LOCKDOWN EXTENDED BY TWO WEEKS: GUIDELINES PERMIT SOME RELAXATIONS

With two days left for the nationwide lockdown period to end, the government

yesterday extended it by another two weeks beginning May 4 to contain spread

of COVID-19 infection in the country. The government, however, claimed

districts with improved rate of cases will have "considerable relaxations".

In an official statement the government said, "After a comprehensive review,

and in view of the Lockdown measures having led to significant gains in the

COVID-19 situation in the country, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), issued an

Order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, today, to further extend the

Lockdown for a further period of two weeks beyond May 4, 2020."

The statement said that based on the risk profiling of the districts of the

country into Red (hotspot), Green and Orange Zones the new MHA guidelines,

regulating different activities in this period, have "permitted considerable

relaxations in the districts falling in the Green and Orange Zones"

Referring to Ministry of Health and family Welfare (MoHFW) letter issued on

April 30, 2020, the MHA said, "The Green Zones will be districts with either

zero confirmed cases till date; or, no confirmed case in the last 21 days.

Red Zones will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling

rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from

the districts. Those districts, which are neither defined as Red nor Green,

shall be classified as Orange zones".

LOCKDOWN 3.0: WHAT'S OPEN AND WHAT'S CLOSED

RED ZONES (130 districts across the country, including all metros and most

big cities)

All industrial and construction activities in rural areas, including MNREGA

works, food-processing units and brick-kilns are permitted; besides, in

rural areas, without distinction to the nature of goods, all shops, except

in shopping malls are permitted

All agriculture activities -- sowing, harvesting, procurement and marketing

operations in the agricultural supply chain are permitted

Animal husbandry activities are fully permitted, including inland and marine

fisheries

Banks, non-banking finance companies, insurance and capital market

activities, and credit co-operative societies

Utilities in power, water, sanitation, waste management, telecommunications

and internet

Courier and postal services

ORANGE ZONES (284 Districts)

In addition to activities permitted in Red Zone, taxis and cab aggregators

will be permitted with 1 driver and 1 passenger only

Four wheeler vehicles will have maximum two passengers besides the driver

and pillion riding will be allowed on two wheelers

GREEN ZONES (323 Districts)

All activities are permitted except the limited number of activities which

are prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of the Zone. However

buses can operate with upto 50 per cent seating capacity and bus depots can

operate with upto 50 per cent capacity

Also, e-commerce websites to deliver non-essential items in orange and green

zones

Apart from zone-wise restriction, there is a limited number of activities

that will remain prohibited throughout the country, irrespective of zones

These include travel by air, rail (except special services), metro and

inter-state movement by the road.

Running of school, college, institutions, hospitality services, including

hotels and restaurants, place of large gathering, such as cinema halls,

malls, gym, sports complex, social, political, cultural and all kind of

gathering, religious place/ place of worship for public will continue to

remain banned during the lockdown.

GRATITUDE DRILL BY MILITARY

Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat yesterday announced a unique

flypast from Srinagar to Trivandrum and another one starting from Dibrugarh

in Assam to Kutch in Gujarat.

The flypast will include both transport and fighter aircraft. During the

flypast, helicopters will also shower flower petals at some places like

hospitals.

The forces said they want to thank all COVID-19 warriors-Doctors, nurses,

sanitation workers, police, home guards, delivery boys and the media-which

have been reaching out with the message of government on how to carry on

with lives in difficult times.

The Army will conduct mounted band displays along some of the COVID-19

hospitals in almost every district of the country. The armed forces will

also lay wreathes at the police memorial on May 3 in support of the police

forces.

The Navy will have its warships deployed in formations in coastal areas in

the evening on May 3. Navy warships would also be lit up and their choppers

would be used for showering petals on hospitals.

