BJP conveys displeasure to Giriraj Singh over his remark

Chennai, Mar 25: Tamil Nadu reported its first Covid-19 death at the Rajaji Government Hospital in Madurai this morning. The 54-year-old man from Madurai had no history of travel to any coronavirus-affected state or country.

However, he did have contact with two Thai nationals who had tested positive for Covid-19 and are undergoing treatment in isolation in Erode.

"Despite our best efforts, the #COVID-19 +ve Pt at MDU, #RajajiHospital, passed away few minutes back. He had medical history of prolonged illness with steroid-dependent COPD, uncontrolled Diabetes with Hypertension,” Tamil Nadu health minister C. Vijayabaskar tweeted.

The patient tested positive for the coronavirus on March 23. Yesterday the minister had disclosed that the patient had not responded well to treatment due to his medical condition. “He has a medical history of prolonged illness with steroid dependent COPD, uncontrolled diabetes with hypertension,” he said.

As of Wednesday morning, the total number of Covid-19 infected patients in Tamil Nadu was 18, including one patient who has recovered.

The latest patients include a 65-year-old man who returned from New Zealand and is currently in isolation at a private hospital, a 55-year-old woman from Saidapet who is currently in quarantine Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, and a 25-year-old who returned from London and is undergoing treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

New Delhi, Mar 14: The central government on Saturday declared COVID-19 as a national 'disaster' and announced to provide ex-gratia relief of Rs 4 lakh to the families who died of the virus.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in a letter to states and union territories stated: "Keeping in view that spread of COVID-19 virus in India the declaration of it as pandemic by World Health Organisation, the Central government has decided to treat it as a notified disaster and announced to provide assistance under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)."

The Centre said that cost of hospitalization for managing COVID-19 patient would be at the rates fixed by the state governments. The state government can use SDRF found for providing temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care for people affected and sheltered in quarantine camps, other than home quarantine, or for cluster containment operations.

The state executive committee will decide the number of quarantine camps, their duration and the number of persons in such camps. "Period can be extended by the committee beyond the prescribed limit subject to condition that expenditure on this account should not exceed 25 percent of SDRF allocation for the year," the Ministry of Home Affairs notification stated.

The cost of consumables for sample collection would be taken from the funds which can be sued to support for checking, screening and contact tracing.

Further, funds can also be withdrawn for setting up additional testing laboratories within the government set up. The state has also to bear the cost of personal protection equipment for healthcare, municipal, police and fire authorities. Further SDRF money can also be used for procuring thermal scanners and ventilation and other necessary equipment.

Mumbai, May 17: Much on expected lines, Maharashtra, on Sunday, extended the coronavirus lockdown till May 31, in order to control the spread of the virus, under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, the state government said in a statement.

On Sunday afternoon, Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta, in a notification said: "It is further directed that all earlier orders shall be aligned with this order and remain in force up to and inclusive of May 31, 2020. The calibrated phase-wise relaxation or lifting of lockdown orders will be notified in due course."

"Lockdown 3.0 ends today. Lockdown 4.0 will come into effect tomorrow and will be valid till May 31. There will be some relaxations in the fourth phase," he said.

"The green and orange zones will get more relaxations, in terms of starting more services. As of now only essential services are operational, he said.

Maharashtra has recorded 30,706 COVID-19 cases of which 22,479 are active. The death toll is 1135, while 7,088 patients have been discharged after recovery.

In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1898 and the powers, conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Chairperson, State Executive Committee, issued direction to extend the lockdown till 31 May 2020 for containment of COVID-19 epidemic in the State and all Departments of Government of Maharashtra shall strictly implement the guidelines issued earlier form time to time, according to the statement.

Over the last two days,  Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray held a series of meetings with his ministerial colleagues, senior leaders including NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and top officials.