The Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday attacked the Uttar Pradesh government for exempting industries in the state from some labour laws, saying it comes at a time when the condition of labourers is the "worst" during coronavirus pandemic. In a series of Hindi tweets, BSP chief Mayawati said, "Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the condition of labourers is perhaps the worst, and even then a mechanism has been implemented where instead of 8 hours of work, they are made to work for 12 hours. This is very sad and unfortunate. Change in labour laws should be in the interest of the labourers." "Babasaheb BR Ambedkar had brought the concept of overtime, if the labourers had worked for more than 8 hours in a day, when exploitation of labour was at its peak. Is it correct to push the country to that era," she asked in another tweet. The BSP chief also said, "Keeping the current situation prevailing in the country, the labour laws should be changed in a way, so that labourers working in a factory .

A 23-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide at the AIIMS here after her mother died of cancer at the hospital, police said on Saturday. She was reported missing after her mother passed away on Wednesday and her body was found near the new private ward block of the hospital on Saturday, they said, adding that she fell to her death from a building. "Her mother was a cancer patient. She was being treated at the hospital and had died during treatment on Wednesday," Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said. Her father was busy in the formalities when she left the area. She was reported missing since Wednesday. The family hails from Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, a senior police officer said. Hospital staff noticed the body and informed the police. The block was closed due to which nobody found out about it earlier, police said. Police said she had called her friends and told them that she was going to kill herself. The body has been recovered and an inquest ...

A portion of a nine-storey building in Mumbai's tony Bandra area, valued Rs16.38 crore, has been attached by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its money-laundering probe against the Congress-party promoted Associated Journals Limited (AJL). The federal probe agency said it has issued a provisional order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, to freeze "part" of the asset and has issued notices to AJL and its CMD and veteran Congress leader Moti Lal Vora. The AJL is controlled by senior Congress leaders, including members of the Gandhi family. The group runs the National Herald newspaper. The nine-floor building has two basements and a total built-up area of 15,000 sq metres, it said, adding its total value is Rs120 crore. The building is located at plot no 2, survey no 341, near Kala Nagar, EPF office, Bandra (East). The agency alleged that the accused in this case, that includes former Haryana chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vora, ...

Over one lakh cases of lockdown violations were registered and 19,297 persons were arrested ever since prohibitory orders were enforced in Maharashtra in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, police said on Saturday. At least 1.02 lakh cases were registered under section 188 (disobeying an order passed by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, an official said. As many as 714 personnel, including 81 officers, of Maharashtra police contracted COVID-19, and of these 61 had recovered from the infection, he said. Maximum number of coronavirus cases reported in the police department were from Mumbai, he added. At least 194 cases of attacks on policemen were reported in various parts of the state, while 680 persons were arrested in these incidents and 73 policemen and a home guard were injured in these attacks, the official said. Nearly 32 cases of attacks on health workers were reported in the state till Saturday, he added. Meanwhile, the police have registered 1,289 offences of

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Maharashtra's Amravati district rose to twelve on Saturday with the death of a 53-year-old man at the COVID facility here, an official said. The deceased, a resident of Masanganj locality in the city, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night, he said. He was suffering from fever and breathing difficulty, the official said, adding that swab samples of the patient were taken on May 7. "There are now 60 active patients at the COVID ward. While five have been recovered, another patient was referred to Nagpur," the official added.

Adani Transmission on Saturday reported a 60 per cent drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 58.97 crore for the March quarter. The fall was mainly on account of a one-time writeoff of Rs 185 crore finance sunk cost, it said in a regulatory filing. The company's consolidated net profit stood at Rs 146.7 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2019. Total income of the company rose to Rs 3,317.51 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 2,569.16 crore in the year ago period. For full fiscal 2019-20, consolidated net profit rose to Rs 706.49 crore, from Rs 559.20 crore in 2018-19.

Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the national capital, the Delhi government has roped in three more private hospitals with a total of 150 beds to treat COVID-19 patients. In an order issued on Saturday,Delhi Health Secretary Padmini Singla declared Fortis in Shalimar Bagh, Saroj Medical Institute in Sector 19, Rohini and Khushi Hospital in Dwarka for admitting confirmed or suspected cases. The decision was taken due to the "shortage of isolation beds in private hospitals", te order read. The three hospitals will have 50 isolation beds each. Medical superintendents of these hospitals have been directed to make the isolation facility functional before Monday. On April 30, Singla had declared Maha Durga Charitable Trust Hospital and Sir Gangaram City Hospital as COVID-19 hospitals. LNJP Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital, Sir Gangaram Kolmat Hospital and Max Hospital in Saket are some of the COVID-19 dedicated facilities in Delhi, where 6,318 people have tested positive

