From Our Bureau
27th APRIL 2020
A total of 27,892 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country so far and the death toll mounted to 872 on Monday. 1,396 fresh cases and 48 new deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. As many as 6,184 persons have been cured with a recovery rate of 22.2 per cent, according to the latest update from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the Chief Ministers of all the States through video conference today. He suggested that the chain of transmission of the virus should be broken, strictly for districts falling in the red zone and orange zone.
He highlighted the importance for States/Union Territories to enforce guidelines strictly in the hotspots i.e. the red zone areas. He stated that the efforts of the States/UTs should be directed towards converting the red zones into orange and thereafter to green zones.
He stated that no stigma should be associated with Corona Virus Disease and health facilities should provide required other health services besides COVID-19. He further added that traditional medicinal systems should continue their work.
Sixteen Districts in the country, which earlier had cases, have not reported any fresh cases since the last 28 days. Three new districts which got added to this list include Gondia in Maharashtra, Devangere in Karnataka and Lakhi Sarai in Bihar.
Two districts have now shown fresh cases, which earlier did not have any fresh case in last 28 days and those are Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in Punjab. Further, a total of 85 districts from (25 States/UTs) have not reported any new cases since the last 14 days.
At the press briefing here today, the Empowered Group 5 (EG5) of Government of India shared updates related to supply chain and logistical arrangements made in the country since the COVID-19 outbreak to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic and the measures taken to control its spread in the country.
Addressing the media, Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Convener of the EG5, shared the steps being taken by the government to tackle challenges in four critical sectors, viz. agriculture, manufacturing, logistics and feeding vulnerable groups. He said that the percentage of trucks moving food and pharmaceuticals has increased from 46 percent on 30th March to 76 percent on 25th April 2020.
In the same period, the percentage of railway rakes moved has increased from 67 percent to 76 percent, percentage traffic handled by ports has increased from 70 percent to 87 percent, and percentage of operational major mandis has gone up from 61 percent to 79 percent. More than 1.5 crore people are being provided cooked meals every day by Government agencies, NGOs and industries.
Speaking about the role of EG5, he said that the Government is focusing on easing policy and implementation bottlenecks in supply chains of essential items, troubleshooting specific bottlenecks on the ground and tracking key indicators and disseminating best practices of supply warriors. For this, he said, they are collaborating with line Departments, Ministry of Home Affairs, and other key stakeholders from industry including food, pharma, transporters, wholesalers, retailers and mandis. (eom)
