Staggered lockdown exit

The Hindu Newsletter - Staggered lockdown exit Thursday 02, April 2020 [alt_text]( The Evening Wrap Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying home and staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: Staggered lockdown exit In a video conference with Chief Ministers today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s main message was to ensure a “staggered re-emergence of the population” once the 21-day lockdown ends. Given the hasty way in which the lockdown was announced in the first place, the Prime Minister’s statement provides a measure of relief. This is the first time that much, or all, of the country has been asked to participate in a prolonged shut down and the fear was that people would emerge in droves on April 15 despite the fact that virus would remain a very viable threat. In his call, Modi emphasised that the collective goal of all should be to “save every Indian”. He asked the States to brainstorm and send suggestions for the lockdown exit strategy. He also listed out steps to be taken for the second week of the lockdown, checking the words testing, tracing, isolating, and quarantine as key elements. He also emphasised that the supply lines for medical equipment and drugs and raw materials needed for the manufacture of these products need to be kept seamless, even more than supplies of other products. You can read our full report of the PM’s interaction with Chief Ministers [here](. The PM announced on Twitter today that he will be releasing a video message to the nation at 9 am tomorrow. This has sparked another round of feverish speculation about what’s in store – now a routine phenomenon preceding every one of his addresses to the nation. COVID Watch - The Numbers [India has reported over 2,0000 active cases]( so far, and over 70 deaths, according to the Union health Ministry/compilation of reporting from States. Several states are still identifying and tracing people linked to the Tablighi Jamaat convention that took place in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area last month. The Health Ministry today said that 400 confirmed coronavirus cases are linked to the event, and there may well be more as states continue to identify and trace contacts of the attendees. The Tablighi Jamaat convention and the fallout in terms of COVID-19 cases is a subject we have discussed in detail in our daily COVID update podcast, part of [In Focus podcast series](. We also have an [explainer]( by our International Affairs Editor Stanly Johny on who the Tablighi Jamaat are. Surreal numbers continue to be reported from around the world, with the number of COVID-19 positive cases closing in on the one million mark,. The total number was 964,521 at the time of filing this report. While the global fatalities stood at 49,240, the death toll in Spain has crossed 10,000, with a record single day rise of 950. Rapid Testing The Centre has allowed Maharashtra to conduct [rapid, mass-scale]( testing for COVID-19 by using blood samples. This would expedite the detection of coronavirus cases, Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Thursday. The standard RT-PCR tests that are currently in use involve swabs from the nose and throat. Now the State government will use blood samples instead of swabs in rapid tests through which one can ascertain “in five minutes” whether a person has developed anti-bodies for the disease or not, he said. Airline Woes More woes for the aviation sector, which has perhaps been the worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Air India has temporarily suspended the contracts of around 200 pilots who had been re-employed after retirement, as all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended in the country till April 14. “Since almost all the planes have been grounded and the carrier’s revenues have taken a significant fall during the last few weeks, the airline has decided to temporarily suspend the contract of around 200 pilots who were re-employed after their retirement,” said the official. Call for Relief The Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision-making body, held its first ever virtual meeting on the challenges posed by COVID-19. Party chief Sonia Gandhi asked the Centre to come out with a ‘common minimum relief programme’ and asserted that the unplanned lockdown caused “chaos and pain” for migrant workers. “The 21-day national lockdown may have been necessary but the unplanned manner in which it has been implemented has caused chaos and pain in the lives of millions of migrant workers all over India. It has been heart-breaking to see lakhs of people walking for hundreds of kilometres towards their villages without food or shelter,” Gandhi said in her opening remarks at the CWC. In Brief: 24 Indians have tested positive for COVID-19 in Kuwait, signalling that New Delhi will have to keep an eye on a ticking time bomb – the millions of Indian workers in the Gulf, where the footprint of the novel coronavirus is expanding. Several Gulf nations have imposed lockdowns in districts with large migrant worker populations. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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