Coronavirus crisis: April 21, 2020 | As it happened

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has sought the Centre’s permission "to allow the sale of liquor, in a phased manner, to mop up VAT and Excise revenue".

159 COVID-19 cases reported in Rajasthan today, as of 9 pm. Total cases in the state now at 1,735, including 274 recovered, 97 discharged and 26 deaths.

As a preventive measure to fight COVID-19, we are closing Delhi-Gautam Budh Nagar/Noida border completely with the following specified exceptions.

56 more COVID-19 cases reported in Telangana on Tuesday. The total number of cases in the state now at 928, including 711 active cases, 194 cured/discharged & 23 deaths. 

The government of India to conduct a telephonic survey to gather feedback from citizens on prevalence and distribution of COVID-19 symptoms. This survey is to be carried out by NIC and calls will be coming on mobile phones from calling number 1921.

Number of COVID19 'containment zones' in Delhi raised to 87 by Delhi government.

112 new Coronavirus positive cases and 13 deaths reported in Gujarat. The total number of positive cases is 2,178, death toll 80.

NHRC sent notice to Maharashtra police chief in connection with lynching of 3 persons in Palghar

Total of 6 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the state today - 1 in SAS Nagar and 5 in Patiala. All 6 cases have contact history with positive patients. The number of COVID-19 cases reaches 251 in Punjab including 49 cured and 16 deaths. 62 cases have been reported in SAS Nagar, 48 in Jalandhar and 31 in Patiala.

92 areas have been identified and designated as red zones in the Union Territory (UT), 14 are in Jammu and 78 are in Kashmir. These red zones will be under stricter restrictions on movement, surveillance and will have enhanced testing.

12 new Coronavirus positive cases and 1 death reported today in Mumbai's slum area Dharavi. The total number of positive cases in the area increases to 179, including 12 deaths, stated Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

76 persons tested positive in Tamil Nadu, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 1,596. One death reported today. The total number of deaths till date stands at 18 now.

9 more COVID-19 cases reported in Udaypur district of Eastern Nepal, taking the total number of cases in the country to 40.

Pakistan violated ceasefire in Kirni and Qasba sectors, District Poonch of Jammu and Kashmir at about 05:20 pm.

10 new cases have been confirmed for COVID-19 in Karnataka from 5:00 PM yesterday till 5:00 PM today. Cumulatively, 418 positive cases have been confirmed in the state now, it includes 17 Deaths and 129 Discharges.

We have surplus grains stock of 539 lakh tonnes. There will no shortage in the near future. We have asked all State govts to distribute ration to the poor in their states. GOI has clearly said that no poor should go hungry, said Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Union Health Ministry officials along with MHA, ICMR spokespersons briefed media over coronavirus situation in India. Here are the highlights from the presser: 

• The government launched a portal for coronavirus crisis in India that has a database of over 1 crore people.
• covidwarriors.gov.in has been created as a master database of healthcare professionals and volunteers. Till now, details of 1.24 crore human resources of various kinds have been added to it.
• Details of corona warriors in 20 categories and 49 sub-categories, who can contribute to COVID19 management efforts, are available to states and union territories on the portal.
• Coronavirus tests conducted in about 271 labs associated with ICMR.
• 4,49,000 COVID-19 tests conducted in the last 24 hours. 
• At least 3,252 coronavirus patients recovered so far. 
• States advised not to use rapid testing kits for two days. A lot of variations, kits will be tested and validated by on-ground teams and we will give advisory in the next 2 days.
• 61 additional districts from 23 States/UT have not reported any fresh cases in the last 14 days. 4 new districts have been included in the list-Latur, Osmanabad, Hingoli and Washim in Maharashtra.
• Till now, there are 18,601 positive cases. So far, 3,252 people have recovered including 705 people who recovered yesterday. This takes our recovery percentage to 17.48 percent. 
• 4,49,810 samples have been tested so far. 35,852 samples were tested yesterday, of which 29,776 samples were tested in 201 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) network labs and the remaining 6,076 samples were tested in 86 private labs.
• We have issued detailed guidelines to all states that while we focus on COVID19, all other services need to be provided, be it for dialysis, HIV/cancer treatments, etc. At the same time, required infection management prevention should be in place.
• It is a new disease, in the last 3 and half months science has progressed and developed PCR tests, 5 vaccines have gone into human trial phase out of 70 vaccine candidates. It has never happened before in case of any other disease.

