First step in the right direction, says Rahul

But Congress hopes that the government will offer more

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

The Congress cautiously welcomed the ₹1.7-lakh crore package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi called it the “first” step in the right direction, but criticised the government for offering an insufficient cash transfer.

In a series of tweets, former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram called it a “modest plan” and hoped that the government would realise that it should do more.

“The plan does not put enough cash in the pockets of the poor. Some sections have been left out altogether,” he said. “You will notice that suggestions like help to tenant farmers and destitute, maintaining current levels of employment and wages, tax deferment, EMI deferment, GST rate cut, etc. have not been addressed. Let’s hope there will be a Plan II shortly,” he said. Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala pointed to many “lapses” in the package. He flagged the need for declaring grain procurement an essential service.

“If the farmer is to delay harvesting till April 14, he will stand to lose 40% of the crop. A loss from which he will never recover,” he said.

Paltry sum

The one-time cash help of ₹1,500 spread over three months to 20.4 crore women having Jan Dhan Yojana accounts was a paltry sum, he said. The Congress demanded waiver of all EMIs and the interest thereof for all salaried class up to June 30.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the package was inadequate and missed out on migrant workers. He said if the government could airlift Indians from foreign shores, it should have given these workers food and shelter or transport to their home States. He also criticised the government for offering just one kg of pulses a family.

He said the government had uprooted the lives of people, despite a warning two months ago.

CPI general secretary D. Raja said the package had ignored the poorest of the poor.

How can India contain the economic impact of COVID-19?

The government must focus on health and livelihood issues at the same time

27/03/2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has effectively brought normal life to a halt in India. The importance of social distancing and a lockdown in curbing the spread of the virus cannot be stressed enough, but these measures also have huge repercussions on livelihoods and the economy at large, which has already been seeing a slowdown over the past year. In a conversation moderated by Vikas Dhoot, Naushad Forbes and M. Govinda Rao talk of ways in which India can tackle this humanitarian and economic crisis. Edited excerpts:

Do you see a parallel in recent history to the situation we face globally due to the novel coronavirus?

Govinda Rao: This is the mother of all challenges in recent memory. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that the 2008 financial crisis comes close, but I think this is much bigger than that. Possibly, one has to go to the times of the Great Depression. Even qualitatively, it’s a very different challenge, because first you have to save lives, then you have to save livelihoods, then you have to meet with other costs like loss of jobs and production, and supply chain disruptions. It’s not just confined to one sector or country; it encompasses the entire economy and the world. So, I think there is no immediate policy instrument that you can put in place because you don’t even know how long the problem will last. The depth of the problem that you are going to face is dependent on the length of the period for which you are going to close down and the extent to which the virus spreads.

Naushad Forbes: Every country is either already deeply affected or is at the start of being more affected. This is unprecedented in terms of its immediate impact on the lives of individuals from all walks of life. We have a few additional factors in India: an economy which relies very heavily on informal employment, so our reliance for people’s well-being on the broader economy performing and the markets performing is high, whatever role the state may try to play. And anything that you change in the functioning of the economy has unintended effects.

We sometimes have, I think, a tendency to act and then plan. I worry about that. For example, on Saturday, all manufacturing companies in Pune were told to shut down. On Sunday, all trains were stopped. And on Monday, all companies were told, ‘Look, you must keep supporting your staff and contract workers.’ Now, the sequence should have been the reverse: first, you work out which companies will ensure support for everyone across the board and how. Then you stop the trains so that you contain populations [moving]. And then you close the actual sources of employment. If you do it in the opposite sequence, you end up with what we saw on Saturday and Sunday, which is thousands of people crowding into train and bus stations, heading out of town, potentially spreading the virus across the country. This is obviously an unintended consequence. We sometimes act first without going into what we actually want to achieve. The way to achieve ‘social distancing’ is not to announce something which then brings suddenly crowds of people together in a panic [but] to do something for their own security, well-being and longer-term success. A little bit of thought before we act would really help.

Over the last few days, both the formal and informal sector have come to to a virtual halt. Lakhs of truckers are held up across States and most manufacturing firms have shut down. How will this impact our output and incomes?

NF: Everything’s come to a halt. The lockdown is the right thing to do for the country. From everything one reads, [we get the idea that] a lockdown is the way to ensure social distancing and contain the virus.

How do you then limit the economic impact and who do you need to buffer the impact for? Without question, it is the people who are most vulnerable, those who live from day to day and have no savings to fall back on. Then you look at medium to small companies with very limited staying power. The only way they can actually survive is by not paying people. You don’t want that to happen, otherwise you’d spread that distress in the economy. You need to address their concerns, either through moratoriums on principal and interest payments or direct salary support, as we’ve seen happen in the U.K., Switzerland and France, to ensure some employment is sustained. Then you need to extend it to larger labour-intensive companies if they employ 20,000 people and if they don’t have enough money to pay salaries next month we’re going to see something rather critical happen within a week.

GR: One of the biggest problems in the system is the capacity of the state to deal with the problem. The reaction that we have is a knee-jerk reaction. Today, you cannot worry about issues such as fiscal deficit. You have to save people’s lives. There is a 21-day lockdown and redistribution is a major issue. Thankfully, you have a much better targeting device [Jan-Dhan accounts and Aadhaar] than before. Augmenting the state’s capacity... I don’t know how you’re going to do it.

