PM APPRECIATES STATES' ROLES, SEEKS SUGGESTIONS FOR ROAD AHEAD

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday appreciated the state governments'

roles in helping slow the spread of coronavirus. Modi, who addressed chief

ministers of various states to review measures taken and also strategise the

next move, said: "The entire world feels India has been able to successfully

protect itself from COVID-19. States played major role in this".

He said the country needed to devise and implement a balanced strategy for

the road ahead.

"We will be able to determine the direction our country is headed based on

suggestions you provide today," he said. He said the biggest challenge would

be to ensure there is no spread of COVID-19 to villages in the country as

lockdown is gradually eased.

"I request you all to share with me by May 15, a broad strategy on how you

each one of you would want to deal with the lockdown regime in your

particular states. I want states to make a blue print on how to deal with

various nuances during and after the gradual easing of the lockdown," the PM

told the chief ministers.

"It was essential to make best efforts to ensure that people stay where they

were during the lockdown, the prime minister said. However, in times like

these people wish to go home and therefore, a change in decision had to be

made," he said.

Large-scale movement of migrant workers from urban to rural India and the

problems their return to home states may cause in restarting the economy was

also being discussed during the fifth virtual interaction between the prime

minister and chief ministers since the outbreak of the deadly virus in the

country.

The prime minister interacted with the chief ministers last on April 27.

Some of the CMs had complained after that meeting that they were not allowed

to put forth their views.

Unlike previous meetings where only select CMs were shortlisted to speak,

this time all CMs were given an opportunity to share their opinion.

The reports of these interactions come from limited press releases after the

meeting and through soundbytes from some of the attendees. There is neither

a live coverage nor release of any audio/video clips of these interactions.

WHERE THE STATES STAND

CMs of at least four states - Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal

- were of the view that the lockdown which came into effect on March 25,

should be extended.

States including Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu had

reservations on allowing inter-state transport, be it rail or air, and

wanted to be consulted before a decision is taken. Bihar Chief Minister

Nitisk Kumar, in fact, said starting rail services "was a mistake" and that

his opinion should have been taken since he was a "former Railways

Minister".

Sources present in the meeting said a consensus seemed to be building around

a demand by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh that the authority to zone

districts into red, orange and green categories be delegated to states with

even the BJP-ruled Haryana backing it.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said categorisation of red zones should be done on

the basis of containment zones, pointing out that the district-wise formula

was impractical in a densely-populated city like Delhi.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan sought powers to decide on lockdown guidelines

after assessing the prevailing situation in the state.

Rajasthan CM said that while states followed the Centre mandated lockdown

"with all their willpower", they should now get the right to decide the

zones and restrictions in the next phase.

Punjab Chief Minister Singh said states should be allowed great flexibility

in micro-planning, with MSMEs permitted to function even in red zone

districts with proper safeguards. "The exit strategy should consider and

focus on fiscal and economic empowerment of the states, which are

responsible for the real action directly impinging upon the livelihood and

social health of the common man," said a statement quoting Singh as having

told the Prime Minister.

Singh was joined by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in demanding more financial

resources from the Centre to fight the pandemic, particularly with the

economy on the downhill.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the pandemic cannot be

contained unless the lockdown continued, and advocated a gradual lifting.

Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao too said strict restrictions should

continue.

COVID-19 PATIENTS CAN END HOME ISOLATION AFTER 17 DAYS, SAY REVISED

GUIDELINES

Coronavirus-infected patients can end home isolation after 17 days of onset

of symptoms or date of sampling and if they have no fever for 10 days

without getting tested again for COVID-19, according to revised guidelines

for home isolation of very mild/pre-symptomatic cases.

The revised guidelines released by the health ministry reiterated that

patients, who are pre-symptomatic or have very mild symptoms, can opt for

home isolation if they have the requisite self-isolation facility at their

residence so as to avoid contact with other family members.

The patient should be clinically assigned as a very mild case or

pre-symptomatic case by the treating medical officer and should regularly

inform his health status to the district surveillance officer for further

follow-up by surveillance teams.

This is in line with the new discharge policy for COVID-19 cases released on

May 9 by the health ministry stating coronavirus-infected patients

developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will only have to

test negative through RT-PCR test after resolution of symptoms before they

are discharged by a hospital.

Moderate cases of COVID-19 and pre-symptomatic, mild and very mild cases

need not undergo tests before being discharged after the resolution of

symptoms.

Besides, the guidelines call for downloading the Arogya Setu app on mobile

and it should remain active at all times (through bluetooth and Wi-Fi).

