The death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 488 and the number of cases to 14,792 in the country on Saturday, according to the Union health ministry.
While the number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 12,289, as many as 2,015 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said.
Violent protests at Jalpaiguri correctional home
A section of inmates at the Jalpaiguri correctional home in West Bengal started violent protests on Saturday, demanding that they be granted bail in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, officials said.
The correctional facility houses around 750 prisoners in eight wards and of them, 50-60 inmates are protesting, citing a Supreme Court directive, they said.
On March 23, the Supreme Court had directed all states and Union Territories to constitute high-level committees to consider releasing on parole or interim bail prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to seven-year jail term to decongest prisons in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Police personnel are trying to enter the main prison area, the gate of which has been shut by the inmates from inside, said Chief Disciplinary Officer Ashim Acharya.
They are throwing stones from inside but no one has been injured till now, he said.
Jail authorities earlier tried to persuade the prisoners but they continued with the protests, officials said, adding that they have been provided masks and sanitisers.
Officials said police personnel have been deployed along the periphery of the facility to prevent any attempts of jailbreak.
Around 2,000 undertrial prisoners and convicts have been released on bail and parole from various jails in the state, following the Supreme Court directive.
Last month, clashes broke out at the Dumdum Correctional Home near Kolkata over the state government's decision not to allow the inmates to meet their families due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Two new deaths in Bengal
Two more persons died of coronavirus in West Bengal in the last 24 hours, taking the toll in the state to 12, a top government official said on Saturday.
During the same period, 23 fresh coronavirus infections were reported from different parts of the state, taking the number of cases to 233, Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said.
The Union health ministry, however, put the total number of cases in the state at 287.
At present, there are 178 active cases in the state, Sinha said.
3,000 students from Kota en route home in UP govt's buses
Nearly 3,000 students stranded in Kota due to the ongoing lockdown left for their home in 100 buses sent by the UP government but another 7,000 were waiting for their turn in the Rajasthan city on Saturday.
The UP government had sent 250 buses to Kota on Friday, estimating the total number of students to be around 7,500, but more students gathered at the three boarding points in the city after learning about the travel arrangement.
Some of the students were accompanied by their parents.
Officials now fear the buses available could be inadequate to accommodate all the students willing to return home. But Kota Public Relations Deputy Director Hariom Gurjar told PTI that the UP government has assured them that more buses would be arranged if there is a shortfall.
The Kota administration had prepared the list of students based on information received from coaching institutes and did not account for those studying in the city without enrolling in any institute, officials said.
The 100 buses with around 3,000 students left for UP early Saturday, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Mill, overseeing the exercise, told PTI.
In this April 6, 2020, file photo, a homeless child tries to fly a kite on the middle of a deserted road during the lockdown in New Delhi AP
NHAI to resume toll collection on national highways from April 20
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will resume toll collection on national highways from April 20, as per a government communication, a move which is being opposed by the transport fraternity.
The government had on March 25 announced temporarily suspending toll collection on national highways to ease emergency services in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
'In view of the relaxations provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs for the inter state and intra state movement of all trucks and other goods / carrier vehicles ...NHAI should take actions necessary for compliance of the orders of Ministry of Home Affairs ... and tolling operations be resumed w.e.f. 20th of April 2020,' the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a letter to NHAI.
Replying to communication from NHAI, the ministry said the authority in letters dated April 11 and April 14 had highlighted reasons for resuming the collection of user fee on national highways, saying that the Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed a lot of activities with effect from April 20, including commercial and private establishments and construction work.
Four new cases in Nagpur; tally 63
Four new COVID-19 cases have been detected in Maharashtra's Nagpur, taking the number of the infected people to 63, an official said on Saturday.
The fresh cases--all detected in the last 24 hours-- were contacts of those patients who had tested positive for coronavirus earlier, he said.
'All of them were quarantined,' he added.
Humanity will overcome pandemic, says PM as he hails ministries for helping people in lockdown
Humanity will surely overcome the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he hailed the efforts put in by various ministries to help people during the lockdown, and in the fight against Covid-19.
'The world is fighting COVID-19 together. Humanity will surely overcome this pandemic,' Modi wrote on Twitter while retweeting a tweet by the Indian Embassy in Switzerland.
'Indian Tricolor of more than 1000 meters in size projected on Matterhorn Mountain, Zermatt, Switzerland to express Solidarity to all Indians in the fight against Covid-19. A big Thank You to @zermatt_tourism for the gesture,' the tweet said.
The prime minister also responded to tweets by various ministries and his cabinet colleagues on how efforts were being made to help people amid the lockdown.
Arunachal faces shortage of vegetables amid lockdown
The state agriculture epartment has advised the deputy commissioners of all districts in Arunachal Pradesh to review the functioning of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) to deal with a shortage of vegetables in the markets amid the nationwide lockdown.
In a letter to the deputy commissioners, Agriculture and Horticulture Secretary Bidol Tayeng said shipments of vegetables from Assam have either been stopped or are not coming in due to lack of transportation, leading to a general shortage in the state.
