Lockdown extension

The Hindu Newsletter - Lockdown extension Monday 13, 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: Lockdown extension? The 21-day nationwide lockdown ends on April 14 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to talk about its possible extension. He will address the nation tomorrow at 10 a.m. “Prime Minister @narendramodi will address the nation at 10 AM on 14th April 2020,” the PMO tweeted. Last month, the Prime Minister had addressed the nation twice — on [March 19Â](and [March 24](. On March 19, he had called for resolve and restraint to fight the coronavirus. He had also announced a ‘janata curfew’ on March 22, a Sunday. On March 24, he had announced the 21-day nationwide lockdown to check the spread of the deadly virus. Loan for GST dues Amid concerns that States need more funds to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the Union government is exploring the possibility of raising a loan to pay the shortfall in the [Goods and Services TaxÂ]((GST) compensation amount due to the States. Every State has had to ramp up spending to combat the outbreak of COVID-19. The Hindu reports that since the GST Act prohibits withdrawal of funds from the Consolidated Fund of India, raising loans is being seen as a way out. “We will either need to call a video conference of the GST Council or ask States in writing whether they are on board on this,” said a senior government source. TN, Arunachal, extend lockdown Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday evening announced an extension of the COVID-19 lockdown till April 30. The ongoing lockdown was scheduled to end at 6 a.m. on April 15. On Saturday last, Chief Secretary K Shanmugam [had saidÂ](that the State Cabinet had decided to await the Centre’s decision on extending the lockdown. In a statement, Palaniswami said the lockdown was being extended under provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in line with the decision taken by the State Cabinet on April 11. Arunachal Pradesh, too, has announced an extension of the lockdown till April 30. Other states to have already extended the lockdown till April 30 include Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, and Punjab (till May 1). India has so far reported 9644 COVID-19 cases and 337 deaths. Globally, the death toll has reached 1,875,403, with the total number of cases standing at 116,091. HCQ for Mumbai slums In an bid to arrest the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai’s densely populated slums, the civic body plans to distribute the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a prophylaxis for the community. The first of its kind pilot project will be implemented in Dharavi and Worli Koliwada this week. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani on Monday told The Hindu that senior medical experts from AIIMS and Niti Aayog have given a green signal for the pilot. “At present, 50,000 people are under the containment areas of Dharavi and Worli Koliwada each. We are only planning to target the population in the containment areas in the age group of 18 to 55 years but without any underlying ailments like diabetes, hypertension etc,” Kakani said, adding, “We have 10 lakh tablets available with us. It is a seven-week long course. Our community health volunteers will be roped in to distribute the drug to the target population. We are prepared to start the pilot within a day or two.” Ministers return to work Several Union Ministers and senior officers [returned to their offices]( on Monday. Most of the Ministers and officials had been following the government’s work-from-home protocols issued in the wake of the novel [coronavirus pandemic](. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of State for Youth Affairs Kiren Rijiju, and Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel were some of the early office-goers on Monday, along with other senior officials. Besides the Ministers, all officers of Joint-Secretary level and above have been asked to be present in the Ministries along with one-third of the essential staff from Monday, sources said. HM’s ICMR intervention When India detected its first positive case of COVID-19 on January 30, all samples were sent only to NIV, Pune. The Hindu has learnt that it was only on the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the [Indian Council of Medical Research]( (ICMR) expanded the number of laboratories that could conduct [COVID-19]( tests. Owing to multiple factors, including paucity of kits, the ICMR follows strict guidelines before samples are collected from a person showing symptoms. But restricting tests to just one lab would mean that diagnoses can’t keep pace with the surge in the number of infections. In a meeting in March, Home Minister Amit Shah told ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava to include more facilities that could carry out the tests, else the responsibility would be given to AIIMS. On March 17, the ICMR activated 72 more laboratories to test for COVID-19 and revised the testing criteria, paving the way for a faster rate of testing for COVID-19 cases. In Brief: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will not hesitate to use any conventional or unconventional policy instruments to mitigate the [adverse economic impactÂ](caused by [COVID-19](, the central bank’s governor Shaktikanta Das said, according to the minutes of the last monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting released today by the central bank. The MPC meeting had taken place on March 24-27. Retail inflation slowed to 5.91% in March over the previous month, mainly due to easing food prices, government data showed on Monday. Retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.58% in February 2020, and 2.86% in March 2019. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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