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

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 70,764 (+3,607) / 42,55,940 (+75,018)

Total Deaths 2,294 (+82) / 2,87,332 (+3,464)

Total Recovered 22,549 (+1,580) / 15,27,487 (+34,086)

Active Cases 45,921 (+1,945) / 24,41,121 (+37,468)

Serious / Critical Cases (Not Available) / 46,936 (-96)

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

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

USA 13,85,834 / 81,795 / 247

Spain 2,68,143 / 26,744 / 572

UK 2,23,060 / 32,065 / 472

Russia 2,21,344 / 2,009 / 14

Italy 2,19,814 / 30,739 / 508

France 1,77,423 / 26,643 / 408

Germany 1,72,576 / 7,661 / 91

Brazil 1,69,594 / 11,653 / 55

Turkey 1,39,771 / 3,841 / 46

Iran 1,09,286 / 6,685 / 80

India 70,768 / 2,294 / 1.7

Pakistan 32,081 / 706 / 3.3

Bangladesh 15,691 / 239 / 1.5

Sri Lanka 869 / 9 / 0.4

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

Deaths)

State / Confirmed Cases / Active Case / Recovered /

Deceased

Maharashtra 23,401 / 17,747 / 4,786 /

868

Gujarat 8,542 / 5,249 / 2,780 / 513

Tamil Nadu 8,002 / 5,898 / 2,051 /

53

Delhi 7,233 / 5,031 / 2,129 / 73

Rajasthan 3,988 / 1,551 / 2,324 /

113

Madhya Pradesh 3,785 / 1,817 / 1,747

/ 221

Uttar Pradesh 3,573 / 1,735 / 1,758 /

80

West Bengal 2,063 / 1,374 / 499 /

190

Andhra Pradesh 2,018 / 975 / 998

/ 45

Punjab 1,877 / 1,678 / 168 / 31

Telangana 1,275 / 444 / 801 /

30

Jammu and Kashmir 879 / 442 / 427

/ 10

Karnataka 862 / 404 / 426 /

31

Bihar 749 / 366 / 377 / 6

Haryana 730 / 382 / 337 /

11

Kerala 520 / 27 / 489 / 4

Odisha 414 / 326 / 85 / 3

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

19 SAILORS KILLED AS IRAN MISSILE STRIKES OWN SHIP

An Iranian missile fired during a training exercise in the Gulf of Oman

struck a support vessel near its target, killing 19 sailors and wounding 15,

Iran's state media reported on Monday, amid heightened tensions between

Tehran and the U.S.

The statement significantly raised the death toll in Sunday's incident from

what was reported just hours earlier, when Iran's state media said at least

one sailor was killed.

The Konarak, a Hendijan-class support ship, which was taking part in the

exercise, was too close to a target during an exercise on Sunday when the

incident happened, the reports said. The vessel had been putting targets out

for other ships to target. The media said the missile struck the vessel

accidentally.

EUROPE BEGINS TO EMERGE FROM CURBS

Swathes of Europe began the long process of reopening from coronavirus

lockdowns on Monday, but the first new infections in weeks at China's ground

zero offered a sobering reminder of the dangers of a second wave of cases.

The mixed fortunes illustrate the high-wire act governments face across the

globe as they try to get economies moving while keeping in check a pandemic

that has now killed more than 2,80,000 people and infected over four

million.

As France and Spain basked in a relaxation of restrictions and Britain

plotted a path to normality, the Chinese city of Wuhan where the pandemic

was born reported a second day of new cases after a month without a sign of

the virus.

South Korea announced its highest number of infections for more than a month

driven by a cluster in a Seoul nightlife district.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Russia's non-working period imposed

to contain the spread of the coronavirus will be lifted from Tuesday.

"Starting from tomorrow, May 12, the national period of non-working days

will be over for all sectors of the economy," he said, adding that Russia's

regions will be able to keep in place anti-virus measures.

Putin said that Russia had used the self-isolation period to prepare its

healthcare system, increasing the number of hospital beds and saving "many

thousands of lives." This "allows us to begin a gradual lifting of

restrictions," he said.

THE REST

========

SELECT TRAIN SERVICES RESUME FROM TODAY; MIGRANT TRAINS TO CONTINUE TOO

The Railways will today resume the services with 15 pairs of trains on

select routes from Tuesday. All these trains are to and from New Delhi,

The journey on these trains will, however, be profoundly different from what

it used to be before the coronavirus lockdown began. While wearing masks has

been made mandatory, passengers will also have to download the Arogya Setu

app on their phone. They will be compulsorily screened at the station and

are being encouraged to carry their own linen, blankets, water and food.

The trains will run at full capacity, but railway zones have been instructed

to ensure that there are separate entry and exit gates at stations to the

extent feasible so that there is no face-to-face movement of passengers.

For now, the Railways has issued time table for trains between May 12 and

May 20. They will run as daily, weekly or bi-weekly trains.

These trains will run between New Delhi and all major cities across the

country: Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar,

Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai

Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

These special trains will have only AC classes i.e. first, second and third

AC and the fares will be equivalent to Rajdhani trains.

On arrival at their destination, the passengers will have to adhere to the

health protocols prescribed by the destination state, the Railways said.

In addition, the Centre, on Monday, decided to run 100 special trains daily

for migrants during the COVID-19 lockdown and asked the states to ensure

that they availed the facility, as lakhs of stranded people were trekking or

cycling for hundreds of kilometres, or cramming into trucks, autos and other

vehicles for an arduous journey home.

MAHARASHTRA ROLLS OUT BUSES FOR MIGRANTS WALKING HOME

In order to prevent an Aurangabad like tragedy, in which 16 migrant

labourers sleeping on rail tracks were run over by a goods train last week,

the Maharashtra government now has deployed buses to ferry people till the

state borders.

