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  • COVID-19 | After one tests positive, 100 families self-isolate at Rashtrapati Bhavan

    Portion where President and his family stay not affected, says official

    Over a 100 families went on self-isolation within the President’s Estate, where Rashtrapati Bhavan is located, after one person tested positive for COVID-19, a senior official said on Tuesday.

    Confirming the news to The Hindu, the senior official said the main Rashtrapati Bhavan, where President Ram Nath Kovind and his family stay, has not been affected.

    In the third week of March, President Kovind too decided to strictly follow the Health Ministry’s protocol after one Lok Sabha member, who was part of a delegation of MPs from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan invited by President Kovind for a breakfast meeting, announced self-quarantine on March 19.

    BJP MP from Dholpur Dushyant Singh went into self-isolation following reports that guests who had earlier attended a private party in Lucknow hotel had tested positive, including playback singer Kanika Kapoor.

    In the past one month, said officials, Rashtrapati Bhavan had not only followed strict social distancing norms but also official meetings such as the Governor’s meet were conducted through video conferencing.

    With inputs from The Hindu

  • 50-Year Old Employee Of JK High Court found dead in Srinagar

    Srinagar: Body of a 50-year old employee of Jammu and Kashmir High Court was found dead in Qamarwari area of Srinagar city on Tuesday.

    Reports reaching GNS said that some locals spotted the body lying at PDD Quarter near Police Colony in Qamarwari area and informed concerned police station about it.

    Immediately, a police team led by SHO Parimpora and DO Qamarwari reached the spot and taken the body to nearby hospital for medico legal formalities, they said.

    Confirming it, a police officer identified the deceased as Abdul Gani Lone (50) son of Mohd Shaban Lone, a resident of Doda district.

    Lone, was working as record assistant in Jammu and Kashmir High Court, the officer said.

    He said that a case under section 174 CrPc has been registered and further investigations taken up. (GNS)

  • J&K police file FIR on “The Hindu” newspaper report

    Correspondent called for questioning

    The Hindu

    Describing a report headlined “Kin allowed to exhume bodies of militants in Baramulla” published by The Hindu on April 19 as “fake news,” the Jammu and Kashmir police have registered an FIR in the matter.

    The Hindu’s correspondent in Srinagar, Peerzada Ashiq, was called for questioning by the Cyber Police in Srinagar on Sunday and then again on the same evening by the Anantnag police before being permitted to return home.

    “The details quoted in the news item were factually incorrect and could cause fear or alarm in the minds of public. The news published without seeking confirmation from the district authorities,” a J&K police release said on Saturday. An FIR (No. 81/2020) was registered in relation to the news item at the Anantnag police station, the release added.

    The Hindu’s report was based on a quote from the uncle of a slain militant, Ghulam Nabi Magray. However, contrary to what he conveyed to the reporter, no permission for exhumation of the bodies had been given. Apparently, the families had misconstrued grant of a movement/curfew pass as sanction for exhumation.

    The report also said, “Yasin Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner, Shopian, was not available for his comment.” No rejoinder/clarification was received by the newspaper prior to the registration of the FIR either from the police or from the information department.

    Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s Twitter handle, used by her daughter Iltija, said, “A correspondent working for The Hindu was interrogated for hours on an article that didn’t fit into the narrative of the establishment. Any dissent/counter opinion has been outlawed & criminalised. Filing FIRs & invoking stringent laws meant for criminals is a blot on democracy.”

    In a related development, the Kashmir Press Club condemned the booking of a freelance photojournalist, Masrat Zahra, under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Ms. Zahra was also interrogated by the police.

    An “appeal” was also issued by the Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar that any information, which has bearing on national security and can cause “social instability” be clarified/confirmed before publication.

  • U.S. coronavirus deaths top 42,000 as protesters demand restrictions end

    Reuters

    U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 42,000 on April 20, according to a Reuters tally, as more protesters gathered in state capitals to demand an early end to the lockdowns, while officials pleaded for patience until more testing becomes available.

    Stay-at-home measures, which experts say are essential to slow the spread of the respiratory virus, have ground the economy to a standstill and forced more than 22 million people to apply for unemployment benefits in the last month.

    The United States has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 7,74,000 infections, up 20,000 on April 20, with several states yet to report. New reported U.S. cases appear to be slowing from about 30,000 a day last week.

    Montana for the first time reported no new cases on April 20 after processing 153 tests in the past 24 hours, according to the state’s website.

    Deaths also have slowed in recent days, rising by about 1,500 so far on April 20 compared with over 2,000 a day for most of last week. The United States had a record 2,806 deaths in a single day on April 15.

    Hot spots are emerging, however, in Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. Connecticut posted a record increase in cases and deaths as it revised its count due to new classifications from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has advised states to count probable, but untested, cases and deaths.

    Many of the protesters demanding an end to mandatory lockdowns expressed cynicism toward health experts and skepticism about the actual scale of the pandemic, accusing officials of overreaching and taking actions that had caused more harm than the virus itself.

