BIGGEST SPIKE IN CASES, 40% LINKED TO NIZAMUDDIN

Of the 386 fresh cases reported across the country on Wednesday, 154 (40 per

cent) had attended the religious congregation that the Muslim missionary

group, Tablighi Jamaat, had organised at Nizamuddin, in New Delhi.

"All states that have reported cases related to the Tablighi event have been

notified to undertake intensive drives to trace the contacts of patients,

test them, quarantine or isolate them depending on their health risk

profile. Additional sample testing is going on in other states. The one-day

increase of 386 does not represent a national trend. We all know failure

anywhere will lead to such a rise in cases. The government appeals to all to

avoid religious gatherings and follow directions on social distancing," Lav

Agarwal, spokesperson, Health Ministry, said.

Meanwhile, the police yesterday evacuated all 2,361 residents at Tablighi

Jamaat headquarters here. Of these, 1,800 were quarantined at nine

facilities and 617 taken to hospitals for testing.

The ICMR said tests were being conducted at 36% of the national testing

capacity. So far, only 47,951 tests have been conducted in the country.

Meanwhile, the Centre has directed all the states and UTs to coordinate

efforts on migrant workers, while ensuring that lockdown measures are

followed. They have been asked to ensure food, water, medical supplies and

sanitation arrangements at the relief centres/ quarantine facilities.

The Health Ministry has also issued an advisory on proper quarantine and

psychosocial measures for migrant workers. Over 6.75 lakh migrant workers

have received shelter in 21,486 homes set up by states and UTs to contain

their movement during the lockdown, the MHA said today.

DON'T SENSATIONALISE CORONAVIRUS, MAKE IT COMMUNAL: KERALA, BENGAL

With many cases of coronavirus across the country linked to a gathering of

the Muslim religious organisation Tablighi Jamaat, Kerala Chief Minister

Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday cautioned against giving the disease a

communal colour.

At a press conference, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said there was no need

to "sensationalise" the Tablighi Jamaat issue.

While 60 people in Kerala have been identified as having attended the

gathering held in Delhi, around 70 in West Bengal have been traced back to

it. Pinarayi said all those in the state who visited the meeting had been

traced, and were under observation. "All of them have been quarantined.

There is no need for any concern," he said.

Mamata said, "Fifty-four persons have been identified, including 40

foreigners. We came to know some persons in Dinajpur, Magrahat and other

places are still unidentified. We are hopeful that within one day we will

identify 30 more persons and will send them to quarantine."

Nine people in Goa were Wednesday linked to the Delhi gathering, with their

questioning on to determine if they knew of others who attended it. The

nine, who came to Goa on March 11, are in quarantine. "The Tablighi Jamaat

has damaged the country. They have put the country in trouble by the manner

in which they allowed (COVID-19) to spread," Goa CM Pramod Sawant said at a

press meeting. "We have to be careful about those from the Tablighi. They

should be punished according to me."

STATES HAVE TO DO ALL THE WORK, WHY WERE WE NOT CONSULTED?: CHHATTISGARH CM

"The central government neither consulted us before enforcing the lockdown

nor has it been able to handle the situation properly. We are looking at an

economic downfall due to the central government's poor planning," says

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel

"Right now, all revenue generating exercises for the state have been

stopped. So many workers across industries have left. Getting them back and

ensuring that the industries start functioning again will be an added

burden. So many states have decided to impose wage cuts. No state would be

happy in doing that. In Chhattisgarh, we are going to pay our employees, but

the financial burden will be too much to bear," said the Chief Minister.

Baghel said the central government issued the lockdown order in haste and it

is becoming problematic for the state government to implement. "Who is

bearing the brunt of the decision? Who has to implement the order and ensure

that the public is well cared for? When the state government has to do all

the work, why were we not consulted? We would have put our points forth and

maybe this migrant situation could have been better handled," he said.

CENTRE DEFINES NEW DOMICILE RULE FOR J&K

A person residing in Jammu and Kashmir for at least fifteen years will now

be eligible to be a domicile of the union territory, according to the new

rule issued by the Centre Tuesday.