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought life to a screeching halt for many, but those with serious ailments such as blood disorders have been pushed to the edge with their lives now hanging by a thread in the absence of necessary medical interventions. Sonia Ghakkar, a Gurgaon resident, had been desperately looking for help, as her husband, a leukemia patient, waits for bone marrow transplant (BMT). "About two months ago, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia. Bone marrow transplant is his only chance of survival. We have sought permission from the health ministry for transport of blood stem cells, but to no avail. The match cannot reach the hospital under the present circumstances," she said. Stem cell transplant is the only cure for many patients suffering from blood disorders. According to a hematologist, it takes months, sometimes years, to find a donor, and many "high-risk" patients have limited time left. Transplants have come down to a meager 20 per cent nationwide, as most ...

Private cell phone operators resumed their services but mobile Internet continued to remain suspended on Saturday in the Kashmir valley, a move taken as a precautionary step after the killing of self-styled local chief of banned Hizbul Mujahdieen, Reyaz Naikoo, earlier this week. The situation in the valley, which has been witnessing lockdown since the third week of March due to COVID-19 pandemic, was generally calm barring a few local protests in some villages of Pulwama in south Kashmir. Seeing an improvement of the situation after Naikoo was killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday, the authorities allowed private telecom operators to resume their services from Friday night but asked them to keep Internet connection barred. Restrictions had been imposed in the valley after the death of Naikoo and additional paramilitary forces were deployed at vulnerable points to prevent any mischief or stone pelting. SMS services have been snapped across all telecom operators till

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday stressed on the need to understand the "chemistry of corona while administering its treatment". The chief minister chaired a high-level meeting of UP government officials at his residence here to review the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak in the state. "The need is to understand the chemistry of corona, while administering its treatment," he said. Asserting that increasing the immunity level of the body can prevent the infection, Adityanath said the 'Aayush Kavach COVID' app launched by the state government has a host of information on ayurveda, which can be adopted by people to boost their immunity. He added that the application should be widely publicised and people encouraged to download it. The UP chief minister also stressed on working on all possibilities for revenue generation, and directed officials to prepare a plan to identify alternate sources of revenue. He said an elaborate work plan should be ...

Police on Saturday rescued the three-year-old child who was kidnapped from near his house in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district, an official said. The child was missing since Friday morning after he went to play outside his house in Parasuram Colony in Raya area. In the early hours on Saturday, police found the child at a temple in Tabaka village which is around 10-km away from Raya, said SSP Gaurav Grover. The six teams formed to investigate the case were in the area since Friday afternoon, he said. The child's father, who is a lekhpal' (revenue official), said due to sincere efforts of police and checkposts at various places the kidnappers had to release his son. Meanwhile, the search for the kidnappers is on, an official said.

LG Polymers India Ltd on Saturday blamed leaking vapour from a storage tank for the leakage of deadly styrene monomer gas at its Visakhapatnam plant that killed at least 11 people and forced the evacuation of thousands. Status quo at the plant was restored on Saturday morning, the company said in a statement. The gas leakage from the plant was reported on Thursday morning after the company tried to restart operations following the partial easing of the coronavirus lockdown. "Our initial investigations suggest that the cause of the incident is prima facie by the leaking vapor from the Styrene Monomer (SM) storage tank near the GPPS (General Purpose Poly Styrene) factory on Thursday, May 7," the statement said. The unit of South Korean chemical giant LG Chem said it is committed to working closely with the concerned authorities to investigate the cause of the incident, prevent recurrence in future and secure the foundation for care and treatment. "While focusing on stabilizing the ...

Two men were arrested in Shamli district for allegedly posting an objectionable WhatsApp message against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, police said. The WhatApp group admin Vikas Upadhyay and Vikki Jatav, who sent the message, were arrested in Shamli on Friday, according to Circle Officer Jitender Singh. A case was registered against the two men under Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code Sections 500 (punishment for defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace). According to the complaint lodged by a local resident, it is alleged that Vikki Jatav posted the message against the political leaders on a WhatsApp group.

