FIVE STATES THAT MAY FACE SHORTFALL IN CRITICAL COVID CARE: CENTRE

From glaring shortfalls in hospital inventory to a steady surge in

confirmation rate (percentage of samples tested returning positive) and

testing bottlenecks, the Centre Thursday raised red flags in the country's

battle against the pandemic. It said although the national Case Fatality

Rate (CFR) remains stable, 69 districts have high CFR.

It warned the five most affected states - Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi,

Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh - that going by current trends, they are projected to

fall short in terms of ICU beds and ventilators between June and August.

In Delhi, projections show the city may already have run out of ICU beds on

June 3, will run out of ventilators on June 12, and isolation beds with

oxygen on June 25.

This projection is part of a presentation made during a videoconference that

Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba had with state chief secretaries and health

secretaries.

Maharashtra is projected to have a shortage of ICU beds on August 8, while

it may run out of ventilators by July 27. Tamil Nadu is expected to run out

of ICU beds and ventilators by July 9, and isolation beds with oxygen on

July 21.0

Similar projections were made for five other states/UTs - Haryana,

Karnataka, J&K, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal - given the current trends

there. They were told to ensure "sufficient hospital capacity through

advance planning for next 2 months" and ready an action plan with major

emphasis on the upgradation of the health system. The projections warn that

17 districts, including Gurugram, Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Jalgaon, Chennai

and Gautam Buddh Nagar, run the risk of capacity shortfall in the next one

month if the current trend continues. These have been flagged for special

attention to guard against complacency over improvement in the national

doubling rate (16.9 days as against 14.1 days two weeks ago) and stable CFR

(number of fatalities per 100 detected cases) at around 2.9 per cent as

against 2.96 per cent a fortnight ago.

The presentation pointed to the increase in confirmation rate (percentage

those confirmed positive when tested) from 4.87 per cent two weeks ago to

5.7 per cent. It said there were 46 districts across 13 states with a

confirmation rate of more than 10 per cent as of June 9.

At the state level, three states have more than 10 per cent confirmation

rate. (Maharashtra, Delhi, Telangana)," the presentation noted. "Mumbai and

Thane in Maharashtra and Chennai in Tamil Nadu for instance have a higher

confirmation rate than 20 per cent, while Palghar (Maharashtra),

Medchal-Malkajgiri (Telangana) and Hojai (Assam) have more than 20 per cent

confirmation rate in rural areas," the Centre told the states.

The presentation identified two key trends-of the infection moving eastward

and the new districts affected, as well as the increase in case load after

lifting of restrictions on May 18.

PAK PM OFFERS ADVISE ON CASH TRANSFERS TO POOR; INDIA RETORTS SHARPLY

In a sharp retort to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's offer to share

experience of his government's cash transfer scheme, India on Thursday

reminded him that the size of its economic stimulus package to deal with the

coronavirus pandemic is as large as Pakistan's GDP.

The response by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came hours after

Khan, in a series of tweets, offered to share with India Pakistan's

experience of implementing its "successful" cash transfer programme

following reports of how poor people in India are battling poverty in view

of the coronavirus lockdown.

In his tweets, Khan said his government has successfully transferred Rs 120

billion in nine weeks to over 10 million families in a "transparent manner"

to deal with the fallout of COVID-19 on the poor.

"Pakistan is better known for making cash transfers to bank accounts outside

the country rather than giving to its own people. Clearly, Imran Khan needs

a new set of advisers and better information," MEA Spokesperson Anurag

Srivastava said during an online media briefing.

US REPORT ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM LISTS PROTESTS AGAINST CAA, ARTICLE 370,

BABRI MASJID

In its 'International Religious Freedom Report' for 2019, the United States

administration has given a detailed account of the protests and criticism

against the Indian government's decisions on the Citizenship Amendment Act

(CAA) and Article 370.

The report, released by US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo on Thursday,

also talks about "religiously inspired mob violence, lynching and communal

violence", and says that "some officials of Hindu-majority parties,

including from the BJP, made inflammatory public remarks or social media

posts against minority communities".

The report mentions the Supreme Court's decision on the Babri Masjid case

too. "Leading national Muslim organisations and some Muslim litigants

petitioned the court to review the decision and permit the mosque, which was

destroyed by members of Hindu nationalist organisations in 1992, to be

rebuilt on its original site. In December, the Supreme Court dismissed these

petitions and maintained its ruling," it said.

