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Coronavirus: COVID-19 Hotspots Sealed In UP, Delhi; Cases Climb To 5,274 In India- As It Happened On Wednesday

What's Happening In India And Across The World? Follow News Nation's LIVE Blog On Coronavirus Outbreak To Get Verified Updates:

News Nation Bureau | Edited By : Surabhi Pandey | Updated on: 08 Apr 2020, 11:50:10 PM
April 8 Coronavirus live blog

With the number of coronavirus cases rising with every passing hour, India has announced that it will scale up the testing procedure to cover more people. (Photo Credit: IANS/ANI/Twitter)

New Delhi:

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Has India reached stage 3 of the COVID-19 pandemic? Is the nation with a population of 130 crores testing enough? Should there be an extension of the corona lockdown? While the jury is still out on these key questions, the latest tally shows the number of confirmed cases crossing the 5,000-mark in India. There are reports that the Centre is likely to decide on the corona lockdown soon. The lockdown 2.0 will include extending the closure of religious places for up to six months, holding the transfer of top officials among other provisions. Globally, over 82,000 people have lost their lives due to coronavirus. The US is witnessing the worst phase of the infection with nearly 2,000 deaths being reported in a single day.

Here are the latest updates on coronavirus pandemic from India and around the world:

Two more COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Uttarakhand today, taking the total number of positive cases to 35: Directorate of Health Services, Uttarakhand

Govt to ensure delivery of essential items in areas that have been sealed to combat COVID-19 spread: Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia

Govt depts asked to stop all expenditures except salary; need to cut expenses drastically considering current revenue status: Delhi CM Kejriwal

Face masks to be compulsory for people stepping outdoors in Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

42 persons out of the 48 persons who tested positive for COVID-19 today are from "single source" event; 679 cases out of the total 738 cases in the state are from "single source" event: Beela Rajesh, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary

Below are the breakdown of the COVID-19 hotspots identified in Ghaziabad. Take a look:


Nandgram Masjid area


KDP Society, Raj Nagar Extension


Savior Society, Mohan Nagar


B77 / G-5, Shalimar Extension - 2


Pasonda


Auxi Home Society, Bhopura


Vasundhara Sector 2 B area


Sector 6, Vaishali


Girnar Apartment in Kaushambi


Naipura Loni


Masuri 


Khatu Shyam Colony, Duhai


CHC Muradnagar

Six new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in last 24 hours. Total positive cases in Karnataka stand at 181 which includes 5 deaths and 26 discharged: Health Department, Govt of India

Three more COVID-19 positive deaths reported in Pune today. Death toll rises to 16 in Pune, of which 8 deaths have been reported today: Health officials, Pune 

COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh stands at 343 including 26 people who have completely recovered and discharged. Out of the 343 cases, 187 are of Tablighi Jamaat attendees: UP Principal Health Secretary Amit Mohan

48 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state, total number of cases are 738: Beela Rajesh, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary

Rejecting media reports to the contrary, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has made it clear that no decision has yet been taken on extending the curfew in the state beyond April 14: Punjab CM Office

14 new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir today. Total active cases stand at 130: Govt of Jammu and Kashmir

The 100 per cent lockdown in the hotspots of the 15 districts will remain till the morning of April 15: Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi

The 100% lockdown in the hotspots of the 15 districts will remain till the morning of April 15

There are 22 hotspots in Agra,13 in Ghaziabad, 12 in Gautam Budh Nagar, 12 in Kanpur, 4 in Varanasi, 3 in Shamli, 7 in Meerut, 1 in Bareilly, 3 in Bulandshahr,3 in Basti, 3 in Firozabad, 4 in Saharanpur, 4 in Maharajganj, 1 in Sitapur and 8 big 4 small in Lucknow: Additional Chief Secretary

1 more positive case has been reported, total number of cases in the union territory so far are 11: Chetan Sanghi,Chief Secretary,Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Two new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported today. Total number of active cases in West Bengal stands at 71: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

In 31 states/UTs, cash benefits of Rs.1000 to Rs.6000 have been announced for registered construction workers under Building&Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Fund. Rs. 3000 crores have been given to 2 crore registered construction workers till now: Jt Secy, Home Ministry.

Till date we have done 1,21,271 tests: R Gangakhedkar, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 

It is ensured that not only today even in future there will not be any lack of HCQ (Hydroxychloroquine) as and when needed: Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry

Till date total 402 people have been discharged, total 5194 positive confirmed case have been reported. In last one day 773 positive cases were reported. Total 149 deaths have been reported and around 32 people have died yesterday: Lav Aggarwal,Joint Secy,Health Ministry

Delhi - Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is briefing on COVID-19 situation in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will do a video conference with all Chief Ministers on 11th April.

15 more COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in the state, total cases till now are 363: Rajasthan Health Department

Lifting of corona lockdown after April 14 not possible, looking at options: PM Modi to Opposition

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to seal the borders of 15 districts to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. People will not be allowed to step outside without wearing masks or face covers. According to Chief Secretary RK Tiwari, the borders of Lucknow, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandshahr, Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Maharajganj, Sitapur, Saharanpur, Basti, Ferozabad and Kanpur will be sealed. These districts are said to have high number of COVID-19 cases.

The Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate of Police has banned all religious gatherings in the twin cities in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. The police said religious leaders have also come forward and appealed to people against any gathering in mosques and kabarstan in connection with Shab-e-Barat on April 9.

France's aircraft carrier will be brought home early from a deployment in the Atlantic after some crew members showed coronavirus symptoms, the defence ministry said Wednesday. About 40 sailors on the Charles de Gaulle are under medical observation, it said in a statement, and those with symptoms have been placed in isolation.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday called for giving relief to farmers during the COVID-19 lockdown by allowing them to harvest crops while maintaining safety, saying this is theonly way out as they are facing a double whammy. "The Rabi crop stands ready in the fields but harvesting of the crop due to Covid19 lockdown is difficult. The livelihoods of hundreds of farmers are at risk," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

An FIR has been registered against local Congress MLA Siddharth Kushwaha and seven others for allegedly defying CrPC Section 144, which bans assembly of four or more people, during the lockdown, police said on Wednesday. The MLA led a protest near Nai Basti area of Satna in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, in violation of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and the lockdown enforced in the district, police inspector Mohit Saxena said.

A global condom shortage is looming as the coronavirus pandemic shutters factories and disrupts supply chains, the world's top maker of the contraceptives said, with the United Nations warning of "devastating" consequences. Over half of humanity has been confined to their homes as the highly contagious virus marches round the planet, while governments worldwide have ordered the closure of businesses deemed non-essential.

AIIMS administration rejects the proposal by RDA AIIMS to make contributions to PMCARES voluntary/opt-in.

Medical staff including nurses and paramedical employees at a municipal hospital staff in Mumbai staged a protest on Wednesday against the 'poor quality' of personal protection equipment (PPE) given to them. Employees of the KB Bhabha Municipal General Hospital in suburban Bandra gathered outside the hospital and staged a protest, after a woman undergoing treatment there died due to COVID-19 infection, an employee said.

Seven weeks into Italy's outbreak, the world's deadliest, the adrenaline rush that kept medical personnel going at the start has been replaced by crushing fatigue and fear of getting the virus, researchers say. With many doctors and nurses deprived of their normal family support because they are isolating themselves, the mental health of Italy and Spain's overwhelmed medical personnel is now a focus of their already stressed health care systems.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India has decreased production by 32.05 per cent in March, according to a regulatory filing by the company. The company produced a total of 92,540 units in March as against 1,36,201 units in the year-ago month, the auto major said.

Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has asked Muslims to abide by the 'Shariah' and follow lockdown restrictions to contain spread of coronavirus. The seminary also asked Muslims not to visit graveyards and mosques on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat.

One more person tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand on Wednesday, officials said. A Health Department spokesman said the latest case has been reported from Haridwar and it takes the number of coronavirus patients in the state to 32. Five people suffering from COVID-19 have been cured and discharged in the state so far, he said.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration is upgrading the facilities in the designated hospitals to provide level-3 treatment to the patients in the wake of increase in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks. The Union Territory has recorded three coronavirus deaths since March 26, out of total 125 positive cases - 98 in Kashmir and 27 in Jammu region.

Two more persons tested positive for coronavirus in Dharavi area on Wednesday, taking the total number of such cases in the densely-populated slum area of Mumbai to nine, a civic official said. Among the new patients are a 25-year-old man from Mukund Nagar locality and a 35-year-old man from Dhanwada chawl, he said.

Four new coronavirus cases weremdetected in Gujarat on Wednesday, taking the total number of such cases in the state to 179, a health official said. Two of the new cases were reported from Bhavnagar and one each was reported from Surat and Vadodara, Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi told reporters.

Fifteen new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Andhra Pradesh since last night, taking the total number of infected to 329, health department officials said on Wednesday. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the state now touched 329 while the active cases were 319, the latest bulletin said.

About 400 million people working in the informal economy in India are at risk of falling deeper into poverty due to the coronavirus crisis which is having "catastrophic consequences", and is expected to wipe out 195 million full-time jobs or 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of this year, the UN's labour body has warned. The International Labour Organization (ILO) in its report titled 'ILO Monitor 2nd edition: COVID-19 and the world of work', describes coronavirus pandemic as "the worst global crisis since World War II".

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting with all Delhi MPs on the issue of coronavirus via video conference on Wednesday. The chief minister will discuss the measures with the Members of Parliament (MPs) to deal with COVID-19 in the national capital, an official said. "The CM will meet Delhi MPs at 12 noon on the issue of coronavirus," he said.

A new COVID-19 case related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation was reported in Assam on Tuesday, taking the number to 28, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The 65-year old man, who has a travel history to Saudi Arabia, tested positive, the minister tweeted on Tuesday night.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said his government will support the Centre if it decides to extend the ongoing nationwide lockdown to contain COVID-19 beyond April 14. The chief minister said Puducherry is geographically surrounded by districts of Tamil Nadu and with the number of coronavirus cases rising there, protection of people of the union territory is a top priority for him.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Tuesday that donations of medical equipment by foreign companies like Huawei in the fight against the coronavirus will have no influence on future government policy. "We will be receiving donations of equipment from various companies and we're happy that people are offering that," he said.

