The Pioneer · and banquet halls across the State till March 31 to prevent ... Kolkata, Bengaluru...

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Amid India preparing forlockdown and Prime

Minister Narendra Modi’sappeal for “Janata Curfew” onSunday against the backdrop ofcoronavirus pandemic and sus-pension of all passenger trains,massive crowds of passengerssurged at railway stations acrossthe country to leave for theirrespective States of UP, Biharand West Bengal.

Several States, includingBihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Maharashtra,Chhattisgarh, West Bengal andKarnataka, have declared lock-down on Sunday and shuttingdown bus services, restaurantsand banquet halls across theState till March 31 to preventthe spread of coronavirus.

As coronavirus cases inIndia rose to 283 on Saturday,from 249 on Friday, in variousparts of the country, theGovernment has decided tochange testing criteria forCOVID-19 to include all pneu-monia cases, regardless of trav-el or contact history. SeveralStates also reported fresh casesthough these numbers were notimmediately taken into accountby the Health Ministry.

Health Ministry JointSecretary Lav Agarwal onSaturday said guidelines for

coronavirus tests have beenrevised, directing that asymp-tomatic direct, high-risk con-tacts of confirmed cases shouldbe tested once between day 5and day 14 of coming in con-tact with an infected person.Earlier, testing was limited tosymptomatic patients withtravel or contact history, andsymptomatic health workerswith contact history.

Cutting across party lines,Chief Ministers and other lead-ers urged the people to followthe self-imposed curfew from7 am to 9 pm, noting that“social distancing” was key tobreaking the chain of infection.No passenger train will origi-nate from any railway station inthe country from midnight to10 pm on Sunday while all sub-urban train services will bereduced to a bare minimum aswell. Metro services, includingin Delhi, will remain suspend-ed for the day. Air carriers likeGoAir, IndiGo and Vistarahave announced that they willbe curtailing domestic opera-tions on Sunday. Traders’ bodyConfederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) has announcedthey will keep their establish-ments shut across the countryon Sunday. From suspendingregular prayers in shrines ofvarious faiths, includingSunday mass, to disallowing jailinmates from meeting their

families on the day, organisa-tions and institutions in everysphere have announced restric-tions for Sunday.

In some good news, UttarPradesh Health Minister JaiPratap Singh, Vasundhara Rajeand Dushyant Singh who hadattended a party withBollywood singer KanikaKapoor in Lucknow days

before she tested positive forcoronavirus, tested negativefor COVID-19 on Saturday.

Thousands of passengerssurged at railway stations inNew Delhi, Mumbai, Pune,Kolkata, Bengaluru andChennai on Saturday after theRailways announced it wouldstop its services across thecountry from 7 am to 9 pm on

during the Janata Curfew. As the number of con-

firmed cases of coronavirusswelled up in India, the PrimeMinister on Saturday appealedpeople to take all precautionsand avoid panic and urgedpeople to avoid all “unneces-sary travel”, saying “smallefforts can leave a big impact”.

Continued on Page 4

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As the coronavirus cases inIndia rose to 283 on

Saturday after a number offresh cases were reported invarious parts of the country, theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) has revisedits testing strategy and, mostcrucially, asked hospitals tonow test all those patients hos-pitalised with severe acute res-piratory illness (fever andcough and/or shortness ofbreath). It has also asked host-pitals to test those asympto-matic direct and high-risk con-tacts that have come in touchwith a confirmed case. Suchpersons will have to be testedonce between day 5 and day 14of coming in contact of aCovid-19 positive person.

Meanwhile, the HealthMinistry on Saturday said atleast 111 labs will conduct testfor diagnosis of novel coron-avirus across the country.These testing labs include bothGovernment and private sec-

tors. However capping theprices of the tests is still underdiscussion.

“Direct and high-risk con-tact includes those who live inthe same household with aconfirmed case and health-care workers who examined aconfirmed case without ade-quate protection as per WHOrecommendations,” the ICMRsaid. The initial strategy of test-ing those with a travel historyand showing symptoms, andthose who came in contact withpersons having a travel histo-ry will continue.

Continued on Page 4

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Twenty-two rebel CongressMLAs of Madhya Pradesh,

who were instrumental in top-pling the Kamal Nath-ledCongress Government, onSaturday met BJP president JPNadda at his residence in Delhi and joined the partyformally.

The MLAs, along withJyotiraditya Scindia, metNadda, who welcomed theirdecision to join the saffronparty, said BJP’s national gen-eral secretary KailashVijayvargiya who was presentthere.

The BJP is likely to fieldthem in the bypolls necessitat-ed by their resignations. Itremains to be seen as to howthe party accommodates thenewcomers who had earliercontested against BJP nomineesin the Assembly polls. TheElection Commission willannounce the bypoll dates oncethe crisis brought in by the

coronavirus outbreak is over. The Assembly Speaker had

accepted the resignations of 16of these rebel Congress MLAson Thursday, a day beforeChief Minister Kamal Nathchose to resign after it became

clear that his Government hadlost the majority. The Speakerhad accepted the resignationsof six of them earlier.

Scindia, a former Congressleader and Union Minister,quit the Congress and joined

the BJP recently. The BJP islikely to stake claim to form theGovernment in MadhyaPradesh with former ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChauhan is seen as the front-runner for the CM’s post.

New Delhi: After declaringface surgical masks and handsanitisers as essential com-modities, the Ministry of Foodand Consumer Affairs onSaturday fixed the retail pricesof hand sanitisers at �100 perbottle of 200 ml and retailprices of 3-layered surgicalmask shall not be more than�10 and that of 2-layered morethan �8 a piece. See P5

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New Delhi: A couple wasdeboarded from a Delhi-bound Rajdhani train onSaturday after co-passengersnoticed a home quarantineseal on the husband’s hand, theRailways said, urging people toavoid non-essential travel forthe safety of fellow citizensamid a spurt in coronaviruscases. The Railways reportedtwo other recent incidentswhen people asked to remainin quarantine were found trav-elling on trains. Of the totalpeople detected in the twoinstances, 12 tested COVID-19positive. The national trans-porter has urged people toavoid or postpone all non-essential travel.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment on Saturday

announced that around 35lakh labourers in the state willget ��1,000 each as financial aidwhile free ration for one monthwill be provided to 1.65 croreconstruction workers amid thecoronavirus outbreak.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has directed offi-cials for immediate release ofpayment to MNREGS workersin the state and to make food-grains available to the poor incities and villages, a statementissued by the UP governmentsaid.

“In view of the precautionsbeing taken throughout thecountry to prevent the coron-avirus outbreak, the state gov-ernment is alert and cautious.With immediate effect, thestate government will provide��1,000 per person for main-tenance to 35 lakh labourers.

This payment will be sentdirectly to their accountsthrough direct bank transfers,”said the statement issued onSaturday.

It said Adityanath hasinstructed officials to provideone month free ration in Aprilto over 1.65 crore constructionworkers and daily labourersregistered under the AntyodayaYojana and Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment

Scheme (MNREGS) with theLabour Department.

Daily wage labourers inurban areas who do not haveration cards will get the docu-ment on priority basis, thestatement said. It said the chiefminister has also directed offi-cials that payment be immedi-ately released to the MNREGSworkers in the state.

“Orders have been issuedto provide food grains to thoseworking in rural and urbanareas in the state, especially tolabourers, cart pullers and oth-ers,” the statement said.

Adityanath appealed to thepeople of the state to stayindoors during Sunday’s ‘Janata’curfew called for by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

“A call for Janta curfew wasgiven. Please stay in yourhomes. Metro trains, roadwaysbuses and city buses will notoperate on Sunday,” the state-ment said on behalf of the chief

Continued on Page 4

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12��(3�� 4�Lucknow: The Uttar Pradeshgovernment said on Saturdaythat 10 out of 26 coronaviruspatients who were undergoingtreatment have recovered andwere discharged.

The total number positivecases in the state are 26 — eighteach in Agra and Lucknow, sixin Noida, two in Ghaziabad,one each in Lakhimpur Kheriand Moradabad, saidVikasendu Agrawal, joint direc-tor/state surveillance officer,Integrated Disease SurveillanceProgramme, in a statement.

Ten COVID-19 patientsin the state have recoveredfully and discharged from hos-pitals where they were admit-ted, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Amit MohanPrasad, principal secretary,health, said the state govern-ment had made all arrange-ments to contain the spread the

spread of the deadly COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019).

“Mass awareness pro-grammes are going on, inwhich people are being toldabout how to sanitise them-selves and also adhere to socialdistancing,” Prasad said. “Thereis no need to fear or feel afraidof this disease, only alertnesshas to be maintained.”

Testing centres have beenincreased from three to six. Inthe next two days, the numberof testing centres will beincreased to eight, the officialsaid. “Our effort will be toincrease the number of testingcentres to 10.”

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath has appealed tothe people not to move out oftheir houses during ‘Janatacurfew’ on Sunday, accordingto the Prasad.

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In a suspected case of honourkilling in Farrukhabad, a

man and his cronies killed acouple and his son and injuredthree members of the family toavenge the abduction of hisdaughter on Friday night.

The accused and the vic-tim’s family are related.

After the incident, theaccused tried to mislead thepolice by looting some valu-ables to make it look like acase of robbery and murder.

Senior officers rushed tothe spot and detained the kinof the prime accused toextract details.

As per reports, half-a-dozen unidentified personsbarged into the house ofPappu Jatav (45) in Devrajpurvillage of Kamalganj area onFriday night while Pappu’swife Sulochna (40) was cook-ing.

Before the couple couldsense danger and raise analarm, the miscreants attackedthem with axe and sharp-edged weapons.

After killing the couple,they taregted other membersof the family, includingPappu’s son Vivek (12), Rajat

(10), Atul (7) and his motherTarawati (65).

While Atul was also killed,the other injured rushed out-side for help but were chasedand Vivek and Tarawati werecritically injured.

One of the neighbourshowever rescued Rajat and heremained unhurt.

After the crime, the mis-creants collected some valu-ables from the house and fled.

The neighbours laterrushed the injured to a hos-pital and called the police.

Superintendent of Policeof Farrukhabad, Dr AnilKumar Mishra, said thatTarawati alleged that Pappu’sbrother-in-law Arjun Jatav was behind the attackand he had earlier threatenedthem.

Tarawati said that Arjunnursed enmity with themsince his daughter had elopedwith Pappu’s elder sonDurgesh some months back.

The district police chiefsaid that Arjun was abscond-ing since the incident andthree of his relatives, includ-ing his wife, were detained toget details of the incident.

Teams were also formedto nab the assailants.

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Hundreds of residentsblocked roads and staged

demonstration, demandingcompensation for the kin of awoman of Gajraula who wasfatally mauled by a tiger inMala forest range of Pilibhit onSaturday morning.

As per reports, Ramoni(50) was guarding her stand-ing crop lining the junglenear Mala railway stationwhen the tiger suddenlypounced on her on Saturdaymorning.

The woman died of exces-sive bleeding.

The news of her deathspread soon and hundreds ofagitated locals converged onthe spot. They placed thebody on the road, blocking it.They also staged demonstra-tion against the Forest depart-ment officials and demandeda compensation for the vic-tim’s family.

When some Forestdepartment employeesreached the spot and tried toreason, they were beaten up.

Later, the local police andadministrative off icialsreached the spot and on theirassurance that the matterwould be taken up with thegovernment, the locals liftedthe blockade.

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The Azamgarh police reg-istered an FIR against formerMP and Samajwadi Partyleader Ramakant Yadav for hismisleading statement againstPrime Minister Narendra Modiover the spread of coronavirus.

On Friday, Yadav, earlier aBharatiya Janata Party MPfrom Azamgarh, alleged thatthe prime minister was takingup the coronavirus issue inorder to deflect public atten-tion from more pressing prob-lems faced by the commonman.

He also said that no personhad so far died due to the epi-demic across the country.

While supporting theprotests against the Citizenship(Amendment) Act, the SPleader also alleged that by rais-ing the coronavirus issue, theBJP government was trying tocrush people’s agitation.

“The BJP government ispractising double standards.On one hand it is preventingpeople to stage peaceful protestagainst the Citizenship

(amendment) Act, NationalPopulation Register andNational Register of Citizens,on the other it was allowinglakhs of people to visit Ayodhyaduring Ram Navami festival,”Yadav charged.

DIG of Azamgarh,Subhash Chandra Dubey, con-firmed that an FIR was regis-tered against Yadav at Sidhripolice station under relevantsections on Saturday. He main-tained that the SP leader’s state-ment was contradictory andcould cause problem for thepeople.

Meanwhile, the UttarPradesh government attackedSamajwadi Party for Yadav’sstatement, saying that it was theideology of the party. SalabhMani Tripathi, the media advi-sor to the chief minister, saidthat when every Indian wassupporting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s initiatives onprevention of the coronavirus,the SP leader’s act exposedhow the SP felt about the peo-ple and their sole aim was toexploit every issue for narrowpolitical ends.

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Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav said the

lockdown ordered by the UttarPradesh government till March31 had created crisis of exis-tence for daily wage earners.

Akhilesh said that the gov-ernment should be more con-siderate towards workers ofunorganised sectors as auto-rickshaw drivers, employeesof roadside eateries, food stallsowners, restaurants, hotels,café, markets etc.

He said the suspension ofoutdoor patients department(OPD) in hospitals till March 31would also cause a huge crisis fordaily wage earners.

The SP chief said that if thegovernment did not take ade-quate measures for these work-ers, a large work force was like-ly to face starvation.

The SP chief said that theBharatiya Janata Party govern-ment had presented a “historic”budget last month and so itshould not hesitate in announc-ing a “historic” package for thepoor. “Half baked announce-ments will not work and the gov-ernment should ensure that noone from the deprived sectionsis left out and does not face exis-tential crisis,” he said.

Akhilesh Yadav said theYogi Adityanath governmenthad announced a relief packageonly for workers of construction

industry registered with Labourdepartment but it hadannounced nothing for farmers.

He said that unseasonalrains and hailstorms haddestroyed standing Rabi crops,inflicting huge damage to therural economy and forcingfarmers to commit suicide.

Yadav said that the gov-ernment should also work outa relief package for brick kilnworkers and women workers inrural areas who earn dailywages from small businesses.

Akhilesh added that it wasthe responsibility of the gov-ernment in a welfare state tolook after the interests of allsections of society. He said thatit was regrettable that despite adouble-engine government(BJP government at Centreand in UP), the poor people ofthe state were languishing forbasic needs.

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The dargah of Haji Waris AliShah at Dewa township of

Barabanki has been closed forpilgrims till March 31 by thedistrict administration to pre-vent the spread of coronavirus.

However, routine activi-ties inside the shrine wouldcontinue as usual.

The annual ChaitraNavratri Mela, where severallakh devotees turn up, has alsobeen cancelled. It was to beheld on March 23 near DewaShareef dargah.

“This is a difficult time forthe entire world. The com-pound of Dewa Shareef hasbeen closed for devotees for the

first time in history. Unawaredevotees, who came to visit theshrine were being asked toleave the place,” said managerof Dewa Shareef, ShahMahmood Warsi. “The ‘aastana’(inner gate) of the shrine willremain open but no outsider willbe allowed inside,” he said.

Along with Dewa Shareef,Lodheshwar Dham Mahadevatemple in Barabanki has alsobeen shut for devotees till March31.

The Gorakhnath temple inGorkahpur city has also beenclosed for devotees till March 31in wake of the coronavirus pan-demic.

According to temple author-ities, the decision has been taken

after Prime Minister NarendraModi appealed to the people topractice social distancing tocontain the spread of the dead-ly disease.

“The temple has been closedfor devotees till March 31.However during this period, thedaily morning and evening aartiwill be performed as usual bydesignated priests only,” thetemple’s PRO Vinay Gautamsaid.

The Aadishakti PeethDevipatan temple located inTulsipur area of Balrampur dis-trict bordering Nepal, willremain closed for devotees tillMarch 31 in view of the coron-avirus pandemic.

Mahant of Aadishakti Peeth

Devipatan temple MithileshNath Yogi on Saturday said thedecision was taken followingPrime Minister Narendra Modi’srecent appeal to the people topractice social distancing.

“Following the coronavirusoutbreak, the managing com-mittee of the temple has decid-ed restrict the entry of devoteestill March 31. The fair which isheld every year during Navratrashas been put on hold till April2,” he said.

The mahant also said thenumber of people coming fromNepal as part of ‘Peer Ratna’ onpanchami (the fifth day of theNavratras) has been restricted to10, and that too after they clearthe medical tests.

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�'�( ��)��Lucknow (PNS): Raj Bhawan,the official residence of UttarPradesh Governor, will remainclosed for visitors till April 3.

All officers and employeesof the Governor’s secretariatwould be allowed entry to RajBhawan after they sanitise theirhands at the gates.

On Saturday, GovernorAnandiben Patel sought thecooperation of people of thestate in ensuring ‘Janata curfew’on Sunday. She urged people tostay indoors and venture outonly in unavoidable circum-stances.

Patel also said that peopleshould avoid visiting crowdedpublic places in urban areasand pay their gratitude to med-ical professionals and those incharge of running essentialservices at 5 pm on Sundayevening. Patel said that bycooperating, the people wouldcontribute to the fight againstthe spread of coronavirus.

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State Secretar y ofCommunist Party of India

Girish announced that theparty had postponed all pro-grams in the wake of coron-avirus spread and workersand leaders had been asked toavoid gatherings unless verynecessary.

Girish said that partycadre would keep themselvesat their homes on March 22and salute those treating peo-ple and carrying out preven-tive measures to fight thevirus.

“On March 22, we willsalute martyrs Bhagat Singh,Sukhdev and Rajguru wholaid their lives for the countryas Martyr’s Day is also on thatday,” he said.

Taking a jibe at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forappealing to people to clapand ring bells for saluting

those engaged in fighting thevirus, the Communist Party ofIndia leader said that leftwing parties would not salutethese professionals that way.

“This particular method ispopular among those whospread communal hatred andcanards,” he said.

The Communist Party ofIndia leader said that theparty would raise the issue ofproviding essential com-modities to the poor andunemployed during this period.

Meanwhile, RashtriyaRashtrawadi Party chiefPratap Chandra demandedthat masks in adequate numbers be provided to nurses and paramedic staff as these employees wereworking like nation guards in this hour of crisis and their safety could not beignored.

$��2 �� 5��Lucknow (PTI): Uttar Pradesh minister LaxmiNarayan Chaudhary on Saturday said all theslaughterhouses in the state would be shut tillMarch 24 in view of the coronavirus pandem-ic. The minister for Fisheries, Dairy and AnimalHusbandry made the announcement through avideo posted on his Twitter handle.

“Following the outbreak of coronavirus,instructions have been issued that all theslaughterhouses in the state should be closed forthe next three days. Strict action will be initi-ated against those who violate the instructions,”he said.

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The government has given additional chargeof post of special secretary medical, health andfamily welfare to two IAS officers amid a spurtin coronavirus cases, according to an officialstatement issued on Saturday.

Shahid Manzar Abbas Rizvi and RajeshKumar Tyagi have been given the responsibil-ity. While Rizvi is special secretary in agricul-ture production commissioner’s branch, Tyagiis special secretary in the commercial taxdepartment, the statement said.

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VARANASI: Taking a serious note of negligence shown bysome hotel owners to advisory regarding coronavirus, the dis-trict administration on Saturday sealed seven hotels and direct-ed registration of case against 15 hotel owners. Earlier, a mallwas sealed for 14 days for not obeying the advisory of districtadministration. The district administration had issued adviso-ry to all hotel owners to make thermal screening at hotels andallow permission only after screening in view of coronavirus. Theadministration came to know that a few hotel owners had nottaken the advisory seriously and had failed to make thermal scan-ner available at hotels so far.

��$�$115��1%�27��$18�7�12��27��Muzaffarnagar (PTI): In viewof the call for ‘Janata’ curfewon Sunday amid the Covid-19outbreak, the Darul UloomDeoband has declared a hol-iday with all its offices andeducational departments toremain closed for the day.

The well-known madaras-sa, situated in Deoband townof Saharanpur district, issued

a press release on Saturdayasking its students to refrainfrom going outside the semi-nary during ‘Janata’ curfewfrom 7 am to 9 pm.

They have also appealedto its students to take neces-sary precautions to preventthe spread of coronavirus andfollow the advisories issued bythe government.

