playing staff
while continuing to pay players
their full wage could be hit by
a new tax.
Julian Knight, who chairs the
British government’s Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport Com-
mittee, expressed his “dismay” at
clubs using the government’s fur-
lough scheme which will guaran-
FORMULA 1 OLYMPICS tee 80 per cent of salary for staff
members up to a maximum of
£2,500 a month.
The Premier League are in dis-
cussions with the Professional
Footballers’ Association (PFA)
but no cuts have so far been
agreed for players’ salaries.
$5,000 $5,940 TOUR DE FRANCE
million
million ON SCHEDULE
estimated loss to Japan due PARIS: Cycling’s shutdown was
to the postponement. This extended until June due to the
includes preparing for coronavirus pandemic, meaning
another year, hindered French one-week stage race the
value F1 lost on
the market after
post-use of new permanent
facilities and Olympic Village,
Criterium du Dauphine will be
postponed, the organisers have
uncertainty tourism etc. announced. However, the Tour
surrounding the de France, due to start in Nice on
season with seven $1.2 billion estimated June 27, remains on schedule.
GPs postponed loss in advertisement revenue The Criterium was to have
and Monaco for American broadcaster NBC started in Clermont Ferrand on
cancelled. May 31, while the only remaining
key Tour de France warm-up
race not yet postponed is the
EURO 2020 Tour de Suisse.
RUSSIAN ATHLETES
WON’T BE CLEARED
$300
LAUSANNE:World Athletics says it
won’t clear any Russian athletes
million to compete internationally amid
the shutdown caused by the coro-
n A shortened F1
navirus pandemic.
The governing body of track
season could
due to postponement of Euro requires Russians to apply for
spice it up for
Mercedes' Lewis 2020. UEFA will also lose in “authorized neutral athlete” sta-
Hamilton, who sponsorship fee, broadcast and tus each year to compete outside
has won the marketing rights because of their home country. Russia has
title three years suspension of the Champions been suspended from World Ath-
in a row. AP League matches. letics since 2015 for doping.
KKR TO GIVE PERSONAL
PROTECTION KIT
KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders
(KKR) will provide 50,000 Per-
sonal Protection Equipment
(PPE) for healthcare workers in
West Bengal and Maharashtra
governments.
The two-time champions of the
Indian Premier League will be
helped in this initiative by Meer
Foundation, a not-for-profit orga-
nisation in Mumbai that was
Source: Statista founded by Shah Rukh Khan in
2013. KKR will also contribute to
the PM Cares Fund.
thetimescrosswords
CRYPTIC CLUES
Across
PUZZLE 15554 ©GeminiCrosswords2016 All rights reserved
1 Where US Congressmen meet for
an optical illusion (7)
4 Novel house, but starting
to let rain in (5)
7 Regretted sounding
discourteous (4)
8 Line brought into use when
one rings (4,4)
10 Do they stop cars in record
time? (4,6)
12 Try hard to get rivets out (6)
13 Type of briefs used in the textile
industry (6)
15 Final notices (10)
18 Be generous with some
incriminating information? (4,4)
19 Jilted old queen who took
no action? (4)
20 Gave a straight decision? (5)
21 Mother takes a long time to get
compensation (7)
Down QUICK CLUES
1 Well salted (5)
Across Down
2 A request certain to give
1 Hoarsely loud (7) 1 Scoundrel (5)
satisfaction (8)
3 Drifting fish turn up on the way (6) 4 Wild card (5) 2 Without parallel (8)
4 They dance with bears, all in 7 Acquire (4) 3 To plot (6)
disarray (10)
8 Chaotic situation (8) 4 Act prematurely (4,3,3)
5 It was enough for our ancestors (4)
10 Composure (10) 5 Type of cabbage (4)
6 Magnetic holders? (7)
12 Vast cluster of stars (6) 6 Give back (7)
9 Proper place for company
chairman (5,5) 13 Develop into (6) 9 Under desperate conditions (2,8)
