Arjan Singh, Marshal of Indian Air Force, passes away at 98

New Delhi, Apr 26: The total count of coronavirus cases in the country surged to 26,917 on Sunday.

The total COVID-19 cases in the country are inclusive of 5,913 cured and discharged patients, one migrated, and 826 deaths. At present, there are 20,177 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

The Federation of Resident Doctors' Association (FORDA) wrote to the Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, seeking assistance regarding accommodation facilities for resident doctors advised for home quarantine.

In a letter to the Health Minister, the association stated that recently there have been reports of resident doctors from various hospitals who tested positive for COVID-19. As a consequence, their primary contacts who are mostly their colleagues and resident doctors, have been advised to be on home quarantine, the association added.

On the other hand, Maharashtra continues to have the largest number of COVID-19 positive cases at 7,628 . 1,076 persons have been cured in the state while 323 persons have died.

Fresh cases have been reported several states including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The total number of cases in Indore has risen to 1,176, including 57 deaths.

While 133 deaths have been reported from Gujarat where the total number of cases spiked up to 3,071.

Kerala has seen a recovery rate of around 74 per cent as 338 out of the total 457 COVID-19 positive patients recovered in the state with only 4 fatalities.

Delhi has seen 2,625 COVID-19 positive cases and 54 deaths due to the pandemic.

Here's a quick read on the COVID-19 related updates:

1. A five-member Central team visited Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) office here on Sunday, to review the law and order situation in the state and oversee how the state police are ensuring the implementation of the lockdown.

2. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh and AIIMS Delhi and Bhopal will study the effectiveness of Mycobacterium w in critical COVID-19 patients.

3. Chandigarh-based Post- Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) said that it has assessed the safety of mycobacterial w (Mw), an immunomodulator for leprosy, in four hospitalised patients of COVID-19, and has found no short-term adverse effect.

4. As many as 2,189 cases were lodged and 10,062 people have been arrested so far, for the breach of lockdown norms in Uttarakhand.

5. The Delhi High Court has directed that COVID-19 related tests should be made available to the general public at the lowest cost possible as the country is going through an unprecedented medical crisis affecting public order.

6. Bihar government has ordered two automatic RNA extraction machines, said the Principal Secretary of Health, Sanjay Kumar today.

7. Medical services at Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital in the Jahangirpuri area have been closed and the hospital is being sanitised after 44 staff members including doctors were tested positive for COVID-19, Delhi Health Department said.

8. In order to support the frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19, Samsung and Google will be offering free phone repairs to health care workers and first responders.

9. Bhopal Division of Indian Railways has converted 74 railways coaches into isolation wards, said Sunil Dhingra, Senior Section Engineer of Bhopal Division.

10. Indian High Commission here on Sunday said two Air India and one Blue Dart flights will send about 78 tonnes of cargo to India as part of the 1 million PPE kits being sourced from Singapore-based company.

Jan 22: India's ranking in the latest global Democracy Index has dropped 10 places to the 51st spot out of 167 owing to violent protests and threats to civil liberties challenging freedoms across the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has been criticized by rights groups and western governments after shutting off the internet and mobile phone networks and detaining opposition politicians in Kashmir.

Modi’s government has also responded harshly to ongoing protests against a controversial, religion-based citizenship law. Muslims have said their neighborhoods have been targeted, while the central government has attempted to ban protests and urged TV news channels not to broadcast “anti-national” content. Some leaders in Modi’s ruling party called for “revenge” against protesters. India’s score in 2019 was its worst ranking since the EIU’s records began in 2006, and has fallen gradually since Modi was elected in 2014.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2019 Democracy Index, which provides an annual comparative analysis of political systems across 165 countries and two territories, said the past year was the bleakest for democracies since the research firm began compiling the list in 2006.

“The 2019 result is even worse than that recorded in 2010, in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis,” the research group said in releasing the report on Wednesday.

