***CORONA VIRUS UPDATES***

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Free ration distribution in Kerala from 1 April

New India Express reports that Kerala will start distributing free rice through 14,250 ration shops from today (1 April). Priority card holders (yellow and pink cards) can purchase free rice and other items from ration shops from morning till noon, while the non-priority cardholders (blue and white cards) can approach the shops in the afternoon.

Non-priority cardholders will get 15 kgs of rice over and above their regular ration, as part of the Rs 20,000-crore package announced by the chief minister.

Those without ration cards can also purchase grains by giving an affidavit at the PDS shops.

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Two people from Kerala die in US

Two people from Kerala lost their lives to the coronavirus in United States on Wednesday, reported Manorama.  A 45-year-old man hailing from Elanthoor in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district died in New York, while an 85-year-old man who hailed from Ramamangalam in Ernakulam district lived in New Jersey. 

The US government raced to build hundreds of makeshift hospitals to ease the strain on overwhelmed healthcare systems as the United States marked 700 deaths in a single day from COVID-19 for the first time on Tuesday.

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Maharashtra reports two new deaths; state toll at 12 

Two more COVID-19 patients died in Maharashtra, taking the state toll to 12, health officials said on Wednesday. One was a 75-year-old man from Mumbai, while the other, a 50-year-old man, died in adjoining Palghar district, the officials said.

"The 75-year-old male patient died in Mumbai on Tuesday. We are finding details of his travel history and also checking if someone close to him had a travel history, an official said.

The Palghar man had no travel history, he said. This is the first death reported from Palghar, a predominantly tribal district. Maharashtra now has 320 COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths. Thirty-nine coronavirus positive patients have been discharged after recovery.

 

 

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Delhi Police writes to govt seeking immediate action against Nizabackn gathering

Delhi Police on Tuesday wrote a letter to Delhi Government seeking an immediate action with regard to the persons including 157 foreign nationals associated with Tablighi Jamaat meet in Nizabackn and presently staying at various mosques and other places in Delhi.

Meanwhile, after 24 people who attended the Markaz event in Nizabackn were tested positive for coronavirus, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava, on Tuesday said that an FIR has been registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897.

Earlier, 24 people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event were tested positive for coronavirus

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14 samples test negative in Goa

Tests conducted on 14 coronavirus suspects in Goa have come out negative, state health minister Vishwajit Rane said on Wednesday. This was the second batch of tests conducted at the newly set up virology laboratory at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) near Goa.

"The tests conducted on all the 14 samples at GMCH lab have come out negative," Rane said. This has come as a huge respite for residents of the tourist state.

After initial five coronavirus positive cases in the coastal state, rest all tests have come out negative so far. The GMCH has set up a virology lab which started functioning from Tuesday.

The first four tests conducted in the lab had also come out negative. 

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Over 115 from Pune suspected to have attended Nizabackn congregation

Over 115 people from Pune are suspected to have attended a religious congregation in New Delhi's Nizabackn area, reports News18. Out of them, 30 people have been identified and sent for quarantine in Pune.  Some of them were from neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, am official told PTI.

 

"So far none of them has any coronavirus symptoms," said the senior police official on the condition of anonymity.

 

 

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People flout social distancing norms at Kalaburgi market

Huge crowds were seen at a vegetable market in Kalaburgi in Karnataka.

The state has reported three deaths and 101 confirmed cases.

 

 

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Andhra Pradesh government takes over private hospitals

The Andhra Pradesh government through an order on Sunday decided to take over facilities and manpower at private hospitals by invoking powers under the Disaster Management Act to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Chhattisgarh government had last week issued a similar order, bringing all hospitals and private nursing homes in the state under its control, but then withdrew the directive.

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18 new cases reported in Maharashtra; tally at 320

18 new positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in Maharashtra, taking the total count to 320. 16 new cases are reported in Mumbai, while two were reported in Pune. The toll in Maharashtra climbs to 12 after the death of two more coronavirus positive patients, said Health official on Wednesday.

 

 

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Andaman district DC orders FIR against two for misleading contact tracking 

Deputy Commissioner of South Andaman District has ordered to register FIR against two people who have been tested positive for COVID-19 for continuously misleading contact tracking in tracking their contacts. The two people tested positive have been identified as Farzand Ali and S Rehman. 

These people have been giving wrong information about the places they visited during the home quarantine period apart from violating the terms and conditions of home quarantine.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director Heath and Nodal Officer in Andaman and Nicobar, COVID-19 Abhijit Roy, on Tuesday informed that nine out of the 10 people who tested positive for coronavirus in the Islands had attended a Tablighi Jamaat event at the Jamaat's headquarters in Delhi's Nizabackn.

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15 traced in AP who attended Markaz gathering

Health department officials in Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh have identified 15 persons who had attended the Markaz gathering in Nizabackn in Delhi. These individual have been shifted them from Srikalahasti to Ruia Hospital in Tirupati, reports ANI.

 

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US records 700 coronavirus deaths in a single day for first time

The US government raced to build hundreds of makeshift hospitals to ease the strain on overwhelmed healthcare systems as the United States marked 700 deaths in a single day from COVID-19 for the first time on Tuesday. That is the equivalent of a person dying every two minutes.

Nearly half those deaths were in New York state, still, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pleaded for reinforcements from the Trump administration, saying the worst may still be weeks away.

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Three cases found so far in Himachal Pradesh

A total of 229 suspected COVID-19 cases were investigated in which 222 samples have been found negative and 3 samples were positive, Himachal Pradesh Health Department said on Tuesday. The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 1397 on Tuesday after 146 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours across the country.

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Four test positive in Vishakhapatnam; AP cases climb to 44

Four more fresh coronavirus positive cases were reported from Vishakhapatnam on Tuesday. This takes the total number of those infected with the deadly virus in Andhra Pradesh to 44.

The district administration said the COVID-19 positive tested persons attended the Markaz meeting in New Delhi. The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 1397 on Tuesday after 146 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours across the country.

 

 

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Prominent Indian-origin virologist in South Africa dies from COVID-19

World-renowned virologist Gita Ramjee has become the first Indian-origin South African to have died after contracting the novel coronavirus that has killed five people in the country.

Ramjee, a stellar vaccine scientist and an HIV prevention research leader, had returned from London a week ago but reportedly showed no symptoms of COVID-19.

Ramjee, aged nearly 50 years, was the Clinical Trials Unit Principal Investigator and Unit Director of the HIV Prevention Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) offices in Durban.