'A 38-year-old man who had walked 200 km from the national capital to reach home died on the Delhi-Agra highway on Saturday morning. Ranveer Singh’s destination, his family in a remote village in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, was still 100 km away. Ranveer Singh’s body has been sent for an autopsy. It will be released to his family after the formality is complete. The two men, who were accompanying Ranveer Singh, told the police that Ranveer Singh complained of chest pain sometime before he collapsed a short distance...'
'An asthma patient died in Kasargod who could not access medical aid in time. The deceased was a native of Thuminad, a region in Kerala-Karnataka border. Meanwhile, a pregnant woman delivered a baby in an ambulance while she was on her way to Mangalapuram...'
'Eight persons, including an 18-month-old boy who were part of a group of migrant labourers returning home in Karnataka’s Raichur district, died in a road accident on the outskirts of Hyderabad late Friday night. In view of the nationwide lockdown, 31 migrant laborers employed by a construction firm in Suryapet district of Telangana were traveling in a Bolero Max open truck when their vehicle was hit by a truck loaded with mangoes from the rear. The incident occurred at around 10.30 pm at Pedda Golconda on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) towards Hyderabad...'
'As public health experts continue to wonder why India has such low rates of diagnostic tests for COVID-19 per capita, a recently published study by ICMR scientists indicates the council may have ignored its own analysis on the need for more aggressive testing. A mathematical model prepared by ICMR scientists almost two months ago suggested that simply isolating symptomatic international air passengers could not have helped delay a COVID-19 epidemic in India...'
'Of the scores of horrific video clips in circulation of the anti-Muslim violence that engulfed large parts of North East Delhi a month ago, one piece of mobile-phone footage has been indelibly seared into our collective memories. Even a country habituated to seeing Muslim victims of lynchings being filmed by their attackers was stunned at the sight of the assailants in this video – men in police uniform... A month later there has been no investigation, no explanations offered by police, leave alone starting an inquiry that would hold the assailants accountable.
'Police opened fire in the air in Assam's Bongaigaon district on Saturday morning to disperse an unruly mob at a market that attacked the security personnel when asked to abide by the lockdown order, an officer said. None was injured in the melee, he said...'
'At the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal and its immediate surrounding areas on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, the mass evacuation of thousands of daily-wage labourers and migrant workers is underway. Over the last five days, the national lockdown imposed to tackle COVID-19 has left a multitude of blue collar workers stranded, with nowhere to go. At the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal and its immediate surrounding areas on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, the mass evacuation of thousands of daily-wage labourers and migrant workers is underway.
'On March 24, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a complete nationwide lockdown for 21 days—one of the strongest national measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The decision marked a sharp turn. Just a week ago, the world’s second-most populous country was being seen as a mysterious anomaly that had remained relatively unscathed from the deadly pandemic. But then the math caught up. As the lockdown began, the number of confirmed cases in the country was beginning to grow exponentially, rising to 933 by March 28.
'Four migrant workers were killed and three others were injured when they were hit by a tempo near Virar in the wee hours of Saturday. The group wanted to cross over the Maharashtra-Gujarat boundary but were refused entry. Initial reports said that they wanted to go to their home state of Rajasthan...'
'With his first speech on the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got us to scare evil spirits away by having people bang the hell out of their pots and pans. With his second, he scared the hell out of all of us. With not a word on how the public, particularly the poor, are to access food and other essentials in coming weeks, it sparked off a panic waiting to happen. The middle classes thronged the stores and markets – something not easy for the poor. Not for migrants leaving the cities for their villages. Not for small vendors, domestic help, agricultural labourers.