At 8 p.m., the Prime Minister says we are closing down for 21 days, and everyone runs to the shops and panics. Couldn’t this have been done in a smoother way? One could have said essential supplies will be available — simply saying there’s a lakshman rekha outside your house, that really scares people.

The immediate issue is to focus on health, which we have never done, and see how you can establish the public health system. And the second is livelihood issues.

Regulatory compliance deadlines have been extended, but non-performing asset recognition norms remain 90 days (of defaults). Would you say this regulatory forbearance is sufficient?

NF: It’s a classic case of ‘necessary but not sufficient’. These are all the right things to do. You can have regulatory forbearance and extend regulatory forbearance for returns that have to be filed, but if there is some question on whether you will survive long enough to file your returns, then you need to address that.

If we start by recognising that we have very limited state capacity, then we can think about how to get the desired outcome with an assumption of limited state capacity. For example, I would like to see a massive publicity campaign on what social distancing means and why it’s important to do. Regardless of what announcement comes, people should know not to crowd outside a shop together.

And if my action in announcing something is going to prompt just this, let me first send out all the reassurances that grocery stores will be open. The government has said that, but if you read the actual notification, it doesn’t say how groceries will get to homes. There are some vague references to it being delivered. That sounds to me like a horrendous task to take on if state capacity is limited... delivering groceries to 1.3 billion people. Instead, rely on people going and doing the right thing. So, you say, ‘grocery stores are going to be open and here are the rules under which people can go and buy groceries. Grocery stores can decide for themselves if they wish to be open 24 hours. We will allow a maximum of so many people per square foot. We are counting on the grocery stores themselves to maintain this for their own health. We will encourage everyone not to go in a group.’ You can specify all of this ahead of time and reassure people that there’s going to be no issue.

There has been a lot of clamour for shutting down the stock markets.

GR: A lot of things can now be done at home with online trading. To the extent that crowds can be avoided, it is important. But that doesn’t mean that you should shut down the stock market. It is a barometer... in the immediate context, it may not tell you what your economy’s doing if something is happening the world over. But you don’t kill the messenger, it gives you a message.

Three weeks from now, what would be the best-case scenario for us to be in?

NF: We should, by the way, do some scenario planning for what’s the best- and worst-case scenario and what’s in between. For those scenarios, we must have action plans in place that are transparent so people can prepare accordingly. The best-case scenario to me is that the three-week lockdown delivers. We shouldn’t expect the rising trend of cases to change for a minimum of 10 days before a successful lockdown can have an effect (because of the gestation of the virus). The best-case scenario is that 10 days from now, we start seeing a flattening of the growth rate. A few more days later, we see the curve starting to turn down. Then we can say the lockdown is working, now how do we start working towards recovery. We should put those plans in place now.

We will not go back to normal from day one, where everyone can do whatever they wished. Can all manufacturing start again? Does everyone show up at work all at once? If you have the curve pointing down sharply, maybe 50% can come back and we’ll see for another two or three weeks how that sustains. Shops can open again, but with limited operations and all the social distancing in place. You probably should not allow anything which involves mass gatherings of people even in the best-case scenario. So, you’re not going to have large conferences, movie theatres, sports stadiums. Those will come last. I really think there’s a lot of value in this plan being as transparent as possible.

GR: The first thing that the government will have to do immediately is massively ramp up testing. We have not done enough testing as yet and do not know the magnitude of the problem. Even if you take the best-case scenario after three weeks, this will be different in different places. You may have to look at differential relaxations in a calibrated and transparent manner and say that areas with these trends can allow some of these activities. My own feeling is that after 21 days, there will be some areas where you can have economic activities without much movement, and restrictions will have to continue elsewhere. But we should be prepared for the long haul. Life is not going to be easy.

My big concern is about children not going to school. Some from well-off families may learn on the computer, but what about those children who cannot go to school, can’t play, or do anything. About 40% of the population is in the age group of zero to 14. We really have a crisis brewing there.

Standing with the needy

The relief package is a good start, but more might need to be done sooner than later

27/03/2020

The ₹1,70,000 crore relief package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday — Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) — is a good first step towards alleviating the distress caused to vulnerable sections of the population by the 21-day lockdown imposed to combat the spread of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). 

What is noteworthy about the package is not the amount but the innovative ways in which the government is seeking to offer relief. It covers various sections of the vulnerable, ranging from farmers and women Jan Dhan account holders, to organised sector workers, to the most important of all — healthcare workers, who will now get a sizeable insurance cover of ₹50 lakh. The doubling of foodgrain allocation offered free is a good idea that privileges the hungry poor over rodents and pests devouring the stocks in Food Corporation of India godowns. So is the move to provide free cooking gas refills to the underprivileged who are part of the PM Ujjwala scheme. 

The offer to pay both employer and employee contributions to the Provident Fund for very small business enterprises is welcome and will offer relief to those businesses that have been forced to shut down operations, and also to employees earning small salaries for whom the PF deduction may hurt at this point in time. The salary limit could have been set higher at ₹25,000 per month — there’s no cash outgo for the government anyway because this is just a book entry transaction.