11 Falling behind on the track (8) 15 Speak distinctly (10) 11 Drowsy (8)
12 Ginger’s stupid laugh (7)
18 Great wickedness (8) 12 Enterprising (2-5)
14 Maroon thread (6)
19 Become listless (4) 14 Admirable quality (6)
16 Sees a vessel within a vessel (5)
20 Waste matter (5) 16 Upright (5)
17 I’ve turned left - it’s not right
anyway (4) 21 Distinguished (7) 17 Unaccompanied (4)
SOLUTIONS FOR 15553
Cryptic Quick
 HIN DU STA N T IM ES , M U M BA I
F RIDAY, A PRIL 03 , 2020 TIME OUT htcafé 13

WITH HUMANS AT HOME,

Experts state
‘This is the real that the air
quality has
sabbatical for improved at

Ayushmann’
Sonil Dedhia the day goes in it. Later, we
bake or cook something. We
NATURE BREATHES EASY once, add that
marine life has
been flourishing
As whaling is on hold,

L
ast year, in October,
Ayushmann Khurrana
had said that he will be
taking a long break from work
to spend time with wife Tahira
Kashyap and their two
children, Virajveer and
Varushka. But according to
Tahira, the actor was still
working. “When he said he
was taking a break, it meant
that he was not shooting for
movies. But for us, he wasn’t
really available. From a digital
shoot to a photo shoot and
even shooting for
commercials, he was doing all
of it,” she says, adding that the
21-day lockdown due to
coronavirus is a blessing in
have baked cakes, cookies and
made ice-creams. In the experts say marine
evening, all of us paint life is in a much better
together. Ayushmann likes to state PHOTO: ISTOCK
play music so he does that and
he is also teaching piano to our
son. So, we are all bonding
really well.”
The family follows Nichiren
Buddhism and Tahira says
that it has really helped them
during this time of crisis.
“There is a lot of negativity
which is being circulated on
social media. But I think, A shot of the cityscape from a residential tower in Bhandup, Mumbai PHOTO: MANISH GUPTA
having a big anchor of faith in
our lives, helps you to stay MY CITY roads, reduced emissions, projects, Vanashakti. He backs Stalin further explains,
strong. Some might say that limited industrial waste and his statement saying, now that with fishing activities at a
you are superstitious, but Sammohinee Ghosh most importantly minimal people cannot step out and standstill, marine life gets a
whatever empowers to fight plastic deposition has helped have been directed to stay chance to breed and

disguise. “This is the real
sabbatical for Ayushmann.
And we are all having a good
time together and doing things
we otherwise wouldn’t have
got the time for,” she shares.
Tahira says keeping the
kids locked in is a big task.
“We went into quarantine
from March 15, way before the
lockdown was announced. In
the first few days, we literally
felt like pulling each other’s
hair,” jokes Tahira, as she says
that she is keeping her kids
occupied by dividing time
between studies and
activities. “Their
school has started
with digital
learning, so the
first half of
on and stay positive should
be followed. We have
increased our chanting
time and it has been a huge
source of strength,” she
concludes.
n sonil.dedhia@htlive.com
G
rey and blue — the
colours have the exact
same number of letters
and yet, spur vastly
different ideas. That’s perhaps
why similes or phrases such
as, “as blue as the sky” or
“clear blue sky” don’t make
for obsolete expressions. But
only two weeks ago, could you
have used such a turn of
phrase to describe the city
sky? How or why can you now?
The lockdown has curbed
human interference in
nature’s way of work. Empty
SUDOKU
the environment heal. For
some time, the sky hasn’t
looked grey, sullen or smoky.
The mild progress brings us to
a rather pertinent point; can
ecological balance be restored
through curfews on human
activity? Environmentalists
based in Mumbai share their
insightful take on the
situation.