The average global score slipped to 5.44 out of a possible 10 -- from 5.48 in 2018 -- driven mainly by “sharp regressions” in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa. Apart from coup-prone Thailand, which improved its score after holding an election last year, there were also notable declines in Asia after a tumultuous period of protests and new measures restricting freedom across the region’s democracies.

Asia Declines

Hong Kong, meanwhile, fell three places to rank 75th out of 167 as more than seven months of violent and disruptive protests rocked the Asian financial hub. An aggressive police response early in the unrest, when protests were mostly peaceful, led to a “marked decline in confidence in government -- the main factor behind the decline in the territory’s score in our 2019 index,” the group said.

In Singapore, which ranked alongside Hong Kong at 75th, a new “fake news” law led to a deteriorating score on civil liberties.

“The government claims that the law was enacted simply to prevent the dissemination of false news, but it threatens freedom of expression in Singapore, as it can be used to curtail political debate and silence critics of the government,” EIU analysts said.

China’s score fell to just 2.26 in the EIU’s ranking, placing it near the bottom of the list at 153, as discrimination against minorities, repression and surveillance of the population intensified. Still, in China “the majority of the population is unconvinced that democracy would benefit the economy, and support for democratic ideals is absent,” the EIU said.

Mangaluru, Jan 15: The coastal city of Mangaluru witnessed a historic event as a sea of humanity converged at the Shah Gardan Maidan in Adyar-Kannur to register their protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) besides the “categorical mistreatment” of Muslim community at the hands of the police across the country including in Mangaluru.

The protest is jointly being organised by the various Muslim organisations of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district under the leadership of Muslim Central Committee. 

The main staged is named after Shaheed Jaleel Kudroli and Shaheed Nausheen, who were ruthlessly gunned down by the police during a chaos that erupted on December 19 in the city due to police batten charge against people during a minor protest against NRC. 

Even thought the police had banned public transport and blocked the highway to reduce the number of protesters, around one-and-a-half lakh people had reached the venue when the historic meeting commenced at 2:30 p.m. By 4 p.m. the number of protesters crossed 2 lakh, according to the organisers.

Both sides of the highway were filled with those who came to witness the rally and traffic went haywire along a five-kilometre stretch of the road. The people who took part in the rally were seen waving national flags.

The protest rally was inaugurated by Udupi Khazi Bekal Ibrahim Musliyar. Dua was offered by Dakshina Kannada Khazi Twaka Ahmed Musliyar. 

Addressing the protesters, former IAS officer and activist Kannan Gopinathan alleged that the Centre wants to create fear among all sections of people and silence them. Society began to protest when the government crossed the limits and put curbs on democratic freedom, he claimed.

The Centre thought that they can get away with CAA and NRC. However, people have realised the truth and have started coming out onto the streets, Gopinathan added.

Activist Harsh Mander said the theme of the protest against the CAA and NRC is "national flag in one hand, Constitution is another and people will march forward with love in their hearts”.

“The fight against NRC is the fight for the protection of our Constitution. The BJP is using NRC as a weapon to divide the people after Article 370 and Ram Mandir construction," he said and warned the Centre: “The more you try to divide us, the stronger and united we’ll be”

Human rights activist Shivasundar said the "chowkidar" appointed by the people is now asking them whether they are the real owners of their houses.

The BJP only delivered hollow promises which is evident from the rising unemployment, fall in GDP, farmers suicides and the economic slowdown, he alleged.

MLA UT Khader, MLC BM Farooq, former MLA Mohiyuddin Bava, Muslim central committee president KS Mohammed Masood, Ullal Qazi Fazal Koyamma Tangal, Dakshina Kannada district Wakf committee president UK Monu Kanachur, Sunni Youth Federation state general secretary Abdul Rashid Zaini and Karnataka Samastha Mushavara state secretary UK Abdul Aziz Darimi were present among others.

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‘Who are you? Are you British?’ PFI leader lambasts Mangaluru top cop at anti-NRC protest