Filmmaker Satyanshu Singh has launched a unique initiative to raise relief money for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The director has started online classes for budding cinema students and has roped artistes from different fields of filmmaking for the initiative. Actor Vinay Pathak, screenwriters Anjum Rajabali and Sudip Sharma, cinematographer Siddharth Diwan and director Shoojit Sircar have come aboard the initiative. Since April 1, more than a dozen lectures have been conducted with students from cities like Bokaro, Kota, Bhilai, Almora, and Coimbatore taking part in them. Overseas students have also showed interest in the lectures. Through the initiative, Satyanshu has so far raised Rs 15 lakhs which has been donated to non-for-profit organisations like Milaap, Goonj, Sarvahitey, and Sneha, providing food and support to out-of-work labourers, women and children in slums, and the homeless. The daily wage workers from the film industry are also benefitting from this ...

The Goa government may allow holding of music classes and reopening of some state-run libraries in a phased manner on the condition of maintaining strict social distancing norms, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gawade said on Saturday. However, resumption of dramas and other entertainment events will be allowed only after monsoon gets over. The state-run Kala Academy will also reopen once rainy season gets over, he told PTI. Goa is classified as a green zone with no coronavirus positive case as of now. Meanwhile, Gawade said the overall budget of the state Art and Culture department is likely to be slashed by almost 30 per cent as part of fiscal measures being adopted for kick-starting the economy, which is affected by the COVID situation. He also said that demand made by various artists seeking monthly renumeration cannot be approved. Some professional artists and theatre personalities had raised a demand for a package with chief minister Pramod Sawant and Gawade, saying

In a bid to tackle the spread of coronavirus in a more effective manner, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has put additional commissioners in charge of seven zones in the city. As per the order, seven additional commissioners will work towards improving the double rate of positive cases from 10 days to 20 days by May 17. These officials will be responsible for mapping positive cases, contact tracing, strict enforcement of norms in containment zones,door-to-door surveillance,identifying senior citizens with comorbid conditions and fever clinics, the circular dated May 7 said. They will also have to facilitate operations at private nursing homes, clinics, hospitals, ensure testing of symptomatic persons and creation of COVID care centres (CCC). Additional commissioners will have to personally visit their zones every day from morning till 2 pm, attend office post 3 pm and brief the municipal commissioner at 6 pm, the order stated. Of 19,063 COVID-19 cases in ...

Confusion prevailed over the number of deaths due to coronavirus in the national capital, with data from four hospitals showing that 92 people succumbed to the infection as against 68 fatalities reported by the Delhi government. The toll of 68 shared by the Delhi government in its health bulletin on Friday is based on data collected from 10 hospitals, including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College. According to the bulletin, AIIMS (Delhi and Jhajjar) reported two deaths, Safdarjung Hospital reported four, RML 26 and Lady Hardinge Medical College had none till Friday. However, officials from these hospitals said the number of people who died due to coronavirus in the national capital till Friday is higher than that reflected in the Delhi government's bulletin. AIIMS (Delhi Trauma Centre and Jhajjar) has recorded a total of 14 deaths, an official said. According to All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Medical ...

ReNew Solar Power has bagged 400 MW renewable energy projects at a tariff of Rs 2.90 per unit in an auction, according to an MNRE statement. The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a central public sector undertaking, conducted e-reverse auction for the 400 MW renewable energy projects with round-the-clock supply. "India's renewable energy (RE) sector has witnessed history today, as the e-reverse auction (e-RA)for 400 MW RE projects with round-the-clock supply was concluded at an astounding first year tariff of Rs 2.90/kilowatt hour (kWh)," the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said. The capacity of 400 MW has been awarded to ReNew Solar Power Pvt Ltd after a closely fought auction which saw the lowest tariff drop by 69 paise over the course of almost 3 hours, it said. "Golden chapter added in Indian Renewable Energy story, as e-RA for 400 MW RE Projects with Round the Clock (RTC) supply conducted by SECI Ltd results in historic 1st year tariff of Rs 2.90/kWh. MNRE ...

Realtors' apex body Credai on Saturday said cement and steel rates have increased by 40-50 per cent in last few weeks despite the lockdown and alleged price cartelisation and unfair trade practices by the manufacturers. The association has written a letter to Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri seeking his intervention in the matter. "We would like to bring your attention to the cartelization by the cement and the steel manufacturers by imposing a sudden increase in their selling price," Credai said in the letter. Across various states, there has been an increase of Rs 100-250 per bag cement and about Rs 2,000-2,500 per tonne of steel, it added. During the past few weeks, there has been a sudden, steep increase in prices of essential raw materials such as cement and steel by 40-50 per cent despite the nationwide lockdown. The Centre has allowed construction work on sites where labourers are already available. Given the current crisis faced by the real estate ...

