Coronavirus Updates: April 9, 2020

A woman was arrested from Hailakandi district in south Assam on Thursday for spreading inflammatory content on social media, police said.

Britain on Thursday reported 881 more fatalities due to COVID-19, bringing the country's total toll to 7,978, as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the strict lockdown measures in place in the UK must continue for more time to ensure there is no second wave of the coronavirus.

A fresh death and 18 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Telangana on Thursday, taking the total positive cases in the state to 471, Health Minister E Rajender said.

Several users are reporting Twitter outage across the world. Using the hashtag #TwitterDown, users are saying that their timelines are not loading. Twitterati share funny gifs, memes as the micro-blogging platform goes off for some.

Punjab witnessed a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases on Thursday with 24 more people contracting the infection, pushing the total count to 130 in the state.

Mumbai Civic Administration has converted the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Worli into a quarantine facility.

India and Russia on Thursday deliberated on the fast evolving global situation arising out of the coronavirus crisis and decided to help each other in facilitating any requirement of medicines and medical equipment to deal with the pandemic.

A 98-year-old Indian-origin woman has pleasantly surprised her doctors and family after beating Covid-19 to return to her home in Scotland within days of her hospital admission.

"Containment exercise will be carried out in 21 areas of Delhi where COVID-19 cases have been found. These areas will be completely sealed & residents will be home quarantined. Essential services will be delivered to the residents' doorsteps," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said

"Spoke on phone to President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni about the challenges arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. India will support, in every way it can, Uganda’s efforts to control the spread of the virus," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

British PM Boris Johnson's health 'continues to improve', AFP news agency reported.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on the incident where 2 female doctors of Safdarjung Hospital were allegedly assaulted by their neighbour in Gautam Nagar said, "I'd like to warn people who misbehave with doctors/nurses that it won't be tolerated. They'll be given strictest punishment."

7 patients from Katghora city of Korba district have been tested positive for COVID-19, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur in a statement said.

Total positive cases in Chhattisgarh stand at 18 which includes 9 discharge.

"24 more COVID-19 positive cases reported in Kashmir. Total cases in the state stand at 184. 32 patients are from Jammu and 152 patients are from Kashmir. All are contacts," Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary (Planning), Jammu & Kashmir said.

A 70-year-old COVID-19 positive woman from Dharavi in Mumbai passed away today, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Maharashtra said.

In order to prepare 80,000 isolation beds, Indian railways are converting 5,000 coaches into isolation units, of which 3,250 have been converted, Health Ministry Joint Secretary, Lav Aggarwal said.

PM Narendra Modi spoke on telephone today with Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea. The leaders discussed COVID-19 pandemic and challenges it posed to global health systems and economic situation. They shared information about steps taken in their countries to tackle the pandemic.

"1,30,000 samples have been tested so far. Out of these 5,734 samples tested positive till date. Positivity rate ranges between 3-5% in the last 1-1.5 months. It has not increased substantially. Yesterday we tested 13,143 samples," Indian Council of Medical Research in a statement said.

Railways have deployed more than 2,500 doctors and 35,000 paramedics staff. Their chain of 586 health units,45 sub-divisional hospitals,56 divisional hospitals, 8 production unit hospitals and 16 zonal hospitals are dedicating their significant facilities to fight COVID-19, Health Ministry Joint Secretary, Lav Aggarwal said.

Supplies of PPEs, masks, and ventilators have now begun. 20 domestic manufacturers in India have been developed for PPEs, orders for 1.7 Crore PPEs have been placed and the supplies have begun. 49,000 ventilators have been ordered: Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry

Under 'Adopt a Family' campaign in Karnal (Haryana), 13000 needy families are being given the help of Rs 64 Lakhs: Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health.

473 people recovered and discharged from the hospital so far. Total 5734 confirmed cases reported in the country till date, 549 new cases in the last 24 hours. 166 deaths have been reported till dates, 17 deaths since yesterday, Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health said.