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The Lucknow division of North-EasternRailway and Northern Railway closed

operation from midnight on Saturday inview of the ‘janata curfew’ on Sunday.

An NER spokesman said trains origi-nating from Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Basti,Gonda, Budhwal, Sitapur, Mankapur,Nautanwa, Nanpara and Bahraich werecancelled from midnight on Saturday to 10pm on March 22.

Similarly, 33 trains (between 4 am and10 pm on March 22) will also remain can-celled. These trains include Lucknow Mail,Lucknow-Chandigarh, Lucknow-BandraTerminus, Gorakhpur-Aishbagh Intercity,Gorakhpur-Ahmedabad Express, LucknowJunction-Anand Vihar Terminal, LucknowGorakhpur Intercity, Gorakhpur-Lokmanya Tilak, Gorakhpur-PanvelExpress, Tejas Express, Gorakhpur-LTT,Lucknow-Pune, Lucknow-Barauni,Lucknow-Jhansi and Kushinagar Express.

The spokesman said they were con-ducting thermal scanning of passengersreturning from Mumbai and Pune atGorakhpur, Basti and Gonda stations.

A spokesman of Northern Railways(Lucknow division) said all passengertrains were cancelled from midnight onMarch 21 to 10 pm on March 22. The ser-vices will be reduced to bare minimum onMarch 22. On Saturday, the Lucknow divi-sion of NR cancelled a total of 15 trains.

Meanwhile, the railways has takenmeasures in compliance of governmentadvisory in the wake of COVID-19 pan-

demic to help avoid crowding and practisesocial distancing. The railways has relaxedrefund rules for PRS counter-generatedtickets. Under the new provisions, allrules for e-ticket remain the same as pas-sengers do not need to visit the station forticket refund. This relaxation is for the jour-ney period from March 21 to April 15.

In case of trains cancelled by railwaysfrom March 21 to April 15, the refundacross all ticket counters can be claimed onsubmission of tickets up to 45 days fromdate of journey instead of the extant ruleof 3/72 hours. If a train is not cancelled butthe passenger does not want to performjourney, then TDR (ticket deposit receipt)can be filed within 30 days from the dateof journey at the station instead of theextant rule of three days. The TDR can besubmitted to CCO/CCM claims office forgetting the refund within 60 days of filingof TDR subject to verification from trainchart instead of the extant rule of 10 days.

For passengers who want to cancel tick-ets through ‘139’, they can get refund acrossthe counters within 30 days from the dateof journey instead of the extant rule of upto scheduled train departure. Thespokesman said the passengers were beingadvised to avail the facility and avoid vis-iting the railway stations during thesetimes.

Meanwhile, the Lucknow Division ofNR cancelled all the memu trains betweenLucknow-Kanpur and Lucknow-Barabankion Sunday. The railways also cancelledeight more trains originating fromLucknow division on Sunday.

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In view of the ‘Janata curfew’ tobe observed on March 22, the

services of Lucknow metro andUPSRTC would remain suspend-ed. “The move is aimed at encour-aging people to stay indoors andmaintain social distancing, whichis essential in the f ight against COVID-19,” Uttar PradeshMetro Rail Corporation officialssaid.

A senior official said that inthe wake of COVID-19 outbreakin the country, UPMRC has inten-sified the cleaning and sanitisationprocess at all the as well as insidethe trains. “Special cleanlinessdrives have been launched formaintaining proper hygiene atthe metro stations. Eco-friendlychemicals and high-standardequipment have been used for dis-infecting the direct contact areasinside metro trains at stationssuch as hand-railings, grab han-dles, lift buttons, escalators, seatsetc,” he added.

UPMRC managing director

Kumar Keshav urged all the com-muters in particular and public atlarge to adhere to the guidelinesissued by the World HealthOrganization (WHO) in view ofhealth, safety, sanitation care andadequate sensitisation. He alsourged Lucknowites to support the‘Janata curfew’ on March 22 andtake special care of hygiene aroundthem to be safe from coronavirusand check its spread.

“It is the time to support each other and be patient withoutcreating panic during these times,”he said.

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The first coronavirus patientof the city, a 35-year-old

Canadian doctor, was dis-charged from King George’sMedical University onSaturday. KGMU Vice-Chancellor Prof ML Bhatt saidtwo of her samples tested neg-ative in the past 24 hours.

“There are currently 17coronavirus patients at KGMUand the first one who came tothe isolation ward has been

discharged. We gave her thestandard medicine which isgiven for any viral treatmentbecause there is no medicinefor coronavirus. The otherpositive coronavirus patientswere given ‘chloroquine’ butsince the lady was allergic toit, we did not give her themedicine,” Prof Bhatt said.

The KGMU Vice-Chancellor said that with thispositive coronavirus viruspatient testing negative, itwould go across as a feel-good

message to the society. Thewoman was admitted toKGMU on March 3 soon aftershe arrived at the state capital.In a contact surveillance whichwas carried out after she test-ed positive, her 22-year-oldrelative had also tested positivetwo days later.

KGMU media spokesper-son Sudhir Singh said 74 sam-ples were tested for coron-avirus and 23 came out to benegative while reports of oth-ers were awaited.

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The state capital is all set forthe ‘Janata curfew’ under

the directions of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSunday. On Saturday itself, theroads wore a deserted look withpeople choosing to step out oftheir houses. Hazratganj, theheart of the city, remainedparticularly muted.

District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash took stock ofthe sanitisation and mopping ofHazratganj and Janpath mar-kets. He also inspected thesanitisation exercise at theShalimar Gallant housing theresidence of Bollywood singerKanika Kapoor, and the TajMahal Hotel.

The panic buying whichhad started after the rumoursof national lockdown onThursday continued even onthe eve of ‘Janata curfew.’ Theshops which were open inparts of the city which had notbeen closed down by the dis-trict administration also beganshutting down post afternoon.

Shopkeepers stated thatdistrict administration offi-cials asked them down theshutters. The owner of a shopselling eggs said: “I was askedto close the shop by the districtadministration officials, whosaid they did not want anycrowds.” Major grocery owners

across the city said they hadsold out almost all the com-modities. A trader in GomtiNagar said all the packets offlour, lentils in half-a-kg packsand tea leaves sold like hotcakes. “We are trying to contactthe distributor for more ordersbut not getting any positiveresponse,” he pointed out.

A resident of the city saidthat the shopkeepers had madethe most of the panic which thecoronavirus created and thatthey were charging more for

each of the commodities.A majority of women said

that domestic helps were alsopanic-stricken in view of thecoronavirus outbreak.

Kumudini Srivastava, ahousewife, said she had to giveher domestic help a paid leave.“I have been following reportsand after the Kanika Kapoorepisode, I realised that the sit-uation has turned worse andanyone could be a suspect,” shesaid. Vibha Singh, a schoolteacher, said she had asked one

of her domestic helps to staywith them. “I decided that itwas better for her to stay withus because this way she can beprotected from infection andwe are also not under the fearof getting infection from out-side,” she said.

Most of the youngsterssaid they would be missing outordering food from outside.“We have got used to the samebut in the current scenario, itdoes not seem to be the rightoption,” a youth said.

Meanwhile, the Lucknowpolice have appealed the pub-lic not to come out of theirhouses between 7 am and 9 pmon Sunday. In a Twitter post,the police spokesman said copswould remain on duty for thesafety of people. “A helplinenumber (9454405231) has beenissued and citizens may alsodial 112 for help,” he wrote. TheDCP (Traffic) and DCP(Central) appealed to people toensure preventive measuresand stay indoors.

Meanwhile, DistrictMagistrate Abhishek Prakashappealed to people to make the‘Janata curfew’ a success. Hesaid that in the eight zones ofLucknow, they have deployedtwo ambulances and one QRTin rural areas one ambulanceeach at the CHCs.

He said the LucknowDevelopment Authority andAwas Vikas would ensurecleanliness, and mopping &fogging would also be carriedout. He said there would be 84ambulances deployed in theentire district. The DM saidthat 1,000 vehicles and 10,000employees from Nagar Nigamwould be deployed for cleaningof the district.

He said that at all the 19IITMS crossings, announce-ments would be made regard-ing awareness about coronavirus.

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Liquor shops in Lucknow will remainclose on March 22 in view of the ‘Janata

curfew’. District Magistrate AbhishekPrakash ordered closure of all liquor shopsand model shops on March 22. He saidconsumption of liquor at desi liquor shopsand model shops would also remain post-poned till further orders. The DM clarified

that the licencees would not get any com-pensation for the closure of the shops.

General secretary, Liquor Sellers WelfareAssociation (LSWA) KL Maurya, wel-comed the DM’s order and said it was in theinterest of the public. On Saturday, the crowdat liquor shops remained thin as peopleavoided visiting the shops and crowdedplaces in view of the coronavirus pandem-ic and government’s appeal to stay indoors.

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The total COVID-19 cases inUttar Pradesh have gone up

to 26 with two more patientstesting positive — one in Noidaand another in Moradabad.There have been eight casesfrom Agra, two fromGhaziabad, six from Noida,eight from Lucknow, and oneeach from Lakhimpur Kheriand Moradabad.

State surveillance officerVikasendu Agarwal said a 16-year-old girl from Moradabad,who had just returned fromFrance, tested positive forcoronavirus.

“She had already been inquarantine after she returnedfrom the foreign shores. Shewas tested positive while shewas in the isolation ward at ahospital in Moradabad,” hesaid. He said that 162 personswho had attended differentparties in Lucknow withBollywood singer KanikaKapoor have been identifiedand contacted so far.

“All samples collected frompeople who attended the par-ties at Lucknow have testednegative. Till today, all positivecases in Uttar Pradesh aretrackable to persons with his-tory of foreign travel over 28days prior to onset of symp-toms. Thus, there is no evi-dence of secondary transmis-

sion,” he said.He further pointed out

that all the localities inLucknow where positive caseshave been found have beenthoroughly sanitised.

“Awareness drives havebeen conducted in KhurramNagar and Mahanagar areasand no new suspects have beenfound there. All the persons put

under quarantine are cooper-ating with the authorities andfollowing all instructions.Tracking of all these cases isbeing done on a daily basis andthey are all asymptomatic,” headded

He said their appeal to thepeople was to stay indoorsand observe ‘Janata curfew’on Sunday.

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Uttar Pradesh HealthMinister Jai Pratap Singh

and 40 other political leaderswho had attended the high-profile parties of Bollywoodsinger Kanika Kapoor testednegative for coronavirus.

As per an official commu-niqué from King George’sMedical University, the minis-ter’s throat swab was collectedand the reports came out to benegative for coronavirus.Confirming the same, statesurveillance officer VikasenduAgarwal said they were stillworking on the contacts of thesinger. “We had a list of 150contacts, but it is increasing andwe are sorting out as to whowill be tested,” he said. Headded that with all the high-profile leaders testing negative,

it was a big relief for the depart-ment. “The contact surveillanceof the singer will continue. Weare also getting the contacts ofthe passengers who travelledwith her on board the domes-tic flight which she took fromMumbai to land in Lucknowon March 12,” he said.

The official said that theyhad also gone through thecontacts of the relatives of theKGMU resident who had test-ed positive and there was nomajor cause of concern.

Agarwal reiterated thatthere was no cause for panicand people just had to takesome extra precautions. “InUttar Pradesh, we have foundno signs of community spreadso far. All people need to do is simply follow the guide-lines and ensure precautions,”he said.

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U.P. POWER TRANSMIS-SION CORPORATION LTD.E-TENDER NOTICEFollowing E-Tenders are invit-

ed from the experienced/reputed contrac-tors/suppliers for the execution of follow-ing works : For more details login on web-site.www.etender.up.nic.in. 1. Very shortterms E-Tender No. 153/AETC/2019-20 :- Work of loading and carriage of 40 MVAT/F from 132 KV sub station Phoolpurto132 KV S/S Bindwal Jairajpur andunloading, shifting, erection and otheras-sociatedworks under ETD Azamgarh.Earnest Money: Rs. 6050.00 (Rs. SixThousand Fifty) only. Tender Cost: Rs.714.00 (Rs. Seven Hundred Fourteen) only.Earnest money will be in shape ofRTGS/NEFT duly pledged in favour ofSuperintending Engineer.Electy.Transmission Circle. UPPTCL,Azamgarh. Tenderer Can upload their ten-der bids against this tender up to 17.00 hrs.of 29.03.2020; the same will opened ondated 30.03.2020 at 12.00 hrs. respec-tively. lntimation regarding opening of ten-der Bid part-Il i.e. Price Bid will be givenon above website in due course of time.Please visit website.www.etender.up.nic.infor details/down load and for any other cor-rections/amendments/modification exten-sion till the date of submission of tender.In case the tender opening date is holidayor undersigned remains out of head-quareters the date of submission and open-ing of tender will stand extended to nextworking day. Undersigned has the right toreject any tender without assigning any rea-son thereof. Conditional tenders shall nothe accepted. Superintending Engineer(Trans.) Azamgarh No. 405 Date20.03.2020 Save Electricity in the interestof nation.

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After the mysterious deathof a youth, identified as

Shrawan (20), a resident ofMalihabad, his family allegedfoul play and demanded athorough probe into the case.As they failed to get help fromthe police, they uploaded theircomplaint on the ChiefMinister’s complaint portal.

Raju was reported missingon January 20 after he left hishouse in Dighara in Maal,saying he had to take Rs 15,000from his friend. His body wasrecovered from Gomti river inHasanganj police station areaon March 17. The police iden-tified the body on the basis ofan Aadhaar card which wasrecovered from his pocket.The police had said the bodywas in a highly decomposedstate and had sent the same for

autopsy.Shrawan’s father Siyaram

said his son worked with a pri-vate company. “He was mar-ried to Puja of Akbarpur vil-lage of Maal under the ChiefMinister’s mass marriage pro-gramme. We also wanted toperform his marriage with cel-ebration and decided the datefor the same. On January 22,we had fixed his ‘Tilak’ cere-mony. On January 20, he leftthe house but did not return.We later got the news of hisdeath and recovery of hisbody,” he said. Siyaram said hewanted a threadbare probeinto the case.

“The police have yet to tellus where Shrawan remainedafter he went missing. We hadan apprehension that Shrawan’sin-laws and his wife played arole in the mysterious death,”he said.

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In a tragic incident, a 40-year-old woman going to a

hospital to see her father-in-lawwas mowed down by a speed-ing truck at Awadh NursingHome crossing in Manak Nagarpolice station area on Saturdaymorning. As per reports, thewoman identified as VandanaKushwaha of Zafarkheda local-ity in Manak Nagar, was goingto Awadh Hospital where herfather-in-law Kailash Prasad isadmitted these days. Around7.30 am when she was crossingthe road to reach the gate of thehospital, she was hit by a speed-ing truck. She was taken to thehospital where doctors declaredher brought dead.

Police spokesman VaibhavSingh said a case was registeredin this connection. “The regis-tration number of the truck hasbeen ascertained but the drivercould not be arrested as he fledthe scene. A sub-inspector,Rajendra Ram, has been taskedwith investigating the case,” hesaid. Commuters said the cross-ing is one of the dark spots inthe city where road mishapsoccur almost everyday. “Thereason behind the accidents isthe faulty construction of thecrossing,” they said.

Interestingly, the crossing ismanned by a large number oftraffic cops and also home-guards. The commuters said nopolicemen were present at thecrossing where the accidentoccurred.

Meanwhile, thieves strucktwo houses in Sarojini Nagar onthe intervening night of Fridayand Saturday. According topolice spokesman, the thievesstruck at the houses owned by

Zahir Khan and Shivam Gupta,both of Samar Vihar locality inSarojininagar.

The police said the thievesdecamped with Rs 10,000 fromeach house. The case has beenassigned to sub-inspectorSurjeet Yadav, who said Zahirwoks in Dubai while Shivamdrives a loader to eke out hislivelihood. Yadav said thethieves entered the house via theroof.

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In the FIR registered againstBollywood singer Kanika

Kapoor for hiding her travelinformation and on othercounts, the Chief MedicalOfficer erred in mentioningthe date of her arrival in thecity as March 14.

On Saturday, the CMOsent another complaint cor-recting the date of her arrivalas March 11. SarojininagarSHO AK Sahi said the policeannexed the complaint to theprevious one by correctingthe date.

In the first complaint, theCMO had stated that Kanikareturned from Mumbai onMarch 14 and was tested pos-itive at airport in Lucknow. Shewas asked to go for homequarantine but she ignoredthe instructions and took partin different events. The CMOhad stated that her act was inviolation of instructions underthe Epidemic Act, and a caseshould be registered underthese provisions.

Sources said the report onKanika was swept under the

carpet for nine days and itcame to the fore only aftersome newsmen got a whiff ofthe same. “It has yet to befound out how many personsKanika met during her stay inLucknow. They said it wouldbe a Herculean task for theLucknow police to track all the

persons who came in contactwith the singer.

Meanwhile, reacting to astatement made by singerKanika Kapoor regarding thestate of cleanliness of therooms at the SGPGI where sheis admitted, director DrDheeman said she had been

provided the best possiblefacilities possible in a hospital.“She must cooperate as apatient and not throwtantrums of a star. She is beingprovided gluten-free diet fromthe hospital kitchen. She has toco-operate with us to helpherself,” Dr Dheeman said.

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National BotanicalResearch Institute (NBRI) hasdeveloped an alcohol-basedhand sanitiser under CSIRAroma Mission as per theWHO guidelines for the pre-vention of coronavirus. Thisherbal hand sanitiser containstulsi essential oil as herbal con-stituent, which is a strongnatural antimicrobial agent,and 60 per cent of isopropylalcohol for killing germs. Theproduct is validated scientifi-cally for its strong germ-killingactivity. NBRI director SKBarik transferred the know-how technology of the alcohol-based herbal hand sanitiser toM/s Sadguru Biologicals PvtLtd, Lucknow. Scientist BNSingh and his team said thatconsidering the demand forhand sanitisers in view of theprevailing coronavirus spread,the product will be available inthe market by next week. Theproduct will be available underthe brand name of ‘Clean

Hand Gel’, as given by thecompany.

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Shreya Pandey, a student ofCity Montessori School, GomtiNagar Campus II, has beenoffered admission with a schol-arship of US$ 32,000 by theUniversity of Arizona (USA)for pursuing higher studiesthere. The scholarship has beenoffered to her for the entirestudy period of four years.Thus, yet another student ofCMS made it to a foreign uni-versity owing to her diligenceand aptitude.

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Lucknow (PNS): A 35-year-old man, who was said to bein an inebriated state, createda ruckus for hours as heclimbed atop a water tank inGudamba (sector J) on Fridaynight. The police had to toilhard to handle the situation.However, they succeeded inconvincing the man to comedown.

As per reports, MilabhYadav of Gudamba (sector J)climbed atop the water tanksome time on Friday eveningand slept there. After he wokeup, he started crying, thusdrawing the attention of the

public. A police team reachedthere and Yadav was persuad-ed to come down on thepromise that his complaintwould be addressed. It latersurfaced that Yadav was in aone-sided love with a girl andwas accusing her of betrayal.

Meanwhile, the Para policearrested a person accused ofstalking a girl and passinglewd remarks. The accused,identified as Sheebu of BadalKheda, was arrested on Fridaynight. Police said a case of eve-teasing, wrongfully restrainingthe girl and on other countswas registered against Sheebu.

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Delhi Chief Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Saturday further restrict-

ed the size of crowd at a place to 5 per-sons, encouraging social distancing tocontain the spread of coronavirus. In hisfirst ever digital interaction, Kejriwal alsosaid there is no lockdown plan as of now,but it can’t be ruled out if the situationdeteriorates.

“In case there is a queue, people arerequested to maintain a distance of 5metres between each other,” he said.

“At times when Delhi Metro hasdecided to suspend all its services, a lotof public transport such as autos and taxiswill also not be running. We deliberatedon the decision to suspend bus servicesfor tomorrow. However, suspending busservices will cause a problem in case ofemergencies. We have decided that 50%of the buses will not ply on the roads ofDelhi tomorrow,” said the CM.

Urging senior citizens to stay indooras they are more vulnerable to the viruswhich has claimed 5 deaths so far in India,Kejriwal said, “My sincere appeal to allsenior citizens. Please stay indoors. Youneed to take special care so that youremain free from infection. I urge you toskip your morning/evening walks for thetime being.”