    Health experts and lawmakers on the front lines of the battle to curb the pandemic have warned that the country could face a second and even deadlier wave of infections if the lockdowns end prematurely.

  • U.S. oil prices fall below zero before settling at minus $37.63 per barrel

    Reuters

    Physical demand for crude has dried up, creating a global supply glut as billions of people stay home to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

    Traders fled from the expiring May U.S. oil futures contract in a frenzy on Monday, sending the contract into negative territory for the first time in history, as barely any buyers are willing to take delivery of oil barrels because there is no place to put the crude.

    May U.S. crude futures plunged to a depth never before seen, settling on the day at minus $37.63 a barrel, a decline of some 305%, or $55.90 a barrel. Prices set a low of negative $40.32.

    With demand down 30% worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the main U.S. storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma expected to fill up in a matter of weeks, very few want to be stuck with oil barrels that they have to take delivery on at some point during May.

    “The people who are long are desperate to get out,” said Phil Verleger, a veteran oil economist and independent consultant. “If you dont have storage you have to get out.”

    Major oil-producing nations have agreed to cut output and global oil companies are trimming production, but those cuts will not come quickly enough to avoid a massive clog.

    The difference between the expiring May U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude contract and the coming June contract widened to a record at more than $22 a barrel. That yawning gap emerged because owning the May contract when it expires on Tuesday means that buyer is obligated to take those barrels, which few want to do.

    “For many investors or people using these contracts for hedging this is really a big pain,” said Edward Moya, market analyst at OANDA in New York. “There’s no place to put it – we’re running out of space to store oil.”

    The June contract ended down 16% to $20.43 a barrel.

    When a futures contract expires, traders must decide whether to take delivery or roll their positions into an upcoming contract. Usually this process is relatively uncomplicated, but the May contract’s decline reflects worries that too much supply could hit the markets, with shipments out of OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia booked in March set to cause a glut.

    Available storage space is dropping fast at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub, where physical delivery of U.S. oil barrels bought in the futures market takes place. Four weeks ago, the storage hub was half full – now it is 69% full, according to U.S. Energy Department data.

    “Its clear that Cushing is going to fill and it will stay full for the next several months,” said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates. “Because producers have been lagging in their production cuts were seeing an overwhelming amount of crude oil looking for a place to go around the world.”

    Crude stockpiles at Cushing rose 9% in the week to April 17, totaling around 61 million barrels, market analysts said, citing a Monday report from Genscape.

    The world’s major oil producers agreed to cut production by 9.7 million bpd in an attempt to get world supply under control as demand slumps, but those cuts do not begin until May. Saudi Arabia is ramping up deliveries of oil, including big shipments to the United States.

    Worldwide oil consumption is roughly 100 million barrels a day, and supply generally stays in line with that. But consumption is down about 30% globally, and the cuts so far are far less.

    U.S. exchange-traded funds are also playing a role in the action, analysts said. The U.S. Oil Fund LP, the largest crude oil ETF, said on Thursday that it would start moving some of its assets into later-dated contracts earlier in the life of the monthly contract.

  • With 2G internet, online classes a futile exercise, cry students

    Srinagar: The low speed internet in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is taking a heavy toll on the academics of students as they are not able to download videos and login to online classes due to low internet speed.

    Even though government has issued guidelines to education department for arranging online classes for all students amid Covid-19 lockdown but the low speed internet is taking a heavy toll on the academics of students here.

    The government has restricted the internet speed to 2G citing security issues for restoring 4G internet speed in the union territory. “It is almost impossible to study and take online classes with such low speed when you cannot even download a document for hours, and with video chats it is a futile exercise altogether. At times we are not able to even login to online classes due to low speed internet here,” said Judat, a class 8th student from Anantnag.

    No matter what type of lockdown Kashmiris are in, education becomes the first causality here and it continues to suffer even in these testing times. Though online classes were a good initiative but in JK it is a futile exercise as the internet speed has been restricted to 2G only, making students suffer a lot.

    “I face a lot of difficulty while logging in to the online class and when I manage to do so, the video quality is so low and due to buffering I am not able to grasp anything. With 2G speed online classes are a futile exercise,” Judat told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO)

    Many students have left video classes due to poor connectivity and now they just take the material posted in WhatsApp groups and try to study themselves.

    Fozaan Fayaz, a class 11th student from HMT, Srinagar said that he doesn’t understand anything through video classes due to poor video quality and he now studies from the study materiel posted in WhatsApp groups by his teachers.

    Some students studying outside the valley who have returned home have to face a challenging situation as their classmates from outside the valley are taking their classes with high speed internet.

    Talking to KNO, Wamik Aijaz, a resident of Anantnag, pursuing BBA at university of Huddersfield, UK is worried as he has to appear in online examination at the end of this month.

    “I have to submit assignments and I am more worried about my examinations, it is impossible to appear in examinations with such a pathetic speed,” he said—(KNO)

  • Positive cases in Mumbai passes 3000; Death toll: 139

    With the new cases reported in Dharavi, the positive cases in Maharashtra has risen to 4666 with 232 deaths.