Calling it an "internal report" of the US government, the Indian government

said Washington has "no locus standi" to comment on the issue.

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

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 2,98,268 (+11,128) / 75,96,103 (+1,43,294)

Total Deaths 8,501 (+394) / 4,23,823 (+4,904)

Total Recovered 1,46,972 (+5,993) / 38,41,382 (+91,496)

Active Cases 1,42,795 (+4,741) / 33,30,898 (+46,894)

Serious / Critical Cases - N.A. / 53,902 (+87)

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

Country, Total Cases / Total Deaths / Recovered Cases / Active

Cases

1 USA 20,89,701 / 1,16,034 /

8,16,086 / 11,57,581

2 Brazil 8,05,649 / 41,058 /

3,96,692 / 3,67,899

3 Russia 5,02,436 / 6,532 /

2,61,150 / 2,34,754

4 India 2,98,283 / 8,501 /

1,46,972 / 1,42,810

5 UK 2,91,409 / 41,279 / N/A

/ N/A

6 Spain 2,89,787 / 27,136 / N/A

/ N/A

7 Italy 2,36,142 / 34,167 /

1,71,338 / 30,637

8 Peru 2,14,788 / 6,109 /

1,02,429 / 1,06,250

9 Germany 1,86,795 / 8,851 /

1,71,200 / 6,744

10 Iran 1,80,156 / 8,584 /

1,42,663 / 28,909

11 Turkey 1,74,023 / 4,763 /

1,47,860 / 21,400

15 Pakistan 1,25,933 / 2,463 /

40,247 / 83,223

19 Bangladesh 78,052 / 1,049 / 16,747 /

60,256

100 Sri Lanka 1,877 / 11 /

1,150 / 716

Top 18 impacted Indian States so far: (Total No. of Confirmed case / No. Of

Deaths)

State / Confirmed Cases / Active Case / Recovered /

Deceased

Maharashtra 97648 / 47980 / 46078 /

3590

Tamil Nadu 38716 / 17662 / 20705 /

349

Delhi 34687 / 20871 / 12731 / 1085

Gujarat 22067 / 5573 / 15109 / 1385

Uttar Pradesh 12088 / 4451 / 7292 /

345

Rajasthan 11838 / 2798 / 8775 /

265

Madhya Pradesh 10241 / 2768 / 7042 /

431

West Bengal 9768 / 5338 / 3988 /

442

Karnataka 6245 / 3195 / 2976 /

72

Haryana 5968 / 3643 / 2261 /

64

Bihar 5948 / 2828 / 3086 / 34

Andhra Pradesh 5429 / 2381 / 2968

/ 80

Jammu and Kashmir 4574 / 2702 / 1820 /

52

Telangana 4320 / 2162 / 1993 /

165

Assam 3431 / 1989 / 1433 / 6

Odisha 3386 / 1020 / 2354 / 12

Punjab 2887 / 569 / 2259 / 59

Kerala 2245 / 1259 / 967 / 19

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

ICONS TOPPLE IN AMERICA AS US MILITARY, LAWMAKERS SNUB DONALD TRUMP

They are time capsules. But many are not standing the test of time or

changed attitudes - especially after the death of George Floyd at the hands

of a white police officer last month.

When statues were first erected honouring Confederate generals, the white

population in the southern states would, by and large, have nodded with

approval. After all, their heroes' may not have prevailed in that awful

Civil War, but they were revered all the same.

For the "freed" black population, the building of monuments to men who

sought to keep them in chains would have been anathema. But they didn't have

a say.

Now, their descendants and their supporters do want them gone and some are

not willing to wait. They have toppled a few of these and demanding the rest

be dismantled.

It's not just the Confederate luminaries being toppled.

Several statues of Christopher Columbus have been attacked, decapitated, and

even dumped in a lake.

The debate over whether to keep or remove Confederate statues has simmered

long before the current protests. But this time, the vandalism of these

sites - including with messages to "stop white supremacy" - has brought the

issue into sharp focus.

Calls are growing in Washington DC to re-examine the country's dodgy past,

with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling for the removal of 11 confederate

statues from the Capitol even as more extreme BLM ('Black Lives Matter')

agitators are demanding removal of monuments to the country's founding

fathers, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who were both slave owners.