As corona restrictions have causedterrible stress to the poor, DelhiGovernment will pay Rs 4000-5000 pen-sion amount to 8.5 lakh beneficiaries byApril 7. He said that there will be 50 per-cent increase in ration quantity than nor-mal entitlements will be given to 72 lakhbeneficiaries; the ration will be givenwithout any cost.”

While corona is affecting adverselydaily wagers , Delhi Government hasordered that lunch and dinner will beserved free to each and every person atall Delhi Government night shelters.

“As few people who are advised toquarantine themselves and staying in lux-urious hotels opted self paid facilities, theGovernment will waive off Good andService Tax ( GST ) to make their staymore affordable,” Kejriwal added.

Kejriwal said, “The DelhiGovernment is taking all possible mea-sures to tackle Coronavirus in closecoordination and cooperation with theCentral Government and the people ofDelhi.”

“Delhi has witnessed 26 Coronacases to date, along with one unfortunatedeath. Out of these, 4 cases were spreadby local transmission, and 22 cases hadtravel history. So, the spread of the virushas not been intense until now. But, weneed to take all possible precautions. Wehave seen how the virus has spread inItaly, Iran, and China, and we do not wantthat to happen in Delhi and the entirecountry. I know these measures arecausing a hindrance in the normal livesof the people, but this is the only we cansave ourselves from this.”

“If you follow all the measures andDo’s and Dont’s that have been prescribed,such as not shaking hands, regularlywashing hands, social distancing, stayingat home as long as you can, we will be ableto save ourselves and our family fromCorona,” he added.

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$�"��+!+��In a series of tweets, Modi

appealed to the countrymen tostay in 'home quarantine', say-ing people must listen to theadvise given by doctors andauthorities. "Never forget -precautions not panic. It's notonly important to be home butalso remain in the town/citywhere you are. Unnecessarytravels will not help you orothers. In these times, everysmall effort on our part willleave a big impact," Modi saidin a tweet message.

In another coronavirusrelated development, a couplewas deboarded from aBengaluru-Delhi Rajdhanitrain on Saturday after co-pas-sengers noticed a home quar-antine seal on the husband'shand. The Railways reportedtwo other recent incidentswhen people asked to remainin quarantine were found trav-elling on trains. It said at least12 people, including eightwho travelled on the APSampark Kranti train onMarch 13 have tested positivefor coronavirus.

"Railways has found somecases of coronavirus infectedpassengers in trains whichmakes train travel risky. Avoidtrain travel as you may also getinfected if your co-passengerhas coronavirus. Postpone alljourneys and keep yourselfand your loved ones safe," therailways tweeted. The rail-ways has already announcedthe suspension of train ser-vices of over 3,700 passengerlocomotives and long-distancemail and express trains, whichwere scheduled to start theirjourneys on Sunday due to callof 'Janata Curfew'.

According to the HealthMinistry, out of the 283 cases39 are foreign nationalsincluding 17 from Italy, threefrom the Philippines, twofrom the UK, one each fromCanada, Indonesia and

Singapore. It also includesfour deaths reported fromDelhi, Karnataka, Punjab andMaharashtra.

Maharashtra has reportedthe highest number ofCOVID-19 cases at 63, includ-ing three foreigners, followedby Kerala at 40, includingseven foreign nationals. Delhihas reported 26 positive cases,which include one foreigner,while Uttar Pradesh hasrecorded 24 cases, includingone foreigner. Telangana hasreported 21 cases, including 11foreigners. Rajasthan hasreported 17 cases, includingtwo foreigners. In Haryana,there are 17 cases, whichinclude 14 foreigners.Karnataka has 15 coronaviruspatients. Punjab and Ladakhhave 13 cases each. Gujarat hasseven cases while Jammu andKashmir has four. Out of the283 cases, 22 were dischargedand cured of the virus acrossIndia, four have died, while231 people still remainedactive. At a Press conferencehere, the Health Ministry saidit carried out training for crit-ical care management at 1,000places through video-confer-encing and will conductnationwide mock drill onSunday for emergencyresponse to handle coron-avirus cases.

In Noida, neighbouringDelhi, another man has test-ed positive for coronavirustaking the total to 5. The dis-trict administration has lockeddown his residential societywhich has thousands of resi-dents, from 10 am Saturday till7 am on Monday for sanitisa-tion. In its efforts to containthe novel coronavirus, Olahas suspended its share optionuntil further notice. "In ourefforts to ensure the well-being of our customers & dri-ver partners during these chal-lenging times, we've decided tosuspend Ola Share until fur-

ther notice. Our support teamsare available 24/7 for anyassistance," read the notice.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev Jindal,Regional Executive Director,Airport Authority of Indiasaid 12 airports in Northeastregion fall under essential ser-vices category and thereforewill be functional on Sundayduring 'Janata Curfew.' Noplans to close them until now.Domestic flights will keepoperating.

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Union Health Ministry’s advi-sory issued to hospitals andmedical institutions on Friday,it marks a significant shift inthe strategy to tackle theCovid-19 outbreak crisis fac-ing the country. The advisoryhad said no suspected Covid-19 patient should be turnedaway from any hospital andthe admission of any suchpatient should be notified toNational Centre for DiseaseControl (NCDC) or IntegratedDisease SurveillanceProgramme (IDSP) immedi-ately. It added, “Similarly, allpneumonia patients must alsobe notified to NCDC or IDSPso that they can be tested forCovid-19.” The Union HealthMinistry and ICMR, the coun-try’s apex biomedical researchbody, have steadfastly main-tained that the strategy to testonly those with travel historywas enough because Covid-19cases in the country werelargely due to those who hadtravelled to epicentres of theoutbreak such as China andItaly.

��'''��!�%�+�minister. It said all metro ser-vices in UP will be closedSunday and that bus servicesof Uttar Pradesh State RoadTransport Corporation andcity bus services will be closedfrom 6.00 am to 10.00 pm.

“Coronavirus is in thesecond stage all over thecountry. It will convey a bigmessage to the entire world ifwe are successful in stoppingthis at this stage. To curb thisinfection, we are working ona war footing. Isolation wardshave been set up in every dis-trict hospital and medicalcollege. So far, 23 patientshave been identified in thestate, out of which nine havecompletely recovered. Thereis no need to panic, but pre-pare yourself to fight againstthis challenge,” the UP chiefminister said in the state-ment.

He asked traders to nothoard essential items and peo-ple to purchase only necessarythings, assuring people thatthe state has enough foodgrain. He urged people to notcrowd or stand in queues atshops to prevent the infectionfrom spreading.

Adityanath said coron-avirus spreads through infec-tion and that the disease hasto stopped at any cost.

Reminding people of thePrime Minister’s appeal to cit-izens to avoid going to crowd-ed places and not to hold anypublic gathering, Adityanathsaid as a precautionary mea-sure the government hasdirected shutting down of alleducational institutions, mul-tiplexes, theatres and malls inthe state and that unnecessarytraffic has been stopped.

The Chief Ministerappealed that the publicshould not go to the marketsunnecessarily during the Jantacurfew on Sunday.

“We should all stay at ourhomes. The government hasenough medicines and foodgrains. There will be no short-age of necessary items in themarket. Everyone will getgoods, and they should notqueue at shops, and hoardunnecessarily,” he said.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday thanked

Maldives for contributing to theCOVID-19 emergency fundsand praised South Asian coun-tries’ unified bid to cope with thecoronavirus pandemic in theregion. On Friday, he hadthanked Bhutan and Nepal fortheir contributions to the fund.

Addressing the SAARCleaders and representatives viavideo conferencing on March 15Modi had proposed the emer-gency fund with an initial offerof $10 million from India for thepurpose.

"Deeply appreciate contri-bution of $200,000 byGovernment of Maldives to theCOVID-19 Emergency Fund. Itstrengthens our resolve in thiscollective fight against the pan-demic," he wrote on Twitter.

On Friday, he had expressedgratitude to Bhutan PrimeMinister Lotay Tshering for hisdecision to contribute $100,000 tothe COVID-19 Emergency Fund.

Modi said it is wonderful tosee SAARC leaders taking ini-tiatives that are adding strengthto the collective fight againstcoronavirus.

"Deeply appreciate PM@kpsharmaoli's announcementof contribution of NPR 10 croresto the COVID-19 Emergency

Fund. It reflects Oli Ji's com-mitment and support to thecollective fight of SAARC coun-tries against the pandemic," hehad said.

On Saturday, the primeminister also thanked variousorganisations and business bod-ies for their efforts to contain thespread of coronavirus. "Neverforget -- precautions not panic!,"he said adding that it is not onlyimportant to be home but alsoremain in the town/ city whereyou are. "

"Unnecessary travels willnot help you or others. In thesetimes, every small effort on ourpart will leave a big impact,"Modi said reacting to tweets bypeople on the virus. This is thetime we should all listen to theadvice given by doctors andauthorities, he said.

"All those who have beentold to stay in home quarantine,I urge you to please follow theinstructions. This will protectyou as well as your friends andfamily," he said. The prime min-ister also shared a video whichshowed how virus spreads andways to check its outbreak tak-ing small precautions.

The spread of Coronavirus isgraduated across the globe andabout to cross the third-stage inIndia where the possibility of theinfection multiplying or growingcommunity-wise would be high.

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Describing Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's call for a

‘Janata’ Curfew on Sunday asthe need of the hour, UnionHome Minister Amit Shah hasasked everyone in the countryto support it and encourageothers to join the movement toprevent the spread of coron-avirus. Meanwhile, HomeSecretary Ajay Bhalla onSaturday asked chief secre-taries of all States to ensure thatthe 'Janta Curfew' called byPrime Minister Narendra Modion Sunday is observed proper-ly in the wake of coronavirusoutbreak.

In a series of tweets, Shahalso asked all citizens to expressgratitude to those who areworking round the clock tokeep the country safe andhealthy amid the pandemic."Prime Minister @naren-dramodi ji's appeal for a JantaCurfew is need of the hour. As#IndiaFightsCorona, let us doour bit to defeat COVID-19.Stay indoors on 22 March from7am to 9pm. Encourage yourfriends and relatives too. Thisis our movement, we will win,together!," he said.

Shah also said no oneshould forget to show supportand gratitude on Sunday at 5pm for the people who have

been constantly working tokeep the country safe andhealthy. "Come out in your bal-conies with your family andcheer for them! Your applausecan make a big difference!," hesaid.

Meanwhile, the home sec-retary also told the top bureau-crats of all states to see thatlocal bodies, fire services, policeand civil defence blow sirens orring bells on Sunday evening toexpress gratitude towards thoseinvolved in tackling the disease."As you are aware, Hon'blePrime Minister, during hisAddress to the Nation onMarch 19, on combatingCOVID-19, requested all citi-zens to observe 'Janta' curfew(a curfew imposed for the peo-ple, by the people, on the peo-ple themselves) from 7 AMuntil 9 PM on this Sunday, the22nd March 2020.

"During this curfew, no

one apart from those involvedwith essential services is sup-posed to venture out of home,"Bhalla said in his letter. Thehome secretary said the primeminister had also mentionedthat there are many brave peo-ple who are at the forefront offighting the COVID-19 pan-demic like medical staff, police,government servants, airlinestaff, media persons,bus/train/auto operators andthose involved in providinghome delivery.

To show gratitude to theirselfless service to the nationduring such trying times, theprime minister had expressedhis desire that at 5 pm onMarch 22 all citizens acknowl-edge and salute their efforts bystanding in balconies or at thedoors of their houses and clapor ring bells for five minutes, headded. "All States and UnionTerritories are, therefore,requested to widely dissemi-nate the message of the Hon'blePrime Minister to the com-munity at large," Bhalla said.

"Further, Urban LocalBodies, Panchayati RajInstitutions, Fire Services,Police Services, Civil Defenceand Industrial Establishmentsetc., should be advised to ringa siren at 5.00 pm on March 22for intimation of all citizens,"he said.

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The Supreme Court onMonday will hear fresh

petition for "immediate"removal of the Shaheen Baghprotesters in the light of coro-navirus spread across the coun-try. The three-judge Benchwill also hear an earlier petitionfiled before the apex court inrelation to the case.

Judges Sanjay Kishan Kaul,KM Joseph and Sanjiv Khannawill take up the fresh petitionfor vacating protesters fromShaheen Bagh in the North-East Delhi on March 23 on aplea which has drawn attentionof the apex court to the diseasewhich has been earlier declaredpandemic by World HealthOrganisation. Around 283have been, to date , infected bythe virus in the country.

A fresh petition was filedby Advocate Ashutosh Dubeyand BJP leader and advocateNand Kishor Garg pleadingdirections for immediateremoval or dispersal of massgathering at Shaheen Baghhealth hazard posed by thecoronavirus which first origi-nated from China and subse-quently rapidly spread to othercountries, causing large-scalecasualties. The fresh petitionsays coronavirus is a highlycommunicable, engulfingunder its sweep all crowdedpublic places. A committee of

interlocutors who were deput-ed by the Supreme Court tonegotiate with the protestorshad earlier filed its report withthe apex court.

Meanwhile, the SupremeCourt's lawyers bodies -SCBA and SCAORA - havedecided to recommend to theChief Justice of India S ABobde to prepone the summervacation in the top court bydeclaring holidays for two tofour weeks in view of the coro-navirus pandemic.

In an executive committeemeeting of the Supreme CourtBar Association (SCBA) heldon Saturday, it was resolved thatthe summer vacation of the topcourt should be preponed andholidays declared from March23 onwards for four weeks.

"Considering the varioussuggestions made by distin-guished members of the EC(executive council), it has beenresolved that Chief Justice andJustices of the Supreme Courtmay consider the feelings andwell being of all stake holders,declare vacation in the SupremeCourt for four weeks beginningfrom Monday, March 23," acopy of the resolution sent tothe media by SCBA said.

It said the executive coun-cil has resolved that furtheraction in this regard should betaken after three weeks byanalysing the situation.

"The EC also requests the

court to adjust the lost days inthe forthcoming summer vaca-tion accordingly. The EC alsoresolves to inform the court ofits readiness to help the insti-tution at any point of time," theresolution said.

Similarly, another lawyers'body -- Supreme CourtAdvocate on RecordAssociation (SCAORA) -- alsoheld a meeting and passed aresolution saying "consideringthe seriousness/severity of thepresent situation and to curtailthe outbreak of the pandemiccoronavirus (Covid-19) andwith a view to safeguard andprotect the members of the Bar,the Court, office staff and alsothe registry staff, it is resolvedto unequivocally recommendto the honourable CJI to closethe Supreme Court for a peri-od of at least two weeks".

The Supreme Court isscheduled to go on summervacation from May 18 till July5 during which vacation bench-es usually take up urgent mat-ters.

The resolution of theSCAORA also made some sug-gestions in case the proposal fordeclaring holidays for at leasttwo weeks is not accepted.

The lawyers' body sug-gested that filing of matters becompletely stopped except forurgent matters pertaining todeath warrants, bail or custodyand habeas corpus petitions.

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After declaring face surgicalmasks and hand sanitisers

as essential commodities, theMinistry of Food andConsumer Affairs has fixed theretail prices of hand sanitisersat �100 per bottle of 200 ml.and retail prices of surgicalmask (3 ply) shall not be morethan �10 and that of mask (2ply) shall not be more than �8per piece. In its notification,the Ministry said Melt Blownnon-Woven Fabric used inmanufacturing face masks (2ply and 3ply) have also beencapped at the prices prevailinga month ago, as on February12, 2020.

Consumer Affairs MinisterRam Vilas Paswan in a tweeton Saturday said the price of200ml bottle of hand sanitisercannot be sold for more than

�100 and face masks cannot besold for more than �10 perpiece. In another tweet, Paswan

said since the outbreak of thehighly contagious coronavirus(COVID-19), there has been a

huge increase in the prices ofvarious face masks and mate-rial used in its manufacturing

and hand sanitisers.Secretary, Food and

Consumer Affairs, PawanAgarwal said notification tothis effect has been issued. Hesaid distilleries have been askedto ramp production of EthylAlcohol and provide them tomanufacturers of deodorantsprays so that there is no short-age of hand sanitisers.

The Government has ear-lier put masks and hand sani-tisers under EssentialCommodities Act (ECA) uptoJune 30, 2020 to ensure prop-er availability these items inmarket at correct price in viewof the outbreak of CoronaVirus. The decision hasempower the states to regulateproduction, quality and dis-tribution of masks and handsanitisers. Over the past fewweeks, there have been cases ofnon availability of surgical

masks and N95 masks due toincrease in demand and blackmarketing. There have alsobeen cases of traders chargingexorbitantly for hand sanitis-ers.

Agarwal also made it clearthat there is no shortage ofEssential Commodities such asfoodgrains and appealed thecommon people not to go forpanic buying. He saidStates/UTs have been advisedthat transport of essential sup-plies including food andhygiene products must bemaintained. Necessary direc-tions have been issued toensure that couriers of ecom-merce platforms are allowed tosupply essential items withouthassle. Besides, the States andConsumers can also avail ofConsumer Helpline to actswiftly against hoarding, short-ages and other malpractices.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi has urged India to

fight the coronavirus outbreakstrongly by observing the'Janata Curfew ' on March 22 bygiving the example of YuvrajSingh and Mohammad Kaifwho shared a memorable part-nership in the 2002 NatwestSeries which India won.

After the Prime Minister'sappeal, Kaif took to Twitterand requested the same topeople in order to prevent thespread of the virus. PM Modiresponded to Kaif 's tweet andsaid, "It is time for anotherpartnership."

Replying to Kaif 's tweet,PM Modi tweeted, "Here are 2excellent cricketers whose part-nership we will remember for-ever. Now, as they have said, itis time for another partnership.This time, all of India will bepartners in the fight againstCoronavirus."

Kaif and Yuvraj joinedhands for a 121-run stand todrag Sourav Ganguly-led Indiaout of a hole and guide them toa two-wicket victory againstEngland at Lord's in July 2002.

PM Modi has urged peopleto opt for a 'Janata Curfew' onSunday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.and all the sports personalitieshave endorsed the idea.

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The Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD)

Ministry on Saturday advised alleducational institutions to letstudents who are still in hostelsto stay put and take necessaryprecautions in view of the coro-navirus outbreak. "Students whoare still in hostels, particularlyforeign students, should beallowed to continue in their hos-tels and advised to take all nec-essary safe precaution,” HRDSecretary Amit Khare said in aletter to the institutions.

The universities and col-leges have been issuing advi-sories to students to leave forhomes and not stay in hostels asclasses have already been sus-pended in wake of the coron-avirus pandemic.

Last week, the HRDMinistry had directed that allexams in schools and colleges bepostponed till March 31 andevaluation work be suspended.The letter which has been sent

to the University GrantsCommission (UGC), All IndiaCouncil of Technical Education(AICTE), Central Board ofSecondary Education (CBSE),National Institute of OpenSchooling (NIOS) and otherautonomous bodies under theministry, also said that facultymembers, researchers and non-teaching staff be permitted towork from home.

"The faculty membersshould utilise this period foracademic activities such asdevelopment of online content,online teaching and online eval-uation. Preparing lesson planand developing instructionalmaterial for the courses to be

offered during next year orsemester, writing articles andpapers and preparing questionbanks, are among the activitieswhich can be pursued duringthe period," Khare said.

While the teaching andnon-teaching staff is required tobe available on phone and email,the institutions have beendirected to count the period asbeing on duty.

The HRD Ministry has alsoasked students to continue theirlearning by making full use ofthe available digital e-Learningplatforms during the periodthe educational institutions areclosed as a precautionary mea-sure against COVID-19.

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Congress president SoniaGandhi on Saturday urged

people not to panic in view ofthe coronavirus outbreak andsaid the country will not bowdown to this painful crisis.

She suggested a host ofmeasures to help those affect-ed due to the coronavirus andsaid a comprehensive, sector-wise relief package was requiredto be announced by theGovernment to support thosehit by its economic fallout.

“COVID-19 has alsoimpacted the biggest employ-

ment generator - the agricul-ture sector. Our farmers, culti-vators and farm labourers arebearing the brunt. To top it, theunseasonal rains and hail-storms across India have addedto their woes. Governmentmust consider a special reliefpackage for the agriculturesector also," Sonia said.

In a statement, Gandhiurged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and theGovernment to increase thenumber of testing facilitiesacross the country and makepublic the details of hospitalsand medical facilities through

a dedicated portal.She also pitched for a spe-

cial budgetary allocation forenhancing the facilities to com-bat the virus.