“The Janta Curfew teaches
us a lesson. It tells us human
beings are a bunch of viruses
on earth,” says Stalin
Dayanand, director of
DIFFICULTY LEVEL
indoors for their own safety;
the air quality has improved at
once. Speaking about the
future, he adds, “Our natural
surroundings must be given a
chance to repair and recover.
In the long run, working from
home one day a week will be of
no use. We should suspend
unnecessary movement for
thirty days at a stretch every
year. In my opinion, that will
help our rivers, forests, land
and air pull through the
constant onslaught of
damages.”
CALVIN AND HOBBES
multiply. “Whaling is on hold.
Commercial fishing has led to
the depletion of certain
species. Go to any fish market
and you will find palm-sized
sharks and pomfrets. Such
threatened species can only
recuperate in the given
circumstances. A month-long
window would also help birds
find secure places to make
nests, lay eggs and bring their
young ones up. A nature break
is a must,” Stalin states.
On Wednesday, the air
quality index (AQI) in Mumbai
was 69. It was 71 and 80 at BKC
and Navi Mumbai
respectively. Air quality can
be classed as good if AQI is
below 50. “Currently, we are in
the satisfactory category,”
says Bhagwan Kesbhat,
founder, Waatavaran. To give
city-dwellers a better
understanding of air quality
readings he adds, “Anything
ranging from 200 to 300, is
poor. Above 300, AQI is
considered to be very poor. We
can’t be complacent about the
present scenario and have to
think of ways to maintain this.
Pollution levels are low even
during monsoon months as the
rainwater makes suspended
particulate matter settle on the
soil. Also, human activity in
the rainy season is
comparatively restrained due
to partial mobility.”
n ht.cafe@htlive.com
Bill Watterson

MATHDOKU DID YOU KNOW?

Even before actor Ranbir Kapoor
worked with his father, actor Rishi
Kapoor, in Besharam (2013), he
Fill in all the squares in the grid so that each row, column and
each of the 9X9 squares contains all the digits from 1 to 9. had assisted on Rishi’s directorial,
Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999).
SCRAMBLE - 3410
Solve the four anagrams and move one letter to each square to
form four ordinary words

Tahira Kashyap;
(top inset) Ayushmann Khurrana;
(below inset) Virajveer and Varushka
PHOTOS: INSTAGRAM/AYUSHMANNK;
INSTAGRAM/TAHIRAKASHYAP
AGTAE
DE EST
ABDL LY
E H IST F
Now arrange the letters marked with an asterisk (*) to form the
answer to the riddle or to fill in the missing words as indicated.
Our insignificance is often the cause of our _________.
- Aesop (6)
SOLUTION SUDOKU SOLUTION MATHDUKU
- Aesop
ANSWER: Our insignificance is often the cause of our safety. Place numbers into the puzzle cells so that each row and column contains each of the digits from 1 to 5. No number is to be repeated in any row or
SCRAMBLE SOLUTION: Agate, steed, baldly, fetish column. Each bold-outlined cells contain a hint of a number and one of the mathematical symbols + x - /. The number is the result of the operation
represented by the symbol to the digits contained.

Astrologer Prem Kumar Sharma can be contacted at: Delhi: 011-47033152, Eddie Murphy: The actor, comedian and singer,
FRIDAY,
DAILY HOROSCOPE APRIL 03,
2020
40532026 (Sat to Mon): Panchkula: 91-172-2562832, 2572874 (Tues to Thurs);
Mumbai: 09716145644 (Last week of every month)
known for films such as 48 Hrs., Trading Places,
The Nutty Professor, Dolemite Is My Name, and
Dreamgirls, turns 59 today.

Nobody can deter you from your resolve to
make more money. You are likely to take
up a creative pursuit and earn
appreciation. Irregular hours can upset
your routine and reflect on health. There
ARIES is no point in stepping outside the house
(MAR 21 - APR 20) unless really required to. Many options
will open up on the academic front.
Someone you dislike may extend a helping
hand, so don’t hesitate to extend a hand of friendship.