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

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 37,258 (+2,398) / 34,00,830 (+92,599)

Total Deaths 1,223 (+69) / 2,39,592 (+5,487)

Total Recovered 10,021 (+962) / 10,81,599 (+42,404)

Active Cases 26,014 (+1,367) / 20,79,639 (+44,708)

Serious / Critical Cases (Not Available) / 51,355 (+411)

Top impacted nations so far: (And some of India's Neighbours)

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

USA 11,31,280 / 65,766 / 199

Spain 2,42,988 / 24,824 / 531

Italy 2,07,428 / 28,236 / 467

UK 1,77,454 / 27,510 / 405

France 1,67,346 / 24,594 / 377

Germany 1,64,077 / 6,736 / 80

Turkey 1,22,392 / 3,258 / 39

Russia 1,14,431 / 1,169 / 8

Iran 95,646 / 6,091 / 73

Brazil 92,202 / 6,412 / 30

India 37,257 / 1,223 / 0.9

Pakistan 18,114 / 417 / 2.0

Bangladesh 8,238 / 170 / 1.0

Sri Lanka 690 / 7 / 0.3

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

Deaths)

State/UT Confirmed Deceased

Maharashtra 11,506 / 485

Gujarat 4,721 / 236

Delhi 3,738 / 61

Madhya Pradesh 2,715 / 145

Rajasthan 2,666 / 62

Tamil Nadu 2,526 / 28

Uttar Pradesh 2,328 / 42

Andhra Pradesh 1,463 / 33

Telangana 1,044 / 28

West Bengal 795 / 33

Jammu and Kashmir 639 / 8

Karnataka 589 / 22

Punjab 585 / 20

Kerala 498 / 4

Bihar 466 / 3

Haryana 357 / 4

Odisha 154 / 1

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

CHINA 'MISHANDLED SITUATION' AFTER CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK: WHITE HOUSE

The White House on Friday said China "mishandled the situation" after the

coronavirus outbreak in its Wuhan city, but refrained from giving a

definitive answer on retaliatory measures against the Asian giant.

The deadly coronavirus that was first reported in China's Wuhan city in

mid-November has so far killed more than 2,35,000 people globally, including

64,000 Americans, and has infected 3.3 million across the world.

Led by the United States, several countries, including Germany, Britain and

Australian, are blaming China for the spread of coronavirus across the

globe.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump had hinted at using tariff as a tool to

punish China for mishandling the virus outbreak and the next day the markets

went down.

"The markets are down substantially today after the President yesterday

suggested in the East Room that he might use tariffs to punish China over

the coronavirus. Is there any serious consideration being given to putting

new tariffs on China or was the President just spitballing yesterday?" the

new White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked during her maiden

press conference.

"I won't get ahead of any announcements from the President, but I will echo

the President's displeasure with China. It's no secret that China mishandled

this situation," McEnany replied.

"Just a few examples for you; they did not share the genetic sequence until

a professor in Shanghai did so on his own. The very next day China shut down

his lab for quote rectification. They slow-walked information on human to

human transmission alongside the WHO and didn't let US investigators in at a

very important time," she said.

The White House Press Secretary said the US continues to have very limited

and dubious data from China and the current assessments indicated that

Trump's statement, that coronavirus came from a lab in Wuhan, is consistent

with what some analysts believe is the epicenter of where the virus began.

THE REST

========

RAILWAYS START 'SHRAMIK SPECIAL' TRAINS FOR STRANDED MIGRANT WORKERS,

STUDENTS

The Railways started running "Shramik Special" trains from Friday to move

migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at

different places due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

In a statement, the Railway Ministry said these special trains will be run

from point to point on the request of both the concerned state governments

as per the standard protocols for sending and receiving such stranded

persons.

On Friday morning, a train carrying about 1,000 migrant labourers set off

from Hyderabad for Hatia in Jharkhand at 5 am. Other trains that are

scheduled to run today are from Aluva to Bhubaneswar, Nasik to Lucknow,

Nasik to Bhopal, Jaipur to Patna, and Kota to Hatia.

The Railway Ministry further stated that the passengers will have to be

screened by the sending states and only those found asymptomatic would be

allowed to travel. "Sending state governments will have to bring these

persons in batches that can be accommodated in the train to the designated

Railway Station in sanitized buses following social distancing norms and

other precautions. It will be mandatory for every passenger to wear face

cover. Meals and drinking water would be provided to the passengers by the

sending states at the originating station," it added. On longer routes, the

Railways will provide a meal enroute during the journey.