"Extraordinary times callfor extraordinary measures. Acomprehensive, sector-wiserelief package needs to beannounced forthwith by the government, including necessary tax breaks, interestsubvention and deferment of liabilities. For the salariedclass, the Government and the RBI must consider a defer-ment of EMIs," the Congresschief said.

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With fears around coron-avirus fuelling rumours

and misinformation on socialmedia, the Government haslaunched a chatbot on mes-saging platform WhatsApp toaddress user queries around thepandemic, and offer verifiedinformation and official advi-sories to the public.

'MyGov Corona Helpdesk'can be accessed by sending aWhatsapp message to +919013151515, and is equipped toaddress various FAQs pertain-ing to coronavirus such as itssymptoms, precautionary mea-sures that need to be under-taken, helpline numbers, affect-ed cases in the region, govern-ment advisories (includingtravel), among others.

Sources said the chatbothas been developed and imple-mented by Jio HaptikTechnologies, a conversation-al AI platform and a sub-sidiary of Reliance Industries.

Misinformation and fakenews circulating on socialmedia is fuelling public fearsaround coronavirus, and thetendency of mass-forwardingmessages without verifyingcontent has triggerred rumour-mongering and, at times, panic.

"The government alongwith Haptik is looking to curbsuch misinterpretations byintroducing the 'MyGovCorona Helpdesk'. With theWhatsapp user base in Indiacrossing over 400 million, thisis an ideal medium to routebasic hygiene practices aroundthe virus," sources said.

The move is aimed at curb-ing circulation of false infor-mation that can cause masshysteria, while at the sametime educating the populationabout the present scenario andpromoting awareness.

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The Central Association ofPrivate Security Industry

(CAPSI) has sought PrimeMinister intervention to savethe livelihood of lakhs ofPrivate Securiry guards whoare being removed from ser-vice by the Service Takers panIndia. The Closure of Malls,Show Rooms, Theatres, Hotelsetc. have led to a situationwherein the clients are askingto remove all Security Guardsfrom their locations leavingonly one guard at these sitesand they have also made itclear that they will only pay forthe drastically reducedstrength. Now what happensto the Others ? Where do theother guards Go? Who Paysthem their Salaries for thisperiod.

Kunwar Vikram Singh,Chairman of CAPSI wrote tothe Prime Minister and

explained the prevailing situ-ation which may turn ugly ifremedial measures are nottaken immediately.

He did that corporateshave issued letters of drasticreduction of service strengthfrom their establishments.They have also refused to paywages for the period of layoff. This situations will havedeep impact on the life ofsecurity guards and their fam-ilies.

Singh said that under thepresent condition of CoronaChallenges, the SecuriryGuards are working day &night without caring for theirown health challenges. Hesaid that if immediate decisionis not taken that entire PSI willcollapse causing huge unrestamong the security guardsand closure of thousand ofPrivate Security Agencieswhich are already sufferingdue to GST.

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In the wake of coronavirusoutbreak and possibility of it

graduating to its third stage,Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Saturday called for imme-diate steps to revive the coun-try's economy on Saturday say-ing there was a need for a bigfinancial package.

Stating that the onset ofcoronavirus was a seriousattack on country's fragileeconomy, the former Congresspresident took potshots atPrime Minister NarendraModi's call for beating of"thalis" in the honour of thoseworking to contain the spreadof the virus.

Congress leader said clap-ping would not help the dailywage workers and small andmedium entrepreneurs. "Thecoronavirus is a big attack onour fragile economy. Small andmedium entrepreneurs andour daily wage workers are themost affected.

"Clapping will not helpthem. Today there is a need forcash relief and tax sops, besidesrelief in repayment of loans aspart of a big economic package.Take immediate steps," the for-mer Congress chief said in atweet in Hindi.

Congress on Saturdaysought the government to pro-vide immediate financial assis-tance to daily wagers, autodrivers, security guards andsmall vendors. The party alsoasked the Modi-government tomake advance payment ofwages to those linked toMGNREGA.

Number of those infectedby Coronaviros to a majorjump on Friday taking thetotal number to 283 acrossIndia.

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For the second consecutiveday, Kerala reported 12

more fresh cases of coron-avirus taking the tally in theState to 49, Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan said onSaturday, even as he ruled outthe possibility of communityspread.

However, he warned ofstrict action if Governmentinstructions were not followedto keep the virus at bay.

While six more peopletested positive from Kasaragod,three new cases each werefrom Kannur and Ernakulamdistricts, Vijayan told reportersafter a COVID-19 review meet-ing here.

“All those who were diag-nosed with the virus todayhad returned from Dubairecently.

At least 52,785 people arein home quarantine, while 228are under observation in iso-lation wards at various hospi-tals,” Vijayan said.

Three positive cases wereearlier treated and discharged.

On Friday also, 12 cases werereported from the southernstate.

Vijayan again requestedplaces of worship not to allowcrowds during the regularprayer sessions.

“It has come to our noticethat at some places of worshipnearly thousands of peoplehad been allowed for partici-pating in a festival. Werequest religious leaders not torepeat such actions. We are alsorequesting the people to stayaway from the crowd and thosehaving symptoms should stayat home.

If they fail to follow theinstructions of the state gov-ernment, strong action will beinitiated,” Vijayan said.

He also lashed out at the“irresponsible” act of theKasaragod patient who hadroamed around and forcedeven two of the MLAs into self-quarantine and said such peo-ple were working against thesociety. “The patient wasroaming around as he pleased.Kasaragod district adminis-tration has published the par-

tial route map of the patient.Despite counselling, the

patient failed to help the healthdepartment to make a properroute map.There is somethingfishy in it,” the chief ministersaid.

The district collector saidthe patient was not cooperat-ing, Vijayan pointed out.

Meanwhile, a person whowas asked to remain in homequarantine was found inside aKerala State Transpot bus.

After passengers alertedpolice, he was shifted to a hos-pital. The KSRTC officials sani-tised the bus before continuingwith the journey.

The state government can-celled all lotteries in the state tillnext month.

As of now, Kasaragod is theworst-virus hit district in thestate with 14 positive cases andthe government has virtuallyshutdown the district.

As part of the the strictmeasures, the district admin-istration has closed down allgovernment offices for oneweek and closed places of wor-ship for two weeks.

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The entire State of TamilNadu has come under a

security blanket but with adifference. Instead of gun tot-ting commandoes of para mil-itary forces and the State Police,para medics and doctors armedwith scanners and sensors wel-come travelers at airports, rail-way stations and bus stationsacross the State.

Since the news of coron-avirus broke out, Tamil Naduhas detected six cases ofCOVID . “One of the patientshas been cured and dischargedwhile others are undergoingtreatment in Government-runRajiv Gandhi General Hospitalin Chennai,” said Dr C VijayaBaskar, Minister for health andfamily welfare. He said therewas no need of any concernand people need not get panicas the State Health Departmentis in a ‘mission mode’ from dayone. He said all were import-ed cases from different regionswith travel histories and werenot community transmitted.

That the situation in TamilNadu was under control wasemphasized by MK Stalin ,Leader of the Opposition in theassembly. “The Centre andState Governments are doingwhatever they could do to helpand save the people from thispandemic. But we too shouldbe vigil against the disease andvirus,” Stalin said in a TVcommercial, surprising wordsfrom the DMK president whois always breathing down theneck of the EdappadiPalaniswamy led AIADMKGovernment.

“Tamil Nadu is doing

excellent job in fighting thecoronavirus epidemic. TheMinister Dr Vijaya Baskar isworking round-the-clock withhis team of medical doctorsand para medics. The ChiefMinister is also monitoringthe situation and interactingwith the officials on a hourlybasis,” said Vaigai Selvan, chiefspokesman, AIADMK, whohimself is a former minister inthe Jayalalithaa government.

Minister Dr Vijaya Baskarsaid in the assembly onSaturday that elaboratearrangements have been madeto monitor and screen peoplereaching Tamil Nadu fromvarious destinations. “Wescreen nearly 25,000 persons atChennai airport daily. Thesame is the case with MGRCentral Railway Station,Egmore and TambaramRailway Stations,” said the min-ister.

While all major pilgrimcentres have been shut down inthe State, the vehicles enteringTamil Nadu from the States ofKerala, Karnataka and AndhraPradesh are being monitoredthoroughly. Passengers reach-ing the Tamil Nadu bordersfrom Kerala were seen arguingwith the health authorities forthe tough measures being fol-lowed. “We have been told toremain cool despite the harshwords spoken by these people.The attitude of people fromKerala has to change. No won-der, the southern State is reel-ing under Corona virus scarewith more than hundredpatients running helter-skelterall over Kerala,” said AbhijitNakulan, a frequent commuterbetween Chennai and Kochi byroad.

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Even as Kolkata recorded itsthird corona patient on

Saturday Mamata Banerjee hitout at the Centre for allowingunrestricted flow of railwaypassengers to Bengal withoutmaking arrangement forscreening them at the Railwaystations.

Alleging that Bengal wasnot only being deprived ofadequate stock of equipmentrequired to treat patients andprevent further infection theChief Minister said “I havebeen screaming for the pastone month about screeningthe migrant labourers trainloads of who are being sent tomy State but they are not lis-tening to me and deliberatelysending them back to Bengal… With limited infrastructurehow will we be able to keeptrack of these thousands ofpeople when they fan out inthe villages?”

The Chief Minister saidhow her repeated appeal tostop long-distance trains hadfallen in deaf ears. “We areentering the third week (ofproliferation) and this is acrucial hour. It is a dangerous

phase. We are not gettingenough cooperation and nowthis additional hazard (ofmigrant labourers) for Bengal,”the Chief Minister said appeal-ing to the workers not to goout to other States for work “aswe have created enough facil-ity for you to find jobs here inBengal itself.”

Banerjee had on Friday hitout at the Centre for allowing-international flights to land inIndia. “Why should the com-mon people of the countryhave to bear the burden of adisease brought from outside,”she said. The Chief Ministerhas called an all-party meetingon Monday with a view to dis-cuss the grave situation arisingout of the Corona outbreak inthe country.

Meanwhile even as thethird Corona case surfaced inKolkata where a woman fromScotland tested positive andreports of two special trainsbringing thousands of migrantlabouers back to the State, theGovernment on Saturdaydirected the closure of all therestaurants, parlors, pubs,clubs, amusement parks, zoos,museums and other enter-tainment facilities fromSunday.

Inter-State bus serviceswill also remain suspendedfrom Sunday till t least March31, Government sources said.

“In order to further checknon-essential social gather-

ings which lead to spread ofthe virus from infected per-sons to healthy persons wehave ordered the shutdown,” aGovernment official said. The Class XII Board

examinations which wereallowed to continue for thepast one week will also remainsuspended from Monday tillfurther notice, EducationDepartment sources said.

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Maharashtra, which hasborne the maximum

brunt of Coronavirus in thecountry, witnessed a sharpjump in the number of con-firmed cases on Saturday, astwelve more persons testedpositive for Covid-19 in a sin-gle day, taking the total num-ber of infected cases to 64 in thestate.

Apart from one death,Maharashtra has so far record-ed 25 per cent of the total 258confirmed Coronavirus casesreported from various parts ofthe country.

Of the 12 fresh positivecases recorded in Maharashtraon Saturday, Mumbai account-ed for a maximum of 8, whilePune—which is one of theworst-affected cities in the state– reported two cases. There wasone confirmed case each inYavmatmal and Kalyan.

Shockingly enough, one ofthe eight newly infectedpatients in Mumbai was work-ing at the city airport, in anindication of the fact he mighthave contracted the virusowing to his exposure to peo-

ple arriving in Mumbai frominternational destinations.

From among the remain-ing infected cases in Mumbai,six persons had a history ofinternational travel, while oneperson had travelled to Gujarat.

In Pune, a 41-year-oldwoman with no history ofinternational travel tested pos-itive for Coronavirus, while 25-year man who had travelled toEngland and Ireland is thesecond infected case.

The person from Kalyan,who has tested positive forCovid-19, is the brother of ayoung woman fromUlhasnagar with history oftravel to Dubai.

The infected patient fromYavatmal, who has been admit-ted to a Mumbai hospital, hasa history of travel to Congo inCentral Africa.

With the 12 fresh cases, thetotal number of confirmedCovid-19 rose to 64 in the state.Mumbai accounted for a max-imum of 19 cases, while Puneand Pimpri-Chinchwad report-ed 12 and 11 cases respective-ly. The break-up of positiveCoronavirus cases elsewhere inthe state is: Nagpur-4,

Yavatmal-4, Kalyan-4, NaviMumbai-3, Ahmednagar-2,Panvel-1, Thane-1,Ulhasnagar-1 Aurangabad-1and Ratnagiri-1. Of the patientswho had tested positive forCovid-19 earlier, a 63-year-old disease-infected had died atthe Kasurba Hospital on March17

Talking to media personson the current Coronavirus sit-uation in Maharashtra, StateHealth Minister Rajesh Topesaid: “In all, 285 persons withhistory of international travelare under surveillance forsymptoms of Coronavirus. Tilltoday, 1861 people have arrivedin the state from Covid-hitcountries”

“Since January 18, we hadquarantined 1582 people withsymptoms like fever, cold andcough in various hospitals in

the state. Of the quarantinedpeople, 1206 have been testednegative for Coronavirus, while64 persons have tested for thepandemic,” Tope said.

Amid reports of peopledeserting their pet animals infear of their contractingCoronavirus from them, Topesaid: “Through our helplines,we are receiving complaints ofpeople deserting their pet ani-mals after apprehending thatthey might contract the Covid-19. But, we have so far noexamples of any one contract-ing the pandemic from pet ani-mals. Hence, there is no needfor people to desert their ani-mals.

Meanwhile, the OppositionBJP threw its full weight behindthe Uddhav Thackeray gov-ernment in combating thepandemic.

Talking to media persons,former chief minister and thecurrent leader of theOpposition in the StateAssembly Devendra Fadnavissaid: “Coronavirus is a nation-al disaster. The entire countryis fighting the pandemic. TheState government is taking cer-tain measures to tackle Covid-

19. We are fully with theUddhav Thackeray govern-ment in all its efforts.

Making a case for theMaharashtra government cre-ating daily wage work for thosewho have been unemployedbecause of the pandemic,Fadnavis said: “The trade andall other activities have come toa standstill in Mumbai,Pune,Pimpri-Chinchwad andNagpur. In MumbaiMetropolitan Region itself,there are 50 lakh workers. Thestate government maintains afund for the constructionworkers. The State govern-ment should use a fund of Rs4,000 crore lying in the con-struction workers cess accountto give some allowance theseworkers”

“The State governmentshould also raise funds fromvoluntary organisations forcreating jobs and providingallowances for jobless in thestate,” the senior BJP leadersaid, while urging the govern-ment to draw up a StandardOperating Procedure (SOP) todeal with the problems faced bythe unemployed people in thestate.

Ayodhya: In the wake of coro-navirus concerns, the districtadministration has banned thegathering of people for RamNavami Mela in Ayodhya onApril 2 for which more than 10lakhs devotees were expected toconverge, officials said.

According to Ayodhya dis-trict magistrate Anuj KumarJha, the administration took thedecision on Saturday to notallow devotees to enter Ayodhyatill April 2 and has also bannedpeople from taking a holy dip inriver Saryu.

According to seers, this willbe the first time that devoteeswill not be allowed to take part

in the traditional Ram NavamiMela. The devotees start con-verging in Ayodhya from thefirst day of Navratri festival(March 25 this year).

However, as part of pre-cautionary measures due toCoronavirus pandemic, theadministration will barricade allentry points of Ayodhya anddevotees will be stopped on bor-ders and sent back, the DM said.

The administration hasalso instructed owners andmanagers of hotels anddharamshalas to not entertainany guests and cancel anyadvance bookings for the period. PTI

Patna: The Bihar Government on Saturdayordered shutting down of bus services, restau-rants and banquet halls across the state tillMarch 31 to prevent the spread of novel coro-navirus, officials said.

However, home delivery and take homeservices of restaurants will remain functional,a health department order said.

The State Government, invoking the BiharEpidemic Diseases, COVID-19 Regulations,2020, said the restrictions have come into forcewith immediate effect.

“The decision was taken for prevention andcontrol of the outbreak of epidemic diseasenamely COVID-19 in the state,” HealthDepartment Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumarsaid in the order.

No coronavirus case has been reported inBihar so far, Health officials said.Transport Secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal saidboth city and interstate buses will not ply tillMarch 31 in the wake of the coronavirus.

“All types of government and private citybuses and interstate buses will not ply till March31,” Agarwal said.

City buses will stop plying from Saturday,while interstate bus services will be suspend-ed from Sunday, he said.

The state government had on March 18shut all shopping malls, gymnasiums, spas andswimming pools across the state till March 31in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

It has also restricted all mass gatheringsexcept marriages and directed shops andrestaurants to disinfect the facilities twice a day,besides providing customers with hand sani-tisers. The state government had on March 13ordered closure of all educational institutes,movie theatres, parks, zoos and museums tillthe month-end.

A total of 520 people who returned to thestate from coronavirus-hit countries sinceJanuary 11 till date have been placed underhome quarantine, they added. PTI

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Guwahati: The AssamGovernment on Saturdaydirected the schools to providestudents with course materialsand give them homeworkthrough WhatsApp to pre-vent learning gaps and subse-quent dropouts during theclosure of educational insti-tutes due to the coronavirusoutbreak, officialssaid.

The EducationDepartment asked the schoolsto create WhatsApp groupswith guardians of the studentsfor this purpose, an officialsaid.

The department also askedteachers to make short videoson topics in the syllabi andupload them in the WhatsAppgroups, he said. It asked theteachers to assist students withstudies over the phone orWhatsApp from 7 am to 9 am

and 7 pm to 9 pm, besidesmaking home visits, the offi-cial said.

The department also askedthe schools to use technologieslike Google Classroom infuture, the official said.

It asked the schools tocreate classwise WhatsAppgroups in the educational insti-tutes where students and

teachers are more in number,he said.

The department directedthe schools to identify localyouths with smartphones toassist the guardians who donot own such phones, theofficial said.

All educational institutesin the state have been shut tillMarch 31. PTI

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Though there was no corona-infectedcasualty in Kolkata the scare of the virus

apparently led to a skirmish causing one deathinside Dum Dum Central penitentiary wheretwo groups of prisoners clashed on Saturdayleaving one person dead, sources said.

The dead person received bullet injuriesthat the inmates claimed was fired by thepolice.

The clash broke out in the backdrop ofgrowing Corona scare which was furtherstoked by suspension on court hearings tillMarch 31, lack of masks and sanitizers andalleged selective grant of payroll to theinmates, sources said.

While Jail Minister Jyoti Priya Mullicksaid things would come to the fore after aninquiry, inside sources said that the under-tri-als were irked by the turning down of theirapplication for payroll which they alleged wasbeing granted to prisoners who were under-going sentence.

Another reason for their anger was a baron jail visits for the next one week by the rel-

atives of the prisoners.A general grievance for lack of facilities

in the backdrop of Corona scare finally snow-balled into a clash between the convicted pris-oners and the under-trials, sources saidadding the police and the jail authorities werealso attacked when they tried to interveneeven as the two sides fought with brickbats.

Even as the inmates set the front build-ing afire by igniting the gas cylinders kept inthe kitchen and broke open the inner gate thepolice resorted to firing and bursting tear gasshells, sources said.

Senior officials including ADG prisons,Commissioner of Police Barrackpore alsorushed to the spot sources said adding the sit-uation was brought under control after a 4-5 hour skirmish. Fire tenders were pressed intoservice to douse the flames, sources said.

Meanwhile similar unrest had eruptedinside Presidency Jail in Kolkata where theinmates had started protesting sources saidadding the police have rushed to the area andwere trying to bring the situationunder con-trol.

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The protesters at ShaheenBagh on Saturday said that

they will continue their agita-tion against the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) andthey all are taking all precau-tions to fight against the novalcoronavirus. The protestagainst the CAA at ShaheenBagh on Saturday completed its100th day. The protesters alsosaid that they continue theirprotest on Sunday, the daywhen Prime Minister NarendraModi has urged people toremain inside their housesunder a self-imposed curfew.