Love Focus: Getting involved in too many things will automatically
shift romance to a low key.
Lucky Number: 11 Lucky Colour: Cream
A deal you thought you had clinched may
show signs of slipping through your
fingers if you are not proactive. Keep the
pace up on the work front to avoid
lagging behind. Self-discipline will keep
TAURUS you in good health. Changes you wanted
(APR 21 - MAY 20) to bring to the home front will now be
possible. Those freshly out of college can
opt for higher studies. Things that you are
passionate about may come to you, even without you seeking them.
Love Focus: Someone you secretly admire is likely to set your heart
aflutter on the romantic front!
Lucky Number: 17 Lucky Colour: Electric Grey
Your enthusiasm for work is likely to keep
you energetic throughout the day. Don’t
pay the full amount for a service till you
have availed it. A new exercise regimen
will prove immensely useful in getting
GEMINI back into shape. Going to any extent for
(MAY 21 - JUN 21) the welfare of your family is ingrained in
your nature and you are not likely to leave
any stone unturned to help and support them.
Don’t take any chances on the road today. Keep someone who you are
suspicious about under close observation.
Love Focus: Don’t get too possessive in love.
Lucky Number: 9 Lucky Colour: Peach
Appreciation for something you have
achieved on the work front is likely to
add to your high morale. A venture may
require heavier than anticipated
expenditure for being successful.
CANCER Being a choosy eater has its advantages,
(JUNE 22 - JULY 22) as you remain in good health today.
Someone is likely to prove of immense help
to you on the family front. Today, travel is
best avoided.
Love Focus: Those waiting for love to happen can be in for a long
wait!
Lucky Number: 5 Lucky Colour: Green

In your eagerness for earning more,
don’t disturb the source providing you
steady income. Initiative on the
professional front will prove
indispensable in promoting your
interests. A change of routine may lead
some to perfect health. A great family
time is foreseen for some. Those spiritually
inclined will find mental solace in religious
activities.
Love Focus: Some problems may threaten to crop up on the
romantic front.
Lucky Number: 22 Lucky Colour: Royal Blue
Things look most promising on the Be careful at work today. A financial Your one-point programme of cutting
professional front and may give your dispute is amicably settled, thanks to costs will help you conserve money
career a push. Health tips are likely to your patience and perseverance. today. For success, you will need to
come in handy for those wanting to Alternative medicine will come in handy pursue your professional goals with all
come back in shape. Be careful in in curing an ailment. Parents or elders the energy and focus today. Some
LEO handling money. Parents may nag you VIRGO may insist on doing something that you LIBRA good advice on the health front will SCORPIO
(JULY 23 - AUG 23) over an issue and compel you to do their (AUG 24 - SEPT 23) don’t approve of. A journey you were (SEPT 24 - OCT 23) lead you to perfect fitness. Domestic (OCT 24 - NOV 22)
bidding. Your travel plans may undergo a looking forward to may have to be work is likely to be shared by your family
few changes due to someone’s insistence. Your cancelled. A disputed property bothering you is members today. A trip may get cancelled or
popularity is set to rise on the social front, as you increase your social not likely to get you into any legal wrangle. postponed for some of you. Don’t take things for granted on the
circle by networking. Love Focus: Your romantic endeavours may not bring immediate academic front.
Love Focus: Giving some space to lover will be a good idea. results. Love Focus: Spending time with lover looks possible.
Lucky Number: 7 Lucky Colour: Beige Lucky Number: 18 Lucky Colour: Magenta Lucky Number: 14 Lucky Colour: Dark Yellow

Some of you are likely to gain goodwill by
helping somebody commute. Handling
complicated tasks on the work front will
not pose much difficulty today. Love life
will prove most satisfying as lover
showers love and affection. Health
SAGITTARIUS problems disappear by only a slight
(NOV 23 - DEC 21)
change in lifestyle. You will find the family
more than supportive today in your
endeavours. A property matter may not get resolved due to delay in
paperwork.