In the latest gazette notification, Section 3A of the J&K Reorganisation

(Adaptation of State Laws) Order 2020, under the J&K civil services

(decentralisation and recruitment) Act, has been introduced to define

domicile as that "who has resided for a period of fifteen years in the UT of

J&K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class

10th/12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT of

J&K."

Before August 5, Article 35 A of the Constitution of India (now abrogated)

empowered J&K assembly to define a J&K resident, who alone were eligible to

apply for jobs or own immovable property.

The definition within the gazette expands to include "children of those

central government officials, all India services officers, officials of PSUs

and autonomous body of central government, public sector banks, officials of

statutory bodies, officials of central universities and recognised research

institutes of central government who have served in Jammu and Kashmir for a

total period of ten years or children on parents who fulfil any of the

conditions in sections."

Additionally, persons registered as a migrant by the Relief and

Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) in the UT of J&K, will also be

included in the definition. "Children of such residents of J&K as reside

outside UT of J&K in connection with their employment or business or other

professional or vocational reasons" but. their parents fulfil any of the

conditions provided earlier.

COVID-19 DASHBOARD - (Nos. IN INDIA / Nos. WORLDWIDE) at 0930 IST

(Indian data from https://www.covid19india.org/ and World Data from

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 2,014 (+357) / 935,957 (+77,065)

Total Deaths 56 (+6) / 47,245 (+5.087)

Total Recovered 169 (+19) / 194,286 (+16,186)

Active Cases 1,789 (+332) / 694,426 (55,792)

Serious / Critical Cases (Not Available) / 35,610 (+2,712)

Top 5 impacted nations so far:

(Country / Total No of cases / Deaths)

USA 2,15,215 / 5,110

Italy 1,10,574 / 13,155

Spain 1,04,118 / 9,387

China 81,554 / 3,312

Germany 77,981 / 931

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

TRUMP CASTS DOUBT ON CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FIGURES

President Donald Trump cast doubt Wednesday on the accuracy of official

Chinese figures on its coronavirus outbreak after US lawmakers, citing an

intelligence report, accused Beijing of a cover up. "How do we know" if they

are accurate, Trump asked at a press conference. "Their numbers seem to be a

little bit on the light side."

Trump insisted that "the relationship with China's a good one" and that he

remained close to President Xi Jinping.

However, controversy around Beijing's transparency has strained ties, adding

to bad feelings triggered by a conspiracy theory in China that the US

military was to blame for the virus.

Republicans in Congress, pointing to a report by Bloomberg citing US

intelligence, expressed outrage that Beijing apparently misled the

international community on China's infections and deaths that began in late

2019 in the city of Wuhan. China's reporting has been intentionally

incomplete, with some intelligence officials describing Beijing's numbers as

fake, reported Bloomberg, which highlighted the classified intelligence

document sent to the White House last week.

China has publicly reported 82,361 confirmed cases and 3,316 deaths as of

Wednesday, according to a rolling tracker by Johns Hopkins University. That

compares to 206,207 cases and 4,542 deaths in the United States, the country

with the world's largest reported outbreak.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse attacked Beijing's numbers as "garbage

propaganda." "The claim that the United States has more coronavirus deaths

than China is false," Sasse said in a statement.

In a statement responding to the report, Michael McCaul, top Republican on

the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said China is "not a trustworthy

partner" in the fight against COVID-19. "They lied to the world about the

human-to-human transmission of the virus, silenced doctors and journalists

who tried to report the truth, and are now apparently hiding the accurate

number of people impacted by this disease," McCaul said.

On Tuesday a member of Trump's coronavirus task force, doctor Deborah Birx,

said the medical community saw China's outbreak as "serious but smaller than

anyone expected because I think probably we were missing a significant

amount of the data."

AM READY TO HELP END SAUDI-RUSSIAN OIL PRICE WAR: TRUMP

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was ready to help resolve an

escalating oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia that has helped

push crude benchmarks to 17-year lows.

