‘Modi govt will not tolerate this’: HRD minister to universities against CAA

New Delhi, Mar 5: The primary classes of all schools in the national capital will remain closed till March 31 to prevent a possibility of spread of coronavirus, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Thursday.

According to Directorate of Education (DoE) officials, while elaborate guidelines have been issued about preventive measures for coronavirus, students of nursery and primary classes are too young to understand the risk, making them more prone to infectious diseases.

Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, tweeted, "As a precautionary measure to prevent the possibility of spread of COVID-19 amongst our children, Delhi Government has directed the immediate closure of all primary schools (Govt/ aided/ private/MCD/NDMC) till 31/3/20(sic)."

A senior DoE official said, "Elaborate guidelines have already been issued. However, students of nursery and primary classes are too young to understand the risks associated with COVID-19. Thus they are more prone to infectious diseases and mingle around with classmates more often."

"It will be good if they are trained in the do's and dont's under the care and supervision of their parents at home. However, students of classes other than primary will continue to come to schools or examination centres for writing their examination as per schedule. The teaching, as well as non-teaching staff, will also attend regular school," the official said.

As of now, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 30, including 16 Italian tourists. The figure includes the first three cases reported from Kerala last month who have already been discharged following recovery.

Alerted by the coronavirus case reported in Delhi-NCR, schools in the region have sent out advisories to parents suggesting that they do not send their wards to attend classes even in case of mild cough or cold, and saying that they may declare holidays if the need arises. A few schools have announced already holidays and others have advanced their spring break.

Aurangabad, Feb 21: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) will seek an explanation from its leader Waris Pathan over his alleged '15 crore Muslims can be heavy on 100 crore' remark he recently made in Karnataka, a party leader said here on Friday.

Pathan had made the purported remarks while addressing an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) rally at Kalaburagi in North Karnataka on February 16.

"We have to move together. We have to take Azadi (freedom), things that we don't get by asking, we have to take it by force, remember it...(We maybe) 15 crore, but are heavy on 100 (crore), remember it," Pathan can be heard purportedly saying in a video of his speech that has gone viral.

Talking to reporters here, AIMIM's Maharashtra unit chief and Aurangabad MP Imtiyaz Jaleel said, "Our party does not support the statement made by Waris Pathan. The party will seek an explanation from him over the remarks."

"If needed, we will come out with a set of dos and don'ts for the party workers to be while giving speech," he said.

"BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Yogi Adityanath had also given some hateful statements, but none questioned them about it," Jaleel added.

On Thursday, a young woman had raised "Pakistan Zindabad" slogan in Bengaluru during a protest against CAA, NRC and NPR, where AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi was also present. Owaisi had denounced her action.

Talking about the incident, Jaleel said, "That event was not organised by the AIMIM. It was organised by JD(S) and leaders of all parties were there. Asaduddin Owaisi stopped the woman and also condemned her act. But it is being projected that it was AIMIM's stage."

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held protests in Aurangabad against Pathan, seeking stern action against him.

The BJP protested in Gulmandi area and burnt an effigy of Pathan.

"Waris Pathan has hurt the feelings of 100 crore people. He has tried to divide the people of the country. The state government should take action against him and send him out of Mumbai," BJP MLA Atul Save said.

The MNS took out a symbolic funeral procession of Pathan and raised slogans against the AIMIM.

"The language of Waris Pathan was disgusting. He should be banned from giving public speeches in the state and also be arrested," MNS lader Prakash Mahajan said.

New Delhi, Jul 5: With highest-ever single-day spike of 24,850 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stood at 6,73,165, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

Out of the total cases, 2,44,814 are active cases. On the other hand, India's cured/discharged patients count crossed the 4 lakh mark with 4,09,082 patients cured/discharged and one patient migrated.

As many as 613 deaths due to coronavirus were reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the death toll in the country to 19,268.

Meanwhile, the ministry said that collective and focused efforts for containment and management of COVID-19 by the government of India along with the States/UTs have led to the number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients rise to 4,09,082 as of today.

"During the last 24 hours, a total of 14,856 COVID-19 patients have been cured. So far, there are 1,64,268 more recovered patients than COVID-19 active cases. This takes the national recovery rate amongst COVID-19 patients to 60.77 per cent," the ministry said.

"With 786 labs in government sector and 314 private labs, there are as many as 1,100 labs in India," it added.

As per the Health Ministry, coronavirus cases in Maharashtra -- the worst affected state from the infection -- has breached the 2 lakh mark with 2,00,064 cases including 8,671 deaths.

Tamil Nadu reported 4,150 fresh COVID-19 cases and 60 deaths today, taking total cases to 1,11,151 and death toll to 1,510. Number of active cases stands at 46,860, according to the State Health Department.

Delhi's coronavirus tally nears the 1 lakh mark with 99,444 cases and the number of people succumbing to the virus stands at 3,067 in the national capital. As many as 9,873 RT-PCR tests and 13,263 rapid antigen tests were conducted today in Delhi. Total tests done so far stands at 6,43,504.

Meanwhile, Indian Council of Medical Research informed that the total number of samples tested up to July 4 is 97,89,066 of which 2,48,934 samples were tested yesterday.

There were seven new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours in Chandigarh, taking total cases to 466 including 395 recoveries and six deaths.
Himachal Pradesh Health Department informed that COVID-19 cases reach 1,048 in the state, of which, 309 cases are active and 715 have recovered.

Andhra Pradesh has reported 998 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a media bulletin released by AP state COVID nodal officer.

A total of 1,155 COVID-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, taking the total number of active cases to 8,161 in the state, an official said. According to the official data, a total of 18,761 people have been cured while 785 people have died due to the virus in the state.

Eighteen more personnel of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. There are total 151 active cases and 270 have recovered till date.

While, in the last 24 hours, 36 more Border Security Force (BSF) personnel tested positive for COVID-19 and 33 have recovered. There are 526 active cases and 817 personnel have recovered till date.

In Rajasthan, 224 fresh COVID-19 positive cases and 6 deaths were reported today. The total number of cases rose to 19,756 including 3,640 active cases and 453 deaths.

Odisha reported 469 new COVID19 positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 9,070 including 5,934 recovered cases and 3,090 active cases, according to the health department.

Uttarakhand reported 31 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 3,124. Recovery rate among COVID-19 patients stands at 80.79 per cent.