India reported its fourth coronavirus death on Thursday as the total number of cases of COVID-19 rose to 173 while most of the states and UTs imposed restrictions, inching towards partial shutdown and India banning landing of all international commercial passenger flights from March 22 for a week.
The Union health ministry said the fourth person to die inPunjab after getting coronavirus was an elderly and had co-morbid conditionslike diabetes, cardiac ailments.
There were more than 20 fresh cases in last 24 hours withChhattisgarh and Chandigarh reporting their first COVID-19 patients on earlyThursday.
As the virus continued to spread its tentacles across India,several parts, including Kashmir valley headed towards a virtual lockdown withthe administration restricting movement of people in several parts and banningall public transport in Srinagar city.
Punjab and the national capital also inched towards virtualshutdown. While the Punjab government announced suspension of public transportservices from Friday midnight and restricting public gatherings to less than 20besides deciding to close down marriage palaces, hotels, restaurants, banquetsand dining places, except home delivery services and takeaways in the entirestate.
The Kejriwal government in Delhi also announced shuttingdown of restaurants but said that takeaway and home delivery services willcontinue.
“Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has asked allgovernment departments, autonomous bodies and PSUs to segregate activities andsuspend non-essential services,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said at apress conference.
Non-essential government services will be discontinued fromFriday, he added.
Social, cultural and political gatherings with more than 20people are not allowed across the national capital to contain the spread of thenovel coronavirus disease, he said.
As part of its efforts to detect and prevent the spread ofcoronavirus, which has claimed over 8,000 lives globally and infected more thantwo lakh, the government banned all international commercial passengeraircrafts from landing in the country from March 22 to March 29.
Moreover, the Central government has requested states toenforce work for home for private sector employees, except for those working inemergency and essential services.
“State governments shall issue appropriate directionsso that all citizens above 65 (other than for medical assistance) except forpublic representatives or government servants or medical professionals areadvised to remain at home,” the government statement noted.
“No scheduled international commercial passengeraircraft shall be allowed to land in India from March 22, 2020 for oneweek,” the government statement said.
“Similarly, all children below 10 should be advised tostay at home and not to venture out,” it added.
“States are being requested to enforce work for homefor private sector employees except those working in emergency/essentialservices,” the statement added.
Pay cuts
While the Indian Railways decided to suspend allconcessional tickets except for patients, students and those in the Divyangjancategory from the midnight of March 20 till further notice to discourageunnecessary travel, IndiGo announced pay cuts for senior employees, includingof its CEO who would take the highest cut of 25 per cent amid the novelcoronavirus pandemic that has hit the aviation industry hard.
The total tally of 169 include 25 foreign nationals — 17from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging toCanada, Indonesia and Singapore.
The figure also includes four deaths reported from Delhi,Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab so far.
Delhi has reported 12 positive cases which includes oneforeigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 17 cases, including one foreigner.
Maharashtra has 45 cases, including three foreigners, whileKerala has recorded 27 cases which include two foreign nationals.
Karnataka has 14 coronavirus patients. The number of casesin Ladakh rose to eight and Jammu and Kashmir four. Telangana has reported sixcases which include two foreigners.
Rajasthan has also reported seven cases including that oftwo foreigners. Tamil Nadu has two cases so far.
Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Pondicherry,Chandigarh and Punjab have reported one case each.
In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners.
In a last minute-decision, the Council for the Indian SchoolCertificate Examinations (CISCE) postponed class 10 and 12 examinations, whichwere to start from Thursday.
With the class 12 sociology exam scheduled to be held at 2pm, the announcement was made at 10 am.
The HRD Ministry had on Wednesday ordered the Central Boardof Secondary Education (CBSE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS),University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for TechnicalEducation (AICTE) to postpone their exams till March 31, saying the safety ofstudents and staff were as important as following the exam calendar.
Meanwhile, Mumbai’s famed tiffin suppliers, the dabbawalas,said they are suspending their services from Friday till March 31 in view ofthe coronavirus situation.
In the national capital, the upscale Sunder Nagar market inSouth Delhi has been closed till March 31 in view of the coronavirus outbreak,the traders’ body said. It is the first market to shut down in the capital.