ALMOST 50% OF THE DEAD ARE BELOW AGE 60, UP FROM 25%

Of the 1,075 COVID-19 deaths across the country till Thursday, almost half

the patients were less than 60 years old. This marks a shift since April 18,

when less than 25 per cent of the deaths occurred in this age group.

On the other hand, those aged over 75 years now account for only 9.2 per

cent of the deaths, a sharp fall from the 42.2 per cent earlier.

Ahead of May 3, when the lockdown is scheduled to end, Union Health

Secretary Preeti Sudan has asked state chief secretaries to “broadbase” the

criteria for red, orange and green zones, and designate areas according to

their assessment. As per the revised criteria, she said, green zones are

districts which havenÂ’t reported a fresh case in 21 days, down from the 28

days earlier. In her letter, she listed 130 red, 284 orange, and 319 green

districts.

Among the states which have 10 or more districts in the red zone are W

Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, UP and Delhi.

Meanwhile, according to the latest data released by the Union Health

Ministry, 14 per cent of COVID-19 patients who died were less than 45 years,

34.8 per cent were 45-60 years, 42 per cent were 60-75 years, 9.2 per cent

were over 75 years. While the case fatality rate is 3.2 per cent, 78 per

cent of those who died had co-morbidities – down from 83 per cent on April

18 – and 65 per cent were males.

The national doubling time has now increased to 11 days – it was 3.4 days

before the lockdown. The doubling time is even more in several states and

Union territories (UTs). In Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha,

Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Punjab, the doubling time is 11-20 days. In

Karnataka, Ladakh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Kerala, it is 20-40 days; in

Assam, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh it is more than 40 days

– in Himachal Pradesh, it is over 191 days.

Following a letter from Sudan to the states earlier, the Health Ministry

reiterated in a statement that hospitals must ensure non-COVID essential

services. “A guidance note of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been

issued on April 20 to enable the delivery of essential health services

during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes providing essential services for

reproductive and child health, immunisation, communicable diseases such as

TB, leprosy and vector-borne diseases, as well as non-communicable diseases

such as cancer and dialysis,” it said. The ministry said reports that

private hospitals are “hesitant to provide critical services like dialysis,

blood transfusion, chemotherapy and institutional deliveries to their

regular patients” are “unacceptable”.

STATES FACE LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE TO TAKE MIGRANTS HOME

Even as they finetuned procedures and identified nodal officers to help with

inter-state transit of stranded people, state governments on Thursday

questioned the CentreÂ’s plan of transporting migrant workers, students,

pilgrims and others only by bus. They demanded special trains for the

purpose, but the Centre is yet to announce a plan to that effect.

State governments cited logistical challenges in transporting thousands of

people by road in the summer heat. They said ensuring social distancing

during the long travel was not the only problem and that arranging so many

buses was equally challenging.

Making sure thereÂ’s adequate food and water during the journey that could

stretch up to three days was yet another task.

States said they would also struggle to find suitable quarantine facilities

for those returning home.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked the administration to

prepare for quarantine and food for one million workers returning to the

state. There are around 1.04 million workers residing in 26,476 relief camps

in the country, the Central government told the Supreme Court recently, but

these are conservative estimates.

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh stated in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

on Thursday, Ludhiana alone has over 700,000 migrant workers. He said the

state has over a million workers involved in agriculture and industry and 70

per cent of these hail from Bihar. “Movement of such large numbers was

possible only by trains with proper screening at the time of departure,” he

said, asking the PM to have the railways “arrange for point-to-point special

trains”.

A Bihar minister put the logistical challenge that confronts his state in

perspective. “If we follow social distancing norms, about 170,000 buses will

be required to bring 2.5 million registered labourers of Bihar stranded in

different states,” Bihar minister Ashok Chaudhary said. He said conditions

were not suitable for his government to bring migrant workers back.

Meanwhile, the Union home ministry on Thursday made it clear that no

separate passes are required for inter-state movement of trucks — those

carrying goods or returning after delivery — during the ongoing lockdown and

licence of the driver is enough.