The effort appears to be to keep the funding within the budget as much as possible and retain control over the deficit. For instance, the PM Kisan transfer has been already budgeted for and the increase in MGNREGA wages can also be accommodated within the budget. Ditto with the Jan Dhan account transfer of ₹500 per month for the next three months which will cost the government ₹30,450 crore. It is possible to argue here that the transfer could have been a little more generous — at least ₹1,000 a month. The government may have wanted to stay within the budget for now. It could also be to preserve firepower, as there is no saying how long this uncertainty will last. But, at some point soon, the government will have to break the fiscal deficit shackles. 

Also, it needs the financial bandwidth to support businesses in trouble. In fact, ideally the government ought to have announced a relief package for the corporate sector and the middle class along with the PMGKY. It should now turn its focus towards businesses that are running out of cash and may soon default on even salaries and statutory commitments if relief is not given. There are enough ideas to borrow from others such as the U.S. which is in the process of finalising a $2 trillion package. Part II of the economic relief package should not be delayed beyond the next couple of days.

Kerala prisoner dies after drinking sanitiser

27/03/2020,PALAKKAD

A remand prisoner died at a hospital in Kerala’s Palakkad district on Thursday after allegedly drinking sanitiser which he mistook for alcohol, officials said. Ramankutty was admitted to the district hospital on Tuesday after he collapsed inside the prison. “We suspect that he drank a bottle of sanitiser manufactured on the jail premises,” an official said. PTI

Action against landlords asking doctors, paramedics to vacate

Officials asked to submit reports on such cases

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

Following complaints that landlords and owners are asking doctors and paramedical staff to vacate their houses, the government has directed all district, city, and police authorities to initiate strict action against such people under relevant provisions of the law.

In a Government Order issued on Thursday, officials have also been asked to submit action-taken report daily to the office of the Additional Chief Secretary in the Home Department.

Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare and Medical Education) Jawaid Akhtar said in the order, “We have received a lot of complaints from doctors, paramedical staff, and other health workers. The behaviour of landlords and house owners amounts to obstructing public servants in discharging duties. In this context, the government of Karnataka has issued the Karnataka Epidemic Disease (COVID-19) Regulations, 2020 under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Hyderabad Infectious Disease Act, 1950 for prevention and containment of COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, doctors and healthcare professionals are irked that although they are braving all odds to attend to patients during this crisis, people are treating them with disregard.

Expressing displeasure over the attitude by some house owners, U.S. Vishal Rao, chief of Head Neck Surgical Oncology and Robotic Surgery at Healthcare Global Cancer Centre, said the medical fraternity is going out on one limb to serve society. “In this hour of need, we need support from society. We have distanced ourselves from our family as we have put our life at risk. Society should stand behind us,” he said.

Speed at which virus is spreading is shocking, says researcher

According to her, one of the reasons is presence of spike protein in the virus and its affinity to ACE2 receptors in human cells

27/03/2020, STAFF REPORTER,CHENNAI

Pavithra Venkatagopalan

Chennaiite Pavithra Venkatagopalan, who holds a Ph.D. from Arizona State University (ASU) in the U.S., where her research focused on coronaviruses, was someone who was never active on social media.

“I took my privacy seriously and all my social media accounts have stringent privacy settings,” she says. However, today, her interviews busting misconceptions and highlighting preventive measures about COVID-19 have become popular in Tamil Nadu on messaging and social media platforms.

She says the misinformation that were getting virally circulated forced her to speak out on COVID-19. “People were drinking cow urine. It is one thing to consume whatever one wants to, but it is extremely absurd to claim that it prevents a disease,” she says.

Her first talk was at the meeting of a Rotary Club chapter she is part of. Her father, who saw her presentation, asked her to do the same for his college alumni group. A person, who attended that talk, in turn made her speak at a meeting organised by the Tamil Nadu Science Forum (TNSF).

The video of her talk at TNSF was noticed by few journalists and calls from the media asking her to talk about the pandemic has not stopped ever since.

Ms. Pavithra, a B.Tech graduate in Biotechnology from Alagappa College of Technology, is now the Director of Care Health Diagnostic Center. Admitting that she has always been a nerd, she says that it was her fascination with viruses that led her to pursue a Ph.D from the Biodesign Institute in ASU.

“Everyone studying viruses will have their own favourites and their reasons for the fascination. What attracted me to the family of coronaviruses, of which the present COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus is a strain, was its ability to make RNAs without DNAs,” she says.

Explaining that while the synthesising of RNAs happened in most organisms through an enzyme called DNA-directed RNA polymerase, it happened in coronaviruses (similar to few other viruses) through RNA-dependent RNA polymerase since they are single-stranded RNA viruses that lacked DNAs.

Studying E proteins

Her specific research was in studying the E proteins, one of the three proteins along with the spike protein and the membrane protein that created the envelope of the virus. “My doctoral thesis was about tweaking the E proteins and studying its impact on the assembly of the virus and consequently how it reacts with the host cells,” she says. On whether she expected a strain of her favourite family of viruses to wreak havoc with a pandemic of this scale, she says never. “Those studying viruses always know the threat they pose to humanity. However, the speed at which SARS-CoV-2 is spreading, in comparison to the strains that caused SARS and MERS, is shocking,” she adds.

According to her, one of the reasons was the presence of the spike protein in the virus and its affinity to the ACE2 receptors in human cells. “Since there is a strong binding with the ACE2 receptors, the virus is able to infect and multiply even with a small number of them entering the human body,” she says.

