Experts roped in to crack RSS worker's murder, says ADGP

New Delhi, Mar 25: The exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR) and the first phase of the Census 2021 will not be held as scheduled due to the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said on Tuesday.

Both the exercises were supposed to be carried out from April 1 to September 30.
Due to the prevailing situation, the NPR and Census exercises have been deferred till further orders, a senior home ministry official said.
The Prime Minister has announced a 21-day lockdown across the country from Tuesday night due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 24: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that there is no community spread or the expected phase three spread of coronavirus in the state so far but the threat continues.

Speaking to media persons here on Thursday, Vijayan said that Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikode, and Malappuram districts will be in the red zone with full restrictions.

"All the other ten districts in the State will be in the orange zone. With the detection of new cases today, the status of Kottayam and Idukki districts have been changed from green to orange. The district administration will decide on the hotspot areas to be closed," he said.

He said there would be an increase in the number of random tests in the red zones.

"In an effort to confirm that there is no community spread in the State, random antibody tests would be conducted among health workers, police personnel, home delivery persons, volunteers and migrant labourers," he added.

The Chief Minister said that COVID-19 labs set up at the Pariyaram Government Medical College at Kannur and the Kottayam Medical College have got the approval from the ICMR for coronavirus testing. The lab at Kannur Medical College will start functioning from Friday.

The UV sterilised lab, spread over 2,200 sq ft is equipped with four real-time PCR machines. In the first phase, this lab will be able to do 15 tests per day, which will be gradually increased to conduct 60 tests in the next phase.

"With the opening of these two new labs, tests to detect COVID-19 will be conducted in 14 government labs in Kerala. Apart from this, there are two private labs also in Kerala which are doing these tests. Since the number of coronavirus cases is again increasing in the State, the government has decided to procure ten real-time PCR machines to ramp up testing," he added.

Bengaluru, June 27: In the wake of mounting covid-19 cases across Karnataka, the state government has decided to extend the night curfew hours and to re-impose Sunday lockdown. 

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa held an emergency meeting on Saturday with the state's top officials to discuss measures to further contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. 

During the meeting, it was decided that a state-wide lockdown will be imposed on each Sunday starting July 5. Only essential services and supplies will be allowed on Sundays.

Timings of the night curfew have also been revised to 8 PM - 5 AM from the earlier 9 PM - 5 AM. “We have decided to impose a curfew starting Monday, June 29, from 8 pm to 5 am every day. Right now, the curfew timing is 9 pm to 5 am, but it’ll be advanced by an hour to 8 pm,” said Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai

Commissioner of Bengaluru's civic body, BBMP has been directed to set up more wholesale vegetable markets to deter large crowds.

Meanwhile, government offices in Karnataka will open only five days a week and the weekend will be off for government employees.

It was also decided during the meeting on Saturday that a centralized bed-allocation system for Covid-19 patients will be taken up to ensure that each patient gets a bed without overwhelming the healthcare infrastructure.

Yediyurappa has also instructed officials to increase the number of ambulances for Covid-19 patients to 250 apart from arranging separate vehicles to carry mortal remains of victims. The police control room will aid officials in identifying the location and easing the movement of ambulances.

Information about nodal officers working for COVID management will be published. Joint Commissioners of 8 regions will be given additional responsibilities and KAS officers will be appointed to assist them.

The services of 180 ESI doctors appointed by the Labour Department will also be relied on by the state government. CM Yediyurappa has also asked officials to reserve wedding halls, hostels and other institutions in Bengaluru as COVID Care Centres.

Bengaluru Urban DC, on the other hand, was instructed to identify more places for the last rites of patients and also to form more teams for this purpose. 

The BBMP Commissioner has been told to notify reservation of 50 per cent beds in medical colleges and private hospitals.