International Monetary Fund appraises India’s nationwide lockdown decision April 16, 2020 16:34
While the entire world is struggling to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus, India did one of the most impossible things to ever exist. It put 1.3 billion of its population on a lockdown to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. While this step does seem a lot complex, this decision has been praised by people all across the world. The International Monetary Fund also came forward to support this proactive decision taken by India to further fight Covid-19. Just a day earlier, IMF has estimated a growth rate of 1.9% for India in the year of 2020. “India entered the pandemic turmoil in the midst of a credit crunch-induced slowdown and its recovery prospect becomes more uncertain,” said Chang Yong Rhee, the Director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department. Rhee further went on to support the nationwide lockdown situation saying the India decided to opt for the same even when their economic status was not at its best. While the first lockdown of 21 days was supposed to end on April 14, the same was extended till May 03. IMF has stated that the impacts of the coronavirus on the Asia-Pacific region are going to be extreme and will likely end up affecting the overall economic growth and stabilities of the countries there. The same is believed to be worse than that of the annual average growth rates through the Global Financial crisis or even the Asian financial crisis. They further mentioned that Asia has not experienced zero growth in the last 60 years stating that Asia’s growth rate is still a lot better than the other options. For the coming year of 2021, IMF does believe that there is hope. If the containment policies are followed and things get back to normal, it is likely that there is going to be a rebound in the growth. But, owing to the situation that prevails, saying anything at this point is too soon. Rhee believes that since the businesses are experiencing such a drawback at this point, it is extremely important that the Asian countries make use of all the policy instruments present in their toolkits. IMF believes that the growth rate of China is going to increase by 1.2% by the end of 2020. The revisions to the growth include not just the domestic losses but also the activities induced because of the social distancing measures. Rhee further stated saying, “We expect a rebound in economic activity later this year. This is because China is emerging from the outbreak first. Nonetheless, there are clear risks: the virus could come back and normalization could take longer.” On the contrary, the economic status of Japan in 2020 is quite bad at the moment. There is an expected decline in the GDP by 5.2% which is a lot. The coronavirus impact is also going to leave a deterioration in the external demands, affecting the growth of South Korea by 1.2% in the process. Rhee believes that this is the time to come together as individuals and help each other out. Even though the imposed restrictions and lockdowns have been affecting people’s lives, it is important to support the hardest hit economies and firms. This pandemic is also impacting the financial marketing functioning. Addressing the ways to ease the financial stress on industries and SMEs, Rhee said, “We expect a rebound in economic activity later this year. This is because China is emerging from the outbreak first. Nonetheless, there are clear risks: the virus could come back and normalization could take longer." By Somapika Dutta
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India to export 3 million units of paracetamol to UK April 15, 2020 18:12
With the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, countries are scampering to do everything to mitigate this situation and even fight back. Following India’s export of the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine to the United States, India is reported to next export 3 million units of paracetamol to the UK following talks. The same was reported by the foreign minister of the country on Wednesday. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the UK Government took to Twitter to share the message saying, “The United Kingdom to receive nearly 3 million units of paracetamol following talks with India. This will arrive in the next two weeks and will be stocked in the UK’s leader supermarkets.” The Prime Minister of UK, Boris Johnson, who himself tested positive for the virus was discharged from the hospital after being cared for by the NHS staff. In a video that he shared, Johnson thanked all the immigrant nurses who were responsible for saving his life. India, which is considered as one of the largest producer of drugs and pharmaceutical products lifted their ban on exports following threats of retaliation from the United States. United Kingdom currently has over 90,000 confirmed cases and over 12,000 reported deaths because of Covid-19. By Somapika Dutta
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Disney Animator Ann Sullivan dies of Covid-19 April 15, 2020 12:03
If you are a fan of Disney and have watched the Little Mermaid, it is likely that you have heard about Ann Sullivan, who was the animator of the movie. Sadly, she passed away at the age of 91 after contracting Covid-19 infection. Aside from The Little Mermaid, Sullivan’s contribution has been very profound in some of the other Disney movies as well namely The Lion King, Hercules, Lilo and Stitch and even Tarzan. Several people from the field of animation have shown their tribute to this amazing artist who took up the computerised animation approach later on in her life. Sullivan took her last breath in a renowned Los Angeles nursing home, where two other eminent personality deaths have already been reported. Sullivan moved to California after following her sister’s footsteps who wanted to come out and explore new things away from Fargo, North Dakota. Sullivan worked at the Art Centre situated in Pasadena following which she got a job at Disney in their animation paint lab back in the 1950s. She started her work with Hanna Barbera and went back to Disney. When reached out to Sullivan’s daughter, she said that her mom was nothing but a happy and free spirit, who was not just positive about things in her life but has an extreme sense of humor. She said that she touched people’s life and everyone who got to know her and be with her were the luckiest. Sullivan celebrated her 91st birthday this past Friday. Throughout the day, while she was in the hospital, the staff was generous enough to connect her with her family via Facetime so they could wish her and get to talk to her a little. Tributes from the animation world from all across have started pouring in to remember this amazing and talented person that the world lost. By Somapika Dutta