Advocating strongly for the personal distancing, personal hygiene and respiratory hygiene measures recommended by the government, she expresses hope that these measures along with the research happening at a breathtaking speed about vaccine and antiviral medicines for COVID-19 will help us overcome this pandemic in the near future.

“In the roughly three months since the human transmission began, we have known far more about this virus than we knew about other viruses in such a short span of time,” she says.

Game changer

She adds that rapid testing kits, being developed by many companies including at least one in India, which can give instant results and thereby allowing the possibility of testing more people, can also be a game changer on how we tackle this disease.

NEET toppers’ diary launched

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

A diary with handwritten notes by NEET toppers has been compiled and is proposed to be given free of cost to NEET aspirants.

Amma Kalviyagam has launched the Toppers’ Diary Handwritten Notes which is aimed at helping students preparing for the test scheduled for May 3.

The 600-page diary is a compilation of concepts, formulae and notes jotted down by NEET toppers and can be downloaded on www.ammakalviyagam.in.

Love in the time of lockdown

Youth jumps quarantine, elopes, only to be nabbed and brought back to the facility

27/03/2020, S. SUNDAR, ,MADURAI

A 23-year-old man who returned from Dubai a few days back and was quarantined at a government facility near here, escaped from there to meet his lady love in a remote village on Wednesday.

“Probably those around him mistook him for a sanitary worker as he was sporting a mask,” a police officer said.

The man who walked to the Inner Ring Road hitch-hiked on a two-wheeler towards his village in Sivaganga district.

Midway home, he was picked up by his relative and taken to the village.

The police say the unskilled labourer had come to India only to marry his lady love as her parents had arranged her marriage with another person on March 30.

Despite the lockdown and vigil of family members in the village, the man managed to bring the girl out of her residence with the help of his friends and they eloped.

Meanwhile, a health official at the quarantine home lodged a complaint with the Madurai City police and a team of police and health officials nabbed him at a hideout and brought him back to the quarantine facility.

“The man claims that he has married the girl,” a police officer said.

The girl has been handed over to her parents.

E-commerce companies allowed, ban on food delivery apps remains

Cooperative societies, provisions stores can deliver goods home

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

A review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister has cleared e-commerce deliveries. File Photo

The State government on Thursday, after a review meeting by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, said e-commerce companies such as Grofers, Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart and Dunzo have already been allowed to deliver provisions and medicines.

“Other companies, cooperative societies and provisional stores are allowed to deliver essential commodities in their respective areas,” an official release stated. However, the ban on food delivery apps Zomato and Swiggy would continue.

Depending on the prevailing situation in their respective districts, Collectors could take steps for distributing financial assistance and essential supplies at the doorstep of beneficiaries if necessary, but asked not to collect thumb impressions during such exercises.

“The movement of agricultural produce to companies and markets and agricultural labourers is allowed. The movement of cattle, poultry, fish, eggs and cattle feed is also allowed and they can contact the helpline: 044-28447701, 044-28447703,” it stated. Emergency helpline ‘108’ (also for ambulance services) could be called by elderly persons, patients, pregnant women, quarantined families and those with dialysis.

The Chief Minister, who also held a videoconference with District Collectors to review the ground situation, directed them to set up help desks in the Greater Chennai Corporation and in each of the District Collector’s office to ensure supply of essential commodities.

He also stressed the importance of maintaining three feet physical distance in places such as provisions stores, medical shops and groceries. Habitations with dense population would have to be cleaned with disinfectants, he instructed.

Medicines must be supplied to pregnant women, patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and those with infections through hospitals for “two months”, the Chief Minister said.

Corpn. looks to put unused homes to use

Civic body in need of quarantine space

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

The Corporation has launched a drive to create spaces for quarantine in each of its 15 zones.

According to data generated by the civic body, the space in government buildings in the city is limited, with less than 5,000 public buildings maintained by various civic agencies.

Chennai has more than 20,000 properties that remain vacant.

“Due to the need for more quarantine space as reserve security arrangements, an appeal has been made by the Greater Chennai Corporation administration to the general public to allow the use of unused homes, lodges and mansions with rooms for quarantine purposes,” said Corporation Commissioner G. Prakash.

‘Nation’s interest’

“This being the need of the hour, those who have such properties are requested to offer their services, in the interest of the nation,” he said.

The decision to request people for space was taken following a social media post by actor Parthiban to share such spaces with civic agencies.

“I have a few residential properties. I am willing to share the houses for containing COVID-19,” said Mr. Parthiban.

Corporation officials will regulate the use of such spaces for quarantine and handover the buildings to the owners after the spread of COVID-19 has been contained. Officials are also exploring options to use unsold houses in the city and suburbs for quarantine.

Police get tough with joyriders

Those found making unnecessary trips made to do squats, not allowed to proceed

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

Grounded: Policemen locking wheels and taking away two-wheelers of violators in Chennai on Thursday. K. Pichumani and R. Ravindran

Faced with the task of implementing a curfew, the Tamil Nadu police often resorted to force across the State, on the second day of the total lockdown on Thursday.

