Clouds do prevent radars from detecting accurately: Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar

New Delhi, Apr 16: The number of COVID-19 cases in India has reached 12,759, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

According to the official data, India has 10,824 active cases and 1514 discharged and cured cases. Meanwhile, 420 people have died from the disease which originated in China.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases in the country which stands at 2919, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

With 1578 coronavirus cases, Delhi is in the second position of India's tally of corona infected people; followed by Tamil Nadu (1242) and Rajasthan (1023).

Kerala, which reported India's first coronavirus case, has 388 confirmed cases, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, that border the national capital, have 773 and 205 cases, respectively.

Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh and Pudducherry have reported 33, 21 and 7 cases respectively. While West Bengal has 231 coronavirus infected people, Odisha has confirmed 60 cases.

The newly carved union territories -- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir--- have 17 and 300 cases, respectively.

In the Northeast, 33 people were detected positive for COVID-19 in Assam, which is the worst-affected states in the region. Six corona cases were confirmed from Meghalaya, two each from Manipur and Tripura and one from Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland remains free from coronavirus till date, said the Ministry.

Feb 28: The best economic tonic for the coronavirus shock is to contain its spread and worry about stimulus later, said Raghuram Rajan, former head of the Reserve Bank of India.

There’s little central banks can do, and while more government spending would help, the priority should be on convincing companies and households that the virus is under control, he said.

“People want to have a sense that there is a limit to the spread of this virus perhaps because of containment measures or because there is hope that some kind of viral solution can be found,” Rajan told Bloomberg Television’s Haidi Stroud Watts and Shery Ahn.

“At this point I would say the best thing that governments can do is to really fight the epidemic rather than worry about stimulus measures that comes later,” said Rajan, who is currently a professor at the Chicago Booth School of Business.

The spread of coronavirus is pushing the world economy toward its worst performance since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

Bank of America Corp. economists warned clients Thursday that they now expect 2.8% global growth this year, the weakest since 2009.

“We have moved from extreme confidence in markets to extreme panic, all in the space of one week,” said Rajan, who previously was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The virus outbreak will force companies to rethink supply chains and overseas production facilities, he said.

“I think we will see a lot of rethinking on this, coming on the back of the trade disruption, now we have this,” Rajan said. “Globalization in production is going to be hit quite badly.”

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 2: With the coronavirus lockdown in place, liquor would be delivered home by state-run retail outlets in Kerala after the left government has decided to issue special passes to tipplers, who exhibit withdrawal symptoms and have doctors prescription.

Protesting the government decision, the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) wore black badges on Wednesday, but attended duty and seeking immediate withdrawal of the order, saying it was "anti-people".

As per guidelines issued by the Kerala State Beverages Corporation managing director G Sparjan Kumar, for the supply of liquor, a service charge of Rs 100 would be collected from each pass holder for meeting the delivery expenses.

Each person would be entitled to 3 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and sale of wine and beer was not envisaged, the order stated.

Those not willing to undertake the home delivery, the name and details of the employee should be reported to the Head office for submission to the government, it said.

A civil police officer will have to accompany the distribution vehicle.

The sale of liquor should be only to the pass holders, limiting it to the quantity mentioned in the pass.

Any excess sale to pass holders or sales to non-pass holders is strictly prohibited, the order said.

In the order issued on Monday, the government said, following the lockdown and the closure of liquor outlets in the state, there were many instances of social issues, including suicidal tendencies shown by those who consumed liquor regularly and the state government has decided to initiate steps to resolve the matter.

Speaking to reporters, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his government has not forced anyone to prescribe liquor to addicts.

He was responding to a query on the indifference of doctors towards the matter of prescribing liquor to addicts.

"If the doctors are not ready to prescribe liquor, it's fine. We are not forcing anyone to do so. We were just following the protocol which are prevalent at many places. It's been over a week. The family and friends of the addicts can gently persuade them to approach the de-addiction centres," he said.

Sparjan Kumar said the order on home delivery was just a modality, as part of the earlier order issued by the government to provide liquor under prescription.

"We have worked out a modality. We have a meeting tomorrow. Some new order has been issued by the Centre today. The meeting will discuss the implementation of the orders," Kumar told.

A person showing withdrawal symptoms has to get a doctor's prescription on his condition so that he could be provided liquor in a "controlled manner", the order added.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also come out against the government's move.

Meanwhile, Vimukthi, an anti-narcotics campaign launched by the state government, has till now admitted 64 patients since March 24.

"Since March 24, the day lockdown started, we have 64 patients admitted due to withdrawal symptoms. We have also registered at least 200 out patients at various de-addiction centres across Kerala," K Mohammed Resheed, Joint Excise Commissioner in charge of awareness told.