WAY CLEARED FOR UDDHAV, GOVERNOR ASKS EC TO HOLD POLLS

Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari on Thursday asked the Election Commission

to hold elections to nine Legislative Council seats in the state “at the

earliest”. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray needs to win from one of those

seats to become a member of the legislature before a six-month deadline

expiring on May 27.

The GovernorÂ’s letter to the EC came hours after Shiv Sena leaders submitted

a letter to him from Thackeray, and two days after the CM approached Prime

Minister Narendra Modi on the matter. Thackeray called up the PM after the

Governor sat on a recommendation made a month ago by the state government to

nominate him to the Legislative Council.

Sena leaders said the GovernorÂ’s move ends the uncertainty over ThackerayÂ’s

continuance as CM.

COVID-19 DASHBOARD – (Nos. IN INDIA / Nos. WORLDWIDE)

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 34,860 (+1,798) / 33,08,231 (+88,746)

Total Deaths 1,154 (+75) / 2,34,105 (+5,904)

Total Recovered 9,059 (+622) / 10,39,195 (+38,892)

Active Cases 24,647 (+1,101) / 20,34,931 (+43,950)

Serious / Critical Cases (Not Available) / 50,944 (-8,867)

Top impacted nations so far: (And some of IndiaÂ’s Neighbours)

Country / Total Cases / Deaths / Total Deaths per 1M Pop.

USA 10,95,210 / 63,861 / 193

Spain 2,39,639 / 24,543 / 525

Italy 2,05,463 / 27,967 / 463

UK 1,71,253 / 26,771 / 394

France 1,67,178 / 24,376 / 373

Germany 1,63,009 / 6,623 / 79

Turkey 1,20,204 / 3,174 / 38

Russia 1,06,498 / 1,073 / 7

Iran 94,640 / 6,028 / 72

Brazil 87,187 / 6,006 / 28

India 34,863 / 1,154 / 0.8

Pakistan 16,817 / 385 / 2.0

Bangladesh 7,667 / 168 / 1.0

Sri Lanka 663 / 7 / 0.3

Top 17 impacted Indian States so far: (Total No. of Confirmed case / No. Of

Deaths)

State/UT Confirmed Deceased

Maharashtra 10,498 / 459

Gujarat 4,395 / 214

Delhi 3,515 / 59

Madhya Pradesh 2,625 / 137

Rajasthan 2,582 / 58

Tamil Nadu 2,323 / 27

Uttar Pradesh 2,211 / 40

Andhra Pradesh 1,403 / 31

Telangana 1,038 / 28

West Bengal 758 / 33

Jammu and Kashmir 614 / 8

Karnataka 565 / 22

Kerala 498 / 4

Punjab 480 / 20

Bihar 425 / 2

Haryana 339 / 4

Odisha 142 / 1

Jharkhand 110 / 3

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

TRUMP POINTS FINGER AT WHO, CHINA; ALSO TRIES TO TAINT BIDENÂ’S BID

The Trump Administration has launched a probe into the role of the WHO on

coronavirus, and has temporarily suspended the USÂ’ financial assistance to

it. “I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of

themselves because they are like the public relations agency for China,”

Trump told reporters in the East Room of the White House.

The United States, he reiterated, pays the WHO almost $500 million a year

and China pays them $38 million a year. “Whether it’s a lot more, it doesn’t

matter. They shouldnÂ’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes,

especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around

the world to die.” “I think the WHO should be ashamed of themselves,” said

the President.

“With respect to the WHO, we know that they had one job, right? A single

mission: To prevent the spread of a pandemic. We know that the leader of

that organization travelled to China and then declined to declare it a

pandemic until everyone in the world knew that was already true,” US

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox news in another interview.

Trump also threatened China with fresh tariffs, saying he had seen evidence

linking a Wuhan lab to the contagion. Asked if he had seen anything giving

him a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the

source of the outbreak, Trump replied, “Yes, I have.”

Pressed by reporters at the White House for details on what made him so

confident, Trump replied: “I cannot tell you that.”

Trump alleged that China does not want to see him elected in polls due later

this year, mainly because of the billions of dollars he has been taking from

them as import tariffs. Instead, he claimed, China wants to have former vice

president Joe Biden elected as the next US president in the November

elections. Biden is the presumptive nominee of the opposition Democratic

party.