Since Wednesday, people have been complaining of police high-handedness. But on their part, the police have pointed out people taking joy rides or unnecessary long trips on the pretext of buying groceries. Some people, on the other hand, said that they were making legitimate efforts to go out for medicines or groceries, but were not allowed to proceed. Video clippings showing people being forced to do squats did the rounds of social media.

On Wednesday evening, the police resorted to mild force and chased around 50 youngsters playing cricket in an open ground in Kancheepuram, despite prohibitory orders.

In Chidambaram, the police made a group of youngsters, playing cricket, do sit-ups. In Thiruvannamalai, the police made a few motorists do squats.

Wielding of lathis

Similarly, the Singanallur police in Coimbatore wielded lathis on motorists on Wednesday evening, drawing criticism from various quarters. A video of the police beating up motorists at the Singanallur traffic junction went viral on social media. Police high-handedness continued on Thursday.

In Madurai, a Railways Assistant Loco Pilot, who was going for railway duty, was fined by the traffic police at Goripalayam junction on Wednesday morning. Railway sources said that he was going to the railway junction to operate a light engine for a specific railway work.

In Koyambedu, the traffic police on Wednesday evening caught two youngsters, riding a motorcycle, and took away the vehicle’s keys. They were made to do squats for violating orders.

The city police chased people who were taking joy rides on their two-wheelers, in the western suburbs of the city.

A senior policeman said that youth were riding motorcycles from Tambaram, past the Central station, claiming that they had come out “to buy groceries”. The police said that they had regulated inter-zone movement of people, and for all essential needs, residents could shop in their own areas. They added that people travelling for medical emergencies would be allowed to pass, even across zones.

Skeletal staff keep Secretariat ticking

Personnel asked to take turns

27/03/2020, DENNIS S. JESUDASAN,CHENNAI

A few government employees have been asked to be present at the Secretariat to coordinate work related to COVID-19 response. S. R. RAGHUNATHANS_R_Raghunathan

Amidst the 21-day countrywide lockdown across the country in the fight against COVID-19, skeletal staff in the Secretariat have been keeping the machinery functioning at Fort St. George, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government. Special arrangements have been made for their transport.

In line with the detailed notification issued by the State government on Monday evening, the employees in several departments have been instructed to work on rotation in the Secretariat. Besides the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister, a few Ministers visited the Secretariat.

However, a section of the staff opined there was no need for skeletal staff in all departments but only in specific departments. “It will be better if only officials from Revenue and Health departments and the DIPR are allowed to work. Others can be exempted from coming to office because their departments are not related to COVID-19 at all and their coming to office should not make Secretariat a COVID-19 hotspot,” an official contended. While several employees in the Secretariat preferred to commute on their own vehicles, many officials who had been using public transport thanked the government for the special arrangements made for their transport.

Special buses

Two MTC buses have been pressed into service for their benefit from over 10 pick-up points to the Secretariat both in the mornings and evenings. “While one would start at 9 a.m., the next would start 30 minutes later. On our way back, one would start at 6 p.m. and another 30 minutes later," an official said.

Doctors, nurses cannot return home every day: circular

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

In a bid to protect healthcare providers from coronavirus disease (COVID-19), all deans and heads of government medical institutions have been asked to identify a team of doctors, staff nurses and paramedical staff to work in isolation wards on rotation for four to seven days.

In a circular to deans of medical college hospitals and joint directors of health services, the State’s Emergency Operation Control Room of the Health and Family Welfare Department, has said that persons with symptoms of COVID-19 were admitted and taken care of in government medical institutions. Medical and paramedical staff in these institutions were exposed to infection.

The heads of institutions were instructed to strictly adhere to certain guidelines while posting doctors and paramedics at isolation wards. A team of doctors, staff nurses and paramedical staff should preferably be identified to work on the trot for four to seven days in isolation wards in rotation. They will not be allowed to return home every day as there was a possibility of them spreading infection. So necessary arrangements for providing accommodation in any hostel/quarters on the hospital premises should be done for them during their duty at isolation wards.

Strict disinfection protocols should be followed in the places of stay. After their turn is over, a fresh team should be posted, the circular said.

Lockdown forces migrant workers to leg it home from Manesar

The 21-day lockdown has suddenly left several thousand workers in the informal sector without jobs and any means of sustenance

27/03/2020, ASHOK KUMAR,GURUGRAM

Such a long journey: Daily wage earners returning to their homes in Uttar Pradesh on foot from Manesar. Bibek Chettri

It is around 3 p.m. Carrying luggage on their backs and wearing black masks, seven men, visibly fatigued, are signalled to stop by a policeman who hurriedly jumps out of his vehicle at Rajiv Chowk on the Delhi-Gurugram highway. The officer makes a few inquiries before letting them off, asking them to walk in twos and threes and maintain a proper gap.

The men used to work as loaders at an automotive company in Bilaspur village in Manesar. But the nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, announced on March 24, has suddenly left them without jobs and little money to survive. Running out of money and with no means of support, the men, mostly from Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, decided to walk close to 400 km back to their villages. When this reporter met them, they had been walking for six hours.

“Yeh hartal abhi kaafi din chalne wali hai. Hamare pass khane ka bhi paisa nahi bacha hai (This lockdown is going to last for quite a few days. We have no money left even for food),” said Ramesh, the eldest in the group. He says seven other workers also set off on foot for Uttar Pradesh but he has lost contact with them.

