23 year-old house surgeon found dead in KMC hostel

02/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

A 23-year-old woman house surgeon was found dead in her hostel room at the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital on Friday.

Since the lockdown has been in force, she came from her house in Perambur and was staying in the hostel from April 14. According to hospital authorities, she was a CRRI and joined duty on April 18.

On Friday, she did not come out from her room nor respond to anyone. Police personnel broke the door down and rushed her to the hospital, where she was declared brought dead.

Hospital authorities confirmed that her swabs tested negative for COVID-19. However, post-mortem findings were inconclusive, they said, and added, “The cause of death is not immediately known.”

Government issues new guidelines for e-passes

Mandatory quarantine for ‘outsiders’

02/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu government has come out with fresh guidelines for issuing e-passes to move within districts, between districts and outside the State.

The government has mandated that any person arriving in Tamil Nadu from other States will have to be under home quarantine for 14 days.

The government has set up a website https://tnepass.tnega.org, where those seeking passes can apply. The portal will be accessible through mobile phones as well.

The website enables individuals and organisations to apply for e-passes for movement of people or employees.

The government will be issuing three types of passes — intra-district (within a district), inter-district (outside a district) and inter-State (outside Tamil Nadu).

‘Inform about arrival’

Passes will be issued only for marriages (only for close relatives), funerals and medical emergencies. Those arriving from outside Tamil Nadu should call and inform 1070 about their arrival. They will have to confirm that they have not come into contact with any COVID-19 patient for the past 15 days.

Passes will also be issued to self-employed skilled service providers like plumbers, electricians, carpenters and others.

Movement of employees

For industries and companies, passes can be applied for movement of their employees.

Organisations will need to upload their GST/RoC registration certificate/Udyog Aadhaar as proof, must follow the standard operating procedure as detailed along with any other orders issued by the government, and details of vehicles permitted for transporting employees.

All passes will have a QR code. The State has also set up a State e-pass control room in Chennai and can be contacted on the toll free number 1-800-425-1333, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on all days.

Exit strategy to be in tune with Centre’s plan

Expert panel hands in recommendations to State govt.

02/05/2020, T.K. ROHIT, SANJAY VIJAYAKUMAR ,CHENNAI

On a day when the Union government announced extension of the COVID-19 lockdown for two more weeks, the State government received a set of recommendations from its 17-member panel on the “exit strategy” from the lockdown.

The panel’s chief and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) S. Krishnan met Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and reportedly briefed him on the broad contours of the findings of the team’s study.

Earlier, the team held consultations with experts and other stakeholders. Mr. Palaniswami held consultations with industrialists on April 23 and assured them that he would consider their concerns and requests.

A source in the State government said that there won’t be any contradictions between what the Government of India says and the State government does with regard to relaxations. “Even in the April 15 Government of India order, they said that except in containment zones, in hotspot districts too industries can operate,” the source said.

“It (T.N. decision) will be within the overall scope (of the GoI’s guidelines). All of GoI’s orders so far have been — this is the outside limit of how far you can go but you need not give as much freedom as we are asking to (but) you cannot go beyond those orders,” he said.

States have been empowered to make the conditions more stringent than what they are. Industry sources expect the government to allow industrial activity in a staggered manner even in the red zone, outside of the containment area.

In the containment zone, no movement or activity will be allowed, an industry representative in the know of the development said. However, the government source made it clear that lockdown conditions would continue for certain districts such as Chennai and its neighbouring districts.

S. Vasudevan, joint secretary, Tamilnadu Small and Tiny Industries Association, suggested that a whole district could not be classified as a red zone. “You have to further divide it ward-wise and only in the containment area the industrial activities should not be allowed. We had suggested that industrial estates which are located outside the city should be allowed to operate.”

Chennai remains hotspot with 176 new cases

To focus efforts on city, govt. appoints J. Radhakrishnan as Special Nodal Officer

02/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

A worker sprinkles bleaching powder at a containment zone in Chennai.K. Pichumani

With Chennai remaining Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19 epicentre, registering 176 of the 203 fresh cases on Friday, the State government chose to pay focused attention to the capital city, appointing senior IAS officer J. Radhakrishnan as Special Nodal Officer to coordinate issues relating to the pandemic. Five senior IPS officers will support him.

With the 176 fresh cases, the city’s tally of COVID-19 cases surpassed the 1,000-mark.

The State’s COVID-19 case count stands at 2,526* (1,670 men and 856 women), of which 1,183 are active cases.

Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said the maximum number of samples were lifted in Chennai. “We lifted 3,200 samples in the city, of which 176 returned positive for COVID-19,” he added.

A 98-year-old man, who was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar Estate, died due to COVID-19 at 10.20 a.m. on Friday despite receiving intensive care at the hospital. This took the COVID-19 toll in the State to 28, he said.

Among the 203 new cases (117 men and 86 women), Chengalpattu accounted for eight cases, while Tiruvallur had six.

There were three patients in Madurai, two each in Kancheepuram and Thanjavur, and one each in Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Karur, Nagapattinam and Villupuram.

Mr. Radhakrishnan, who is currently Principal Secretary and Commissioner for Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation, told The Hindu:“We will try our best to work hard to ensure that we are able to get to a COVID-19-free Chennai. We will work with the entire team and the common people and work on how to address this.”

He said suggestions and inputs from officers will be considered to tackle the spread of COVID-19. A former Health Secretary, he will be supported by senior IPS officers Mahesh Kumar Agarwal (in charge of Chennai North Zone), Abash Kumar (East Zone), Amaresh Pujari (South Zone), Abhay Kumar Singh (West Zone) and K. Bhavaneeswari (Chennai suburbs).