He said that while the situation in most districts is 'manageable' as vegetables from rural areas are finding their markets in the district towns, the situation in the state capital is 'acute'.
Tayeng asked the DCs, who are also the chairpersons of the APMCs in their districts, to review the situation.
The APMCs have already been directed to identify the surplus pockets in the district and distribute the surplus within the deficit pockets in the district. If there are more surplus, the concerned district APMC can also dispatch the same to the state capital through APMC by following certain protocols, the letter said.
Additionally, there is about 100 metric tonne of potatoes in cold storage in Banderdewa and Papum Pare, the letter stated.
Doctors wearing protective suits check residents with an electronic thermometer inside a slum in Worli during the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus in Mumbai PTI
Shift non-coronavirus patients from dedicated hospitals by Sunday: Delhi govt
The Delhi government has ordered officials to move all non-coronavirus patients from the dedicated hospitals to other facilities by Sunday.
Chief Secretary Vijay Dev directed the divisional commissioner and the health secretary to ensure that non Covid-19 patients receive seamless treatment and are not ignored by healthcare service providers, an official said.
'All non-Covid-19 patients should be evacuated from Covid-19 dedicated hospitals by April 19,' he said.
There are 36 Delhi government hospitals in the national capital and some of them - such as the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital - have been earmarked for coronavirus patients only.
Dev said efforts should be made to promote social-distancing measures via community, religious and political leaders in the severely infected areas such as Seelampur, Seemapuri, Chandni Mahal and Khirki Extension.
Drug Controller General permits clinical trial of convalescent plasma
The central drug regulator has given its go-ahead to a proposal by the Indian Council of Medical Research for the clinical trial of convalescent plasma in COVID-19 patients, as per the protocol developed by ICMR.
The Drug Controller General of India said ICMR has submitted a list of institutes, which have shown an interest in the trial, to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and they may do so in consultation with the health research body.
'It is to inform that in light of public interest the proposal of ICMR for conducting the said trial has been reviewed through the Subject Expert Committee in its meeting held on April 13 under accelerated approval process in light of the current prevailing situation of COVID-19 and based on the recommendation of the committee.
'The CDSCO has conveyed its no objection for conduct of the clinical trial subject to certain amendments in the protocol and various conditions under the Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules 2019,' the central drug regulator said in a notice.
Manipur health officials booked for supplying substandard masks to hospital
A case was filed against some officials of the health department of the Manipur government after substandard N95 masks were seized by police in a raid at the Central Medical Directorate in Lamphel, officials said on Saturday.
The raid was conducted by a special team of the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Police Station on Friday after allegations were levelled that substandard masks were supplied to the district hospital in Churachandpur, they said.
The team seized 1,250 N95 masks and samples of other medical protective gear, police officials said.
On April 14, 200 defective N95 masks were found to have been supplied to the district hospital, they said.
'The defective masks, supposed to be used in the isolation ward, were, however, returned on the same day and replaced with new ones' a senior official said.
Besides the Directorate of Health officials, proprietors of five firms and some unknown persons have also been booked, police said.
Further investigations are underway, they added.
Journalists fill in their details for a swab test during lockdown to control the spread of the new coronavirus in Mumbai, on Thursday, April 16, 2020. AP
Gujarat seeks nod for plasma treatment
The Gujarat government has decided to carry out plasma transfusion treatment on Covid-19 patients in the state, particularly those in critical condition, to boost their immunity, health officials in Ahmedabad said.
In this treatment, the plasma extracted from the blood of a fully recovered Covid-19 patient is injected into the critical patient to help his body generate antibodies to fight the virus.
An antibody is a protein produced mainly by plasma cells that is used by the immune system to neutralize bacteria and viruses.
The civil hospital in Ahmedabad and the civic body-run SVP Hospital have prepared a detailed proposal about the plasma transfusion treatment and submitted it to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for approval, principal secretary, health, Jayanti Ravi, said.
'We have learned that the ICMR has given approval to the Kerala government for such plasma transfusion treatment. From Gujarat, Ahmedabad civil hospital and SVP Hospital have sought ICMR's permission to start this treatment for coronavirus patients,' she said.
'Both the hospitals are ready to start it,” Ravi added.
Odisha plan to curb domestic violence
Odisha police has come out with an initiative through which policemen will contact women who had earlier reported domestic violence to enquire about their condition over phone during the ongoing lockdown, an official said on Saturday.
The special “Phone-Up Programme” has been launched across the state to deal with problems of domestic violence in the crisis period, he said.
The initiative will be implemented with the help of the State Crime Record Bureau, which has contacts of women who had experienced domestic violence in the past.
These women will be contacted to find out their present condition, a senior officer of the state police headquarters said.
If violence is reported, physical verification will be conducted to find out the condition of a victim and the matter will be intimated to the Investigative Units for Crime against Women (IUCAW) for follow up action, he said.
'This will address the issues related to domestic violence against women during the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19,' the official said.