: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appoint an expert committee to help states overcome the fiscal situation in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. He told reporters here that he had written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to constitute immediately the expert committee to go into the poor fiscal condition of the states during the current lockdown and help mobilise funds to meet their commitments. The expert committee should be given a time-frame of one week to come out with its recommendations as to how the Centre could help the states wriggle out of the fiscal crisis and how States could rise to the exigency, he said. Narayanasamy hoped the Prime Minister would consider his suggestion and take appropriate action. "I am speaking candidly and making the suggestion for all states which no BJP-ruled state Chief Ministers will express,", Narayanasamy a former Central Minister, said. Already, he said, ...

The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday said the situation was "normal" in RR Venkatapuram village, where a styrene vapour leak from the LG Polymers plant claimed 12 lives and left over 300 people hospitalized with various ailments. Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang and Special Chief Secretary (Industries) Karikal Valaven inspected the plant and spoke to the LG Polymers plant management. Later they told reporters "everything is normal and there is no need to panic." Even as Sawang was inspecting the vapour leak spot and talking to the management on the measures taken to restore normalcy, irate villagers staged a protest demanding immediate closure of the plant. According to the DGP, temperature at the styrene storage tank, where the vapour leak occurred, has come down, as also the PPM (ambient air quality) level. "Definitely the air is also fresh and there is nothing to worry about. In the coming days, life will come back to normalcy," the DGP said. "Just to ..

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's manic following just keeps on increasing with India and Chennaiyin FC midfielder Anirudh Thapa being the latest to join the badwagon of his awestruck fans. Dhoni is one of the co-owners of Chennaiyin FC, the twice winners of Indian Super League in 2015 and 2017-18 season. The 22-year-old Thapa treasures his interactions with Dhoni during times when former India cricket captain would drop in to meet the Chennaiyin footballers. "He (Dhoni) used to come whenever we had a team lunch. He would stay back to talk to the boys and shared his experiences. He's a very down to earth guy. Obviously Thala is my favourite cricketer," Thapa said. "There were others who also asked him to come and sit with them, but instead he always preferred to sit with the footballers. He would say Let me sit with the boys and let me share some experiences'." Thapa, who has played 24 matches for India since 2017, said Dhoni would also share his on and off-field experiences with the ...

: The number of active COVID-19 cases slid below the 1,000 mark to 999 in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday though the overall tally rose to 1,930 with the addition of 43 in the last 24 hours ending 9 am. The COVID-19 toll in the state also increased by three to 44 while 45 more patients were discharged from hospitals, according to the latest bulletin. Chittoor district saw a sudden spurt in cases, with 11 reported in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Saturday, as some people who returned from Koyambedu wholesale market in Chennai city tested posted for coronavirus. It is suspected that these people contracted the disease at Koyambedu and several others who also returned from the place were sent to quarantine, sources here said. Visakhapatnam too continued to show an upward trend as five fresh cases were registered, taking the total in the district to 62. The major hotspots Kurnool, Krishna and Guntur reported six, 16 and two fresh cases. In the last 24 hours, Krishna reported two

Rane Holdings Ltd, part of Rane Group, has commenced partial operations at most of its plants with restricted manpower, the company said on Saturday. The city-based company had closed its plants and offices across India due to outbreak of COVID19 and in-line with instructions from Central and state governments. ".. based on the various relaxations and guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs and respective State governments, the company has partially resumed its operations in most of its plants and offices with restricted manpower with effect from May 8," the company said in a filing. Rane Holdings said the continuance of operations in the places would depend on directives of local authorities issued time to time and based on incidence of COVID-19 cases in area concerned. The Tamil Nadu government had announced extension of lock-down from May 4 to 17 by allowing some restrictions towing with Centre's directive to control the spread of coronavirus. The company has six

Despite having a valid official pass to move between Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of travellers have ended up at administrative quarantine centres set up by the government on the outskirts of the winter capital as part of its efforts to combat the coronavirus. The move is agitating the people who questioned the logic behind sending them to an institutional quarantine when they are given the passes in extremely exceptional situations, like a medical emergency or joining their duties after completing the formalities due to a lockdown. One such quarantine centre is set up at Excise and Taxation Training institute in Nagrota, 15 km from Jammu city, where 35 persons, including women and a seven-year-old girl, are anxiously waiting for their sample reports the outcome of which will decide their future at the sprawling facility. While a majority of them are expected to be released after their test reports are negative, four labourers from Amritsar in Punjab who had travelled from Srinagar to

Confined to their homes without access to courts due to the lockdown, India's young shuttlers are an "irritated" and "frustrated" lot, says chief junior national coach Sanjay Mishra, who feels more like a counsellor these days. The national lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far killed nearly 2000 people and infected more than 59,000 in India, is in place till May 17. "It has been nearly two months, the young players have been staying at home and now they are getting irritated and frustrated by the sheer mention of the word lockdown," Mishra, who took up the position in 2017, told PTI during an interaction. "I keep telling them it is happening to the whole world not to you in particular and ask them to focus on boosting their mental toughness." Mishra says he tells his wards to try and control the negative thoughts which would also help them deal with tough match situations. "I tell them to remember the times when they got frustrated or irritated and lost crucial ..