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India’s reduced electricity consumption amidst lockdown worse than US and EU April 14, 2020 14:48
According to the general reports, it is believed that one of the key markers of the impacts on the economy is marked by the decline in the consumption of the electricity. The restrictions imposed globally because of the impacts of the coronavirus have adversely impacted the electricity consumption across the world. But, according to a conducted study, it has been observed that the decline in the electricity consumption in India is lower than that of US and a number of other European countries, irrespective of the differences in the population. The data was analysed by a team of researchers at the Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC), which noticed that India experienced nearly 25% decline in its electricity consumption in the last week of March while it was on the 21 days lockdown. The same acquired data was then compared with the same of the other countries amidst the time of January and April wherein similar restrictions were imposed because of the global pandemic of coronavirus. While China reported a maximum decline of 14.98% in the month of December, U.S reported a 6.9% decline followed by 9.7% in some of the European countries. Unlike the other countries, China doesn’t provide with daily reports of its electricity consumption and it is likely that the data shared by them might not be accurate but the same holds true for the rest of the data from the other countries. The tracker is based off of the daily electricity data that has been provided by India’s Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO). According to the data, it has been suggested that the sharp decline in the electrical consumption in the country was witnessed post March 22, 2020 after the Janata Curfew was imposed. The lowest consumption was reported on March 27 which then gradually started to increase when in the first week of April. But, even with the increase that was noted in the tracker, it was mentioned that the decline was still 18% less than what was reported back in December. The sudden drop and decline in the electricity consumption in India has been linked with the lack of commercial activity and the kind of restrictions that have been imposed across the country. Be it the closure of the public spots or even the functional restaurants, these further contributes to the decline furthermore. The sudden drop in the electricity consumption is also proportional to the current economic state of the country, according to the experts. United States has still not imposed a nationwide lockdown while most of the states around have issued stay at home orders. The same goes out for China as well, which imposed the restrictions on Hubei province but there was no significant impacts on the domestic travel and the economic activities that were happening in the country. Several European countries have also imposed several restrictions but the ones witnessed in India have been deduced as the most stringent of them all. The reports have been consolidated by a tracker developed by Blavatnik School of Government. By Somapika Dutta
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India’s coronavirus hotspot, Mumbai might extend lockdown till April 30 April 09, 2020 12:19
The coronavirus pandemic has been steadily taking a hold on India, putting the financial hub of the country, Maharashta as the hotspot of the virus. The state has now over 1000 confirmed cases with the maximum number of deaths. With the consistent rise in numbers, it is likely that Mumbai is going to have an extension to the lockdown till April 30 atleast. The same is being done as the authorities extend the testing kits available to ensure that there are no infected people left behind without getting tested. India is currently under the 21 days nationwide lockdown that is going to end on April 14. With over 20 million in popularity, Mumbai is currently the epicentre of the virus in India. Strict and thought out measures need to be taken to ensure that the spread of the virus doesn’t end up taking a turn for the worse. A senior state government official stated saying that the number of cases in Mumbai and in Maharashtra in general has been rising quite quickly, reporting over 100 confirmed cases in a day. This alarming situation is one of the primary reasons why the lockdown needs to be extended to ensure maximum precautions so that the spread can be tamed and controlled for the best. There have been no official comments on this yet, which suggests that it is likely that the extension will be effective but there needs to be further information to ensure things get back to normal. By Somapika Dutta
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Confirmed Covid-19 cases in India cross 5000; 23 day old baby infected April 08, 2020 18:35