Love Focus: Love life will prove most fulfilling.
Lucky Number: 6 Lucky Colour: Magenta
Saving money can be on the top of your
agenda today, but make sure that doing
so does not rub others the wrong
way. Those of you who may be
preparing for some kind of
important competition or interview will
CAPRICORN need to be more deliberate about it.
(DEC 22 - JAN 21)
Good health is assured to you as you get
back to your routine today. A religious
event or marriage ceremony is quite likely to be postponed to a
later date.
Love Focus: Love life remains satisfactory.
Lucky Number: 8 Lucky Colour: Coffee
You will need to give some more time for
financial troubles to be completely over.
Your ideas on the professional front are
likely to be accepted. Bringing changes
in lifestyle is likely to earn you better
health. Remaining on the right side of
AQUARIUS those who are important on the social
(JAN 22 - FEB 19)
front will be in your interest today.
Students can get distracted from their focus
due to peer pressure.
Love Focus: You are romantic by nature and will keep the fires of
passion burning in your love life.
Lucky Number: 4 Lucky Colour: Purple
Careful investments will soon start giving
rich dividends. An opportunity on the
business front will prove profitable.
Excellent physical condition may find
some full of energy today. Something
you were hoping on the family front will
PISCES happen. You will have to take time out to
(FEB 20 - MAR 20)
guide someone on the academic front. Your
attempts to hog the limelight on the social
front may be partially successful.
Love Focus: Your advice will work in sorting out the differences
between newlyweds.
Lucky Number: 1 Lucky Colour: Light Red

htcafé
MUMBAI, FRIDAY, APRIL 03, 2020 I Entertainment & Promotional Features
Humour does what force can’t
Cops are using cool and quirky moves to prevent the common man
from stepping out without reason
Desi nuskhe get a modern twist
Srinidhi Gopalakrishnan
F
ritters, chai tea, seasoned
foxnuts, turmeric latte — do
they sound familiar? These
are things we have probably
grown up eating or drinking
(Read: pakode, masala chai,
makhana, haldi doodh). Age-old
recipes from our homes have
found their place in the West,
albeit under fancier names.
The latest to make it to this
list is Dalgona coffee. A Korean
beverage, this delicacy has
become the talk of the town, and
is a few steps away from being
declared as the official
‘quarantine drink’! While it has
caused a stir on social media, a
section of Indian netizens
wonder what all the fuss is
about, as ‘pheti hui coffee’ has
been a childhood favourite.
While one may ask, ‘What’s in
a name?’, experts believe a dish
is an amalgamation of
taste, plating and its
name. “It is the
final product
served — the ideal
match of taste,
presentation and
Shekhar Suman
FILE PHOTO
I didn’t see my dad
on his last day: Sana
Sangeeta Yadav
A
ctor Sana Saeed’s world
came crashing down
when she got to know that
her father, Urdu poet Abdul
Ahad Saeed, passed away due
to a prolonged illness on
March 22, when the nation
observed Janata Curfew.
Sitting miles away in Los
Angeles, USA, and amid a
lockdown situation due to the
coronavirus pandemic, it was
all the more difficult for her to
cope with the loss.
“My dad was a diabetes
patient, and this led to
multiple organ failure. It was
around 7am in LA when I got
the news and I wanted to rush
back home and hug my mother
and sisters. I haven’t got
closure since then. The
circumstances under which I
lost my father were very
unfair, but I know in my heart
‘MY WAY OF
CONTRIBUTING
IS BY NOT
Shara Ashraf Prayag
L
aughter is the best
medicine, even in times like
these. In order to spread
awareness about coronavirus,
TELLING’
police officers are coming up
with fun and novel ideas.
Dancing to demonstrate how to
wash hands, doing an aarti of
those stepping out without a
reason and singing parodies —
police officers across India are
exhibiting their quirky side.
In Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh,
people who are out without a
reason, are getting their aarti
done. Lalita Mehar, the DSP
sees in the video performing
the aarti, says, “Why use lathis
when aartis work better? The
purpose was to make people
realise how they are putting
everyone’s life at risk.”
Police officers in other states
are also singing to urge people
to stay at home. A video of a
Pune police officer singing
Zindagi Maut Na Ban Jaye is
also being shared on social
PHOTO: P RAVIKUMAR /REUTERS
media. The Kerala police, too,
had earlier released a video of
Iced
Dalgona Coffee
PHOTO: ISTOCK
DIY DALGONA COFFEE
Ingredients
1tbsp coffee, 1tbsp sugar,
2tbsp water, 250ml milk,
3 ice cubes IF YOU’RE LOOKING
Method
n In a bowl, mix coffee,
FOR SOMETHING SWEETER,
sugar and water. Whip it
together till it reaches a
YOU COULD REPLACE COFFEE
firm peak stage. POWDER WITH MATCHA, THE
n In a glass, add ice cubes
and pour in the milk. Top
GREEN TEA POWDER. THIS
it up with the whipped COULD ALSO WORK FOR
coffee. Garnish with
coffee granules. THOSE WHO PREFER TEA
OVER COFFEE.
name — that determines the
success of the dish!” says chef
Dekh Bhai Dekh
Arun Sundararaj.
Turmeric latte sounds
appealing, but it is plain old
haldi doodh. And the
importance of this drink at a
time like this needs no
explanation, given its
properties as an
immunity booster.
resurrected my
career, says Shekhar
n srinidhi.gopalakrishnan@hindustan
times.com
Kavita Awaasthi entertained during the
lockdown, the channel has
S
hekhar been airing old TV shows
Suman’s which were popular and are
social media still remembered by viewers.
feed is Thrilled that his superhit
inundated sitcom DBD is airing again,
with posts Suman says, “I am happy that
from his a family entertainer will be
followers watched by youngsters. They
about the will realise the joy of living
return of the together in a joint family. We
iconic comedy need the spirit of being
Dekh Bhai Dekh together with our loved ones
(DBD) — a comedy in tough times like these.”
show that captures He reminisces that the
the lives of the three show was a huge hit from day
generations of one. “Doing TV wasn’t the
Mumbai-based plan but DBD resurrected my
Dewan family who career. I debuted with Utsav
live together under (1984) and had a few hit films
one roof — on
Doordarshan. In a
move to keep
but then my career dipped
badly. I got B-grade film
offers so I didn’t take them on
audiences and waited at home for two
Sana Saeed, as
a child actor,
played
Shahrukh
Khan’s daughter
in Kuch Kuch
Hota Hai (1998);
(inset) her late
father Abdul
Ahad Saeed
that he was really suffering but after seeing the death
and he’s definitely in a better certificate, they allowed them
place now,” says Saeed, 31, to go. Though I wasn’t there
who went to USA for an event. physically, my sister kept
Due to the Janata Curfew, texting me all the time during
the actor’s family decided to the ceremony,” Saeed shares.
keep the funeral low profile to Uncertain about when she’ll
avoid a large gathering. “My get to return home, the actor is
family had decided to do the keeping herself occupied by
funeral on the same day and “praying a lot, doing yoga, and
we had only three hours in has also taken up an online
hand. On their way, they were business course”.
stopped by the cops to check, n sangeeta.yadav@hindustantimes.com
www.hindustantimes.com
www.facebook.com/HTcity
twitter.com/htshowbiz
instagram.com/htcity
www.youtube.com/user/ht
officers dancing to show how
to wash hands properly, while
a police officer in Chennai
made violators wear
coronavirus helmet. People
were also made to hold
placards reading ‘Don’t step
out, don’t go near corona’.
Inspector Rajesh babu, himself
wore one of these headgears,
hoping that people get scared
and do not step out.