Ajit, another member of the group, said they had returned to work after Holi barely a week ago, having taken home their savings for the festival.

“We make ₹500 one day but earn just ₹50 the next day. The pay is not fixed. We have been without jobs for five straight days now and have exhausted our meagre savings,” he explained. Another worker Vijay said they did not have enough cash to pay the room rent, and some of them had not had food for the past 24 hours.

Deepak said they hoped to find some work in their villages since it is the harvest season; they can tend to livestock and be with their families in these testing times, he said.

Mr. Ramesh said policemen at several barricades stopped them, but let them off after questioning. He claimed no help had come from the administration or the automotive company they worked for.

“We hope to reach in at least five-six days,” he said with a straight face when asked how long it might take them to reach home.

The youngest in the group, his hair dyed maroon, smiled as he said he was from Nepal and had no clue how long it would take him to reach home.

₹1.7 lakh cr. lockdown package rolled out

Rations doubled for three months; we do not want anyone to remain hungry: Nirmala Sitharaman

27/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,NEW DELHI

The Centre on Thursday announced a ₹1.7 lakh crore relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and countrywide lockdown, providing free food and cash transfers to support the poorest and most vulnerable citizens during the crisis.

Announcing the details, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the foodgrain rations for 80 crore poor people would be doubled for the next three months and supplemented by 1 kg of local pulses.

Cover for health workers

The Centre will provide ₹50 lakh medical insurance cover for the next three months for about 22 lakh health workers in government hospitals, including ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) staff, medical sanitary workers in government hospitals, paramedics, nurses and doctors.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana had been announced within 36 hours of the lockdown and it would take care of the needs of poor and migrant workers, farmers, women, pensioners, widows and the disabled, said Ms. Sitharaman.

“We do not want anyone to remain hungry, so we will be giving enough to take care of their foodgrain requirement, protein requirement in terms of pulses. On the other hand, they should also not remain without money in hand, so several measures through DBT are being taken so that money reaches them,” she said.

Over the next three months, each person who is covered under the National Food Security Act would get an additional 5 kg wheat or rice for free, in addition to the 5 kg of subsidised foodgrain already provided through the Public Distribution System (PDS). One kg of pulses a household would also be provided for free.

Cash transfers — a mix of advances via existing schemes and additional sums — would also be given to vulnerable groups under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

About three crore poor pensioners above 60 years, widows and disabled people would be given ₹1,000 in two instalments over the next three months. The 20 crore women holding Jan Dhan Yojana accounts would get ₹500 a month over the same period.

Wages were hiked under the MNREGA scheme from ₹182 to ₹202 a day. The Minister said this would provide an additional ₹2,000 per worker.

Heat may slow down virus, but early summer unlikely

Amit.Bhattacharya@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.03.2020

Many Indians have been praying for an early onset of peak summer this year in the light of some studies that have shown that transmission of Covid-19 infections may slow down in high heat. That hope may be dashed, with Met department forecasts showing the chances of summer setting in early are low. Temperatures across most of India are likely to remain below normal at least over the next two weeks, the India Meteorological Department’s extended range forecast reveals.

The forecast, which gives weekly outlooks for the next 28 days, shows that the probability of the mercury hitting 40°C, even in central India, are low till the second week of April.

“Several parts of north and central India are likely to get rain over the next two-three days under the influence of very active back-to-back western disturbances (WDs). Again, next week, some rain is expected in north India, particularly over the Himalayas,” said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, head of IMD. He added that temperatures aren’t expected to rise significantly over most parts of India over the next two weeks or so.

“Currently, we see the influence of northerly winds right down to latitudes where Mumbai is located. These are relatively cool winds which, along with the rainfall, are likely to prevent temperatures from rising. However, in south India, thunderstorms are beginning to show up, which is a sign of rising heat,” he said.

A recent analysis by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had shown that coronavirus infections may transmit at a slower rate in places where the weather is hot.In general, the high summer period in India sees the least number of virus infections.

According to the extended range forecast for the March 26 to April 9 period, temperatures in all four regions of the country are expected to be below the climatological values (normal).

Full report on www.toi.in

VIRUS WATCH

2020 NEET-UG scheduled for May 3 likely to be postponed

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.03.2020

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Under Graduate (NEET UG) 2020 scheduled for May 3, 2020, is likely to be postponed as a result of the 21-day lock down. The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday decided to not issue the admit card that were to be downloaded by the candidates on Friday. The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) will also be rescheduled as the lock down will continue till April 14. The NTA will issue a notification on the status NEET-UG 2020 on Friday.

Deciding not to issue the admit cards for the time being, a senior NTA official said, “We will not be issuing the admit cards on March 27, 2020, as scheduled. The new date for downloading of admit cards will be issued later following a review. A final call will be taken jointly by the ministries of health and family welfare and human resource development.” The health and HRD ministries are in talks regarding the dates for the issuing of admit cards. Based on the directions, NTA will issue a notification on Friday on the future course of action.

LIFE UNDER QUARANTINE

‘The healthcare ‘angels’ were always with me, day & night’

27.03.2020

When I reached the Medical College Hospital in Kalamassery on March 20, I was praying hard for my test to be negative. I gave my samples and was sent home to self-quarantine. But unfortunately, after a day, I was tested positive for Covid-19 and was moved to the isolation facility on March 22.