The West Bengal government on Saturday said it had brought back around 6,000 residents stranded outside the state and ensured safe return of people of other states stuck here due to the lockdown, virtually refuting the claims of non-cooperation made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The state government is doing its best to ensure that migrant labourers -- those stranded in Bengal and also the state's people stuck outside -- return home, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay said. Bandopadhyay said so far around 6,000 people, including migrant labourers, pilgrims and students of Bengal, stranded in other states have come back. "We have also issued 18,000 passes to small trucks so that those stuck in West Bengal can return to their states," he said. He, however, declined to comment on the letter sent by Shah to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue of migrant labourers and said it is not his subject to comment on. Shah has said the West Bengal government is not allowing .

Woman power came to the fore as the massive exercise to evacuate Indian citizens stranded abroad in various countries continued on Saturday with two flights to Malaysia and Oman being helmed by women. Two women-Captain Kavitha Rajkumar and Captain Bindhu Sebastian- commanded the Air India Express flights operated today from Tiruchirapalli and Kochi to Kuala Lumpur and Muscat respectively to bring back Indians stuck there due to the lockdown in place to contain the COVID-19 spread. Today was the third day of the repatriation exercise -'Vande Bharat Mission'. WhileCaptain Kavitha Rajkumar is commanding IX 682/681 on Tiruchirappalli-Kuala Lumpur, Captain Bindhu Sebastian is the commander of IX 443/442 on Kochi-Muscat- Kochi flight. While the Tiruchirapalli-Kuala Lumpur flight took off at 01.11 pm, the Kochi-Muscat flight took off at 01.17 pm. "I am extremely proud of being part of this evacuation mission," Captain Bindu Sebastian said in a video shared by an Air India ...

Stopped by police from proceeding further, hundreds of migrant workers going home on foot created a ruckus at a Ganga bridge on the National Highway-24 in Uttar Pradesh's Amroha district, officials said on Saturday. According to them, the workers started arriving at the bridge from the Delhi side on Friday afternoon and wanted to go home at the earliest. Dhanoura Circle Officer Monica Yadav said they had assured them that buses would be arranged for their journey but they were adamant on going home on foot. Amroha DM Umesh Mishra said they arranged buses for them but some of the workers on bicycles refused to go in these. They wanted to proceed on their bicycles, he said.

Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday informed that India cricket skipper Virat Kohli and his wife actor Anushka Sharma have contributed Rs 5 lakh each for police welfare amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. "Thank you, @imVkohli and @AnushkaSharma for contributing Rs. 5 lacs each towards the welfare of Mumbai Police personnel. Your contribution will safeguard those at the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus. #MumbaiPoliceFoundation," Singh tweeted from his official handle. Earlier, Kohli and Sharma had given undisclosed amounts to the PM CARES fund and Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund to support the fight against COVID-19. Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus positive cases in the country.

The Delhi High Court has asked the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to ensure that dispensation of medicines from its pharmacy, which was functioning in limited capacity due to the coronavirus lockdown, resumes without any delay. A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and Rajnish Bhatnagar asked AIIMS to work out the modalities and file a compliance report before May 14, the next date of hearing. The order came on a PIL claiming that outstation non-coronavirus patients who had come for treatment at AIIMS are not being provided medication from the hospital's pharmacy anymore due to the lockdown. The petitioner, Rachna Malik, further claimed that patients were unable to procure medicine as there was no endorsement on their OPD cards permitting dispensation of medicines as the OPD of AIIMS was closed due to COVID-19 lockdown. AIIMS told the court that its pharmacy has been made fully functional since May 6 and it operates from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm. It also told the court that it .

