As India is under lockdown for a week now, the government has said the 21-day period will not be extended. The country is seeing a spurt in the number of coronavirus cases, with Gujarat, Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal reporting deaths.
Also read | No plans to extend lockdown: says Cabinet Secretary
COVID-19 has claimed 47 lives in India as of March 31, according to data from the Health Ministry and State governments. As many as 1403 people have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Hindu has brought out a multi-language e-book on essential COVID-19 information, in addition to covering the developments related to the coronavirus pandemic as it unfolded.
Here are answers from experts on your queries about the virus, a list of State Helpline numbers, and a map of confirmed cases in India.
The new 24/7 national helpline numbers are 1075, 1800-112-545 and 011-23978046.
Email: ncov2019-at-gmail.com.
The Prime Minister has announced a WhatsApp helpdesk number: 9013151515.
Here are the latest updates:
4.05 pm | Odisha
Odisha churches resort to live-streaming of worship
At a time when religious congregations are seen as places that facilitate faster spread of Coronavirus, churches in Odisha are using technology to make the faithful participate in Sunday worship from remote locations — a first in local church history.
After the Odisha government asked the authorities of religious institutions to practice social distancing, Internet-based social media came to the rescue of the church leadership.
4.00 pm | India
Modified rail coaches to provide 3.2 lakh isolation beds: Indian Railways
Further fine-tuning its plans to offer 20,000 coaches converted into isolation wards for coronavirus patients, the Indian Railways said these coaches can accommodate up to 3.2 lakh possible beds.
It has also earmarked targets for its 16 zones, with the South Central Railways headquartered at Secunderabad in Telangana leading the pack with 486 coaches being allocated for conversion, followed by Mumbai headquartered Central Railway being allocated 482 coaches.
–PTI
3.50 pm | India
Vodafone Idea offers prepaid validity extension for low-income feature phone subscribers
Vodafone Idea on Tuesday announced an extension of validity on prepaid plans availed by low income customers using feature phones till April 17, and ₹10 talktime credit to help such users stay connected during the lockdown to contain coronavirus pandemic.
3.45 pm | Tamil Nadu
Maintenance allowance for persons with disabilities to be paid in advance
The Tamil Nadu government has announced that the maintenance allowance to persons with disabilities would be paid in advance for two months to beneficiaries.
In an official release, the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and Director for Welfare of the Differently Abled, said the advance payment of maintenance allowance for two months would be made to protect the livelihood of persons with disabilities who are already benefiting under this scheme.
3.40 pm | India
Air India pilots say safety protocols during COVID-19 ops inadequate
Air India pilots have expressed concern over “flimsy protective gear, inadequate sanitisers, shoddy disinfection procedure” as they embark on flights chartered by countries like Germany and the UK to repatriate their citizens stranded in India due to the nationwide lockdown over COVID-19.
3.30 pm | Spain
Spain registers overnight death toll of 849, highest so far
Spain registered 849 fatalities related to coronavirus overnight – the highest number in 24 hours since the epidemic started, although the increase in percentage terms was slightly lower than in the previous days, the Health Ministry said.
The death toll rose to 8,189 on Tuesday from 7,340 on Monday, while the number of cases rose to 94,417 on Tuesday from 85,195 on Monday.
–Reuters
3.10 pm | Rajasthan
Nine Indians who returned from Iran test positive
Nine Indians who returned from Iran recently and were quarantined at the Army wellness centre in Jaisalmer have tested positive for COVID-19, Army sources said. They are among the 17 positive cases detected among evacuees from Iran.
Presently, there are 484 people at the Jaisalmer facility.
“Six evacuees at Jaisalmer facility and one at Jodhpur facility tested positive on Monday. Three more evacuees tested positive to COVID-19 at Jaisalmer today,” an Army source said.
— Dinakar Peri
3.00 pm | India
Use more masks, India’s top science advisory body recommends
India’s highest science advisory body has recommended the widespread use of masks. The Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor’s (OPSA) is a key coordinating agency among government scientific bodies and industry to accelerate decisions on dealing with COVID-19.
It doesn’t recommend the use of the health mask or the N95 mask that are expensive, not-reusable and largely used in hospital settings.
— Jacob Koshy
2.50 pm | India
SC directs govt. to ensure welfare of migrant workers, orders setting up of portal to disseminate information
The Supreme Court directed the government to ensure that migrant workers who have been stopped from crossing the inter-State borders are provided food, shelter and medicines in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde, through video-conferencing, asked the government to tap community and religious leaders to speak to the migrant workers lodged in shelters. The court asked the government to have trained counsellors talk to the workers.
— Krishnadas Rajagopal
2.45 pm | India
SpiceJet to cut 10%-30% salary of all employees in March
Budget carrier SpiceJet has decided to cut 10%-30% salary of all its employees in March, with Chairman Ajay Singh opting for highest 30% trimming in compensation, the airline said in an e-mail communication to the staff.
“SpiceJet management has decided to implement a pay cut between 10-30 per cent in March across our employee base. Our Chairman and Managing Director (Ajay singh), in fact, has opted for the highest cut of 30 per cent in compensation,” the airline said in the communication.
–PTI
2.40 pm | Rajasthan
Four new cases in Rajasthan
Four more COVID-19 cases have been reported in Rajasthan today, one each from Jaipur, Ajmer, Jhunjhunu and Dungarpur.
With this, the number of positive cases in the State has increased to 76. Along with the 17 positive cases among the evacuees from Iran, staying in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer, the overall number is 93.
— Mohammed Iqbal
2.35 pm | Karnataka
45 from Karnataka participated in Tablighi Jamaat conference
As many as 45 from Karnataka participated in the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Nizamuddin West in Delhi. Many people from across the country who tested positive for COVID-19 had attended the conference or were close contacts of the participants.
2.30 pm | Tamil Nadu
Siddha concoction goes viral in Tamil Nadu
A Siddha concoction called Kabasura Kudineer is in high demand in Tamil Nadu. People are queueing up at Siddha pharmacies and hospitals to buy this medicine after videos went viral that it can prevent novel coronavirus.
People crowd at a Siddha clinic inside Government Pentland Hospital, Vellore, to get a herbal concoction called Kabasura Kudineer.
| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy
While there is no study available to categorically back this claim, Siddha practitioners have been recommending it as a regular preventive medicine to relieve throat pain.
The herbal concoction, a mixture of 15 herbs including Nilavembu, Karpooravalli and Lavangam, was suggested as a preventive medicine during the 2015 swine flu outbreak.
2.25 pm | Madhya Pra