Bilaspur DSP Abhinav
Upadhyay, says that he and his
wife also made a parody of Ek
Pyaar Ka Nagma Hai (Shor;
1972) and when the lyricist of
the original, Santosh Anand,
heard it, he called Upadhyay to
appreciate him. He says that it
was “emotionally
overwhelming”.
Singer Daler Mehendi says,
“Huge respect for these
officers who have taken this
initiative. It’s a great way to
bring the nation together.”
“The aarti video is the
coolest thing I have seen. It’s
much better than hitting
anyone,” says actorSonu Sood.
n shara.ashraf@hindustantimes.com
years. I was at my all-time
career low. So, when I was
approached for DBD in 1993, I
was sceptical,” he shares.
During this lockdown,
Suman is catching up with
life and “being reintroduced”
to himself. He feels in the fast
pace of life, one forgets who
we are. “It’s ironic that most
people dream of owning a big
house but how many of us
stay at home to enjoy it?
Circumstances have now
forced us to stay at home.
This is the time to catch up
with life, learn more about
yourself and appreciate what
you have. This virus is
nature’s way of teaching us a
lesson. It has taught us to
slow down. The pandemic has
ambushed us and we have to
fight it out,” he says.
n kavita.awaasthi@htlive.com
Adam Schlesinger and Ali
Wentwort (below) PHOTOS: AFP,
INSTAGRAM/THEREALALIWENTWORTH
Sonakshi Sinha
believes in ‘doing
her bit and moving
on’; adds that she
has taken a break
from social media
as a lot of posts
there are fake
STOP PRESS
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/PAYALDEVOFFICIAL
THERE’S NO PROOF:
PAYAL DEV
A mid the ongoing
controversy around
Badshah’s song Genda
Phool on using folk artiste
Ratan Kahar’s lyrics without
crediting him, co-singer
Payal Dev has now told
Bollywood Life, “They don’t
have proof. The same song
has been used six to seven
times on YouTube and credit
has not been given to them
in Bengal as well.”
RAM GOPAL VARMA
JOKES ABOUT BEING
COVID-19 POSITIVE
F ilmmaker Ram Gopal
Varma tweeted that he
tested positive for the
coronavirus, causing panic
among his followers. But
later, Varma clarified in
another tweet that his
coronavirus diagnosis was
an April Fool’s joke. HTC
NOTE TO READERS: Some of the
coverage that appears on our pages
is paid for by the concerned brands.
No sponsored content does or shall
appear in any part of HT without it
being declared as such to our valued
readers.
HOLLYWOOD
STRUGGLES
WITH
COVID-19
E
mmy-winning
singer Adam
Schlesinger
passed away due to
Covid-19 on
Wednesday. The singer
was 52, and gave in to
complications caused by the
virus. Actor Tom Hanks
took to Twitter to condole
the death of the Fountains of
the Wayne member. “There
would be no Playtone
without Adam Schlesinger,
without his That Thing You
Do! He was a One-der. Lost
him to Covid-19. Terribly
sad today. Hanx,” he
tweeted.
Meanwhile, actor Ali
Wentworth took to
Instagram to confirm that
she, too, has tested positive
for Covid-19. The actor
shared a photo, and wrote,
“I have tested positive for
the Corona Virus. I’ve never
been sicker. High fever.
Horrific body aches. Heavy
chest. I’m quarantined from
my family. This is pure
misery. #stayhome”. ANI
Fashion designers stand by their artisans
Prerna Gauba Sibbal
T
hey sit in nondescript,
cramped rooms, and
sometimes, in derelict
factories, weaving couture
dreams with their magical
fingers. For years, they have
fought for their rights and
often, a section of design
houses have given them due
credit. This time, as Covid-19
hits the globe, many designers
are safeguarding their
artisans’ interests.
Some designers have paid
them in advance. “Our
primary focus at this time is to
ensure that our employees’
salaries and benefits reach
them so they are able to
sustain themselves at a
difficult time,” says designer
Rina Singh of Eka. Even
Kolkata-based designer
Adarsh Makharia of label
Osaa is doing the same. “Our
artisans are provided all basic
amenities,” he says.