"Our buses are ferrying migrants till the state's borders. We have already

ferried several thousand people since Sunday," said Shekhar Channe, Managing

Director, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation. According to Channe,

the ST buses drop people at the state's borders and pick up people from

Maharashtra returning home from the neighbouring states.

State Transport Minister Anil Parab said there were many people who were

keen on returning to their villages within Maharashtra. "Those who want to

go from one city to another or to another district should form groups of 22

people. The group leader should collect the details, including mobile phone

numbers, of all the members and approach the local police station for

arranging transportation," said Parab. The minister further said buses would

be arranged if there were enough people travelling to a particular

destination.

STATES MUST ENSURE UNHINDERED MOVEMENT OF DOCTORS, PARAMEDICS: MHA

The Centre has asked states to ensure uninterrupted movement of doctors and

other health care workers during the ongoing lockdown, saying curbs on them

can lead to severe constraints in rendering COVID and non-COVID medical

services.

There have been reports of health care services being affected in some

places, including in the national capital, after neighbouring states closed

down inter-state borders and barred movement of medical workers.

In a letter to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Union

Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said inter-state movement of doctors and

paramedics should be facilitated wherever required.

They should also ensure the opening of all private clinics, nursing homes

and labs with all their medical professional and staff. Bhalla also referred

to a meeting held by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday where the issue

of restrictions being imposed by some states and UTs on the movement of

medical professionals and para-medical personnel was flagged.

"As you are aware, the services of medical and para-medical staff are

urgently required in meeting the challenge of COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the existing staff, apart from this duty, also has to render

normal responsibilities, such as conducting immunisation programmes,

handling the onset of vector and other seasonal diseases, and meeting other

non-COVID emergencies," he said.

MANDATING USE OF AAROGYA SETU APP ILLEGAL: JUSTICE B N SRIKRISHNA

Former Supreme Court Judge B N Srikrishna, who chaired the committee that

came out with the first draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill, termed

the government's push mandating the use of Aarogya Setu app "utterly

illegal".

"Under what law do you mandate it on anyone? So far it is not backed by any

law," the former judge told The Indian Express.

On May 1, the Ministry of Home Affairs, in its guidelines after the

nationwide lockdown was extended, made Aarogya Setu App mandatory for

employees of private and public sector offices. It also asked local

authorities to ensure 100% coverage of the app in containment zones. The

guidelines were issued by the National Executive Committee set up under the

National Disaster Management Act (NDMA), 2005.

The Noida police then said that not having the Aarogya Setu application

would be punishable with imprisonment up to six months or fine up to Rs

1,000. "The Noida police order is totally unlawful. I am assuming this is

still a democratic country and such orders can be challenged in court," he

said.

Justice Srikrishna said that the guidelines cannot be considered as having

sufficient legal backing to make the use of Aarogya Setu mandatory. "These

pieces of legislation - both the National Disaster Management Act and

Epidemic Diseases Act - are for a specific reason. The national executive

committee in my view is not a statutory body," he said.

JAMIAT ULAMA-I-HIND MOVES SC FOR BAIL TO INMATES ON HUMANITARIAN GROUND

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind-a prominent Islamic body in India-on Monday moved the

Supreme Court seeking conditional bail to eligible jail inmates across the

country on humanitarian ground in view of COVID19 pandemic.

Last month, the top court had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue and

directed state governments to work out plans on releasing inmates to

decongest prison to avoid spread of Coronavirus.

Seeking to intervene in the case, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said interim bail

should be granted to inmates with less than seven years prison sentence and

other eligible prisoners affected or likely to get affected by Covid19.

It cited the incident of Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail and Byculla Jail where

inmates and jail staffs have been reported to be COVID19 positive.

QUANTIFYING THE EFFECT OF FACE MASKS

After initial debate, the utility of masks during the Covid-19 pandemic

seems widely accepted now. The dominant scientific opinion says masks are

very useful, and even relatively simple home-made masks can offer a great

degree of protection against the novel coronavirus.

Impact of masks, quantified

In one study, researchers from universities in Arizona, Harvard and Sydney

have, using mathematical models for population in New York, shown that if

70% of people wore an effective professional mask every time they ventured

outdoors, the pandemic could be eliminated from the city. The same result

could be achieved in the entire US, if at least 80% of the population

regularly used masks.

Even low-quality home-made masks could lead to significant reduction in the

spread of the disease, though other interventions would also be required in

that case to achieve elimination, the study said.

"Using face-masks in public (including low-efficacy cloth masks) is very

useful in minimising community transmission and burden of COVID-19, provided

their coverage level is high. The masks coverage needed to eliminate

COVID-19 decreases if the masks-based intervention is combined with strict

social distancing strategy," the researchers have said in their study.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it is, not as I would

like it to be. - Saul Alinsky

OFF TRACK

A flying parrot hits a running car and faints. The driver gets out, picks up

the parrot, brings it home and put it in a nice cage.

When the parrot wakes up, it says, "Aaila, Jail?? Car ka driver mar gaya

kya?"