A robot has been inducted into service at the Chandrapur civil hospital, and it could be used for collecting swab samples for COVID-19 test with some modifications in near future, an official said. District collector Dr Kunal Khemnar handed over the "medi-rover robot", which can be used for handing food or medicines to patients, to the hospital on Saturday. It has been developed by Tata Technologies in association with the Government Engineering College, Chandrapur, Khemnar said in a statement. "The robot will help the medical staff in treating and nursing of patients at the hospital," he said. With some modifications, the battery-operated robot, which weighs about 30 kg, can even be used for collection of swab samples of suspected COVID-19 patients in the coming days, he added. So far, only one coronavirus positive case has been found in Chandrapur district.

A 62-year-old man died due to coronavirus in Noida, becoming the second COVID-19 fatality in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said on Saturday. The resident of Sector 66 was among the two people who tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the officials said. "He expired yesterday (Friday) evening. The cause of the death was cardio-respiratory failure, District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said in a statement. The other person who tested positive for COVID-19 is a 52-year-old man residing in Sector 45's Khajoor Colony, the officer said. "Total 100 reports have been received in the last 24 hours of which two were positive and the rest negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 216," Dohare said. A 60-year-old man from Sector 22 died on Friday due to respiratory failure, becoming the first COVID-19 casualty in Gautam Buddh Nagar, officials had said.

The number of active cases of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh went up to 1,800 on Saturday, while nearly 1,400 people have been discharged so far, a senior official said. Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the national recovery percentage was 30 per cent but the figure was 43 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. "It is a matter of satisfaction that people are recovering and returning home," he said. The number of active infection cases is 1,800 as against 1,761 on Friday, while the number of people who have fully recovered has risen from 1,387 to 1,399, the official said. Prasad stressed that community surveillance will play an important role in coming days with the return of tens of thousands of migrants. There was a need for the 'gram nigrani samitis' in rural areas and 'mohalla nigrani samitis' in urban areas to work strictly, he said. "All those returning (to the state) are being kept in 21 days' home quarantine and those returning from abroad are also being put in quarantine.

Over 1 lakh migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh stranded in different parts of the country following the coronavirus-induced lockdown will return to the state by Saturday night on 114 trains, a senior government official said. Another 98 trains will reach the state on Sunday and Monday, while talks are on to allow 15 to 20 more, he said on Saturday. "Till Saturday morning, 97 trains have reached the state and another 17 will reach by the evening. With this, more than 1.20 lakh migrant workers and labourers will be back in the state," Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Awanish Awasthi said. These trains arrived at 36 railway stations of the state, with Lucknow and Gorakhpur receiving 11 trains each, he said. Awasthi said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has stressed that no migrant should undertake the journey home on foot or bicycle. The government has also given permission for 98 more trains which will bring back migrants from other parts of the country on Sunday and Monday, he said, ...

The Karnataka government has allowed garment units in red zone districts, but outside containment zones, to resume operations with one third of the workforce. Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar in the May 8 order, said all recognised garment factories having an Importer- Exporter Code (IEC) and those registered with the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) can start operations with one third of the total workforce in red zone districts, but outside containment zones. It said the permission is subject to following of the Standard Operating Procedures. Currently Bengaluru urban, Bengaluru rural and Mysuru are the red zone districts in the state. The government had recently allowed certain industrial activities other than in the containment zones to operate, while relaxing the COVID-19 induced lockdown in the state. During the earlier phases of lockdown, only those garments involved in the manufacture of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits for front line COVID ...

Healthcare firm HLL Lifecare on Saturday said its arm HLL Infra Tech Services has floated a tender seeking supply of over 1 lakh units of medical supplies towards COVID-19 testing on behalf of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). "The tender is seeking quotations for 40,000 units of viral transport media, 33,000 RNA extraction kits and 29,000 Combo RT-PCR COVID-19 tests," HLL Lifecare Ltd said in a statement. The tender is closing by May 10, the state-owned company added. "The viral transport media is used for transport of swabs collected for testing, RNA extraction kits are used to draw out RNA, which are single strand genetic materials of viruses, from samples which are then converted into reverse-transcribed into DNA while Combo RT-PCR tests has proven to be the 'gold standard' of COVID-19 diagnosis,"it said. HLL Lifecare is the procurement agency for hospitals and healthcare organisations under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Arunachal Pradesh government has made institutional quarantine for a period of 14 days mandatory for people returning to Arunachal Pradesh from across the country, a senior minister said on Saturday. Among the returnees, students will also have to go into institutional quarantine for the same duration, he said. Earlier a group of six students, lodged in a quarantine centre, was allowed to go home after five days when their swab samples had tested negative. People are coming back after the Centre allowed those stranded across the country in view of the lockdown to return to their respective states. The state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Pema Khandu at a meeting also decided to make RT-PCR test for detection of COVID-19 compulsory for the returnees, including the asymptomatic ones, state Home minister Bamang Felix told reporters here on Saturday. "We have decided to segregate returnees on the basis of green, orange and red zones and make arrangements ...