The Pulitzer Prize Board will postpone the announcement of this year's winners because some board members have been busy covering the global coronavirus outbreak, the organization announced. The announcement of Pulitzer winners in journalism and the arts will be postponed from April 20 to May 4, the board said.

The Qatari government said Tuesday it has implemented widespread measures to protect immigrant workers from the coronavirus, after a German documentary highlighted that ongoing construction of World Cup infrastructure raised the risk of infections.

US Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned Tuesday over his mishandling of an outbreak of the coronavirus on the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced. Modly stepped down five days after removing the Roosevelt's captain, Brett Crozier, for writing a letter -- that was leaked to the media -- describing the virus-struck vessel's dire situation and alleging the Pentagon was not paying adequate attention to it.

A Democratic party's state legislature from Michigan has credited hydroxychloroquine for saving her life from coronavirus, US President Donald Trump said, adding the politician has thanked him for promoting the malaria drug.

An Indian American-owned pharma firm has pledged to donate 3.4 million Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate tablets to some of the key COVID-19 battleground states, including New York and Louisiana, joining the war against the dreaded coronavirus which by Tuesday had taken lives of more than 12,800 people in the US alone. Owned by philanthropic billionaire Chirag and Chintu Patel, New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals, which is one of the largest US-based manufacturers, has also announced ramping up production of Hydroxychloroquine Sulphate at several of its manufacturing sites and expects to produce approximately 20 million tablets between now and mid-April.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was spending a second night in intensive care battling the coronavirus which has infected more than 55,000 across the country and killed nearly 6,200. "He stayed at work for you... now pray at home for him," The Sun tabloid splashed across its front page Wednesday while the Daily Express said: "Boris 'will pull through'."

South Korea plans to take further steps to tighten border controls to slow coronavirus infections imported from abroad as outbreaks worsen in Europe and the United States. South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun during an anti-virus meeting on Wednesday said Seoul will suspend visa-free entries and visa waivers with countries imposing entry bans on South Korean nationals and employ further restrictions to repel foreigners traveling on unnecessary and non-urgent purposes. 

China and other nations could be burdened with costly and environmentally damaging coal power for decades if they forge ahead with new capacity to boost their economics after the COVID-19 pandemic, research showed Wednesday. While extreme social distancing measures in the world's largest economies aimed at stopping the virus are likely to result in a short-term cut in global emissions, government subsidies are still driving plans to build nearly 500 GW of new coal-fired power plants. The bill for this is set to top $630 billion.

Tens of thousands of people in Wuhan, the origin point and epicentre for the coronavirus pandemic, began travelling out of the sprawling city on Wednesday as China lifted its 73-day lockdown, even as the number of fresh COVID-19 cases crossed 1,000 in the country and two new deaths heightened concerns of a rebound in infections. The Chinese health authority said on Wednesday that 62 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland on Tuesday, including 59 cases of people returning from abroad, taking the total tally to 1,042.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday condoled the demise of veteran Indian-American journalist Brahm Kanchibotla who died of coronavirus, saying he will be remembered for his fine work. Kanchibotla, who was a former contributor to the United News of India news agency, died of coronavirus at a New York hospital on Monday night.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has come up with an awareness campaign with the help of creative content developers to disseminate information in an effective way about steps to be taken by people to stay protected during the coronavirus outbreak. To convey this message in an effective manner, the chief minister, who is an alumnus of the Sir J J Institute of Applied Arts, took help of communication and designing expert Bhupal Ramnathkar in developing the awareness campaign, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in a statement.

Tottenham Hotspur have reminded players of their responsibilities during Britain's coronavirus lockdown after pictures and video on social media emerged of manager Jose Mourinho and several members of his squad that appeared to show them flouting social-distancing rules.

England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt. Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Two more people died of coronavirus infection in Pune, taking the toll in the Maharashtra district to 10, officials said on Wednesday. A 44-year-old man, who was on ventilator support and suffering from uncontrolled diabetes, died at the civic-run Naidu Hospital early Wednesday morning, Pune Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said.

A 'Sakhi Mandal' (Self-Help Group) in Jharkhand's Khunti district is using medicinal plants along with other ingredients to prepare hand sanitizer in their fight against COVID-19 pandemic, a government official said. Lemon grass or basil oil is also being added to the hand sanitizer by the 'Sakhi Mandal' as it is a medicinal plant and increase the effectiveness of the sanitizer, the official said.

Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said he was committing $1 billion of his personal fortune to coronavirus relief through his philanthropic fund. Dorsey said in a series of tweets that he would transfer his equity in his digital payments group Square to his limited liability corporation Start Small, contributing around 28 percent of his overall wealth.

The Johns Hopkins University live tracker says that more than 5,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 disease in India.

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First Published : 08 Apr 2020, 09:01:56 AM

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