    Mumbai alone has crossed the 3000 mark. The total number of COVID19 cases in the city is now 3032 and death toll is 139.

  • People in Red Zones to get free masks

    Srinagar: Administration has directed officials to follow proper SOP to contain COVID-19 and asked them to ensure 100 percent distribution of masks in Red Zone areas.

    As per the official documents accessed by news agency KINS, government has directed officials to follow SOP and proper guidelines for the containment policy of COVID-19 in Red Zone areas of Kashmir valley.

    “Director Rural Development Department shall ensure 100 percent distribution of masks through the PRIs, VLWs etc to every household of Red Zone in collaboration with the concerned district administrators and teams constituted for the purpose preferable on the same day, the house to house survey as conducted by the teams,” the document reads.

    Director Rural Development Department has been directed to ensure immediate cleanliness sanitization drive of the notified Red Zones subsequent cleanliness drives after every week.

    It says, “Director Urban Local Bodies shall conduct the rigorous fumigation cleanliness drive in all the Red Zone areas coming under his purview.

    Besides they shall conduct the fumigation of all the rural red zones areas for which Director RDD shall provide him all logistics and necessary support.”

    Government has decided that all entry and exit to the zone would be with red zone passes and proper fumigation of vehicles, safety of personnel and safety tunnels.

    “The entire Red Zone will be under surveillance and the people will be contacted periodically for rechecking for symptoms. There would be a 100% survey and screening of all persons in the red zone. The surveillance procedure has already been issued and will be reissued with improvements,” the documents read.

    “All common/public places within the red zone will be fumigated twice a day. All ambulances on duty / supply vehicles entering / leaving the red zone shall be fumigated. Extra cleanliness drives all around shall be carried. Departments like PDD and PHE will ensure regular electricity and water supply respectively to the red zone. They will activate help lines to address any complaints on priority- or common control room as above can be used. Banking arrangements such a mobile ATM or any other facilitation will be ensured,” the document says.

    “In-case of any Emergency, whether medical or otherwise, permission for movement will be provided by concerned SDM / Tehsildar. A medical team shall be placed in the adjoining buffer zone to cater to any medical emergency that might arise,” it reads.(KINS)

  • India reports biggest one-day coronavirus spike as lockdown eased

    Additional 1,553 cases reported over 24 hours, raising the national total past 17,000, while at least 543 have died.

    AP

    India has recorded its biggest single-day spike in coronavirus cases as the government eased one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to allow some manufacturing and agricultural activity to resume.

    An additional 1,553 cases were reported over 24 hours, raising the national total past 17,000 on Monday. At least 543 people have died from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, and epidemiologists forecast the peak may not be reached before June.

    The nationwide lockdown imposed on March 24 halted all but essential services. Starting on Monday, limited industry and farming were allowed to resume where employers could meet social distancing and hygiene norms and migrant workers were allowed to travel within states to factories, farms and other work sites.

    “In the event a group of migrants wish to return to their places of work within the state where they are presently located, they would be screened and those who are asymptomatic would be transported to their respective places of work,” India’s home ministry said in a letter to state governments.

    However, government surveys in the central Indian state of Maharashtra, the worst-hit by the virus, have suggested the few companies eligible to restart operations can do so because they are required to transport and shelter workers as a virus-prevention measure.

    While a partial lifting of a curfew permitted the restart of coal plants and oil refineries, animal feed and agro-industry and other labour-intensive manufacturing such as brick kilns, much of the country remained under lockdown.

    India’s airspace was closed to commercial traffic, its passenger rail system, buses and metros were halted, e-commerce was restricted to food and other essentials, and schools, stadiums and houses of worship remained closed until May 3.

    India is also continuing to ramp up testing, build up stocks of ventilators and personal protective equipment and prepare makeshift isolation wards and dedicated COVID-19 hospitals.

    In Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra and home to one of Asia’s largest slums, city authorities were planning to administer hydroxychloroquine to thousands of slum-dwellers over 14 days to gauge whether the drug helped to slow the spread of the disease in a place where social distancing norms are not possible to achieve.

    It was unclear how many people would participate in the experiment, or when it would begin.

  • Police book Shopian duo for alleged involvement in militancy

    Shopian: Police have booked two youth from South Kashmir’s Shopian district in a militancy related case.

    Sources told KNT that two youth Zahoor Ahmad Koka of Mailhora, and Uzair Ahmad of Wandina Zainpora were apprehended by Forces for allegedly carrying weapons.

    A police official said that a specific information was received by police about the movement of two militant sympathizers of Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit planning to attack government forces.

    “A naka was immediately established near Wachi petrol pump, while observing naka two suspects tried to flee from spot but deployed forces personnel belonging to soldiers from 55RR and CRPF 178 Battalion and Police overpowered both the suspects and were detained.”

    During frisking a pistol with magazine and 8 live rounds and two grenades were recovered from their possession.

    A formal case vide FIR number 27/2020 under section 18, 20, 23, 38, 39 ULAP Act, 7/25 IA Act was registered against them. (KNT)