On arrival at the destination, passengers will be received by the state

government, who would make all arrangements for their screening, quarantine

if necessary and further travel from the Railway Station, the Ministry said.

PM ASKS FOR RE-SIZING OF BUDGETED DEFENCE EXPENDITURE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked for re-sizing the budgeted defence

expenditure in order to channelise the savings for the acquisition of

strategic but expensive defence equipment.

In a series of meetings since Thursday, the PM has taken stock of the

aerospace and defence, power, civil aviation and the mines and coal sectors

besides brainstorming on measures to boost investments.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur were present at all the five

meetings besides line ministers of the subject under discussion.

At the meeting on defence, which was also attended by Defence Minister

Rajnath Singh and other senior officials, the PM wanted India to enter the

defence exports market in a big way by pushing into the global defence

product value chain. A press release from the Prime Minister's Office said

other issues that were discussed at the meeting included the procurement

processes, offset policies, indigenisation of spares and transfer of

technology.

On the power sector, the PM emphasised the need for effective enforcement of

contracts for attracting private investments.

NEW GUIDELINES FOR WORKPLACES, PUBLIC AREAS

During the lock till May 17, all govt offices shall function with senior

officers of the level of Deputy Secretary and above at full strength, and

the remaining staff attending upto 33% as per requirement. Defense and

Security services, Health and Family Welfare, Police, Prisons, Home Guards,

Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Services, Disaster management and related

services, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Customs, Food Corporation of

India (FCI), National Cadet Corps (NCC), Nehru Yuvak Kendra (NYK) and

Municipal services shall function without any restrictions; delivery of

public services shall be ensured and necessary staff will be deployed for

such purpose.

Wearing of face cover is compulsory in all work places and adequate stock of

such face covers shall be made available.

Provision for thermal scanning, hand wash and sanitizer preferably with

touch free mechanism will be made at all entry and exit points and common

areas.

Frequent sanitization of entire workplace, common facilities and all points

which come into human contact e.g. door handles etc., shall be ensured,

including between shifts.

Use of Aarogya Setu App shall be made mandatory for all employees, both

private and public. It shall be the responsibility of the Head of the

respective Organizations to ensure 100% coverage of this app among the

employees.

Large physical meetings to be avoided.

No organization/ manager of public place shall allow gathering of 5 or more

persons

Marriages related gatherings shall ensure social distancing, and the maximum

number of guests allowed shall not be more than 50

Funeral/ last rites related gatherings shall ensure social distancing, and

the maximum numbers allowed shall not be more than 20.

WON'T STOP TRIALS OF PLASMA THERAPY AS INITIAL RESULTS ARE GOOD: KEJRIWAL

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the Delhi government would not

stop clinical trials of plasma therapy to treat severally-ill COVID-19

patients as its initial results are good.

The announcement came days after the Centre said plasma therapy for

treatment of coronavirus patients is at an experimental stage and it has the

potential to cause life-threatening complications.

Addressing an online media briefing, Kejriwal said that one patient, whose

condition was serious, had been discharged from hospital after undergoing

plasma therapy. "We are not going to stop clinical trials of plasma therapy.

We are getting good results of the therapy. However, it is on trial basis,"

he said.

DELHI MINORITIES COMMISSION CHAIRMAN BOOKED UNDER SEDITION CHARGES

The Delhi Police's special cell has booked Delhi Minorities Commission

chairman Zafarul Islam Khan under sedition charges, two days after he

allegedly made "provocative" remarks in his social media posts.

On Thursday he had issued an apology through his social media accounts. He

had said that his tweet was ill-timed and insensitive and that it had

"pained some people" but it was never his intention.

A false post was shared by a Twitter handle with the name @DrAlshoreka. It

said, "The Council of Ministers of the state of Kuwait condemns the ethnic

attacks against Muslims in India." Based on this post, Zafarul Islam Khan

expressed gratitude and tweeted thus: 'Thank You Kuwait for standing with

the Indian Muslims! The Hindutva bigots calculated that given the huge

economic stakes involved, the Muslim and Arab world will not care about the

persecution of Muslims in India'.

70% LISTED FIRMS CLOCK ALMOST ZERO REVENUES IN APRIL

Nearly 70 per cent of the listed companies have clocked little or no

revenues during April 2020.