The threat of a global recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic had

already hammered prices when Riyadh said last month it would raise exports

after a production-cut agreement among top producers flopped in early March

On Monday, Saudi Arabia said it would increase exports further to a record

10.6 million barrels per day from May, deepening a global supply glut as

crude recorded its biggest monthly and quarterly price plunges in history.

Trump said he had spoken with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman by phone with the aim of halting the

slide.

"The two countries are discussing it. And I am joining at the appropriate

time, if need be," Trump said.

Analysts say Riyadh is engaged in a deliberate long-term strategy to capture

greater market share by pressuring its high-cost rivals.

THE REST

========

NIA FILES CASE OVER KABUL GURDWARA ATTACK

The NIA Wednesday filed an FIR over the March 25 attack on a gurdwara in

Kabul. It is the first case registered by an Indian agency over a terror

attack on foreign soil.

The attack which killed 27 people was allegedly carried out by three Islamic

State terrorists, one of whom was later identified as a resident of

Kasaragod in Kerala.

The agency has registered the case on the basis of one of the victims being

an Indian. The NIA Act was amended last year giving the agency powers to

register cases regarding attacks on foreign shores if the victims were

Indian citizens.

'ALLOW LIMITED RESUMPTION OR WE LOSE MARKETS TO CHINA'

Seeking sops to pay wages to workers, export industry representatives have

told the government that if it does not find a way soon to re-open

manufacturing units under lockdown, Indian products will lose their

international markets to China, which has resumed production post the

coronavirus outbreak.

During an interaction on Monday with Union Commerce and Industry Minister

Piyush Goyal, exporters said if India does not begin shipments at this

juncture, its export market will be taken over by Chinese products. They

cited the example of certain pharmaceuticals exports which have been banned

in the wake of the pandemic. They said if they were not allowed to export

medicines soon, the global markets would be taken over by China.

The industry players demanded resumption of "limited movement of people" on

the lines of goods movement permitted by the government last week. They said

employees involved in essential work such as processing of salaries and

payments of bills should be allowed to go to factories.

At the meeting, exporters sought financial sops to pay wages, citing

liquidity crunch with businesses being hit by the outbreak.

Those who attended the meeting said the government side did not offer any

commitment but took down the demands and suggestions.

250 INDIANS STUCK IN IRAN TEST POSITIVE

Around 250 of the 850 Indian Shia pilgrims stranded in Iran have tested

positive for Covid-19 and they were receiving medical treatment there, the

Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

During a hearing conducted via video-conferencing, Solicitor General Tushar

Mehta told a Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud that the remaining

pilgrims had already been flown back to India from Qom, Iran.

The Bench said the Indian embassy in Iran should constantly monitor the

situation to look into the possibility of bringing them back as and when

possible.

The SC has asked the Centre to respond to a PIL, which has sought from the

authorities to ensure availability of WHO-approved appropriate personal

protective equipment for doctors, nurses, ward boys and other medical and

paramedical professionals. Without issuing a formal notice, a Bench asked

the Centre to respond to the petition filed by a Nagpur-based doctor.

GST COLLECTION SLIPS BELOW RS 1 TRILLION IN MARCH AFTER FOUR MONTHS

Goods and services tax (GST) collection fell below the Rs 1-trillion mark in

March after a gap of four months, even as disruptions caused by the

coronavirus-induced lockdown will get captured only in the coming months.

The numbers pertain to GST paid in February but collected in March,

suggesting that collections might turn grimmer going forward.

The GST mop-up in March stood at Rs 97,597 crore, down 8.4 per cent on a

year-on-year basis, the data released by the Ministry of Finance showed on

Wednesday. The government had targeted a collection of Rs 1.25 trillion in

March. GST collection grew by a meagre 3.7 per cent in the full fiscal year

2019-20.

NEW LANCET STUDY PUTS CHINA'S DEATH PER VIRUS INFECTIONS RATE AT 0.66%

An average coronavirus patient may be in hospital for about 25 days and the

mean duration from the onset of symptoms to death is about 18 days, a study

in The Lancet Infectious Diseases has said. The study also concluded that

the overall infection fatality rate for China, where coronavirus first hit,

was 0.66%, though adding that it remained a major global crisis.