NCP chief Sharad Pawar has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk to chief ministers of those states who are not allowing migrant workers to come back home. Pawar spoke over phone to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the issue of repatriation of migrant workers to their home states during the coronavirus-induced lokdown period. "I humbly request our @PMOIndia Shri. Narendra Modi ji to intervene in this matter by talking to the CMs of the respective states who are not allowing these people to come back home," the NCP chief tweeted. Though he did not name any specific state, the NCP had recently accused the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka of not wanting to take back labourers hailing from the two states. "Had a telephonic conversation with Shri @OfficeofUT - Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Shri @PiyushGoyal - the Union Railway Minister regarding the issue of migrant workers," Pawar twitted. He said Thackeray has

The evaluation for class 10, 12 board exams will be done by teachers at their homes and 3,000 schools have been identified as exam centres to deliver the answer sheets to them, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said on Saturday. He said 1.5 crore answer sheets of already conducted class 10, 12 exams will be delivered to teachers. "From the 3,000 schools, these copies will go the evaluators and evaluation will begin tomorrow. Teachers will evaluate from home and we will be able to complete the process in 50 days," he added. The evaluation of the answer sheets has been delayed due to a nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The pending board exams will be held from July 1 to 15.

A bulk of the COVID-19-related fact-checks in April were related to communal rumours, most of which were false allegations against Muslims of purposefully spreading the virus, claimed a report by BOOM Live. BOOM Live, a fact-checking platform that works with social media companies like Facebook, said its study analysed 178 fact-checks on COVID-19 related to misinformation/disinformation around the pandemic from January to May this year. "During April, a new trend was observed communally charged disinformation targeting Muslims became more frequent," the report said. By the end of April, a bulk of BOOM Live's fact-checks (34 unique fact checks) were on communal rumours, it claimed. The report further noted that after several members of the Tablighi Jamaat an Islamic missionary group tested positive, "Islamophobic rumours around them purposefully spreading the virus became viral on the internet". Other trends also witnessed in April were: spike in fake news related to politics, more .

A 62-year-old man died due to coronavirus in Noida, becoming the second COVID-19 fatality in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said on Saturday. The man, a resident of sector 66, died on Friday but the report of his COVID test came out as positive on Saturday, they said. "He expired yesterday (Friday) evening. The cause of the death was cardio-respiratory failure," District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said in a statement. Another person who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday is a 52-year-old man residing in sector 45's Khajoor Colony, the officer said. "Total 100 reports have been received in the last 24 hours of which two were positive and the rest negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 216," Dohare said. On the brighter side, two patients were discharged after recovering from the disease on Saturday, according to the statement. The two men, aged 23 and 40, were undergoing treatment at the ...

Police have arrested a couple for allegedly snatching mobile phones from people in central Delhi, officials said on Saturday. Following reports about a couple on white scooter snatching mobile phones, Arjun (22) and Vaishali Kaushal (20) were arrested near Railway Colony, Kishanganj, they said. The woman riding pillion on the scooter used to snatch the mobile phones from people, a senior police officer said. Arjun had been involved in 31 cases. Three months ago, he married Vaishali, a tattoo artist, and both are addicted to drugs, police said. Vaishali had also allegedly snatched the mobile phone of a jewellery showroom security guard in Karol Bagh, they added.

ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 6.91 per cent growth in March quarter net at Rs 1,251 crore on a consolidated basis, after setting aside over Rs 2,000 crore in provisions for potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On a standalone basis, the second largest private sector bank's profit grew 26 per cent to Rs 1,221 crore as against Rs 969 crore in the year-ago period. For fiscal year 2019-20, it reported a 135 per cent jump in standalone profit to Rs 7,930.81 crore. From an asset quality perspective, the bank reported an improvement in gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio to 5.53 per cent as against 6.70 per cent in the year-ago period and 5.95 per cent as of December 2019, despite over Rs 5,300 crore in fresh slippages during the reporting quarter. ICICI Bank President Sandeep Batra said it had slippages of Rs 4,300 crore in the preceding December quarter, and the additions on this front can be attributed to two accounts -- a West Asian healthcare company and a Singaporean oil