According to elderlywomen sitting at the protestsite, they are offering namazfive times a day and regularlywashing their hands. "Thisprotest will not end here.Modiji, you still have time torevoke this black law. We wantto spend our lives peacefullyand let us do that. The coun-try belongs to us. We were bornhere and will die here only,"said a women protester.

"What you have done with

Jamia, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) and Jafrabad.We do not need such kind ofgovernment. Jamia andShaheen Bagh are our homesand we will sit here. We have tofight this battle together andJamia and Shaheen Bagh willwin it together," anotherwoman said.

On Monday, the Delhi gov-ernment said gatherings withmore than 50 people were notallowed in the wake of thenovel coronavirus pandemic.The size of gatherings has sincebeen reduce to 20 people. "Italso applies to Shaheen Bagh,"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalhad said.

The protesters said thatnot more than 50 women hadbeen staging protest at anygiven time. On December 13,the students of Jamia MilliaIslamia protested against theCAA and had called for amarch to Parliament Housefrom the university campus toexpress their opposition to thelegislation. The anti-CAAprotest in Shaheen Bagh start-ed on December 15 last year.

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As several MPs have gone intoself-quarantine, Parliament

complex was sanitised on Saturdayfollowing the direction of LokSabha Speaker Om Birla.

The speaker said awarenessand restraint are key to preventionof coronavirus and hoped that thenation would fight COVID-19with the collective efforts of all cit-izens.

Several lawmakers have goneinto self-quarantine followingreports that BJP MP DushyantSingh had attended a party withBollywood singer Kanika Kapoordays before she tested positive forcoronavirus.

In a follow-up meeting held inhis Chamber, Birla directed offi-cials of NDMC and allied agencies,working within Parliament, toensure sanitation in and aroundParliament House Estate.

On Friday, he conducted aninspection of the preparationsmade in the Parliament HouseEstate to prevent the spread ofnovel coronavirus.

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Food and Supply MinisterImran Hussain on

Saturday said that necessaryaction against the black-mar-keters and hoarders are beingtaken as per law under theprovisions of essential com-modities act.

Hussain also directed offi-cials for taking measures tomanage Fair Price Shops(FPS) better during the fightagainst the COVID-19. Hesaid that the guidelines issuedby Government of India alongwith do’s and don’ts may becirculated to all FPS for strictadherence. “The hygienicitems like masks, hand sani-tisers, soaps, etc required tocontain the transmission ofCOVID-19 may be sold at FPSsubject to the prohibitionsand conditions as prescribedunder law,” he told the officialduring a high level meeting toreview the arrangements ofFood Supplies and ConsumerAffairs Department for effec-tively tackling the threat posedby coronavirus.

Social distancing may beadopted as a non-pharma-ceutical infection preventionand control interventionprocess, he said, adding thatkeeping a distance of onemeter among the beneficia-ries/persons in a queue atFPSs should be maintained.

The Minister further saidthat days of distribution offood grains at FPSs may beextended up to maximumperiod of the month so as toreduce the crowd of benefi-ciaries at the FPSs.

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Africa's cases of the coronavirus rose above1,000 on Saturday while two heads of state

appeared to defy their own travel restrictions toattend another president's inauguration.

Angola announced its first cases, meaningat least 40 of Africa's 54 countries are now affect-ed. Congo reported its first death; Burkina Fasoreported two new ones. Somalia said it's liftingits ban on international flights for two days sostranded citizens can come home. And Ethiopia'selectoral authorities discussed the virus' effect ona major national election later this year.

Angola closed its air, land and sea bordersthis week, but Namibian media showed PresidentJoao Lourenco at the inauguration of NamibianPresident Hage Geingob. Also in attendance wasPresident Mokgweetsi Masisi of neighboringBotswana, which this week suspended interna-tional travel by all Government employees.

New York: New York CityMayor Bill de Blasio has saidthat the metropolitan city is the“epicentre” of the coronaviruscrisis in the United States, asGovernment officialsannounced some of the moststringent measures to slow thespread of the pandemic that hasclaimed over 200 lives in thecountry.

The Mayor on Friday saidthat there were 5,151 con-firmed cases of coronavirus inthe city. “And to give you per-spective that is now about one-third of all the coronaviruscases in the United States ofAmerica. It is about two-thirdsof the cases in the state of NewYork. I hate to say this, but it'strue we are now the epicentreof this crisis right here in thenation's largest city,” the Mayorsaid. However, the num-ber of cases and deaths con-tinue to rise at an alarming ratein the city and across thenation.

Late Friday, officialsreported 5,683 confirmed coro-

navirus cases in New York Cityand 43 deaths. This grew fromthe 5,151 cases 29 deaths earlyFriday. New York State hasclose to 7000 cases and with 6percent of the U.S. Population,the state accounts for over one-third of all confirmedCOVID19 cases in the country.

States across the nation areimplementing strict measuresthat would keep millions of cit-izens in-doors beginning thisweekend. The states of NewYork, New Jersey, Connecticutand Illinois ordered its residentsto stay mostly indoors, in effectmeaning that one in fiveAmericans will soon berequired to stay indoors.

New York State GovernorAndrew Cuomo announcedsome of the strictest measuresas the number of coronaviruscases continued to skyrocket inthe State.

Cuomo announced that heis signing the “New York Stateon PAUSE” executive order, a10-point policy to assure safe-ty for everyone. PTI

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Athens: A plane from Chinacarrying 500,000 masks to helpGreece combat the coronavirusoutbreak landed at AthensInternational Airport onSaturday.

Health Minister VassilisKikilias was among those at theairport to receive the loadwhich was donated by theChinese public electricity com-pany State Grid and Greekelectricity supplier Admie, in

which the Chinese firm holdsa 25 percent stake.

The load consisted mainlyof FFP2 masks which will bedistributed principally to hos-pitals, airport officials said.

Beijing and Athens havebeen building important com-mercial relationships for over adecade, especially after the saleof most of the terminals in theport of Piraeus (near Athens)to the Chinese shipping giant

Cosco.With its health system suf-

fering from chronic problemsand its economy still creakingafter a long-running debt cri-sis, Greece is facing a shortageof medical equipment, espe-cially masks.

Covid-19 has killed tenpeople in the country in thepast nine days while 495 caseshave been recorded, withscreening tests being mainly

carried out on those suspectedof carrying the virus.

After the first death, onMarch 12, the governmentadopted strict measures tolimit unnecessary movement,ranging from the closure ofeducational establishments,parks and entertainment facil-ities to the banning of gather-ings of more than 10 people. AFP

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Thessaloniki (Greece): Almost 600 migrantsarrested while crossing to three Greek islandsfrom the Turkish coast opposite have arrived ata facility in northern Greece where they arerequired to remain pending deportation, author-ities say. The 598 migrants were sent by boatto the northern port of Kavala and by bus to thefacility, northeast of the city of Thessaloniki andnear the border with Bulgaria.

The migrants will stay in tents and will notbe able to leave the camp.

Red Cross doctors took each arrival's tem-perature and asked them about recent bouts ofthe flu. There has been no information as to theirhealth status.

The migrants are from a wide array of coun-tries in Asia and Africa. Authorities would notprovide a breakdown, but officials said on con-dition of anonymity that the arrivals did notinclude Iraqis or Syrians. Greece has tightenedborder controls and has suspended asylumapplications since early March, days afterTurkey announced that it was opening its bor-ders to migrants and refugees and encouragedthem to cross into Greece. AP

Beijing: China has not report-ed any local coronavirus casesfor the third consecutive daybut the country is facing asharp increase of COVID-19cases from abroad, a healthofficial said on Saturday.

Seven more fatalitiesreported from the virus' epi-centre of Hubei province, tak-ing the death toll in the coun-try to 3,255, China's NationalHealth Commission (NHC)said on Saturday.

The coronavirus death tollhas gone up to 11,397 withmore than 275,427 casesreported in over 160 countriesand territories, according todata from Johns HopkinsUniversity.

Italy has overtaken Chinaas the worst-hit with over over4,000 deaths reported so far.

The NHC said on Saturdaythat no new domestically trans-mitted cases of COVID-19were reported on the Chinesemainland for the third day ina row on Friday.

On Friday, seven deathsand 36 new suspected cases

were reported on the mainland,with all the deaths reportedfrom the virus' epicentre

Hubei province and itscapital Wuhan, it said.

The overall confirmedcases on the mainland havereached 81,008 by the end ofFriday, which included 3,255deaths, 6,013 patients stillundergoing treatment, 71,740patients who have been dis-charged after recovery, theNHC said.

Facing a sharp increase ofCOVID-19 cases from abroad,China will take strict measuresto prevent imported cases,spokesman of the NHC MiFeng told media here onSaturday. He said the totalnumber of imported cases tothe Chinese mainlandincreased by 216 per cent to269 from March 11 to 20.

He also noted that themainland reported no newdomestically transmittedCOVID-19 cases for the thirdday in a row on Friday, andprovincial-level regions exceptthe hard-hit Hubei province

had been clear of indigenouscases for nine days.

He called for unswervingefforts in preventing theCOVID-19 epidemic fromrebounding.

The NHC said 41 newconfirmed COVID-19 caseswere reported on the Chinesemainland on Friday from thepeople arriving from abroad,taking the total number ofimported cases to 269.

While reporting about asteady increase in importedcases, the NHC did not speci-fy whether the infected personswere foreigners or Chinesenationals returning fromabroad. China has imposedstrict quarantine measures forall those returning from othercountries.

Hong Kong reported 17additional confirmed cases ofCOVID-19 and 20 prelimi-nary positive cases on Saturday.With the 17 newly confirmedcases, the total number of con-firmed COVID-19 cases inHong Kong has risen to 273. PTI

Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday sus-pended all international flights for twoweeks and curtailed train services as thecoronavirus cases surged to 666 in thecountry after more pilgrims whoreturned from Iran tested positive for thedeadly virus, which has turned into amajor global crisis.

The Government in a statement saidall international flights are being sus-pended for two weeks to curb thespread of the virus. From 8 pm tonight,“all incoming international flights arebeing suspended for two weeks,” astatement issued read.

National flag-carrier PIA howeverwill be allowed to bring back its planes.Cargo flights will also be allowed.Earlier today, PIA had said all interna-tional departures were being suspend-ed till March 28. Railway MinisterSheikh Rashid Ahmad ordered to reducethe number of trains running in thecountry from March 25 until the mid-dle holy month of Ramadan, whichwould start around April 25.

“We have decided to suspend 34

trains out of total 142 running in thecountry while another eigh trains will besuspended from April 1,” he said. TheGovernment announced the measuresas the number of confirmed cases in thecountry jumped to 666 on Saturday.

The worst-affected Sindh provincereported 90 new coronavirus cases,taking the provincial tally to 357. Thenew cases have been detected in pilgrimswho returned from Iran and have beenquarantined in Sukkur, according to aspokesperson for the Sindh healthdepartment.

The number of COVID-19 patientsin Balochistan rose to 104; 96 in Punjab;27 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; 21 inGilgit-Baltistan; 10 in Islamabad; andone in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

So far three patients have died inPakistan while five have recovered.Pakistan reported the third casualty fromthe virus in Karachi on Friday, two daysafter two men – both pilgrims return-ing from Iran and Saudi Arabia – diedof the coronavirus in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. PTI

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Afghanistan and Maldiveson Saturday pledged to

contribute USD 1.2 million tothe SAARC CoronaEmergency Fund proposed byPrime Minister Narendra Modiwith an initial offer of USD 10million from India to helpcombat the fast-spreadingCOVID-19 pandemic in theregion.

Spokesperson for thePresident of Afghanistan SediqSediqqi said the Afghan gov-ernment believed in joint col-laboration and strengtheningpartnership to fight the rapid-ly-spreading coronavirus pan-demic.

“The Afghan Governmenthas just approved a contribu-tion of One Million USD to theCOVID-19 Emergency Fundas per the discussions inSAARC heads of nations VTC,believing in joint collaboration,and strengthening partnership to fight this pan-demic, “ Sediqqi said in atweet.

Earlier while welcoming

Prime Minister Modi for cre-ating the emergency and relieffund, Maldives ForeignMinister Abdulla Shahid saidthe country will join the ini-tiative to tackle the challengesposed by the coronavirus pan-demic.

“We welcome PM@narendramodi's initiative tocreate an COVID-19Emergency Relief Fund and itspledge of USD 10million.Government of Maldives joinsthe initiative and pledge USD200,000 to address issues ema-nating from COVID-19,”Shahid said in a tweet. Nepaland Bhutan on Friday pledgednearly USD one million andUSD 100,000 respectively tothe SAARC CoronaEmergency Fund.

Modi, later, took to Twitterto thank leaders of the twocountries for their contribution.

“Gratitude to @PMBhutanDr Lotay Tshering for his deci-sion to contribute $100,000 tothe COVID-19 EmergencyFund on behalf of theBhutanese Government.” he

Rome: Hundreds of millions ofpeople worldwide kicked offthe weekend under a coron-avirus lockdown, as the globaldeath toll accelerated sharplyand the World HealthOrganization warned theyoung they were “not invinci-ble”.

The pandemic has com-pletely upended lives across theplanet, sharply restricting themovement of huge popula-tions, shutting down schoolsand businesses, and forcingmillions to work from home -- while many have lost theirlivelihoods entirely.

While President DonaldTrump insisted the UnitedStates was “winning” the waragainst the virus, individualstates dramatically ramped uprestrictions, with New Yorkand Illinois joining Californiain ordering residents to stayhome.

The virus death toll surgedpast 11,000 worldwide, with4,000 alone in worst-hit Italywhere the daily number offatalities has shot up relentlesslyover the past week.

While the elderly and thosewith pre-existing medical con-ditions are the hardest hit bythe virus, WHO chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus warnedthat young people were alsovulnerable. “Today I have amessage for young people: youare not invincible. This viruscould put you in hospital forweeks -- or even kill you,”Tedros said.

“Even if you don't get sick,the choices you make aboutwhere you go could be the dif-ference between life and deathfor someone else.”

China on Saturday report-ed no new local infections fora third straight day, and theWHO said the central Chinesecity of Wuhan, where the virusemerged late last year, offereda glimmer of “hope for the restof the world”. AFP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has said hegreatly respects China andshares a “very good” rela-tionship with his Chinesecounterpart Xi Jinping, buttermed it “unfortunate” thatthe coronavirus began inthe Communist nation andgot out of control.

Speaking at a press brief-ing on Friday, Trump said heconsidered Xi as a friend andand asserted that the ChinesePresident respects the US.

“I have a very good rela-tionship with China and withPresident Xi. I have greatrespect for President Xi. I con-sider him to be a friend ofmine. It is unfortunate that thisgot out of control,” he said.

Trump reiterated thatcoronavirus originated fromChina. “They (coronavirus)came from China, it got out ofcontrol. Some people are upset.I know - I know President Xi.He loves China. He respects theUnited States and I have to say

I respect China greatly and Irespect President Xi,” he said.

US Secretary of State MikePompeo told the same pressbriefing that China's delay insharing information about thevirus had created risks to peo-ple worldwide.

“We need to know imme-diately. The world is entitled toknow. The ChineseGovernment was the first toknow of this risk to the world,and that puts a special obliga-tion to make sure that data getsto our scientists, our profes-sionals,” Pompeo told reportersat a White House news con-ference on Friday.

“When you see a delayin information flowing fromthe Chinese CommunistParty to the technical peoplewho we wanted to get intoChina immediately to assistin this, every moment ofdelay connected to beingable to identify this risk vec-tors creates risk to the peo-

ple all around the world,” hesaid. Pompeo, a known critic ofChina, said he was not blam-ing Beijing, but the Chinesegovernment was the first toknow about the risk the viruspresented.

“This is about movingforward to make sure that wecontinue to have the informa-tion we need to do our jobs,” hesaid. “We need to make surethat even today the data setsthat are available to everycountry, including data sets thatare available to the ChineseCommunist Party, or madeavailable to the whole world. It'san imperative to keep peoplesafe,” Pompeo said. PTI

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Washington: A staffer in theteam of US Vice PresidentMike Pence has tested positivefor the coronavirus, makinghim the first White Housepersonnel to have been infect-ed by the deadly disease thathas so far claimed the lives of230 people in the country.

“This evening we werenotified that a member of theoffice of the Vice President test-ed positive for the coronavirus,”Katie Miller, Press Secretary toVice President, said in a state-ment.

Neither President DonaldTrump nor Vice PresidentPence had close contact withthe individual, she said.

“Further contact tracing isbeing conducted in accordancewith CDC guidelines,” Millersaid.

This is the first case of aWhite House staffer being test-ed positive for the deadly virus.Last week, Trump had testedfor the coronavirus but theresult was negative. PTI

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Atlanta: US elections havebeen upended by the coron-avirus pandemic.

At least 13 states havepostponed voting and moredelays are possible as healthofficials warn that social dis-tancing and other measures tocontain the virus might be inplace for weeks, if not months.

The states that have yet tohold their primaries find them-selves in a seemingly impossi-ble situation as they look to bal-ance public health concernswith the need to hold elections.

While election officialsroutinely prepare for naturaldisasters such as hurricanes andwildfires, the virus outbreakposes a unique challenge.“Usually when we are dealingwith a crisis in elections, it'ssomething that happens and

then it's done,” said ChrisHarvey, Georgia's director ofelections. “The difference nowis that it's a spreading threat, afast-growing threat. We don'tknow where, when or how it isgoing to end.”

Primaries scheduled forGeorgia, Ohio, Maryland,Indiana, Louisiana,Connecticut and Kentuckyhave all been postponed to Mayor June. The Rhode IslandBoard of Elections has recom-mended the primary bedelayed to June, while officialsin Wisconsin are debating whatto do. Wisconsin Gov. TonyEvers has insisted the April 7primary be held as scheduled,but a state elections commis-sioner said this past week thatdoing so would put people atrisk.

The state's chief electionsofficial cited a host of problemsWisconsin could face if itmoved forward with the elec-tion: a poll worker shortage,lack of polling places andpotential disruption of absen-tee voting if mail service in theU.S. Were to shut down.

All this comes at the worstpossible time for election offi-cials, in the middle of a majorelection year.

The virus outbreak erupt-ed halfway through the presi-dential primary season. Votersin 23 states have yet to cast theirballots. While Arizona, Floridaand Illinois held their electionsas scheduled last Tuesday, Ohiohalted voting over public healthconcerns after federal officialsencouraged people over age 65to stay home. AP

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4)��5��"��)��"� Tehran: Iran said Saturday that 123 more peo-

ple had died from coronavirus, raising the offi-cial death toll to 1,556 in the Islamic repub-lic, one of the world's worst affected countries.

Health ministry spokesman KianoushJahanpour said 966 more cases had been con-firmed over the past 24 hours and 20,610 peo-ple were now known to have been infected inIran.

A total of 7,635 people have recovered fromthe disease, he told a televised news conference.

The Islamic republic is among the threecountries hardest hit by the virus with an offi-cial death toll behind only Italy and China.

The authorities have asked people toavoid all travel during the Persian New Yearholidays, which usually sees almost all citizenstake to the roads. But the pleas have beenignored by many.

According to the Iranian Red Crescent,around three million people have left the 13most virus-affected provinces by road sinceMarch 17. AFP

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To all the Britishers anxiousabout the days ahead, UK’s

Indian-origin finance ministerRishi Sunak said: “you will notface this alone”, as he unveiledan “unprecedented” multi-bil-lion pound package aimed atprotecting people’s jobsthrough coronavirus pandem-ic which is crippling the glob-al economy.

The Chancellor of theExchequer once again took cen-tre-stage in UK’s COVID-19fightback and struck a note ofcompassion as he joined BritishPrime Minister Boris Johnson atDowning Street on Fridayevening to announce that thegovernment would step in to

cover 80 per cent of the wagesof those unable to work, so thatcompanies do not have to resortto redundancies.

“Now, more than any timein our recent history, we will bejudged by our capacity forcompassion. Our ability tocome through this won’t just bedown to what government orbusiness can do, but by theindividual acts of kindness weshow one another,” said Sunak,the son-in-law of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, whohas become the face of the UK’seconomic fightback during theoutbreak which has claimed177 lives in the country.

“To all those at home rightnow, anxious about the daysahead, I say this: you will not

face this alone,” he said.“For the first time in our

history, the government isgoing to step in and help to paypeople’s wages. We’re setting upa new Coronavirus JobRetention Scheme,” he said, justdays after he unveiled a massive350-billion pound rescue pack-age for Britain’s struggling busi-nesses. As part of Sunak’s“unprecedented measures, forunprecedented times”, anyemployer in the UK – small orlarge, charitable or non-profit –will be eligible for the scheme.