Researchers from Imperial College, London, had earlier said that the 'crude

fatality ratio' was about 3.67%, which is on a par with WHO estimates. The

crude rate does not take into account the severity of the infection, which

means it just compared the total number of cases with the total number of

deaths. Infection fatality ratio takes into account the total number of

people that might carry the virus, without showing symptoms and hence being

tested for it or requiring hospitalisation. These people are not a part of

the official number of "cases".

As per the Lancet study, severity of coronavirus depends on the age of a

patient, and the overall case fatality ratio (number of deaths per positive

cases) could be 1.38%. In those above 60 years, it was found to be 6.4%; in

those above 80 years, 13.4%; and in people aged below 60 years, 0.32%.

Outlining the implications of the study, the researchers said, "Our

estimates of the case fatality ratio for COVID-19, although lower than some

of the crude estimates made to date, are substantially higher than for

recent influenza pandemics (eg, H1N1 influenza in 2009). With the rapid

geographical spread observed to date, COVID-19 therefore represents a major

global health threat in the coming weeks and months. Our estimate of the

proportion of infected individuals requiring hospitalisation, when combined

with likely infection attack rates (around 50-80%), show that even the most

advanced health-care systems are likely to be overwhelmed. These estimates

are therefore crucial to enable countries around the world to best prepare

as the global pandemic continues to unfold."

DRDO MAKES N-99 MASK TO COMBAT VIRUS

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a new

mask, N-99, in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak. The mask has five layers and

has been made using nano-technology.

Some 10,000 masks have been made, and soon 20,000 masks will be produced per

day. A few days ago, the DRDO announced that a modification in ventilators

would allow one machine to support four patients at a time.

Another DRDO laboratory has also made arrangements to make 20,000 personal

protective equipment (PPE). The PPE is in demand all over the country and is

used by doctors and nurses, who are attending Covid suspects. This was

revealed by DRDO chief Dr G Sateesh Reddy at a review meeting with Defence

Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Wednesday. Singh has asked all

organisations under the MoD to redouble their efforts.

WIMBLEDON CANCELLED FOR FIRST TIME SINCE WWII

Wimbledon organisers on Wednesday scrapped the oldest Grand Slam tennis

tournament for the first time since World War II as the coronavirus wreaks

further havoc on the global sporting calendar.

The cancellation of the only grasscourt major at the All England Club leaves

the season in disarray, with no tennis due to be played until mid-July.

"Devastated," tweeted eight-time champion Roger Federer, while Serena

Williams, who has won the tournament seven times, said she was shocked by

the momentous decision.

Wimbledon was due to run for two weeks from June 29, with Novak Djokovic and

Simona Halep set to defend their singles titles.

But tournament chiefs bowed to the inevitable on Wednesday, saying in a

statement that they had made the decision with "great regret".

INDICATORS

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31,869

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US$-Rs. 75.63 GBP-Rs. 93.66, Euro-Rs. 82.91, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.58, Can$-Rs.

53.33, Aus$- Rs. 46.04

GBP 0.80 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 107.39 /US$, Aus$ 1.64 /US$, Sing

1.43 /US$, Bang Taka 83.34 /US$, Can$ 1.41 /US$, Mal Ring 4.34 /US$,

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1.68 /US$, Thai Baht 32.93 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.54 /US$, Norway NOK

10.40 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 6,311

Dollar Index 99.73 Brent Crude 26.19 BDI 626

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,585 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,167 /

4,067, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 40,500

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Who is sure of their own motives can in confidence advance or retreat. -

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

OFF TRACK

Thousands of years ago, there was no such thing as the wheel. One day, some

primitive guys were watching their wives drag a big dead animal to the food

& fire area. It was exhausting work; the guys were getting tired just

watching.

Then they noticed some large, smooth, rounded boulders and they had a great

idea! They could sit on top of the boulders and get a better view of their

wives working.

This was the first in a series of breakthroughs that ultimately led to

television...and later to the remote control.