Then there's the case of legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in

North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. that are

named after Confederate generals. President Donald Trump is dead set against

changing the names of these bases. But even some Republican Senators snubbed

the President on the issue, with members of the Armed Services Committee

voting to permit the military to rename bases named after Confederate

generals within the next three years although the White House spokesperson

said the President would veto any bill that allowed it.

A top U.S military general delivered a resounding snub to the President,

saying it was wrong on his (the general's) part to have accompanied Trump on

his walk from the White House to a church opposite for a photo op, after

protestors were dispersed with force, earlier this month.

BIDEN SAYS MILITARY WILL INTERVENE IF TRUMP LOSES NOVEMBER ELECTION BUT

REFUSES TO LEAVE WHITE HOUSE

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he worries President Donald

Trump will try to "steal" the November election but he is confident soldiers

would escort Trump from the White House if he loses and doesn't recognise

the result.

"It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern: This president is

going to try to steal this election," Biden said in an interview broadcast

late on Wednesday on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."

Biden said recent comments by former senior military officials criticising

Trump's response to nationwide protests over police brutality made him

confident the US military would intervene if Trump refused to accept the

election results. "I'm absolutely convinced they will escort him from the

White House with great dispatch," Biden said.

EU TO EASE VIRUS TRAVEL BANS FROM JULY 1, BUT NOT TO ALL

The European Union on Thursday announced plans to ease a ban on all travel

to the continent, with foreign students, non-EU nationals who normally live

in Europe and certain highly skilled workers likely to be exempt from the

coronavirus restrictions from July 1.

With borders inside Europe's ID check-free travel area likely to be fully

functional again by the end of June, the EU's executive arm, the European

Commission, is recommending that outside borders be opened to give a

much-needed boost to virus-ravaged economies and in particular the tourism

sector.

"While we will all have to remain careful, the time has come to make

concrete preparations for lifting restrictions with countries whose health

situation is similar to the EU's and for resuming visa operations," EU Home

Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said.

While the spread of the coronavirus has eased in Europe, it remains high

elsewhere and other countries still have bans in place on the entry of some

European nationals, so the commission is reluctant to lift all travel

restrictions.

It is urging European countries to take coordinated decisions on whom they

let in and from where - given that visas for the passport-free Schengen area

allow travel in 26 countries - and base their actions on data from the World

Health Organisation and Europe's Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

THE REST

========

STILL NO COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION OF COVID-19 IN COUNTRY, SAYS ICMR

With the country dealing with the novel coronavirus outbreak and the daily

spikes in the Covid-19 count, the government today said that India is "not

in a community transmission" so far.

Speaking at the Union Health Ministry pres conference today, Indian Council

of Medical Research DG, Prof (Dr.) Balram Bhargava said, "India is such a

large country and prevalence is very low. India is not in community

transmission."

The statement came after ICMR informed that 0.73% of population in 83

districts where sero-survey was conducted, had evidence of past exposure to

coronavirus infection.

Moreover, Dr Bhargava also said that "lockdown measures were successful in

keeping it low and preventing rapid spread." The lockdown and the

containment measures helped to keep the virus in check, he added.

However, as per sero-survey, "large proportion of population still

susceptible to Covid-19," added ICMR.

Putting the data in perspective, Member Health, NITI Aayog, VK Paul said,

"Less than 1 per cent people had past infection as shown by the survey which

presents the picture till April 30. The survey was done in the third week of

May and normally antibodies take 15 days to appear."

Bhargava also said there was ample testing capacity in the country at two

lakh samples a day and it remained under-utilised. He urged states to ramp

up testing.

COIMBATORE NOW KOYAMPUTHTHOOR: NEW PLACE NAMES IN TN

To impress upon the significance of Tamil phonetics, the AIADMK government

has issued a government order amending the English spelling of 1,018 cities

and places or giving them a totally new official name. For instance, the

spelling of Coimbatore, the second largest city in the state, has been

changed to 'Koyampuththoor'. Tuticorin or Thoothukudi to 'Thooththukkudi,'

and Triplicane and Egmore, localities in Chennai city, to Thiruvallikkeni

and Ezhumboor respectively.

The impact of changing over 1,000 names officially in government records

will not only be expensive, but laborious too; signage will be changed on

highways and railway stations, corrections will be made on government

records, postal and attached services etc.

The decision also left the Tamil literary circle divided in its opinion.

Theodore Bhaskaran, a historian familiar with the state's modern history,

said the decision was "totally unwarranted" during a pandemic.