Entering the 15th day of the 21 days lockdown, India has witnessed a very rapid rise in the number of confirmed covid-19 cases, taking the tally of the total number of confirmed cases to over 5000, with over 100 reported deaths in the country. Telangana State reported 40 fresh cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, a 23 day old baby being one of them. The total number of the confirmed cases in the state is now at 348. The infant diagnosed with the virus was among the three confirmed cases that were found in Mahbubnagar in the state. All the three cases have been reported after their return from the congregation that happened in Delhi.The media bulletin has reported that they haven’t found any cases of community transmission yet in the state of Telangana. The ones who attended the religious congregation in Delhi are being tracked, isolated and quarantined for better safety.The sports complex at Gachibowli, Hyderabad has been converted to a 1500 bed makeshift facility to aid possible hospitals for isolating the suspects and taking necessary steps in case things spiral out of hand.The government of Telangana is also arranging for the ICU facilities and ventilators at these places to ensure maximum aid for the patients. The CM of Telangana, K Chandrasekhar Rao has mentioned that 22 of the private medical colleges in the state are being readied in case the need arises. Aside from Telangana, Maharashtra is the worst hit state in the country, the bleeding hotspot of the coronavirus spread, with over 1000 confirmed cases. Over 770 confirmed cases have been reported in the last 24 hours, the country witnessing a double jump in the cases within a matter of 5 days.The death toll of the country is at 149 with 405 people recovered and discharged from the hospitals. Maharashtra is the leading state with 1,018 cases followed by Tamil Nadu at 690, Delhi with 576 and Telangana and Kerala at 364 and 336 respectively.Over 1,500 of the confirmed cases out of all the confirmed cases in India have been associated with the Tablighi Jamaat congregation that happened in Delhi. The country currently has around a week of the lockdown with no further reports on the status of the lockdown. PM Narendra Modi has consulted with the individuals chief ministers of the states and asked for a gradual re-emergence, depending on the severity of the cases in the state. Globally, over 1.4 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus and the death toll has crossed 82,000 cases.By Somapika Dutta
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India crosses 4000 confirmed coronavirus cases; death toll at 109 April 06, 2020 12:56
Being under the 21 days lockdown, India has been reporting a surge in the number of confirmed covid-19 cases, reporting over 700 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest till now. With that, the total tally of the country is now at 4,067 confirmed cases and 109 deaths so far. On the brighter side, 291 people have recovered from the condition as well. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi are the top three in terms of the number of confirmed cases, closely followed by Kerala and Telangana. The sudden surge in the number of confirmed cases were witnessed last week after hundreds of the Tablighi Jamaat attendees tested positive for the coronavirus. One of the health officials stated saying that while the normal pace of the doubling of the cases should have taken 7.4 days, the same has been cut short to 4.1 days after the reports of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. Since then, the state governments have been working to find the people involved with it and even the kind of contact that they could have come with. By Somapika Dutta
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Noida schools have been instructed to not force parents for fees April 06, 2020 12:15
With the affected economy and the kind of state that the country is in, the last thing that the people should be worrying about are the school fees of their children. Reports have circulated around that no school located in Noida and Greater Noida can force the parents for the fees, especially during the covid-19 lockdown that is imposed all across the country. Instructions have also suggested that the students can’t be barred from the online classes, irrespective of whether they have paid the fees or not. Any kind of violation of these orders can cause legal action against the concerned authority, enabling a year-long jail sentence or a hefty fine against the offender. Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Suhas L Y is the one who has issued this order till everything is back to normal and the lockdown is taken off. Suhas further stated saying, “COVID-19 has already been declared a disaster in Uttar Pradesh, while a complete lockdown is in place to fight the pandemic across the state and the country till April 14. In such a situation, all educational institutions in Gautam Buddh Nagar are directed not to force parents of any student for fees during the lockdown period, nor bar students from online classes.” Any kind of violation of the orders will be reported under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005. In case there are any involvements of loss of life or property during the violation of these orders, the jail term will be increased to 2 years. Owing to the coronavirus outbreak, all the schools and the educational institutes have been shut down in early March much like a lot of the other public places around. Gautam Buddh Nagar, which has imposed this order itself, has 58 confirmed cases. The 21-day lockdown in India is effective till April 14 following which there haven’t been any further reports on how the government is going to proceed. PM Narendra Modi has asked the CMs to come up with a exit strategy to ensure better management of the situation after the lockdown is over. By Somapika Dutta
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‘Black out call might affect the power grid’ – Nitin Raut April 04, 2020 17:41
In the latest video message shared by PM Narendra Modi, he asked the citizens of India to shut off their lights on April 05, 2020 at 9 pm and light a “diya” for 9 minutes in solidarity of the current situation of the pandemic that the entire world is fighting. The Power Minister of Maharashtra, Nitin Raut stated saying that in case the entire country decides to switch off their lights altogether, there are chances that the same will end up affecting the power grid. In a video released by Raut recently, he stated saying, “At present, Maharashtra’s power demand has come down to 13000 MW from 23000 MW. Industrial load is zero. Only emergency and domestic demand is being served. In case of sudden drop in demand, as will happen if people switch off the lights at a single moment, power stations may go on high frequency. It could result in feeder trippings in the grid.” The Minister also added that any form of power failure in the densely populated states like Maharashtra can lead to multi-state grid failure. This, in turn, can end up disrupting the overall power supply to the country. Raut further stated that in such cases, it takes around 12 to 16 hours to restore the power back again. Instead of switching off everything at home at once, Minister Raut urged the citizens to keep the fans and tubelights switched on when they do light the diya at home. This will ensure proper functioning of the grid without affecting the power supply. By Somapika Dutta
