COVID watch: biggest single day increase

The Hindu Newsletter - COVID watch: biggest single day increase Friday 20, March 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap Welcome to The Evening Wrap, your guide to the day’s major news developments with concise analysis from The Hindu. Here are the other major stories you need to know about: COVID watch: biggest single day increase Each day now brings an alarming increase in the number of positive cases. That [total has gone up to at least 220](, with more than 40 cases today, the highest increase in a single day. Four people have died from the disease. The number of Indians abroad who have tested positive for the virus stands at 276. Globally, there have been over 244,000 cases reported, and the [death toll has breached the 10,000 mark](. The Union Health Ministry said today that 6,700 contacts of the 223 positive cases in India are being monitored. Of the four deaths, it said the average age of the deceased is 64-years, with all of them having other medical complications as well. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that India has not reached the state of [community transmission](. Maharashtra is the first Indian state to impose a lockdown in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus. It will come into effect from Friday midnight. The state government has ordered all residents of Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur to stay at home till March 31 except for essential trips, and ordered the closure of all workplaces. Everything, barring essential services such as train and bus transport, hospitals, groceries and medical stories will be shut. Delhi has also announced the closure of all malls and shops with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies. The states of Kerala and Telangana have also postponed board exams. We keep writing that it is tough to cover all the major developments in this newsletter, but today it has become well nigh impossible. All we can do is point you to our excellent live page which has minute-by-minute updates. The Hindu’s [In Focus Podcast]( has also begun a special series chronicling the latest developments on the spread of COVID-19 in India with some of our top reporters. Please do listen to that every night if you want a sense of what’s going on. Viral Party The Bollywood actress and singer Kanika Kapoor featured in the day’s most infuriating story. The 41-year-old, who said on social media today that she had tested positive for Covid-19, had spent some days in London before returning to Lucknow last week. According to media reports, she had apparently refrained from informing authorities about her travel history and then proceeded to attend a lavish party with her friends and family at a five-star hotel in Lucknow. Several politicians, bureaucrats and socialites, including former Rajasthan chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her son Duhsyant Singh, also an MP, had attended the party. Also in attendance was TMC MP Derek O Brien. All of them have now [self-quarantinedÂ](themselves. Subsequently, Kapoor came on a news channel to present her side of the story: she had not been tested at the airport when she landed, and she had made over 20 calls to the COVID-19 helpline numbers but got no response, and it took her two days to finally get herself tested. And now, thanks to the lack of access to testing, many of her family members are at risk, she alleged. Nirbhaya case convicts executed The four death row convicts in the 2012 Delhi gangrape and murder case were hanged to death at the Tihar Jail on Friday at 5.30 am, seven years after the crime. Death warrants for the convicts – Mukesh Singh, Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta – had been issued for the fourth time as they had taken turns to file multiple petitions in the last few months in an attempt to delay or escape the death penalty. Politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, hailed the execution while international bodies such as [Amnesty International]( and the [International Council of Jurists]( condemned the move and said India should abolish the death penalty. Over before the floor test Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath resigned from his position hours before his government was to face a floor test in the State Assembly as ordered by the Supreme Court. In a press conference, Nath accused the BJP in the State of betraying the people’s mandate, and said the saffron party was unable to tolerate the development work done under his administration. Some quotes from his press conference: “In the past 15 months, I have tried to transform the State. In my 40-45 years of political career, I have believed in progressive politics. The voters gave me five years to bring the State on the right path, for it to have a new identity.” "The BJP got 15 years. Until today, I got 15 months. Two-and-a-half months went by in the Lok Sabha election. The BJP couldn't digest my welfare schemes.” Evening Wrap will return on Monday You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0b4ctwmbbf2f90kauhqqkhbysa8hk4b@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.]( Group Sites [The Hindu]( | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை]( | [Business Line]( | [BL on Campus]( | [Sportstar]( | [Frontline]( | [The Hindu Centre]( | [Images]( | [roofandfloor]( | [Classifieds]( Copyright @ 2019, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us]( | [Contact Us]( | [Subscription](