OMAN ASKS STATE SECTOR COMPANIES TO REPLACE EXPATS WITH LOCALS

OmanÂ’s Finance Ministry has asked all state-owned companies to replace

foreign workers with qualified local Omanis, as part of efforts to develop

the national workforce, news agency Reuters reported.

The circular issued by the Finance Ministry said that the replacement of

expats with Omanis will need to be done in a “speedy and organised manner”.

The move is part of the government’s “Omanisation” policy, which strives to

improve the number and quality of jobs available for Omani citizens.

More than a third of the 4.6 million population in Oman are expatriates,

including a sizeable number of Indians.

THE REST

========

ANOTHER RLOOK AT INDIAÂ’S COVID 19 NUMBERS, VIS-À-VIS THE WORLD

Only Germany had conducted more tests than India by the time it reached

1,000 COVID-19 deaths. And, at the 1,000-death mark, IndiaÂ’s ratio of

positive cases to conducted tests (positivity rate) was the lowest of all

countries.

18 countries have had more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths. They are Germany,

India, United States, Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, United Kingdom, France,

Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Mexico, Iran, and Turkey, in order of

highest to lowest number of tests done when the country reached this stage.

There was no testing data available for Brazil, China, and Spain.

At the juncture of 1,000 deaths, the total case load was higher in Germany,

the US, Turkey and China. This means that those countries had a smaller

proportion of their cases dying. Their mortality rates per cent were 1.3,

1.5, 2.1 and 2.4, respectively. IndiaÂ’s current mortality rate is roughly 3

per cent.

Nine countries worldwide have conducted more than 7,50,000 tests, a number

India surpassed on Wednesday. At this stage, only Russia and Germany had

reported fewer deaths, and only Russia had reported fewer cases. The UK,

Italy, Spain, Canada, Turkey and the US all had significantly higher deaths

than India on the day they conducted just over 7,50,000 tests.

However, when it comes to comparisons with other countries when they were at

IndiaÂ’s current caseload, IndiaÂ’s positioning slumps slightly. When

countries hit their 32,000 case mark, six had fewer deaths than India (Peru,

China, Turkey, US, Russia and Germany) while nine had higher deaths. Three

countries had higher testing at this point (Russia, France and Germany),

while no data was available for Spain, Iran, China and Brazil.

INDIGENOUS TESTS KITS TO BE READY BY MID-MAY: CENTRE

Indigenous antibody-based rapid test (blood test) kits and real-time

polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) swab-based kits for the coronavirus

disease (Covid-19) developed by laboratories running under the ministry of

science and technology will be ready around the middle of May, said health

miniser Dr Harsh Vardhan.

“The next couple of weeks are going to be crucial as we will get to see

results of some of our research and development work by scientists working

under the ministry of science and technology. Around mid May we will have

indigenous development of good quality antibody test kits, and also kits for

detection of the virus (RT-PCR kits). All of this will come in May; thanks

to our scientists,” said Union health minister Harsh Vardhan.

The institutes and companies collaborating on these projects include Rajiv

Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Sri Ramchandra

Institute of Higher Education and Research, Porur, Chennai, Central

University of Kerala, and Dhiti Life Sciences Pvt.Ltd.

AN ARMY PROPOSAL TO IMPART ‘SPOUSE TRAINING’ FOR NEW SKILL SETS DRAWS FIRE

A proposal by the Army to impart training to wives of officers in order to

equip them better to deal with the changing societal environment has

attracted sharp criticism from many quarters, especially Army wives.

The proposal notes that as the spouse ascends in stature with her husbandsÂ’

rank, she is obliged to shoulder wider responsibilities linked to managing

institutions like schools, skill centres, health centres, hostels and

shopping centres, apart from rendering counselling on marital discord cases.

The paper contends that these responsibilities have today acquired

financial, legal and psychological dimensions, necessitating a more

“informed response”.

A large number of spouses of serving officers resented the move, saying

there was already enough pressure to take part in family welfare centre

activities at lower formation levels and those of Army Wives Welfare

Association at higher headquarter levels.