This will make it tough for many of them to service their fixed costs, such

salary and wages, as well as interest on their loan. In these 1,565

companies, which are in the non-essential category, there are nearly 3

million full-time employees on their rolls at the end of March 2019 with a

monthly salary bill of around Rs 31,000 crore during the first nine months

of FY20. Also, these companies had monthly interest payments of around Rs

33,000 crore.

Maruti Suzuki reported zero sales during April. It's the same story for

industry peers such as Hyundai India, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra,

Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp, among others. Consumer durable companies, such

as Havells India, Bajaj Electricals, TTK Prestige and Voltas, face the same

situation.

The largest numbers of jobs are in the textiles and garments sector - again

in non-essentials list - with listed companies in the sector employing

nearly half a million full-time employees at the end of March 2019.

A TOUCHING TRIBUTE FROM IRRFAN KHAN'S WIFE (EXCERPTS)

In a touching letter, Irrfan Khan's wife Sutapa reveals her thoughts and

emotions on her and her sons's irreplaceable loss:

How can I write this as a family statement when the whole world is taking it

as a personal loss? How can I begin to feel alone when millions are grieving

with us at the moment?

I want to assure everyone that this is not a loss, it is a gain.

It's a gain of the things he taught us, and now we shall finally begin to

truly implement it and evolve.

Yet I want to try to fill in the things that people don't already know.

It's unbelievable for us, but I would put it in Irrfan's words, 'It's

magical' whether he is there or not there, and that's what he loved, he

never loved one dimensional reality.

The only thing I have a grudge against him is; he has spoiled me for life.

His strive for perfection doesn't let me settle for ordinary in any thing.

There was a rhythm which he always saw in everything, even in cacophony and

chaos, so I have learnt to sing and dance to the music of that rhythm, even

with my tone-deaf voice and two left feet.

Funnily, our life was a masterclass in acting, so when the dramatic entry of

the 'uninvited guests' happened, I had by then learnt, to see a harmony in

the cacophony.

We met some amazing people in this journey and the list is endless...It is

difficult to explain what a wondrous, beautiful, overwhelming, painful and

exciting this journey has been.

I find this 2 and 1/2 years to have been an interlude, which had its own

beginning, middle and culmination with Irrfan helming the role of the

orchestra conductor, separate from the 35 years of our companionship, ours

was not a marriage, it was a union.

Tears will flow as we will plant a raat ki rani tree, his favourite, to the

place where you have put him to rest after a victorious journey.

It takes time, but it will bloom and the fragrance will spread and touch all

the souls whom I won't call them fans but family for years to come.

INDICATORS

(Indian Markets were closed yesterday on account of Maharashtra Day)

Nasdaq 8,605 (-285) Dow 23,724 (-622), S&P 2,831 (-82)

US$-Rs. 74.94 GBP-Rs. 93.91, Euro-Rs. 82.20, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.40, Can$-Rs.

53.36, Aus$- Rs. 48.27

GBP 0.79 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 106.93 /US$, Aus$ 1.55 /US$, Sing

1.41 /US$, Bang Taka 83.03 /US$, Can$ 1.40 /US$, Mal Ring 4.29 /US$,

Pak Re 159.61 /US$, Phil Peso 50.55 /US$, Russian Rouble 75.11 /US$, NZ$

1.64 /US$, Thai Baht 32.46 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.59 /US$, Norway NOK

10.29 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 7,093

Dollar Index 99.09 Brent Crude 26.44 BDI 617

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,700 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,625 /

4,525, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 42,530

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of

enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

OFF TRACK

From an Irishman's diary:

Last night, I took me son out for his first pint.

Off we went to our local pub and I got him a Guinness.

He didn't like it, so I drank it.

Then I got him a Kilkenny's, he didn't like that either, so I drank it.

Finally, I thought he might like some Harp Lager? He didn't. I drank it.

I thought maybe he'd like whiskey better than beer so we tried a Jameson's,

nope!

In desperation, I had him try that rare Redbreast, Ireland's finest.

He wouldn't even smell it.

What could I do but drink it! By the time I realized he just didn't like to

drink, I was so bloody drunk I could hardly push his pram back home.