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India in talks with US and China to fight the Covid-19 pandemic April 04, 2020 12:31
With the entire world struggling with the covid-19 pandemic, India is gearing up with all the preventive measures and equipments to ensure maximum safety for its country’s people. India has been in talks with both US and China without getting into any sort of geopolitical rivalry in the middle. Apart from these arrangements, Indian government has also been open to individual contributions and even organisations. They have also opened international funding at this point to ensure that they are hands on to fight every kind of struggle that is thrown their way. The foreign ministers of India and the United States have talked twice last month over the effective coordination concerning the containment of this virus. On the other hand, India has also been in the talks with China to get their hands on the Personal Protective Equipments for the safety of the healthcare workers. Aside from that, India is also working on keeping up with the coordination with some of the other P-5 countries for a very coordinated approach to battling this virus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also discussed with all the key leaders in West Asia and shared some ideas over the ways to contain the spread of the virus further. The external affairs minister of India, S Jaishankar and his counterpart Mike Pompeo talked about the various strategies that could help strengthen the global pharmaceutical, which is of grave importance during this time of crisis. Jaishankar also put forth the subject of extension of the issued Visa to the Indians that are residing in US and are stuck there. He urged Pompeo to extend the visa of the Indian students and the professionals who have been stuck in the country over the spread of the pandemic. The Indian ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu stated that both the countries have maintained a very strong and robust cooperation during this time of crisis with the medical specialists and the resources available around. Wednesday, April 01, 2020 also marks the 70 years of ties between India and China over their diplomatic ties that has benefitted both the countries over the decades. President Ram Nath Kovind and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping have congratulated and felicited each other over the occassion. But, in other clarifications, the officials have clarified stating that the Indian government is not accepting any kinds of funding or donations from the foreign government under the PM cares fund, which was one of the most asked questions by the people. By Somapika Dutta
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Six week old baby dies due to Covid-19 in US; death toll over 6000 April 03, 2020 14:05
Crossing the 245,000 confirmed cases in the United States, the country reported one of the youngest fatalities, the death of a six week old baby due to the Covid-19 outbreak. As per the reports from the John Hopkins reports, US has already reported over 6000 deaths, the country setting a death rate of 864 deaths in a day, the highest surge so far. Among all the latest fatalities, the most recent was reported of a six week old baby who was rushed to a Connecticut hospital late last week. Governor Ned Lamont tweeting saying, “Testing confirmed last night that the newborn was COVID-19 positive. This is absolutely heartbreaking.” While the death toll in the US is currently lesser than what it is in Italy and Spain, the numbers are a lot more than what was reported in China, the epicentre of the virus. US currently is in the lead with the number of confirmed cases in the world, at a staggering 245, 000 and more cases. Even the head of the coronavirus task force and the head of the virology unit in the National Institute of Health, Anthony Fauci stated saying that there are chances that the death toll in the US could very well cross the 100,000 mark. With the global rate of the confirmed cases has surpassed a million, majority of the world is under a complete lockdown till the situations get better. By Somapika Dutta
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Hollywood actor Andrew Jack passes away due to Covid-19 April 02, 2020 13:41
Major Ematt of Star Wars, Andrew Jack died at the age of 76 due to Covid-19 complications on Tuesday. As per the reports from his agent, Jill McCullough, they stated saying that Jack passed away at a hospital in Chertsey, England. McCullough further emphasised saying, “Andrew lived on one of the oldest working houseboats on the Thames, he was fiercely independent but madly in love with his wife, also a dialect coach.” Jack’s wife, Gabrielle Rogers, also took to Twitter to share her message across tweeting “Andrew Jack was diagnosed with coronavirus 2 days ago. He was in no pain, and he slipped away peacefully knowing that his family were all 'with' him.” We lost a man today. Andrew Jack was diagnosed with Coronavirus 2 days ago. He was in no pain, and he slipped away peacefully knowing that his family were all 'with' him.Take care out there, lovers x@RealHughJackman @chrishemsworth @RobertDowneyJr pic.twitter.com/fm5LevA8n2 — Gabrielle Rogers (@GabrielleRoger1) March 31, 2020 Apart from his prominent role in Star Wars, Jack has also worked as a dialect coach for a number of popular Hollywood movies including “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “Thor:Ragnarok” and a few other Avengers movies. Several Hollywood stars including Actor Joonas Suotamo have paid their tribute to the deceased via Twitter. By Somapika Dutta
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