They will be able to contactthe tax department, HMRC, fora grant to cover most of thewages of people who are notworking but are furloughedand kept on payroll, rather than

being laid off.And under the scheme,

government grants will cover80 per cent of the salary ofretained workers up to a totalof 2,500 pounds a month,which is above the UK’s medi-an income. “And, of course,employers can top up salariesfurther if they choose to. Thatmeans workers in any part ofthe UK can retain their job,even if their employer cannotafford to pay them, and be paidat least 80 per cent of theirsalary,” explained Sunak.

The job retention schemewill cover the cost of wagesbackdated to March 1 and willbe open initially for at leastthree months, to be extendedscheme for longer if required.

�How did your acting career begin?I am from Varanasi but my home is in

Delhi. I was in the Capital but the shoot gotcancelled. At present, I am in self-quarantine. My acting career began inschool. I used to be part of all school andcollege extra-curricular activities. I alwayswanted to take up acting professionally butdidn’t know how to proceed. I graduatedfrom NIFT and started working inBengaluru. Then I got transferred toMumbai and shared with an apartment withmy acting friends. I would go with them onshoot and was fascinated with the industry.I auditioned and got my first show on TV.That is when things got hectic. I learnt actingand trained under Neeraj Kabi.�How did you come on board for Kaavya,the web horror film?

I had not auditioned for the leadcharacter but then the director liked my faceand re-auditioned for the lead. This film isunique — for the first time a film has beenshot on an iPhone. A lot of Hollywooddirectors have done this, but in India, we aredoing for the first time. It as a bit of achallenge as we are used to facing thecamera. The crew also had to get trained.We did workshop for a month and shot thefilm in two weeks. But it was fun and crazyexperience.�You have a mixed bag of work. Has thatbeen a conscious decision?

I love to challenge myself and try torepeat my characters so I can avoid beingstereotyped. I did comedy; I did a web series— Bhaukaal — based on a real-life cop. Itravelled to the place where he was postedand learnt body-language and other nuancesof a real-time cop. Then I too up the horrorproject. I love to experiment with genres.�You have worked on TV, films and webseries. Does that mean that you like toexperiment with platforms as well?

What matters to me the most is thecharacter and content that I am offered.Platforms don’t matter as much. It was much

an honor to work with R Balki and HarmanBaweja’s production for the web series. I haveloved to be part of each and every projectthat has come my way as it has beendifferent.�What is the attraction of taking up aproject for a digital space?

The content that one sees here is so bold.There is so much more than one can dohere. There are no restrictions, I don’t meanthere is vulgarity but the boldness of thesubject, there is no fear to experiment witha subject. We have the freedom to expressourselves. In TV, one is restricted by thechannel and other guidelines. Even infilms the Censor Board will cut a scene thatthey think is inappropriate.�How has the journey been so far?

It has been really good. I have had theopportunity to work with some of the bestpeople in the industry. I am at a very goodplace as far as my career is concerned. Myacting career is just starting.�What was your parents’ reaction whenyou quit your job?

I didn’t tell them for the longest time.I had quit my job to shoot for the show forthree months. I never told them that I wasbusy shooting. It was only when the day toair the show was announced that I called upthe family and told them and asked themto watch the show. It was a pleasant surprisethat they fully supported me. I am theyoungest in the family, maybe that was thereason. Now, my mother calls me everydayto know about my day.�What next?

There is Kaavya of course. There is aweb series as well in which I play the lead.There is another project that I am workingon; I can’t talk about it but I can let you knowabout my look in it. I have had to shave myhair and grow a beard. It took me time tosee whether I wanted to take it up or notsince I won’t be able to do anything else dueto the look. It was a daring decision but Iam glad I took it up.

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Dance can never go out of trend. Thiscan be one reason why makers arenot ready to give up on the format

of dance reality shows anytime soon.While these shows is not new for theaudience, but what makes them worth awatch is the talent from across the country.

Raising the bar is Sony EntertainmentTelevision’s latest offering India’s BestDancer. Adding to the charm of the showare the judges — Malaika Arora, TerrenceLewis and everyone’s favourite GeetaKapoor.

Tagged as the toughtest dance realityshow on TV, what sets it apart is the 90seconds format. “The contestants will getonly 90 seconds to give their best shot infront of the judges, to prove their talent.The contestant will have to impress us withtheir three ‘best’ moves in order to get theirticket to move to the mega auditions. Froma large number of talented contestants, wewill pick the ‘best barah’ ! Also, this showis different from any other dance realityshow because we are not going to judgethem only basis the number of flips,stunts and tricks in their acts, it’s beyondall of that,” Arora tells you.

All the three judges are expecting talentwho will surprise them with their range asa performer. “We are glad that thecontestants on the show are uniquelydifferent from each other. The audiencewon’t see any similarity between twocontestants. Each contestant bringsuniqueness and variety on stage. And we,as judges, will ensure that we review themobjectively as well as encourage them torealise and tap into their infinite potential.So far, the contestants have managed tointrigue us with their acts and only set thebar higher for themselves. We are waitingto be blown off by their power-packedperformances,” she says.

Arora will be on a lookout forentertainment quotient in theperformances this time. “We will bejudging contestants based on three mainelements, which is entertainment, newnessand technique. Therefore, we are callingourselves the ENT specialists. While Geetawill be evaluating them on the noveltyfactor, Terence will scrutinise their dancetechniques, and I will be assessing theentertainment quotient in theirperformances. Lastly, we are looking atoriginality in their performances,” shetells you.

Kapur tells you that the reason she saidyes to the show is that it stands out fromother dance reality shows is that it is notharbouring duets, crews, groups or trios.“After a long time, a show is only going toshowcase solo dancers, which hasn’thappened in many years now. It was hightime that someone came up with thisconcept, and now here it is. Such a conceptwas much needed,” she says.

Internet has become a go to option forpeople who would want learn dance. But,Kapur believes that physical training is amust. “It is great that people are takinginterest in learning dance and in case they

can’t reach out to a formal guide or guruthey are turning to internet. But I wouldrecommend that there should always besomeone who can guide you with techniquebecause you can learn dance on theinternet, but you may not know orunderstand the technique. Personal traininghas always helped me. There should besomeone to keep an eye on you and trainyou with care,” she says.

Kapur is one of the most loved judgeson reality shows. What makes her everyone’sfavourite is the aura that she possess andthe love that she showers upon everyone onthe show. She says that she was fortunateenough to have been in the industry for solong.

“Every person has a story to tell, and I

have been a part of this industry for quitesome time now and I have a long story totell. But to cut it short, all I can say is thatit has been very fruitful. I have been trainedby the best, worked with the best and thathas helped me foresee the future of dance,and the creation and evolution of dance. Ihave had a blessed journey. I have neverlooked at my journey as a struggle; it hasonly been a learning experience,” sherecalls.

Kapur admires a lot of people in theindustry to name a few they are GopiKrishnanji and Birju Maharajji. “Theydance beautifully, and I don’t think there isanyone who can compete with them. Also,Farah Khan and Michael Jackson continuesto inspire me till now,” she tells you.

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�:�:$ 7��(14&4The seven years and three

months long battle hasfinally come to an end. Anend that will be remem-bered by all, especially

those who are born without a heartand have the audacity to commitunimaginable crimes that put theentire human race to shame. The twofeet that were yearning to see the sun-rise like most of us, but was over-shadowed with countless visits tocourts and hundreds of meetings withlawyers, has finally seen the dawn.Now, she will no longer have to wakeup every day and plead for justice forher daughter, which was not a big askto begin with when her battle beganin December 2012.

After an extended fight for jus-tice, Asha Devi’s face that was alwaysin a frown and worry lines was even-tually filled with a huge smile notbecause of celebration but out of sat-isfaction that her daughter’s wrong-doers were hanged to death onMarch 20, 2020 (Friday) at 5:30 am.

“Last seven years have beenextremely long and tough for us.Every day I use to wake up with justone thing in mind that my daughtershould get justice. After completingthe household chores, Nirbhaya’sfather and I used to sit and decidewho all we had to meet and where wehad to go for the day. That was theonly thing that we could have thoughtof all these years. Our efforts and the

whole country’s prayers have paid offand the day came when justice wasserved,” Devi tells you.

It took a lot of courage for Devito become a fighter mother from yetanother voiceless woman from a vil-lage in Uttar Pradesh who never inher wildest dreams thought of stand-ing up and raising her voice. “UntilDecember, 2012 none of us knewwhat a thana looked like. We nevergot into any fights with anyone. Allwe wanted was to live a simple andhappy life jahan ghar ki baat gharmein hi rehni chahaiye. I have neverbeen that kind of person who raisedher voice. I have spent most of my lifein a village and this was somethingthat I or for that matter no one canever imagine. Facing the camera,speaking in front of the mic andanswering the media was initially dif-ficult. But, the thought of what mydaughter has gone through gave methe courage to stand up for her anddo everything that I could. WhenNirbhaya took her last breath in thehospital, I made up my mind thatthese sinisters should be punished sothat no other girl will have to gothrough the same situation as mydaughter. Saving my daughter wassomething that was not in my handsbut protecting the other girls of thecountry and to ensure their safety ismy responsibility,” she says with con-viction in her voice.

She sounds exhausted when she

finally takes the call at 10:15 pm onthe day of the hanging. She tells youthat she has been giving back to backinterviews since morning. However,she gave up on a ritual that her fam-ily had been doing for the last sevenyears — candle march — due toCOVID-19 and the pleas for socialdistancing. But she continued withthe last interview for the day becauseit meant that the people and medianever let her daughter fade intooblivion like so many other rape casesin the country.

Whether or not the death sen-tence will reduce the crime againstwomen is yet to be seen but it will def-initely send a chill down the perpe-trator’s spine and make sure thatbefore taking any such step they willgive it a second thought.

“This is the first time that hang-ing has been given to the rapists intwo decades. This will definitelyleave an impact on the society andwill ensure that rapists will know thatthey cannot run away from the judi-ciary. They can mislead the judicia-ry, they can delay the justice but cannever in history deny justice to aninnocent,” Devi adds.

In the wee hours of Friday, Deviand her husband, Badrinath Singhwere counting every second. It wasprobably the longest night for them.“We were in the court till 3:30 am.After the hearing was over and thecourt dismissed the culprit’s plea, we

went home and switched on the TV.All we were waiting for was the clockto strike 5:30 and the headline‘Nirbhaya’s rapists have been hanged’to flash on TV. We couldn’t get oureyes off the TV screen. That one-and-a-half-hour was the longest of ourlives. We couldn’t wait to see mydaughter get justice. And finally,when we saw that all the culprits havebeen hanged, I rushed to the otherroom where Nirbhaya’s photo is. Ihugged her photo, looked into hereyes and said: ‘Beta, aaj aap ko nyaymil gaya. Aap ke aaropiyon ko saza milgayi.’ I cannot put that feeling intowords,” she recalls.

Devi says that the way society hasstood by them through thick and thinand helped her daughter get justice,the same way it should support theother survivors too. “All my neigh-bours have been extremely encour-aging and supportive. Every day at8:15 pm we all used to participate ina candle march without fail. I feel for-tunate that every Indian see Nirbhayaas their daughter. I hope that this ishow all the survivors should betreated — with empathy and care bythe society. The blame game shouldbe only with perpetrators,” she says.

After the hanging, while every-one was congratulating Devi, whattouched her heart was when a groupof young girls came and hugged heroutside the court. “I was almost intears when I saw around seven young

girls coming towards me with muchhappiness. They hugged me. It was atouching moment. This made merealise that how much faith theseyoung people put in our judicial sys-tem and that it was not broken,” shetells you.

Not even once did Devi losehope. Her husband, she says never lether break down. “There were timeswhen we couldn’t see a way forward.The delays in hanging were dis-heartening but I never lost faith in thejudiciary. I was confident that mydaughter will get justice. When oneof the culprit filed a mercy plea onMarch 19, 2020 (Thursday), I knewthat this isn’t going to work and thatthe hanging couldn’t be furtherdelayed. They all had exhausted alltheir legal remedies and the deathsentence was confirmed. There wasno other way that they could haveextended the date this time round,”she says.

The fight is not over yet forNirbhaya’s parents. Devi and herhusband have to put some plans inplace for their way ahead. “We will beworking towards women safety in thecountry. It is not as if the fight has gotover. We have to protect all ourdaughters. We will try to help the onesin need in whichever way possible. Inthe last seven years too, we have guid-ed the ones who would seek our help.From now on, we will try and do thison a fast track,” Devi tells you.

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They were hanged tooBefore the four convicts —Akshay Thakur, PawanGupta, Vinay Sharma, andMukesh Singh — were hangedon March 20,2020 at 5:30 amfor the gangrape of Nirbhayain December 2012, there wereothers too who met with asimilar fate.

Geeta-Sanjay case 1978:It was a case that had shak-en the nation to the core.Convicts Ranga aka KuljeetSingh and Billa aka Jasbirwere sent to the gallows for thekidnapping and killing of twosiblings Geeta and SanjayChopra in Delhi in 1978.The two convicts had backthen been recently releasedfrom Arthur Road in Mumbaiwhen they kidnapped the sib-lings for ransom. But whenthe duo realised that thefather of the siblings was aNaval officer they killed thechildren and not before theduo had raped Geeta. The twowere executed on January31, 1982.

Dhananjoy Chatterjee:He was the first to be hangedfor rape and murder of a 14-year-old on March 5 1990when she was at home.Chatterjee was a securityguard with an apartmentcomplex in south Kolkata.Chatterjee was born inKuludihi, Bankura in WestBengal. He had claimed,repeatedly during his trialthat he was innocent and thathe had nothing to do with themurder, rape or theft. Hemaintained his stance till theday of his execution. Thenight before he was hanged hehad requested for sweets andcurd and a new shirt andpyjama that he wore when hewas hanged – August 4, 2004at age 39.

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The Badminton World Federation(BWF) has postponed the Thomas

and Uber Cup, the premier global men’sand and women’s team championship, tobe held in Denmark for three monthsfrom earlier scheduled date in May inview of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BWF took the decision after“consultation and consensus” with tour-nament hosts Badminton Denmark.The tournament is now scheduled forAugust 15-23 in Aarhus, Denmark.

“... It has come to the conclusion thatdue to extraordinary circumstancesrelated to the severe escalation of theCOVID-19 outbreak globally, the tour-nament could not take place on its orig-inally scheduled dates,” a BWF statementsaid.

“The BWF can confirm that theTOTAL BWF Thomas and Uber CupFinals 2020 to be staged in Aarhus,Denmark, from 16-24 May has beenpostponed until 15-23 August 2020.”

The postponement of Thomas andUber Cup came after the BWF suspend-ed five more tournaments on Friday,including three continental champi-onships crucial for Tokyo Olympicsqualification but stripped of that signif-icance now.

BWF Secretary General ThomasLund also said while the BWF look for-ward to staging this tournament at a laterdate, the world body’s thoughts were firstand foremost with everyone affected bythis pandemic around the world.

BWF has also been forced to movethe BWF Members’ Forum and AGM2020. Both are key events on the BWFcalendar and will now take place onAugust 20 and 21 in Aarhus.

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Isolated inside the SAICentre here in view of the

COVID-19 pandemic, it’sbusiness as usual for theIndian men’s and women’shockey players as they pre-pare for the upcomingTokyo Olympics in a “safeenvironment”.

The Sports Authorityof India Centre, which hasbeen shut for outside visi-tors, is well-equipped forregular practice sessions andno unauthorized personsare allowed to enter itspremises.

“The COVID-19 out-break has not affected ourpractice sessions. We arecontinuously washing ourhands and our tempera-

tures are being checked reg-ularly. The authorities atour SAI campus are ensur-ing that we are training in asafe environment,” said themen’s team captainManpreet Singh.

“With the backing of

SAI and our coaches, wehave been training veryhard for the Olympics,” headded.

The women’s team cap-tain Rani Rampal said herteam is fortunate to contin-ue training for the Olympics

in a safe environment.“We are very fortunate

to have a facility like the SAIcampus here. Everyone isworking very hard so thatthe hockey teams can con-tinue to practice for theOlympics,” said Rani.

“Our health is beingmonitored everyday and weare taking all the necessaryprecautions. The authoritiesat SAI have helped us tocontinue to focus on ourgoal of performing well atthe Tokyo Olympics,” sheadded.

The men’s team isscheduled to play NewZealand in its openingmatch of the TokyoOlympics while the women’sside face the Netherlands,both games on July 25.

�� 1 The England and Wales CricketBoard (ECB) has suspended all profession-al cricket till May 28, delaying the start ofthe new season, due to the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The ECB took the decision followingdiscussions with the First Class Counties, theMarylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and theProfessional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).

“It was agreed that, given the currentinformation available, a seven-week delay tothe start of the season is the most appropri-ate approach,” an ECB media statement said.

The Board also announced that it isworking on three new options, including thethree-Test series against West Indies, the T20Cup and the women’s schedule against India,for a possible start in June, July or August.

“Close liaison with the Government willcontinue, with discussions on the potentialof starting the season behind closed doorsand giving sports fans the opportunity to livebroadcast action,” the statement said onFriday.

“The potential for reduced versions ofcompetitions, should the season become fur-ther truncated, will also be discussed.”

The ECB said it will meet as needed toreview the position and make further deci-sions as the UK situation unfolds.

ECB Chief Executive Officer TomHarrison said, “The decision to delay thestart of the season has been essential, giventhe circumstances the nation faces. I am reas-sured by the collaborative effort fromacross the game that together, we will makethe very best of whatever length of seasonwe are able to safely schedule in the com-ing months,” he added.

He said this would give the ECB timeto keep pace with a fast-moving situationand continue to plan for how a revised sea-son might look.

“Critically, we can also remain as flex-ible and adaptable as possible, within theobvious restrictions we face.”

Last week, England’s tour of Sri Lankawas called off mid tournament in view ofthe rising threat of the pandemic.

“Securing the future of the game will bea primary focus as we plot a revised sched-ule with an emphasis on the most financial-ly important forms of the game for the coun-ties across international and domestic crick-et,” Harrison said. PTI

�!$!�%, Senior all-rounderand former captainMuhammad Hafeez is nothappy about Sharjeel Khanbeing offered anotherchance to play for thenational team after complet-ing a two and a half year banfor spot-fixing.

Hafeez, who made hisPakistan debut in 2003,took a dig at Sharjeel on hisTwitter account which hasled to a debate on the PCB’spolicy on allowing taintedplayers back in the nation-al team.

Hafeez, in his post, said:“Shouldn’t we set standardsof dignity and pride higherthan any other ‘Extra Talent’to represent Pakistan. JustAsking.”

He had also resisted

the comeback ofMuhammad Aamir to thePakistan camp some yearsback when the boardrecalled Aamir after hecompleted his five-year banfor spot-fixing.

Another former captainRamiz Raja has also voicedhis concerns over the wor-rying trend of giving taint-ed a lifeline.

Ramiz said the boardneeded to draw a line as faras corrupt players are con-cerned even if they havecompleted their bans.

Sharjeel competed hisban last August and made acomeback to cricket withhis appearance in thePakistan Super Leaguewhere his form was underscrutiny.

The opener wasbanned for five years, withhalf of the ban suspended inlate 2017, for his role inagreeing to spot fix a gamein the PSL earlier that year.He and another Pakistanbatsman, Khalid Latif weresent back home from Dubaifrom the 2017 edition. PTI

�+�� 9�(��

Pakistani cricket legend JavedMiandad is in awe of Virat Kohli’s

batting and has picked the India cap-tain as his favourite batsman, say-ing his record “itself tells a lot”.

The former Pakistan captainpicked the current India skipperas his favourite due to his “classy”batting.

Speaking on his YouTube chan-nel about the talent and depthpresent in the current Indiansquad, Miandad especiallypraised Kohli for his envi-able stats and the way heachieved them.

“I was asked who isthe best in the Indiancricket team, so I chooseVirat Kohli,” Miandadsaid.

“I don’t have to say

much, his performance itself tells a lot.People have to admit this as stats are vis-ible.