The first few days were tiresome since I was put on strong medications. Once I started regaining my strength I tried to get to know about the ‘angels’ who were taking care of me. They were always around, wrapped in body suits, day and night, to ensure that we are well taken care of. And people outside have no idea about the things they go through. Everyone has been busy complaining about how hard it was to spend 21days at home, but they are not aware about the fact that many of these healthcare workers have not been able to be with their family as well.

When Covid-19 struck the UK, my parents tried their best to get me back home. Authorities were imposing travel restrictions and I knew I had to reach India before March 18. I managed to book a flight to Chennai via Dubai on March

16. I had developed a sore throat by then. From Dubai airport I booked a flight to Kochi but by the time I reached Chennai, I had only half an hour left to catch the Kochi flight. The long line for immigration clearance made things even more horrible. I got clearance but unfortunately by the time I reached the gate, my flight had taken off. I was panicking, and my health had deteriorated completely.

But I was determined not to lose hope and booked a morning flight to Kochi. I was forced to spend 10 hours at the airport. There was panic in the eyes of everyone I saw there. And I had to make sure that I did not fall asleep in the airport or be near others as I was worried about getting infected with coronavirus. My body had given up on me, my head was pounding and I experienced a burning sensation on my head. Those 10 hours felt like 10 days. I somehow managed to kill time and it was time for me to board the next flight. Landing in Kochi made my heart pound for some reason and my eyes welled up. Finally, I was home.

While they were screening me for coronavirus at the airport, I made sure that I informed the authorities about my complete travel history and provided them with all my flight details. I was asked to selfquarantine for 14 days. Coming out of the airport I saw my dad waiting for me and I wanted to hug him, but I did not.

My dad had shifted my mom to our uncle’s house and he was fully prepared for the next 14 days of home quarantine. We were doing fine until I started getting chills and my temperature kept fluctuating. We informed Disha (the 24X7 helpline) and doctors about the situation and I was asked to go to the facility at Kalamassery. It has been a stressful week since. But now, I am feeling better and hope I will recover soon.

(The writer is a student who returned from the UK. Name withheld on request)

Corona nightmare giving children sleepless nights, anxious moments

Priyanka.Kakodkar@timesgroup.com

Mumbai  27.03.2020

: A few days after school closed, the nightmares began. Eight-year-old Jahnavi (name changed) would arrive at her parents’ bedroom at 3am, saying she was scared. “This went on for three days. Then she finally said she had been getting a stomach ache in the evenings and was scared she had contracted the coronavirus,” said her mother, who works in an advertising agency.

Last week, 12-year-old Advay (name changed) had a panic attack. “He suddenly said he couldn’t breathe. After he calmed down, he told us he was scared that we (his parents) would be killed by the coronavirus,” said his mother, who teaches in an international school.

With the pandemic shutting down schools and offices and news about its spread and impact being discussed non-stop in homes, the anxiety is leaving its mark on children. As parents discuss the death toll, panic about how to keep the disease at bay and whether their groceries are running out, children cannot escape its impact.

Long before schools closed down, Covid-19 was already on everyone’s radar. “I was scared to go to school. If someone sneezed on me, I thought I was going to get it,” said nine-year old Jahaan (name changed). He refused to go down to the building garden, much before the lockdown was declared.

The biggest change after the lockdown is social isolation: no school, hanging out with friends or playing downstairs. “Suddenly the whole normality has changed. Children don’t go to school and their parents, who may have been working, are at home all the time,” said Dr Alka Subramanyam, associate professor of psychiatry at BYL Nair Hospital.

Full report on www.toi.in

Day 2 of lockdown better across TN as people learn to stay indoors

Fewer People Found Out On Roads, Say Cops

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  27.03.2020

Day 2 of the 21-day lockdown saw better adherence to the rules across the state as fewer people stepped out of their houses on Thursday.

Police, on their part, intensified the crackdown on the curfew violators and booked hundreds of people who were found on roads.

In the first part of the day, people, mostly men, were out on the roads to buy essentials. But by afternoon, the number of vehicles on the roads thinned and customers in grocery stores dropped considerably.

The Madurai Central Market, which was closed due to overcrowding on Wednesday morning, was opened on Thursday morning. Once again, there was an influx of buyers and despite efforts by the authorities to convince people to maintain a safe social distance, they did not comply and the market was shut again.

To contain crowding in vegetable markets, the district authorities have now decided to restrict market operational hours to four hours. “This will help people realize that the shops will be open for four hours and they may not run out of stock. At the same time, we can prevent people venturing out throughout the day in the name of buying essentials,” said a corporation official.

In some places, people who stepped out to buy vegetables and essentials had to return empty-handed and some retail stores and farmers markets were found closed. “I have run out of some essentials. I couldn’t find any shops open since I went in the afternoon. I heard farmers markets were closed too. I have to try my luck tomorrow,” A Sakthi, a resident of K Pudur in Madurai said.

Like Madurai, several other places across the state too witnessed curfew in real sense on Thursday as there were fewer persons on road, fewer shops opened and people observed the mandatory social distance while waiting at shops. Police instructed the shops, where there were more people flouting the social distance norm, to be closed.