Also, Mumbai-based
designer Anita Dongre has
created a fund for all people,
who are affiliated with her
design house.
Medical needs and
Jacqueline Fernandez
Sonakshi
Sinha
PHOTO: NUPUR
AGARWAL
Artisans at work in
designer’s atelier
PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/ASHAGAUTAM
transferring money to
artisans in clusters are
what some designers are
looking after. “As a
brand, we work with
artisans full-time. We
have given them their
salaries not only for
March, but till mid April.
Since a lot of them work in
clusters where work is
stopped, we have
made sure they have enough
funds to take care of their
family. We have kept some
I wish my parents were
with me: Jacqueline
Juhi Chakraborty
L
ife has been thrown
completely out of
gear amid this
pandemic, and with travel
being out of question,
people are unable to meet
their families who are stuck
in different countries.
Jacqueline Fernandez, too, is
in a bit of misery, as her
parents live in Bahrain and
she can’t be with them.
“I wanted my parents to
be with me right now; I’m
concerned about their health,”
shares Jacqueline as she talks
about her father Elroy and
mother Kim.
The actor of Sri Lankan
origin adds that she feels
people, who have their parents
by their side at present, are
rather “lucky”. She explains,
“Right now, they need all the
love, care and attention. They
are vulnerable, and we need to
Titas Chowdhury
S
onakshi Sinha recently
took to Instagram to say
that she’ll be doing a
social media detox
during the lockdown period.
Ask her about it and she says
that she wanted to take a break
and battle the panic that’s
stemming from the false
information which is floating
around on the web. She
elaborates, “Things have
suddenly changed so much
and I felt like I shouldn’t be
spending so much time on my
phone. A lot of stuff that’s
posted online and reposted by
people are fake. Now is the
time to keep your mental
sanity intact. I wanted to take a
break from all of that and do
things that keep me sane,
grounded and normal at a time
like this.”
She says that she would
rather spend her time doing
something productive that
helps her grow. “Our fast-
paced life has come to a
standstill. You can’t be your
chirpy self at this time. There
are days when you might feel
low,” Sinha states, adding, “I
just want to do things that
make me happy such as read
and catch up on the movies
that I’ve missed. There are
better things in life than to be
on my phone. I play a lot of
games on my phone. It’s
always in my hand and
that’s something that I
want to change
consciously.”
A while ago, Sonam
Kapoor was trolled on
twitter for not making a
donation to the PM-CARES
fund. The Dabangg (2010)
actor remains unfazed by
trolls and says that
everyone has their way of
contributing to the crisis.
“If someone wants their
contributions to be
known and that
inspires five more
people to also make a
donation, that’s a great
idea. My way of doing
it is by not telling
everyone. Social
media is place where
everyone has an
opinion for
everything and that’s
also a reason why I
don’t like it
anymore. Even if I
tweet a full stop,
people will have an
opinion on it. I
believe in doing my
bit and moving on,”
she signs off.
amount for medical
contingencies for the entire
team as well,” explains
designer Gautam Gupta of
label Asha Gautam.
n prerna.gauba@htlive.com
be there for them.”
Further, sharing an update
on the other members of her
family, the 34-year-old says
that her sister in North
Carolina, USA, is having a very
tough time. “The supermarkets
there are completely out of
stock, there are no products
and medicines. My brothers,
who are in Australia, are sorted
as they are in a remote part in
the country,” she shares.
The actor has been keeping
busy with the help of social
media and is sharing workout
videos and her piano skills. “It
took me some time to realise
what was happening and the
first week was difficult. I felt a
bit lost thinking about what I
would do. However, I figured
that I may not be able to go on a
film set but I have my
audiences and a platform and I
decided to be as creative as
possible,” she shares.
n juhi.chakraborty@htlive.com