“Virat performed reallywell in South Africa; even

on an uneven wicket, hescored a hundred. Youcannot say he is scared

of fast-bowlers or hecannot play onbouncy pitches or hedoesn’t play spinners

well.”Miandad, who

aggregated 8832 runs in124 Tests and 7381 runs in

233 ODIs for Pakistan, statedthat both Rohit Sharma andKohli make batting look easy.

On Kohli, he added,“He is a clean hitter. Lookat his shots, it feels sogood to watch him bat. Hehas class.”

!,�� &� *��

Ireland’s seven-match series

against Bangladeshbecame onSaturday the latestcasualty to beinflicted on thecricket calendar bythe coronavirus pandemic.

The three one-day internationals inBelfast and four Twenty20 matches inEngland, scheduled to take place in May,have been postponed in line with Britishand Irish government advice against thestaging of sporting events with mass gath-erings and travel restrictions.

“We have a responsibility to protect thewellbeing of players, coaches, fans and thewider community, and will not hesitate totake a safety-first approach to our opera-tions over coming months,” said WarrenDeutrom, Chief Executive of CricketIreland.

“We would like to thank the BangladeshCricket Board for their helpful cooperationin reaching this decision, and we shall workwith them at establishing new dates for theseries when we are all in a position to planfor the future with greater certainty.” UnitedKingdom is entering a second weekend ofsporting shutdown that is expected to lastfor at least a couple of months.

�+�� '��'

Cricket Australia (CA) maypropose the introduction ofreserve days for the semifinals

of the Men’s T20 World Cup in theICC Cricket Committee meetinglater this year.

Earlier this month, the ICC hadfaced a lot of flak for not keeping areserve day for the knockout stagesof the Women’s T20 World Cup inAustralia.

As a result, England were forcedto make an exit after their semifinalclash was washed out resulting inIndia, the higher ranked side in thegroup stage, progressing to thefinal.

As the ICC’s current playingconditions stand, the men’s T20World Cup, slated to begin herefrom October 18, will have noreserve days available before the finalat the Melbourne Cricket Ground onNovember 15.

But, an ICC spokesperson said,according to a report incricket.Au.Com, that playing condi-

tions for the Men’s T20 World Cupwill be discussed in the organisation’sCricket Committee, which is sched-uled to meet in the middle of thisyear, before they are formally signedby the Chief Executives Committee(CEC).

Should any of ICC’s memberboards wish to suggest changes toplaying conditions, they will haveopportunity to do so at the CECgathering, although it’s rare forstandard playing conditions to berevised at that stage, the ICCspokesperson said, according to thereport.

CA Chief Executive KevinRoberts, who will be part of thatCEC meeting, said a case existed forthe inclusion of reserve days in theupcoming men’s T20 World Cup.

“There’s always cause for reflec-tion at the end of any tournamentor any season, in terms of how youapproach future tournaments,”Roberts said.

He, however, conceded thatthere was a valid argument to main-tain the playing conditions that

governed the preceding women’stournament.

“In saying that, there will bepeople who suggest there should besemi-final reserve days for themen’s. But I’m not sure how theEnglish women’s team would feelabout that, not having had a reserveday in their leg of the tournament,”he said.

“I would imagine the playingconditions are in place for thewomen’s and men’s events withinthis tournament (in 2020) and canbe discussed and considered afterthat’s completed.”

He said the playing conditionswere typically determined before atournament starts.

“We have got two events here —women’s and men’s — within the onetournament, albeit staged at differ-ent times of the year,” Roberts said.

The last year’s men’s 50-overWorld Cup included the provisionof reserve days for knock-out finals,in keeping with existing playing con-ditions for the ICC’s men’s andwomen’s ODI tournaments.

!,��

UEFA were forced intoan embarrassing

about-turn on Friday afterthey mistakenly tweetedthat Euro 2020 would keepits original title despitebeing pushed back to 2021as a result of the coron-avirus.

“Although it will pro-visionally take place from11 June — 11 July 2021,#EURO2020 will still beknown as UEFA EURO

2020,” UEFA had confi-dently said on Twitter.

However, just hourslater, they were lessassured.

!,�� )��)��

Forced into lockdown by thecoronavirus, English teams

outside the lucrative PremierLeague are facing an unprece-dented period of financialuncertainty.

Championship, LeagueOne and League Two matcheswill not resume until April 30at the earliest and even thatdate looks optimistic given thechaos caused by the pandem-ic.

A grim reality is takinghold in boardrooms around thecountry and some teams fearthey could be forced out ofbusiness if football doesn'treturn until after the summer.

Aware of the growingpanic, the Football Leagueagreed a $58 million reliefpackage, based on an earlypayment of bonuses, televi-sion money and an interest-free loan, to assist financiallystricken clubs.

But reports this weekclaimed that will only beenough to tide clubs over forthe next four weeks.

Cambridge chief executiveofficer Ian Mather admits therescue package may not beenough, with the nightmareprospect of having to lay offstaff a possibility.

"These are unprecedentedtimes for all of us in so manydifferent ways," Mather said.

"One of the most concern-ing features of the situation foreveryone is that there is noclarity as to when it will end.

"This (rescue package) iswelcome news but the amountwe can access is relatively smalland it is far from a completeanswer to the financial problemwe are facing.

"We are looking at ways ofreducing our cost base and thiswill include making someextremely difficult decisionswhen it comes to our staff."

Without matchday rev-enue, it is likely that some clubswill ask their players to acceptwage cuts if the lockdown con-tinues into the summer.

In Scotland, top-flight out-fit Hearts have already told

their players and staff to takea 50 percent wage cut in a bidto stay afloat.

��There could be aid on the

horizon if television broad-caster Sky Sports are willing torelease some of the 119 millioneuros they are due to play theFootball League next season.

But that remains uncertainand, for now, fear is the over-riding mood across the Englishgame.

Steve Thompson, manag-ing director of Dagenham,believes the fifth tier NationalLeague will need a bailoutfrom the British government tosurvive.

Thompson said clubs inthe National League will,between them, require between15 million pounds and 20 mil-lion pounds to keep runningand revealed talks are ongoingwith the Football Association.

"It is going to require gov-ernment help. The biggestworry is that so many non-league clubs, they are integralparts of their community. Itworries me if these clubs arelost, what will happen goingforward," Thompson said.

"There needs to be a con-centrated effort. I don't thinkwe can expect a bailout fromthe Premier League or FA, soit needs to be government led."

It may not be only non-league and lower league teamsin England who feel the pinch,with Championship sidesCharlton and Blackburn bothhaving endured financial diffi-culties before the virus.

Millwall are one of thesmaller teams in the secondtier, with their 13,734 averagegate, ranked 18th among the 24clubs.

The south London side'schief executive Steve Kavanaghsaid they have already beenwounded by the sudden halt tothe season.

"We're like all other busi-nesses, we've been hit hard, butour income stream just stoppedovernight," Kavanagh said.

"Like everybody else, itwill have impacts on us. I'm notgoing to shy away from that.But hopefully if we can all pulltogether we can find a waythrough.

"We've got an owner who'sbeen around a long time andI'm sure will help the club asbest he can."

!,�� )��)�

Crystal Palace wingerWilfried Zaha has offered

free accommodation to med-ical staff in his London prop-erties as they treat patients withcoronavirus.

The 27-year-old IvoryCoast international is the lat-est football personality to offera free bed, following in thefootsteps of formerManchester United star GaryNeville and Chelsea ownerRoman Abramovich.

Zaha, reported to earn£130,000 ($150,000) a week at

the Premier League club, will-ingly took up the baton sayinghe had friends working in theNational Health Service and hecould provide accommoda-tion for the hard-pressed staffwho could not return homeafter their shifts.

He has built up a proper-ty portfolio of around 50 prop-erties in London, including intrendy Notting Hill. The flatsare usually used by corporateclients but with global travelseverely restricted there is notmuch call for them at themoment.

"If you do good, good will

come to you," said Zaha citedin The Times on Saturday. "Itis clear that my intentions arethat all I want to do is help atevery opportunity, especially inthe crazy period we are goingthrough.

"Health workers pleasereach out. We have already hadfeedback — this is exactlywhat we wanted to achieve."

His business partner ObiWilliams said they had alreadybeen contacted by staff at twoLondon hospitals.

"Anyone who can helpand do their bit needs to standup and help," said Williams.

Neville, now a TV pundit, hasoffered free use of 176 rooms intwo Manchester hotels he co-owns — including one oppositeOld Trafford Stadium — and hascalled on footballers to follow hislead, while Russian tycoonAbramovich has invited medicalstaff to 72 rooms in the hotel atChelsea's Stamford Bridgeground.

The British government onFriday ordered all pubs, cafes andrestaurants to close to restrict thespread of coronavirus.

!,�� :��

When he broke the two-hourbarrier for the marathon in

October, Eliud Kipchoge did notrun alone, but now, as a diary heis recording reveals, he has nochoice.

Kipchoge may be the onlyman to have broken two hours,but when he set the time inVienna he ran with an echelon ofpacemakers.

Now, as the first episode of"Eliud Kipchoge's IsolationDiary", makes clear, he is expe-riencing the loneliness of thelong-distance runner.

The diary, recorded for theBBC, opens with the Kenyan ris-ing from a kitchen chair with histracksuit and running shoes on.

"It's now 6 o'clock," he says."This is now the third day

since we broke up from the thecamp due to coronavirus. It'sreally hard to train because Ivalue teamwork. It's mutualinterest because it helps me somuch."

"I am trying to quarantinemyself, stay with the family andmake sure I don't actually min-gle with a lot of people," he says.

"I am trying to keep more fitmyself and wake up early at 6o'clock and go for a run andmake sure I stay fit," he adds.

"Good morning," he adds,waving, turning and heading onhis own for open front door.

Outside it is dark and dogscan be heard barking.

�%!�)%!1 Chinese football starWu Lei, who plays for Espanyol inSpain, has been diagnosed withthe coronavirus, the ChineseFootball Association (CFA) saidon Saturday.

"Wu Lei has mild symptomsand is currently undergoing treat-ment," the CFA said in a state-ment, adding that they had beengiven the news by La Liga strug-glers Espanyol.

"The Chinese FootballAssociation has maintained closecommunication with Wu Lei andthe club, and will provide all nec-essary assistance as appropriate.

"We wish Wu Lei a speedyrecovery."

The 28-year-old striker,China's best-known player, is inself-isolation at home inBarcelona, Xinhua news agencysaid.

Wu is the only Chinese play-ing in one of Europe's five topleagues, having moved to Espanyolfrom Shanghai SIPG in Januarylast year.

The coronavirus emerged inthe Chinese city of Wuhan late lastyear and has since turned into apandemic that has killed thou-sands around the world. AFP

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�12H��23��12��B�$$�"�27�#$��2��CF��8A��7,��=�83��#�#-!1 Former India captain SunilGavaskar feels it would be very difficultfor MS Dhoni to find a place in the Indiasquad for the T20 World Cup slated tobe played in October-November inAustralia.

“I would definitely like to see Dhoniin India’s World Cup squad but it’s high-

ly unlikely that it is going to happen,”Gavaskar told Dainik Jagran.

“The team has moved on. Dhoni isnot someone to make big announce-ments so I reckon he would silently retirefrom the game.”

Dhoni, 38, last played for India at the2019 World Cup in England. IANS

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earlier error, to be clear nodecision has yet been madeon the name of therearranged EURO to be heldin 2021. The earlier tweet wassent by mistake,” they tweet-ed.

Euro 2020 has beenpushed back 12 months toJune 11 to July 11 next yearto clear the way for suspend-ed domestic competitions towrap up if conditions allow.

UEFA said the post-ponement “will help alldomestic competitions, cur-rently on hold due to theCOVID-19 emergency, tobe completed” as it made a“commitment” to finishingclub seasons by June 30.

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Amid panic over a possibili-ty of community transmis-

sion of novel coronavirus, it hasnow come to fore that ace boxerand Rajya Sabha MP MaryKom broke the 14-day quaran-tine protocol which has beenput in place by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) and thegovernments across the world.

Mary Kom, who had com-peted in the Asia-OceaniaOlympic qualifiers in Amman,Jordan, had returned homeMarch 13 and was supposed tobe in self-isolation for a mini-mum of 14 days amid the ongo-ing coronavirus pandemic.

However, on March 18, she

attended the breakfast hosted byPresident Ram Nath Kovind atthe Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In one of the four pictures

tweeted by the official Twitterhandle of President of India,Mary Kom can be seen withother Member of Parliaments.

“President Kovind hostedMembers of Parliament fromUttar Pradesh and Rajasthan forbreakfast at Rashtrapati Bhavan

this morning,” read the captionof the photos.

On the same day, BJP law-maker Dushyant Singh, whocame in contact with infectedBollywood singer KanikaKapoor, was also there at thePresident’s House. Singh is nowin self-quarantine.

Boxing coach SantiagoNieva had on Friday said thatthe members of the Indianboxing contingent, who partic-ipated in Jordan, are all underthe mandatory 14-day quaran-tine.

“10 days we had plannedbut now it becomes 14 days. Soafter 10 days I am working ona training programme which Iwill send them. After this peri-

od they can start on that. If thisis not solved within two weeksthen we will have to continuelike this as best as we can,”Nieva had said.

Mary Kom has, also admit-ted that she attended thePresident’s event. In a state-ment, she said: “I am homesince I came back from Jordan.I only attended the President’sevent and did not meetDushyant or shake hands with.My quarantine after Jordanends but I’m going to be athome only for the next 3-4days.”

President Kovind is himselflikely to undergo coronavirustest as he also met Singh whenhe attended the party.

�+��

India’s veteran table tennis player SharathKamal is in line to play his fourth

Olympics in July-August but he wants theIOC to postpone the mega event due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Sharath, who won his first title in 10years when he won the ITTF Oman Openlast week, is in self-quarantine ever since hereturned from Muscat in the wee hours ofMonday.

With the International Table TennisFederation (ITTF) suspending all eventsuntil the end of April, next month’s AsianOlympic Qualifying event in Bangkok hasalso been postponed indefinitely.

“As an athlete, I obviously want theOlympics to happen but it should not hap-pen. The epicentre of the virus will keepchanging, first it was China, now it is Italyand Iran too is badly affected in Asia. I don’tsee the scenario being safe for the Olympicsto start on time,” the 37-year-old said.

“Everyone is talking about social dis-tancing but it is one thing which won’t bepossible at the Olympics. Thousands of ath-letes would be staying in the same village,”he said.

Sharath, who is world number 38, and31st-ranked G Sathiyan, are well placed toqualify on the basis of their rankings evenif the qualifications event don’t take placedue to the pandemic.

“There are no events happening at themoment so no change in the rankings. Ifthings stay the way they are, we should qual-ify with our rankings,” he added.

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Despite the ongoing coronavirusoutbreak which has claimed over

4,000 lives in Italy and a subsequentlockdown announced by the govern-ment, football club Napoli has saidthat they will resume training fromMarch 25.

“SSC Napoli announces that theteam will resume training at the

Technical Center on March 25 witha morning session,” the clubsaid in a statement.

Meanwhile, Serie A sideCagliari has also said that it willtrain with players split intogroups on Monday.

Damiano Tommasi, presi-dent of the Italian Players’Union (AIC), stated it would bedangerous for players to returnto work with a lockdown

still imposed across thenation, reports goal.com.

There has been nosport in Italy since March9 as a result of the spreadof coronavirus, with theSerie A initially goingbehind closed doors

before the shut downoccurred.

Meanwhile, AS Roma hasannounced that it will buy three inten-sive care ventilators and eight newintensive care beds for a hospital inRome tackling the COVID-19 crisis,after players and coaching staff donat-ed a day’s salary to the club’s fundrais-ing campaign.

Their joint donation — whichtotals more than 2,00,000 euros —now means that Roma's fundraisingcampaign, unveiled a week ago, cur-rently stands at 4,60,000 euros — andis within touching distance of the pre-launch target of 5,00,000 euros.

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Six-time Formula One champi-on Lewis Hamilton says he is

self-isolating but will not get test-ed for coronavirus as othersneed attention more than him.

The 35-year-old Briton saidhe decided to self-isolate becausehe had been at the same functionin London that actor Idris Elbaand Canadian Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau’s wife SophieGregoire-Trudeau attended ear-lier this month.

Elba and Gregoire-Trudeausubsequently both tested positivefor COVID-19.

“I want to let you know thatI am doing well,” Hamilton said

in a statement. “There has beenspeculation about my health,after I was at an event where twopeople later tested positive forcoronavirus.

“I have zero symptoms andit has now been 17 days since Isaw Sophie and Idris. I have beenin touch with Idris and happy tohear he is OK.

“I did speak to my doctorand double checked if I neededto take a test but the truth is,there is a limited amount of testsavailable and there are peoplewho need it more than I do, espe-cially when I wasn't showing anysymptoms at all.”

Hamilton has been in isola-tion since last Friday.

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US Olympic chiefs said moretime was needed to determinethe fate of the Tokyo Olympics

as a major US sports federationcalled for the Games to be postponedover the coronavirus pandemic.

In a conference call withreporters, United States Olympicand Paralympic Committee(USOPC) chairwoman SusanneLyons said there was no need for theInternational Olympic Committee tomake an immediate decision onTokyo.

“I think we would concur withthe IOC to say that we need moreexpert advice and information thanwe have today to make a decision,”

Lyons said.“And we don’t have to make a

decision. Our games are not nextweek, or two weeks from now.They’re four months from now.

“So we are affording the IOC theopportunity to gather that informa-tion and expert advice.

“At this point in time, we do notfeel that it’s necessary for us to insistthat they make a decision.”

But just hours after Lyons’ com-ments, USA Swimming underscoredthe growing divisions within USsport on the issue by calling forUSOPC to request a postponement.

In an open letter to the USOPCchief executive Sarah Hirshland,swimming federation boss TimHinchey said US Olympic leaders

should “advocate for the postpone-ment” of the Tokyo Games.

“We urge the USOPC, as a leaderwithin the Olympic Movement, to useits voice and speak up for the athletes,”Hinchey wrote.

USA Swimming is the biggest USsports federation to call for a post-ponement.

The statement came against abackdrop of mounting uneaseamongst athletes over the impact thecoronavirus pandemic is having ontheir preparations for Tokyo.

Several have called on the IOC topostpone the July 24-August 9Games, noting that restrictionsimposed to curb the spread ofCOVID-19 have wreaked havoc withtraining and competition schedules.

�� Hinchey said American swim-

mers’ lives had been “turned upsidedown” as they scrambled to findtraining facilities or reconfigureschedules.

“Everyone has experiencedunimaginable disruptions, meremonths before the Olympic Games,which calls into question the authen-ticity of a level playing field for all,”Hinchey said.

USA Swimming’s stance foundsupport from Bob Bowman, theformer coach of Olympic starMichael Phelps, who said athleteswere being placed in danger as theysought out places to train.

“My concern is as they are try-ing to find places to train and work

out, it goes against what we’re sup-posed to be doing to not get the coro-navirus,” Bowman told USA Today.“It’s forcing them to try to do thingsthat are contrary to our national goalright now.”

Former US Olympic distancerunner Kara Goucher, meanwhile,accused Olympic chiefs of placingfinancial considerations above ath-lete safety.

“Athletes are humans, they getsick!” Goucher wrote on Twitter.“Postpone so they can#ShelterAtHome w/o worrying aboutlosing fitness to competitors!

“You are losing any credibilitythat you care about the wellness ofathletes! Athletes over money please!”

The USOPC responded toHinchey’s letter in a joint statementfrom Hirshland and Lyons.

“The USOPC has complete andtotal empathy for the athlete commu-nity as they manage the terrible stressand anxiety caused by the currentlack of certitude regarding the TokyoGames,” the statement said.

“We understand that the athleteshave concerns about training, qual-ification and anti-doping controls,and that they want transparency,

communication and clarity to the fullextent possible.

“The USOPC has made it clearthat all athletes should put theirhealth and wellness, and the healthand wellness of the greater commu-nity, above all else at this unprece-dented moment.

“At the same time, and as itrelates to the Games, we have alsoheard from athletes that they wantthe Olympic and Paralympic com-munity to be very intentional aboutthe path forward — and to ensurethat we aren’t prematurely takingaway any athletes’ opportunity tocompete in the Olympic andParalympic Games until we have bet-ter clarity.”

Hirshland told reporters that ath-letes were not unanimously in favorof the Olympics being postponed.

“As diverse as our athletes are, sotoo are their perspectives, and thatadds to the complication factor,”Hirshland said.