As on Friday, Chennai’s cumulative tally of COVID-19 cases stood at 1,082, while Chengalpattu accounted for 86 cases

Health Ministry identifies 130 districts as red zones

Bulk of areas in Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat fall in list

02/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

The Union Health Ministry on Friday listed 130 districts in the country in the red zone, 284 in the orange zone and 319 in the green zone for a week after May 3, ahead of the extension of the second phase of the nationwide lockdown.

Under this classification, a district will be considered under green zone if there has been no confirmed case of COVID-19 so far or if there is no reported case since last 21 days in the district. Red zones are identified based on total active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and district feedback.

Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat are among the States with a heavy COVID-19 load as per the list.

The new classification of districts was announced following a video-conference chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on April 30 with the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of the States.

The classification of districts comes as the country recorded 1,993 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total to 35,365 with a recovery rate of 25.37%.

Since Thursday, 77 deaths were reported, taking the total number of deaths to 1,152, the Ministry said.

The State Health Departments reported 1,182 deaths with 25,074 active cases out of a total of 35,555 cases. Kerala did not report any new case on Friday.

Identifying pockets

In a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said, “It is important to ensure that we identify pockets of critical interventions for a focused management of COVID -19 at the field level”.

The list will be revised on a weekly basis or earlier and communicated to the States for follow-up action, the letter said.

Lockdown extended till May 17; curbs stay on public transport

Private cars, cabs to be allowed with fewer riders; buses with 50% commuters

02/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Long wait ends: Migrant workers waiting on the IIT-Hyderabad campus to board a special train early on Friday to return to their home State of Jharkhand. Mohd Arif

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday issued new guidelines allowing considerable relaxations across red, orange and green zones, based on the evidence of COVID-19 infection, even though it extended the countrywide lockdown till May 17.

The lockdown, imposed first on March 24 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, was to end on May 3.

The MHA asked local authorities to ensure 100% coverage of the Aarogya Setu app among the residents in the containment zones. The National Directive for COVID-19 management said use of the Aarogya Setu application is to be mandatory for all employees, both private and public and “it should be the responsibility of the head of organisation to ensure 100% coverage of this App among the employees”.

In green zones, buses can operate with up to 50% seating capacity and bus depots can operate with up to 50% capacity, the MHA said.

In orange zones, taxis and cab aggregators will be permitted to ply with only one passenger. Inter-district movement of vehicles will be allowed in orange zones for permitted activities and cars could have maximum two passengers besides the driver, and pillion riding will be allowed on two-wheelers.

In red zones, other than the containment zones, private cars will be allowed only for permitted activities with a maximum of two persons other than the driver but no pillion riders in two-wheelers. Irrespective of zones, however, all forms of other public transport — air, rail, metro and inter-State movement by road — will remain suspended except those allowed in select cases.

Delhi HC allows candidate to participate in 2nd, subsequent rounds of NEET-PG 2020 counselling

The court directed that the petitioner be allowed to participate in any future rounds of counselling organised by the respondents for NEET-PG 2020, notwithstanding his non-participation in the first round.

EDUCATION Updated: May 01, 2020 15:08 IST

Asian News International

 Delhi

Delhi High Court has directed authorities concerned to allow a candidate to participate in the second round and other subsequent rounds, if any, of all-India counselling for NEET-PG 2020 as per his eligibility.

However, Justice Rekha Palli did not allow candidate Abhishek V to get accommodated in the first round of counselling of NEET-PG 20 observing that he has approached this court after the expiry of an entire fortnight from the date of the first round of counselling.

“Keeping in view the amount of preparation and hard work which goes into qualifying for examinations of such nature, the respondent’s willingness to accommodate the petitioner in this regard and the sheer effort invested by the petitioner in securing a meritorious position on an all-India basis, the interest of justice requires the petitioner to be permitted to participate in the 2nd round and other subsequent rounds,” the court in its order on Thursday.

The court directed that the petitioner be allowed to participate in any future rounds of counselling organised by the respondents for NEET-PG 2020, notwithstanding his non-participation in the first round.

“It is also directed that his nonparticipation in the first round of counselling shall not be held as a ground to prejudice his chances to secure admission to a college of his preference, in these subsequent rounds,” the court said.

“It is further directed that the petitioner will also be entitled to participate in any state counselling, as per his eligibility conditions and domicile,” it added.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Abhishek V, a participant in the National Entrance Eligibility Test 2020 for admissions to post-graduate medical courses (NEET-PG 2020), who sought directions to the Medical Counselling Committee to permit him to submit his medical college preferences within the first round of counselling of NEET-PG 2020.

Abhishek, a resident of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, had appeared in the NEET-PG 2020 on January 5 and the results were declared on January 30. The petitioner claimed that he had registered on the concerned website on March 10 for the first round of all-India counselling but the results of the first round declared by NEET on April 9 did not include his name.

Subsequently, he received an e-mail on April 11 about the refund of the amount.

Additional solicitor general advocate Maninder Acharya, appearing for the Central government, told the court that all-India counselling has already concluded on April 11 and that the petitioner is at fault for approaching the court after a substantial delay.

She submitted that granting any relief to the petitioner as prayed for would cause grave prejudice to the other candidates, however, assured the court that the respondent has no objection to the petitioner participating in the second or any other subsequent rounds based on eligibility.