With the backlash coming from various quarters, police, however, stopped beating curfew violators as they did on Wednesday. Instead, they booked cases on several people. In Coimbatore, more than 100 cases were booked, while in Salem they booked 164 people. They were arrested and let off on bail. Salem city police commissioner T Senthil Kumar said it was mostly youth who violate the rules.

“We have issued them enough warnings. We will start acting tough against repeat offenders,” he said. A few youths caught by police roaming on roads were made to do 200 sit-ups.

HC extends interim orders till April 30

Move Due To Closure Of Courts

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:27.03.2020

Those facing eviction and those on bail or anticipatory bail due to interim orders of courts can breathe easy as the Madras high court has extended them relief till April 30 across the board. A division bench granted a blanket extension for its interim orders owing to closure of courts due to Covid-19 outbreak.

All orders of eviction, dispossession or demolition which have not been executed till date on the orders of the high court, district courts or the civil courts, shall remain in abeyance till April 30, unless vacated or modified earlier by any judicial order passed by the appropriate forum by which it was issued, said a division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice Abdul Quddhose on Thursday.

“All interim orders passed by the high court at Madras – principal bench that were subsisting as on March 20, may stand extended till April 30, unless vacated or modified earlier or until further orders of the court unless specifically dealt with by any judicial order to the contrary,” the bench said.

The order was passed in a suo motu plea initiated based on a letter of the Chief Justice AP Sahi dated March 26.

“Keeping in view the extraordinary situation which has arisen, it appears appropriate to undertake extraordinary remedies by issuing certain directions in order to ensure the smooth administration of justice and prevent any form of obstruction or miscarriage of justice,” the bench said.

Adding that all orders passed by the courts exercising criminal jurisdiction having granted bail, anticipatory bail or parole for a limited period which are likely to expire on or before April 30 shall stand extended till April 30, the court said that it is subject to any orders passed by the said forums even before the said expiry date or thereafter to enable the respective courts to deal with any abuse of the orders of the concerned party.

This apart, general encroachment drives, state revenue recovery measures, proceedings relating to demolition and eviction and other actions that are likely to give rise to an immediate litigation in the high court may be kept temporarily in abeyance subject to any measures for which advise may be sought from the advocate-general, the judges said.

The order has been passed in view of complete lockdown across the country.

People mistake stickers as mark of Covid cases

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 27.03.2020

Health workers of Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) have started pasting stickers outside houses and apartments of people who have been home-quarantined.

However, many people have started mistaking the stickers as an indication of Covid positive patients living in the homes. Such messages along with the photo of the sticker have started circulating in WhatsApp groups in the local area, adding to panic among residents.

For instance, one message read that one person had tested positive for corona in RA Puram and exhorted the WhatsApp group members to be careful. Similar messages of corona having reached T Nagar or Madipakkam were also doing the rounds. This led to panic, especially among senior citizens.

On Thursday, GCC, on its official twitter handle, reassured people that there was nothing to be scared of, as these were residents who had been home quarantined for 28 days after returning from a foreign country.

“Please do not spread such fake messages that would hurt them and their noble cause,” GCC said in tweets. To debunk such rumours, GCC has asked people to tweet their queries with the hashtag #GCCmythbusters.

People returning from foreign countries have been asked to home quarantine for 28 days. GCC started pasting stickers only from early this week and in some cases, they have backdated the date to match with the start of the patient’s home quarantine.

A reader pointed out that the stickers printed in Tamil had words which would scare people about corona positive patients staying there. GCC clarified that they would be replacing such stickers with new ones.

SIGN OF SAFETY: An official pasting a home-quarantine sticker outside a house in the cit

TAMIL NADU COVID-19 TRACKER

Nurses to advise pregnant women on hospital visits

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:27.03.2020

In the next two months, at least 1.5 lakh pregnant women in the state are expected to give birth. Nearly 11,000 women have been tagged as “high-risk” by doctors in the state registry Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME).

The state health department charted out a series of micro and macro level plans for these women. “All pregnant women will have calls and visits from our nurses. They will be advising them not to visit government hospitals or primary health centres in the morning,” said health secretary Beela Rajesh. Those visiting private hospitals will have to work with their doctors and ensure they don’t wait in crowded OPs. “All fever and Covid-19 out-patient clinics in government will close in the morning and space will be used for pregnant women in the afternoon. Scans will be scheduled for them in the afternoon,” she said.

Pharmacies will dispense medications for a month so they don’t have to return to the hospital just to pick up their pills, she said. Similar protocols will be followed by post-transplant patients.

Pregnant women visiting state-run antenatal clinics will now be categorised as red (high risk), yellow (moderate risk) and green (safe). Since a woman can continue to remain in green or move to yellow and red any time during the pregnancy, village and urban health nurses will keep a keen watch. All high risk cases will be monitored by a senior gynaecologist and delivery will be at a tertiary care centre. “Government will pick up women who go into labour in special vehicles or ambulances,” Beela said.

Only women tagged green will be allowed to deliver at primary health centres, where staff will be mentored by gynaecologists. Obstetricians-gynaecologists from sub-district, district and medical college hospitals will be allotted health blocks based on the geographic location of the hospital they are posted for the training. Each doctor will have a group of clinics and staff. All mothers will be seen by a doctor at least once.

“The plan is to continue monitoring the women and have access to case sheets of all pregnant women. We are putting everything on a dashboard to make monitoring easy,” Beela said.