Wearing masks has been made compulsory in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur, where coronavirus has spread on a big scale, Maharashtra
minister Anil Deshmukh said on Thursday.

76-year-old man dies due to coronavirus in Jodhpur, 47 test positive for COVID-19 in Rajasthan on Thursday: Official

A man who had returned to his village in Bawana in northwest Delhi after attending a Tablighi Jamaat conference in Bhopal was allegedly thrashed earlier this week after some people accused him of spreading COVID-19, police said.

The UN Security Council will hold a closed video-teleconferencing session on Thursday to discuss the COVID19 situation, the first time the world body's top organ is holding a meeting on the raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 88,500 people globally and infected over 1.5 million others.

As per Downing Street, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a London hospital with coronavirus, is making steady progress. Boris Johnson was shifted to critical care on Monday night as his condition worsened. The prime minister continues to make steady progress. He remains in intensive care, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declares 381 areas as containment zones, to prevent COVID19 transmission. The total number of positive cases in Maharashtra is 1297.

Odisha becomes the first state to extend lockdown beyond April 14. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced the extension of lockdown till April 30 in the state. The decision was announced after a cabinet meeting where the importance and need of the extension was discussed.

• Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh has launched  COVIDcare app for people under quarantine.
• Amid COVID19 crisis, several Islamic organisations in Assam urged the entire Muslim community in the State to observe Shab-e-Barat from home.
• Manipur CM requested the Prime Minister for an extension of the lockdown to tackle COVID-19.
• Isolation Cells set up in jails to keep inmates safe from the pandemic in Meghalaya.
• Anganwadi workers at Kolasib, Mizoram are contributing by stitching protective masks for health and police functionaries.
• Churches in Christian-majority Nagaland have decided to forego Easter celebration, that falls on April 12.

 Schools in Sikkim directed to register with the State Government online portals to initiate e-education for the students.

(Source: Regional PIB offices)

US President Donald Trump has said that 10 drugs are under clinical trial in America. The US president added that "unprecedented" efforts are being made to find a therapeutic solution to the coronavirus pandemic.

Rapid testing for COVID19 will be started as soon as the testing kits arrive. Testing will be first done in the COVID19 hotspots in the city: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain

A class 12 girl has been tested coronavirus positive in Greater Noida Silver City 2 society taking the total number of COVID-19 positive cases close to 60 in the Noida and Greater Noida region. Earlier on Wednesday, hotspots in at least 15 districts in Uttar Pradesh were sealed till April 14 in areas where COVID-19 have been reported. Read more 

Brazil President Bolsonaro in his address to the nation thanked PM Modi for helping Brazil with hydroxychroloquine. He said, "As an outcome of my direct conversation with Indian PM, we'll receive, raw materials to continue our production of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19".

• Colombia to extend quarantine by two weeks
• 350 cases confirmed in Cuba

According to the Jharkhand's first Health Secretary four more confirmed cases of COVID 19 have been reported in the state, out of which one from an infected family in Ranchi and three others from an infected family in Bokaro. Till now, the total number of cases in the state in 13. 

• Wuhan's 76 days of lockdown ends
• Japan’s PM declares a state of emergency as 144 more cases confirmed
• Indonesia reports 2,956 cases

• England: 50,756 cases
• London: 14,355 cases
• Scotland: 4,565 cases
• Wales: 4,073 cases
• Northern Ireland: 1,339 cases

• There have been 687,000 confirmed cases in Europe, including over 52,000 deaths 
• UK PM Boris Johnson remains in intensive care
• EU finance ministers discussing rescue package

• Number of confirmed cases in the US reaches 400,000
• Prime Minister Trudeau is leaving self-isolation
• Mexico reports more than 2,400 cases

• US reaches 400,000 confirmed cases
• France to extend nationwide lockdown
• Brazil reports largest daily increase in cases
• UK Prime Minister "stable" after second night in intensive care
• Ethiopia declares state of emergency
• China eases lockdown restrictions