LOCKDOWN extended in India till May 31

Nationwide lockdown has been extended in India till May 31. It was to end today. Passenger trains, airways, metro services, educational institutions, cinemas, theatres, hospitality sector, political and religious gatherings will remain suspended during the period. The inter-state movement will be allowed. Gyms, swimming pools, hotels, restaurants will also remain closed. Sports complexes will remain open minus any spectator. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the Ministry of Union Home  Ministry said lockdown measures need to be implemented for a further period of 14 days in the country to contain the spread of COVID-19. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 90,927 on Sunday morning, according to the Union Health Ministry. The NDMA, in the exercise of powers under Section 6 (2) (i) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, hereby directs the ministries and departments of the Government of India, state governments and state authorities to continue the lockdown measures up to May 31, NDMA member secretary G V V Sarma said. The authority further directs the National Executive Committee, headed by the Union Home Secretary, to issue modifications in the guidelines as necessary, keeping in view the need to open up economic activities while containing the spread of COVID-19, the order said. The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days with effect from March 25. It was then extended till May 3 and again till May 17.  States will decide about containment zones. Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan claims the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has improved to 37.5 percent in the country. The doubling time in the past 14 days was 11.5 which has improved to 13.6 in the last three days. The fatality rate has also fallen to 3.1 percent. This was stated by Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan. He said the policy perseverance coupled with aggressive and early measures through a strong leadership have shown encouraging results in containing COVID-19. A total of 90,927 cases of COVID-19 have been reported from the country so far in which 34,109 persons have been cured and 2,872 deaths had occurred. In the last 24 hours, 4,987 new confirmed cases have been added. Harsh Vardhan highlighted that the testing capacity has increased in the country to one lakh tests per day through 373 Government laboratories and 152 private laboratories. Cumulative, over 22 lakh tests have been done so far for COVID-19. The ministry informed that there are eight states and UTs that have not reported any cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hrs. They are Andaman and  & Nicobar Island,  Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Puducherry.  Daman & Diu, Sikkim, Nagaland and Lakshadweep have not reported any cases till now. (edited by PK Chakravarty. Image courtesy: The Telegraph  India)