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan has launched 'COVID India Seva', an interactive platform for citizen engagement on COVID19. It is aimed at enabling e-governance delivery in real-time and answering citizen queries.

The National Fisherfolk Forum (NFF) on Tuesday urged the Central and #TamilNadu government to take steps to bring back 400 fishermen from the state stranded in #Andaman.

Amid rising coronavirus cases, France stops all flights outside the Schengen zone.

The Naveen Patnaik government in Odisha has taken a bold decision declaring martyr status for doctors or health workers dying on coronavirus duty. The Odisha government will also accord state funeral to all those doctors/ health workers losing their battle against COVID-19. 

425 coronavirus tests conducted everyday in WB, from today number increased to 600: Sudip Bandyopadhyay

If you are aged 55-plus, have co-morbid conditions and now experiencing even slightest health discomfort, its time for coronavirus screening in Karnataka as the government is keen on pushing pre-emptive measures to check its spread.

Medical Education Minister Sudhakar K, who is in-charge of all matters related to COVID-19, told PTI on Tuesday the government would take it seriously even if such people feel uneasiness, tiredness or slightest of discomfort.

We will do it (coronavirus test in such cases)we want to do it. We have issued guidelines for senior citizens, especially those with co-morbid conditions.
Even if they have slightest discomfort, we want to take it seriously, the
Minister said. 

PTI

New Delhi: State-run steel maker RINL has shut down two blast furnaces at its Visakhapatnam plant, as a result of which the daily production level has come down to 6,000 tonnes, PTI reported. 

After shutting down the first blast furnace last month, the company has shut down the second blast furnaces also last week reducing its production further to 6,000 tonnes, a source said. There is a lack of demand in the market and given the scenario its is imperative to scale down the production, the source said.

RINL, which has an installed capacity of over 7.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), produced about 18,000 tonnes of hot metal on a daily basis.

Severe weather raked across central Florida early Monday, fueled by driving winds and rain. Observors captured footage of a suspected tornado in Sanford and heavy winds pummeling a downtown area in DeLand. Other suspected tornadoes killed at least two people as severe weather blasted a wide area across the Deep South, shattering homes and leaving thousands without power.

• 796 new cases in last 24 hours
• 9,216 cases in total
• 2,066 recovered
• 192 deaths
• 46% of cases in Punjab
• 111,806 tests completed

The US president Tweeted he will sign an executive order to suspend immigration temporarily in order to protect jobs amid growing coronavirus concerns. Trump offered no further details as to what immigration programs may be affected.

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52 COVID-19 positive cases reported today in Rajasthan so far-4 in Bhilwara, 2 each in Dausa, Jaisalmer and Tonk, 34 in Jaipur, 1 each in Jhunjhunu, Nagour and Sawai Madhopur and 5 in Jodhpur. Total positive cases rises to 1628, including 25 deaths, 205 recovered,

• India sees largest daily increase of cases
• Death toll surpasses 5,200 in Iran
• UAE confirms more than 7,000 cases

• China reports no coronavirus-related deaths in the past day
• New Zealand to lift some lockdown restrictions 
• Australia continues to report decline in new cases
• South Korea maintains less than 20 new cases per day for more than a week

UK reported its lowest number of new coronavirus deaths in 14 days

Swami Ramdev LIVE: Yoga lessons to boost immunity, fight coronavirus | Watch: 

• Italy reports drop in positive cases
• Germany, Poland and Norway start easing their lockdown
• UK hospitals confirm more than 16,500 deaths, Health Ministry reports
• Total cases surpass 47,000 in Russia

• Cases in Chile top 10,000
• President Bolsonaro joined an anti-lockdown protest in Brazil

Coronavirus cases in the US surpass 760,000, with 41,371 deaths. Highest reported state case totals:

• New York: 244,578
• New Jersey: 85,322
• Massachusetts: 38,077
• Pennsylvania: 33,232
• California: 31,518
• Michigan: 31,424

• Trump calls US oil prices turning negative "very interesting"
• Pence: Testing available to states aiming to reopen
• Ontario cases appear to have peaked
• US-Canada travel restrictions extended until May 21
• More than 700 deaths confirmed in Mexico

The total number of global cases has surpassed 2.4 million, including more than 169,000 fatalities. More than 645,000 patients are reported to have recovered.

• India sees highest spike of new cases
• Italy records first one-day drop in infections since March 10
• It's still too early to say if US cases have peaked
• COVID-19 death toll surpasses 5,200 in Iran