After six months, the worst of covid-19 pandemic yet to come: WHO

Months after the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan city of central China, families of those deceased, who contracted the contagious infection, stood in long queues at funeral homes demanding to receive the cremated ashes of their loved ones.

Now this has spurred questions about the actual tally of COVID-19 related casualties in Wuhan, in a renewed pressure on the Chinese government that is already struggling to control its containment narrative of the pandemic spread.

Chinese media outlet Caixin showed how trucks carrying 2,500 urns with the ashes of the deceased COVID-19 cases were being shipped in a funeral home last week. Another picture published revealed how 3,500 urns were stacked within these funeral homes. It is therefore unclear how many urns have been filled in.

According to media reports, workers at several funeral parlors declined to provide any details as to how many urns were waiting to be collected, saying they either did not know or were not authorised to share the number.

Some families said they had been forced to wait for several hours to pick up the ashes. The photos circulated as mass deaths from the virus spiked in cities across the west, including Milan, Madrid and New York, where hospitals were erecting tents to handle the overflow as global infections soar past 500,000, with 24,000 dead.

According to Chinese government figures, 2,535 people in Wuhan have died of the virus. The announcement that a lockdown in place since January would be lifted came after the country said its tally of new cases had hit zero and stepped up diplomatic outreach to other countries hard hit by the virus, sending some of them medical supplies.

But some in China have been skeptical of the accuracy of the official tally, particularly given Wuhan's overwhelmed medical system, authorities' attempts to cover up the outbreak in its initial stages, and multiple revisions to the way official cases are counted.

Residents on social media have demanded disciplinary action against top Wuhan officials.

Many people who died had Covid-19 symptoms, but weren't tested and excluded from the official case tally, Caixin said. There were also patients who died of other diseases due to a lack of proper treatment when hospitals were overwhelmed dealing with those who had the coronavirus.

There were 56,007 cremations in Wuhan in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to data from the city's civil affairs agency. The number of cremations was 1,583 higher than those in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 2,231 higher than the fourth quarter of 2017.

Two locals in Wuhan who have lost family members to the virus said online that they were informed they had to be accompanied by their employers or officials from neighborhood committees when picking up the urns, likely as a measure against public gatherings.

COVID-19 is affecting 199 countries and territories around the world. Over 664,000 coronavirus cases have been registered globally out of which 30,890 have succumbed to the infection.

Chennai, Feb 5: The popular cine actor Rajinikanth has defended the Union Government on the Citizenship Amendment Act, saying it will not affect the Indian Muslims.

In a brief interaction with reporters this morning in Chennai, the matinee idol said if the Muslims are affected by the CAA, he would be at the forefront in their defence. He asked how will the legislation affect the Indian Muslims when they chose to stay back in the country to make it their motherland. Mr Rajinikanth also supported the National Population Register saying it has been in force even in the past.

On the NRC, Mr Rajinikanth said the Government has already made it clear that its nationwide rollout has not been even discussed so far. Mr Rajinikanth is nourishing political ambitions and has made it clear that he would plunge into politics ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections in the state which is due in 2021.

New Delhi, Feb 10: A 44-year-old man allegedly killed his daughter and son before ending his life by jumping in front of a Delhi metro train at Haiderpur Badli Mor station on Sunday, police said.

No suicide note has been recovered, but police claimed that the man, Madhur Malani, was depressed since his sandpaper-manufacturing factory was closed some six months ago due to financial crunch leaving him jobless. Madhur's parents had been supporting his family financially since then.

He used to stay with his wife Rupali, daughter Samiksha (14) and six-year-old son Shraiyans at a rented house in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh area, they said.

Rupali was not at home when Madhur strangled their children. He might have also smothered their daughter but the exact cause of death would be ascertained only after the post-mortem reports arrive, a police official said.

After killing his two children, he jumped in front of an approaching train at Haiderpur Badli Mor Metro station following which he was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him 'brought dead', the official said.

Metro services on the Yellow Line were briefly delayed due to the incident.

"Delay in services from Samaypur Badli to GTB Nagar due to a passenger on track at Haiderpur Badli Mor," the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tweeted.

After about 15 minutes, it again tweeted that normal services have been restored. The Delhi Metro's Yellow Line connects Samaypur Badli in Delhi to HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon.

The suicide was reported to the police around 5.40 pm while the Shalimar Bagh Police station received a call about the killings around 6.50 pm.

On reaching the house, police found bodies of the children lying in beds in two rooms. During enquiry, it was learnt that their father has left the house, a senior police officer said.

While police were trying to trace Madhur, they learnt about a suicide at the metro station. On verifying the details, it surfaced that Madhur committed suicide after killing his children, the officer said.

Rupali told police that she had gone to a nearby market around 3 pm and on returning home she found the bodies of her children while her husband was missing.

A case under relevant sections of the IPC has been registered and investigation was underway, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya said.