Supreme Court advocate Major Guneet Chaudhary (retd), who had fought a case

against the Army over the status of Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA),

said the move was ridiculous. “In the present times, when the majority of

the young spouses are minimum graduates, postgraduates and some of them are

even doctorates with professional qualifications, what is the justification

of imparting them training? In some cases, they may be more qualified than

most of the senior officersÂ’ wives. There will be ego clashes and

recriminations by senior officersÂ’ spouse. The officer may be exceptionally

brilliant but he will not be able to get the higher rank because of his

spouse’s incompatibility with the senior officer’s spouse,” said Major

Chaudhary.

The advocate also said the thinking of the Army brass was restricted to

officers ranks only in a day and age when even wives of jawans were also

highly qualified. “Gone are the days when you could blindly order spouses

around and order them to participate in events. There have been countless

cases where wives of officers have protested at such forced participation in

shows, events, fashion parades etc,” he said.

EMISSIONS SET FOR A RECORD FALL DUE TO COVID-19 THIS YEAR

A new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) has two important

revelations about the impact of Covid-19 on energy demand.

It said that all fuels, except renewables, will record a decline in demand

in the coming decades. The agency also said that global CO2) emissions this

year are set for record fall, six times larger than the fall recorded after

the 2008 financial crisis and twice as large as all previous reductions

since World War II.

The record fall in CO2 emissions is a clear indicator of a massive economic

shock and the fall may be temporary followed by more investments in dirty

fuel, experts who drafted “Global Energy Review 2020” released on Thursday

said.

"If the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis is anything to go by, we are

likely to soon see a sharp rebound in emissions as economic conditions

improve,” says IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

INDIAN CINEMA LOSES ITS ETERNAL HEARTTHROB CHINTU JI

ItÂ’s a double whammy for cinema lovers. Just when they were trying to come

to terms with the untimely demise of Irrfan Khan, came yet another

heart-breaking news of cancer snatching away one more beautiful actor. When

Amitabh Bachchan broke the news with a tweet “Rishi Kapoor gone…just passed

away…I am destroyed,” he was echoing the sentiments of millions of Rishi’s

fans cutting across generations. Chintu baba for the older generation, there

is little doubt that the break out star of Bobby still had millions rooting

for him.

Once a romantic hero, he set many hearts aflutter when he lip-synced Mein

Shayar to Nahi inimitably in the unforgettable Bobby.

As experimentation defined his new innings, we saw him in a wide range of

roles—from negative to comic to surly. Incredibly proud of his latest films

such as Kapoor & Sons, Mulk, et al, interestingly, when he was asked to play

the rather mean and menacing Rauf Lala in Agneepath, he was not convinced he

was cut out for the role. But Karan Johar, the producer of the film,

prevailed and hereafter we continued to see him in one after another gem of

a film.

INDIA FOOTBALL LEGEND CHUNI GOSWAMI PASSES AWAY AT 82

India football legend Chuni Goswami passed away Thursday in Kolkata after a

prolonged illness. He was 82. Goswami led the Indian team in the 1962 Asian

Games, in which India secured a gold medal.

The football legend had reportedly been undergoing treatment for several

months after being diagnosed with diabetes, prostrate, and nerve problems.

Apart from the gold in the 1962 Asian Games, Goswami also led India to the

runners-up spot in the next edition of the event in 1964.

The versatile sportsman had also won several achievements in cricket as

well. In 1966, he played a pivotal role in the historic innings defeat of

the Gary Sobers-led West Indies by the combined Central and East Zone team

in Indore. Goswami took eight wickets in that fixture.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God. - Albert

Einstein

OFF TRACK

The inscription on the metal bands used by the U.S. Department of the

Interior to tag migratory birds has been changed. The bands used to bear the

address of the Washington Biological Survey, abbreviated: "Wash. Biol.

Surv." until the agency received the following letter from an Arkansas

camper:

"Dear Sirs, while camping last week I shot one of your birds. I think it was

a crow. I followed the cooking instructions on the leg tag and I want to

tell you it was horrible."