Nandita Krishna, a Chennai-based historian who has authored books on the

history of Madras and the significance of preserving local names, said the

government's decision was totally beyond comprehension. "In these times,

should we worry about spelling of places or Covid?" she said.

INDIA ASKS UK NOT TO CONSIDER ANY REQUEST FROM MALLYA FOR ASYLUM

India on Thursday said it has asked the UK not to consider any request for

asylum by fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya as there appeared to be no

ground for his persecution in the country.

Last week, the UK government indicated that Mallya is unlikely to be

extradited to India anytime soon, saying there is a legal issue that needed

to be resolved before his extradition can be arranged.

"We have been in touch with the UK side for his early extradition. We have

also requested the UK side not to consider his asylum, if requested by him,

because there appeared to be no ground for his persecution in India,"

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said at an online

media briefing.

AGR: SC ASKS DOT TO RECONSIDER DEMANDS MADE TO NON-TELECOM PSUs

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the DoT to reconsider the demands raised

against PSUs on the basis of its 2019 judgment on Adjusted Gross Revenue

(AGR).

DoT had demanded over Rs 2,63,000 crore as AGR from non-telecom PSUs holding

spectrum licence for internal communications, besides the Rs 92,000 crore

that private telecom companies were supposed to pay.

During the hearing, the court raised several questions over DoT's AGR demand

from PSUs.

Clarifying that the issue of dues by PSUs was not dealt with, the Bench said

its verdict on AGR issue was misinterpreted. The SC termed as 'totally

impermissible' demand of DoT seeking several lakh crore rupees as AGR dues

from PSUs.

The DoT submitted that it would file an affidavit explaining why AGR demands

had been raised against the PSUs.

The top court also asked private telecom operators to provide a roadmap for

payment of dues on account of AGR along with timeline and security they can

provide to guarantee payment.

The Bench posted the matter for further hearing on June 18.

The Supreme Court also asked telcos to furnish undertakings and file

affidavits giving a road map for clearing the AGR related dues as Vodafone

Idea said that it did not have enough money to even pay salaries to its

employees.

Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, told the Apex Court that it had paid 70

per cent dues as per its own calculations and the rest would be cleared

after consulting the government.

INDIAN-AMERICAN SOIL SCIENTIST RATTAN LAL GETS 2020 WORLD FOOD PRIZE

Eminent Indian-American soil scientist Rattan Lal was on Thursday named this

year's recipient of the World Food Prize for developing and mainstreaming a

soil-centric approach to increasing food production that conserves natural

resources and mitigates climate change.

Lal will receive the USD 250,000 award that honours his contribution

throughout his career spanning more than five decades and four continents to

promote innovative soil-saving techniques that benefit the livelihoods of

more than 500 million smallholder farmers, improve the food and nutritional

security of more than two billion people and saves hundreds of millions of

hectares of natural tropical ecosystems.

INDICATORS

Sensex 33,538 (-709), Nifty 9,902 (-214), Trading Value NSE ,(Rs.crores)

57,701

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US$-Rs. 75.70 GBP-Rs. 95.81, Euro-Rs. 85.92, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.60, Can$-Rs.

55.99, Aus$- Rs. 52.28

GBP 0.79 /US$, Euro 0.88 /US$, Jap.Yen 106.90 /US$, Aus$ 1.44 /US$, Sing

1.38 /US$, Bang Taka 83.29 /US$, Can$ 1.35 /US$, Mal Ring 4.25 /US$,

Pak Re 163.80 /US$, Phil Peso 50.12 /US$, Russian Rouble 69.27 /US$, NZ$

1.54 /US$, Thai Baht 30.94 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.33 /US$, Norway NOK 9.45

/US$

Bitcoin - USD 9,346

Dollar Index 96.85 Brent Crude 37.91 BDI 764

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,725 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,710 / 4,610

Silver (Rs. Per KG) 48,310

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

How you choose to feel today should not be dependent on others. - Anthon St.

Maarten

OFF TRACK

The young wife was in tears when she opened the door for her husband. "I've

been insulted," she sobbed. "Your mother insulted me."

"My mother!" he exclaimed. "But she is a hundred miles away."

"I know, but a letter came for you this morning and I opened it.

"He looked stern, "I see, but where does the insult come in?"

"In the postscript," she answered. "It said: 'Dear Alice, don't forget to

give this letter to George.'"