They had started their journey on foot from Maharashtra hoping to reach Madhya Pradesh, but it was their bodies that reached their home districts of Shahdol and Umaria by special trains on Saturday afternoon. The bodies of sixteen migrant labourers who were mown down by a goods train in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district were brought to Jabalpur by two bogies attached to a special train. From Jabalpur, the coaches were further sent to Shahdol and Umaria, said a police officer. A bogie with five bodies reached Umaria around 3 pm, where district officials received them and sent them to their villages in ambulances, he said. The five deceased belonged to two villages Chilhari and Maman. Another bogie with 11 bodies reached Shahdol around 4 pm. Local Member of Parliament Himadri Singh and senior officials were present at the railway station. These 11 deceased belonged to the villages of Antoli and Shahargarh of Shahdol district. In both the districts, officials accompanied ...

Bihar Health minister Mangal Pandey on Saturday flagged off 28 ambulances to seven districts of the state affected by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Of the 28 ambulances, eight were despatched to the most-affected Muzaffarpur district. East Champaran, West Champaran got five each, Sitamarhi four while Samastipur, Gopalganj and Siwan districts got two ambulances each, an official release said. With this, the total number of ambulances has increased to 426 in 11 districts affected by AES in the state, it said. As many as three children have lost their lives in over a month due to AES at Sri Krishna Medical College hospital in Muzaffarpur which accounted for about 120 deaths due to the same disease last year. The minister flagged off the ambulances at a function held at the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare (SIHFW) here. Over 700 AES kits were sent in the 28 ambulances to 366 health institutes in the AES-affected districts, it said. The kits comprise 11 types ..

The National School of Drama (NSD) is planning to take theatrical knowledge and experience to "every nook and corner" of the country" through an online series of lectures, demonstrations, master classes and hands-on training sessions. The webinar series, starting from Sunday, will offer one of a kind experience to those "who are not in physical contact with the regular theatre practice" given to the nation-wide lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis, Suresh Sharma, Director In charge, NSD announced on Saturday. "Due to this ongoing pandemic we feel that the artists are feeling very abandoned as they are not getting the chance to perform. Since we all know the act of theatre is all about a working together in a group, but due the ongoing situation this has become impossible. "National School of Drama has initiated an online platform where the people who are sitting at home can connect with us and utilize their time to grab the knowledge. This not only will help to enhance their skills ...

Easing curbs further in non-containment zones with riders like social distancing, the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday allowed private sector firms to resume work with 33 per cent work force and also permitted reopening of tea stalls to offer take away services from May 11. The government also extended the timings for groceries and vegetable shops from the present 5 pm till 7 pm, effective Monday, throughout Tamil Nadu. These outlets can start work from 6 am as usual. As regards standalone and neighbourhood shops in Chennai, they can function from 10.30 am till 6 pm as against the present cut off time of 5 pm, an official release here said. In all other parts of the state, these categories of shops can be open between 10 am and 7 pm. In Chennai city and suburbs, all private sector companies can resume work and operate between 10.30 am and 6 pm. In the rest of Tamil Nadu, the firms can work from 10 am to 7 pm. However, the workforce shall be confined to 33 per cent of the ..

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh warned Pakistan on Saturday against its "persistent attempts" to spread narco-terrorism in India, asserting that the police force was "keeping a close watch" on anti-national activities across the border even during a crisis. Our eyes are open to what Pakistan is doing, Singh said, hours after the NIA arrested a "notorious narco-terrorist" who acted as a conduit for Pakistan-based terror groups. The central agency said in a statement that it, along with the Punjab and Haryana police, arrested Ranjit Singh alias Cheeta, a resident of Amritsar, from Haryana. It said investigation in a drug case against Singh showed Pakistan-based outfits were using narcotic trade to generate funds for terror activities in India. Assuring people that no matter how much the force has been busy with Covid duties, the Punjab chief minister said, the police was keeping a watch on the borders. "Pakistan is not letting up on its attempts to push drugs, weapons and drug ...

Five persons were killed in a clash between two groups at Moti Hamirpar village in Kutch district of Gujarat on Saturday afternoon, police said. A group of people wielding sharp weapons attacked another group on suspicion that they were informing police about the hooch trade in nearby areas, said an official. Liquor production and sale are prohibited in Gujarat. Four persons were killed on the spot while another died at a hospital at Rapar. Kutch-East Superintendent of Police Parikshita Rathod said teams from nearby police stations and the local crime branch was deployed in the village to maintain peace. The deceased were identified as Jesang Rajput, Amra Rajput, Petha Bhavan Rajput, Vela Pecha and and Akhabhai. Further probe was on, the SP said.