“There are athletes out there forwhom this feels like their onlyopportunity, their last chance. Idon’t think we’re in a position whereall athletes have a unanimous pointof view.”

She said additional mental healthresources were being made availableto athletes as they grapple with “sig-nificant anxiety.”

“We are all living with a highdegree of uncertainty and a lack ofclarity, and we absolutely hope thatwe can have clarity as soon as that’spractical,” Hirshland said.

�+��

Swinging the racquet willnot earn them money all

their life, so a few Indian ten-nis players, forced out of ProTour due to the health crisistriggered by COVID-19, areutilising their time to work oncareer beyond tennis.

Almost all of them arerestricted to doing fitnessdrills at home with courts andgyms out of bound due to therestrictions imposed in thewake of Coronavirus pan-demic which has wreckedthe sporting calender world-wide.

The ITF, WTA and ATPhave shut their respectivetours and the French Opentoo has been pushed back toSeptember-October from theusual late May schedule.

The Tamil Nadu-basedJeevan Nedunchezhiyan, whorecently made his Davis Cupdebut and is expected to leadIndia’s doubles challenge incoming years, is spendingtime hitting at private courtsand handling the marketing oftheir family resort inPondicherry.

“It obviously is unusualsituation. We can hit at a fewplaces where people have pri-vate space and obviously thegathering is small. A fewplayers doing that. I am inPondicherry to help with myresort (K resort),” Jeevan said.

“Hopefully, once it getslittle better, I will continue topractice. We do fitness athome, running upstairs, run-ning down, body weights,shadow swings. Important isnot to lose mind. Everybodyis on the same boat,” he added.

The left-hander said he isworking on developing a ten-nis facility at their familyresort to host tournaments infuture at a scenic location.

“My sister and I will keeprunning this property after mytennis. It became operationalonly last year.Now I ams p e n d i n gtime (offtour) to looka f t e rm a r -keting.

“We have a tennis court,badminton court, 100 seatingbanquet and 52 villas. My goalis to build a 3-4 more courtsand host tennis tournamentsin future. I am working out aplan these days,” he added.

Mumbai-based PuravRaja has also busied himselfin shaping up his business.

“I am starting ‘RestrungIndia’, a racquet customisingbusiness. It’s about buildingyour own racquet. I am

spending some time on thisnow which was difficult beingon road. This is fun, givingIndian players a chance to usebest equipment,” he said.

Further explaining, hesaid, “All over the world, it’scommon to buy racquet andget it customised. The gripsize, the strings and mostimportantly to make sure thatall your racquet size are of thesame weight,” said Raja,adding that he has an expertfrom Germany helping himout.

“My wife is also helpingme in this. But I still have totrain and do my daily stuff. Iam working on fitness andand getting stronger.”

Meanwhile, PrajneshGunneswraran, one of India’sbest singles players, said, “Weare all having to sit aroundand wait. It’s not ideal. I hopethis passes quickly. Everybodyin the world is struggling. Weas tennis players should notsay that our livelihood is atstake, it’s worse for many oth-ers,” said Prajnesh.

“Nothing more to say,just hoping to get back to thecircuit which looks far awaynow at the moment.”

India’s best woman singlesplayer Ankita Raina is strug-gling to keep herself busy.

“I am in Pune, almost ona lock out so just trying tokeep myself busy with read-ing, cooking, watching match-es, doing yoga and core train-ing. I think these are toughtimes for all and one has to dothings which are in controland not think about thingswhich are out of our control.

“I was relieved to hearabout French Open, at leastwe have the Grand Slam, sothat’s good news,” she said.

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Boston Celtics MarcusSmart urged young

people to take the healththreat seriously.

Boston Celtics starMarcus Smart said hehas the new coronavirusand urged young peopleto take the threat serious-ly and practice social dis-tancing.

Smart tested positiveon Thursday but said hewas not showing any ofthe symptoms.

“I feel great. I feelfine. I feel like I can goplay a game right now,”the 26-year-old fromTexas told CNN.

But he had a warningfor young Americans likethose shown partying onFlorida beaches unde-terred by the threat ofCOVID-19.

“I advise my genera-tion, I am 26, to take itseriously,” Smart said. “Be

alert. Take precautions.By protecting yourself,you protect others.

“That’s the key.People are not showingsymptoms so it is hard foranyone to know they havethe virus. But beingaround a group of people,friends, family and notisolating themselves, youare a carrier. You canspread the virus aroundwithout knowing.”

On Twitter he alsostressed that the younger

generation must self-dis-tance.

“This is not a joke.Not doing so is selfish.Together we can beat this,but we must beat ittogether by being apartfor a short while. Muchlove!!,” he tweeted.

At least 14 NBA teammembers have so far test-ed positive for COVID-19, including BrooklynNets Kevin Durant andUtah Jazz’s Rudy Gobertand Donovan Mitchell.

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The Norwegian OlympicCommittee (NOC) said on

Saturday they had asked theInternational OlympicCommittee (IOC) to postponethe 2020 Olympic Games inTokyo until the new coron-avirus pandemic was undercontrol.

In a letter sent to the IOC onFriday, the Norwegian sportsbody said it was “concernedabout the COVID-19 pandem-ic and the public health situationboth nationally and interna-tionally.”

“Our clear recommenda-tion is that the Olympic Gamesin Tokyo shall not take placebefore the COVID-19 situationis under firm control on a glob-al scale,” the letter continued.

The NOC also pointed outthat one of the measures under-taken in order to curb the spreadof the virus in Norway was a banon organised sports activities,which had created “a very chal-lenging time for the sportsmovement in Norway”.

Speaking to AFP, communi-cations advisor to the NOCSofie Olsen said: “We want toemphasise that the IOC make adecision sooner than later sothat everyone can have a fairchance of preparing.”

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France’s swimming federation onSaturday joined its US counter-

part in calling for the TokyoOlympics to be postponed, addingto pressure on the IOC.

“The current context does notallow the 2020 Olympic Games tobe organised properly,” the federa-tion said after a videoconference of

its executive committee.The federation called for the

International Olympic Committeeto “study the possibility of a post-ponement”.

It said measures restricting themovement of people in many coun-tries, including France, “mean thatsporting fairness cannot be guaran-teed in terms of preparation for thiscompetition”.

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India is primarily a tea-drinking nation. But thingsare changing fast. Even

though our per capita coffeeconsumption stands at 0.03 kg(2019), it is said that the cof-fee market is expected to reg-ister growth at a CAGR of over12 per cent during 2019-2024.Not surprising given that eachyear, there is a rise in the num-ber of coffee cafes across thecountry and new brands areentering the market. The latestbrand to join the list is Slay cof-fee.

Unlike other cafes that areoffline, this brand at present,offers coffee that one needs toorder online through populardelivery apps. While manywould find is cumbersome toorder the beverage given ourpropensity to head to a cafe tochat or meet friends or evendiscuss business over a cuppabut the truth is that if one lovescoffee ordering this beverage

over an app is going to spoilone for any other brand or cafeout there.

Each of us have a favouritego to, but a taste of these newflavours — Go sin hot choco-late (hot), iced hazelnut chocolatte, iced peppermint mochaand rose cold coffee are someof the must try. Many mightbalk at the thought to havinga peppermint or rose cold cof-fee. However, it is just the theopposite. A taste is bound toensure that that is not going toreach out to any other coffee.The flavours are not so over-whelming that it will drownthe aromatic flavour of the cof-fee itself.

Lakshmi Dasaka, co-founder-COO, Slay tells youthat months are spent on R&D.They have coffee tasters whogive a feedback on the flavoursthat the brand experimentswith.

“Another secret behind ourcoffee is aroma of the coffeeitself. We use coffee where the

beans have been selected fromChikmagalur and roasted insmall batches each week. it isa supply-chain that we moni-tor minutely. None of thebatches are kept with for morethan 28 days,” she says.

The aimand the ideatook rootbecause thefounders want-ed to bring thebest gourmetcoffee to thecustomers sit-ting at home.

Since thebrand offerscoffee over anapp, one canchoose fromoptions like anextra shot ofthe flavour orwhether one

wants sugar-free. Thenthere is the packagingitself. There is an adage:

You eat with your eyesfirst. It holds true forthis coffee as well.This coffee comes in

a colourful and beau-

tiful box. An important aspect of

any coffee is ensure that it isdelivered either hot or cold.The packing has a kind of insu-lation that keeps the coffeeeither hot or cold dependingon what the customer has

ordered for 30 minutes.Definitely, the graveyard

black coffee is hot and strong.Those who are feeling sleepyand need a wake-up, this is thecoffee to order. But if you likeyour coffee mild and sweet,this is not the coffee for you.No amount of added sugar isgoing to take that strong kickaway from this coffee.

The brand also wanted tobe environment-friendly. “Wealso wanted to ensure that wewere not destroying nature.The packing is bio-degrad-able,” Dasaka explains.

The brand also offers a feweats to go with the coffee. Likethe coffee menu, the food hasalso been selected on the basisof what goes well with the cof-fees that the brand has tooffer. The items on offer maybe limited, but the fantasticcoffees that are on offer morethan make up for this slight.

Next time you are in amood to meet friends over acuppa, try ordering online.

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�What attracted you to play Juhi?Two things. First, I have never played a RAW agent. I have

never done any action-oriented stuff. Second, it was created byNeeraj Pandey and I have always wanted to work with him. I havebeen a constant admirer of him after watching A Wednesday,which is one of my favourite Neeraj sir’s film, Baby and Special26. I have always thought associating myself with this director.�Can the audience expect a Season 2 as well?

The team hasn’t told us anything yet but I hope that we dohave a Season 2. This way the story gets carry forward and weget a lot f more stuff to do and experiment with.�There is such an extensive cast in the series. How was theexperience to be a part of it?

This is the first time I have done such a project. It is alwaysexciting to work with new people as you get to learn a lot fromeveryone you work with. For this series, I have spent the mosttime with Karan Tacker (who plays Farooq Ali), Vipul Gupta (whoplays Bala) and Meher Vij (who plays Ruhani). Sharad Kelkarand I didn’t have anything common to do so we couldn’t con-nect much. However, it was an altogether great experience andI had fun shooting it.�A lesson that you took back home from the sets?

It was from Neeraj sir. He taught me not make a big deal outof everything what we do and to just keep it simple. This waythe work can be done easily. Also, not to do unnecessary melo-drama. �Your Bollywood debut film Mirzya didn’t perform well atthe box office. Did it demotivate you?

Yes, it did. It is extremely disappointing because there areso much of efforts that goes into a film. But the performance atthe box office is not something that is in our hands. All we cando is to just do good work. Going back in time and modifyingthings or doing the same thing again is just not possible. We canjust wish that everything we do performs well.�Your next film Mauli was a Marathi blockbuster. How didyou cope with the failure of Mirzya?

I am someone who is from sports background. I always tookthe failures to stride and move ahead with it. I believe in look-ing for other opportunities. Then Mauli happened with me andit was loved by the audience. So I kept on taking things as theycame.�Coming from a filmi background, invite lot of compariosons.Does this bother you at all?

Fortunately, I didn’t have to face too much of comparisonsbecause my aunt and grandmother are very senior artists. So therewas no pressure at all. They were more like my support system.Whenever I needed any help related to my performance, I couldjust walk upto them and they would advice me.�Any actor or director that you would like to work with?

There are a whole lot of directors in my wishlist. Zoya Akhtar,Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Imtiaz Ali are a few to name. And if givena chance I would like to work with Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehrasir once again.� Is it correct that Zoya Akhtar offered you Luck By Chance?

Yes, it’s true. I was in Class VIII back then and so it nevercrossed my mind that I would ever be a part of this industry.Now, I wish that it should happened a few years later but every-thing happenes at its time. �What is there in the pipeline?

I have completed shooting for a film by Anurag Kashyap —Choked. It will release this year. I will be seen in Amazon Prime’sBreathe, it should be out soon. There are few other things as well.

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� What is your role in She?I play Sasya, a diabolical man who

works in a mysterious way. No oneknows who he is but is a key figure inthe narcotics ring who has importantinformation that can help in nabbingthe people involved in the narcoticschain. He is from the Telangana-Andhra belt and is an extremelyproblematic person.� What made you take up therole?

When I first heard the narra-tion from Imtiaz Ali, I was blown

away with the story andwas shocked too.

S h o c k e dbecause it is

u n l i k ea n yImtiazA l istor yt h a tp e o -p l eh a v e

s e e nbefore.

Just toi m a g i n e

this comingfrom his mind

was an absolute discovery for me.Then he told me my part. It was a chal-lenging one and I was scared to take itup but I am glad that I took the chance.I had an interesting time shooting forit.� From playing Jhunku in Chiitagongto Akhtar Lahori in Baaghi 3, how hasthe journey been?

Jhunku was my first screen outingand it has been a long journey sincethen. The journey was neither too toughnor too easy. I kept working andputting my efforts into everything I did.In the first two years of my career, I sawmostly failures. Then films like Pink andGully Boy happened which were wide-ly appreciated. It feels like it was animpossible journey but I am glad thatI made it till here. Because it is not atall easy to come in the industry, do aminor role but still be able to leave animpact. Gully Boy changed the pace ofmy career. After the movie, a lot of workcame my way. I am in the thick of thingsright now and I enjoy being here. It’ssomething that I have patiently waitedfor all these years and now I am livingevery moment of it.� What is your approach towards act-ing?

Whenever I take up any project, theonly thing that I look for in my char-

acter or for that matter the story is thereshould be some truth in it. Even if I amdoing fantasy or portraying a bizarre sit-uation, I have to find a way to connectto the person in the story. I try to givesome insights to the characters I playso that people can relate to them in acertain way. My approach is to say somekind of truth through my craft that peo-ple should find some connect with itand they should listen to me.� Your first short film was Shor.How did you come on board for that?

It was on-campus casting. Raj andKrishna DK were looking for someyoung actors to be a part of that for verylittle money. I was studying at FTII, theywere in the campus, we met and theyliked me. Then we went to Mumbai andshot for the film for few days. That’s howit happened.� Your parents were not happy withyour decision of becoming an actor.How did you convince them?

I just didn’t bother convincingthem because I myself wasn’t convincedthat I would be able to do somethingin the industry. They got convincedonce they started reading my name inthe newspaper and then eventuallywatching my film with AmitabhBachchan. That was like a sense ofapproval and validation for them.

� Was there a dream role that youwanted to play when you came to theindustry?

Back then I didn’t know what I wantto play but I knew what I didn’t wantto play. It is like you are coming fromnowhere in the industry with noresources and you are digging yourdoubts of how things will happen,where to go, what would work for youand what wouldn’t and so on. But togive you the key to make your way inthe industry is to figure out what youdon’t like. That’s where I started from,I didn’t know what I like or what I coulddo but I definitely knew what I didn’twant to do. Like, I didn’t want to do TVback then so I didn’t go that way. I keptdiscarding stuff for some time.Eventually, I started finding what I likedand I started taking up projects. Eventoday, I still don’t know what I want todo and if I will get what I think Ideserve.� What are your upcoming projects?

She just got released. Then I am apart of another series The Suitable Boyand have an interesting role in it. I amalso a part of Hurdang. Then I will bea part of a sci-fi comedy with AnandGandhi. I am also shooting for Fallen,an amazon prime series that will fea-ture Sonakshi Sinha.

Planning your or a family mem-ber’s wedding can be tedious.More so, if one lives abroad and

want to get married nowhere else butin his Motherland — India. In such acase, travelling to and fro could betime consuming and leaving all thedecor to the organisers is the onlysolution. To solve all the weddingwoes, Crowne Plaza, Greater Noidahas come up with world’s first hotelvirtual reality experience center.

“We have collaborated with astart-up, The Knotty Tales who havedesigned this platform for the weddingand MICE industry. The idea to bracethis technology is that we believe thatthis is the future and we want tobecome a part of it before it becomesthe past. Now, the customer doesn’thave to come to us, we will go to him.All the customer has to do is just openthe link provided by the hotel and theyare ready to step in our world,”Ashwani Nayar, General Manager,Crowne Plaza, Greater Noida tells you.

The technology allows the prod-uct to be carried to the doorsteps ofthe potential customers and allow anadvanced way to explore a hotel likenever before. One thing that makes itstand out among the clutter is 8K tech-nology which has not been introducedin India yet but the start-up has madeit happen.

“It involves virtual and physicalinspection which means the client canexperience 8K VR services that wouldenable them to experience a 360 tourof various hotel spaces from onepoint at the lobby. This will be a uniqueimmersive and interactive virtualexperience that would etch an impactthe guests will remember for a longtime. Also it would help customers toexperience multiple decor setups whilesitting at the comfort of their homes.Customers can visualise multipledecors for the same space, thus assist-ing them with decision making andpositive closure of business queries.There is also a 24X7 live chat optionthat will help customers with all their

queries and bookings,” he explains.This way, the customer doesn’t have tosettle with what the hotel has to offerfor their D-day instead he can simplyjust scroll through the different decorsin several colours and decide whatsuits them best.

There is a reason why this uniqueconcept was launched. “I would like toask why not? This branch is one of thelargest of the hotels in South-west Asia.It is a destination hotel for weddingand events. Also, Greater Noida is apopular destination among people.The major reason being its geography.It is situated near Yamuna Expresswaythat connects Agra-Mathura andDelhi, such a place is preferableamong visitors. We were just the righthotel to bring forth this new technol-ogy to the world,” Nayar, who joined

the hotel eight months back, says.The start-up has been working on

this technology for a quite a while nowbut it was in the India Expo mart thatthe two crossed their paths. “It was acasual meeting and I would say thatthey chose us. They had us on theirradar as one of the first hotel to pro-pose the idea to. When I heard theidea, I was sure that this would goingto work and without any ifs and butswe decided to launch the virtualreality center. Although some peoplewere apprehensive of my decision butI was confident that this would be asuccess. However, in the back ofmind I was scared that how will wemake this a scalable and monetisedtool but once we sat and had discus-sions all my doubts were cleared,” hetells you.

Adapting to a new technology canbe quite risky, more so if you are thefirst one to experiment, but Nayarbelieves nothing ventured, nothinggained. “Risks are always there but onehave to be brave enough to take risksas long as one takes calculated deci-sions. For me, the biggest risk wouldhave been inaction and not havingembraced the technology,” he says.

Nayar tells you that the start-upis in talks with around 12 otherhotels who could possibly adapt to thesame technology soon.

“We don't have any problem withhotels embracing this technology. Infact, one risk could be when if we werethe only hotel to embrace it. Becauseif you have to create an ecosystem, ithas to be with every stakeholderincluding your competitor. Only if itexcites my competitor, it will excite theconsumer. So if other hotels are tak-ing up the technology it is not posinga threat to us instead it is a blessing.The increasing interest of other hotelsin the technology makes me realisethat I have made the right choice andat the right time. Moreover, the tag oflaunching the world's first hotel vir-tual reality center cannot be stolen,”he says.

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● Myth: Coronavirus will disappear whensummer sets in India. Fact: From the evidence so far, the newcoronavirus can be transmitted in all areas,including areas with hot and humid weather. ● Myth: Taking a hot bath can preventcoronavirus disease. Fact: Our normal body temperature is 97.5degree F. Taking hot bath will only raise our bodytemperature. Additionally, extreme hot water isharmful for us.● Myth: Pets at home can spread coronavirus. Fact: To date, there is no evidence that pets suchdogs or cats can be infected with COVID-19.However, it is prudent to wash hands before andafter handling them.● Myth: Eating Chicken or other meats can causeCOVID-19. Fact: There is no such evidence. However, eat wellcooked meat and avoid raw meat.● Myth: Wear a mask when you step out. Fact: There is no need to wear a mask for healthypeople. If you have fever, cold and cough wear athree-layer surgical mask to protect others fromgetting infected. Seek medical attention as well.N95 mask is only required for healthcareprofessionals.

The novel coronavirus outbreak (2019-nCoV, now called SARS-CoV-2)causing the COVID-19 viral diseasethat has swept into 156 countries,which affected 191,127 people (as on

March 18, 2020) and killed more than 7807people is now officially a pandemic, as declaredby the World Health Organisation (WHO).

It is for the first time that the WHO hascalled an outbreak a pandemic since the H1N1“swine flu” in 2009. The 1918 Spanish fluepidemic was the deadliest flu season that weknow of, infecting about one-third of the world’spopulation.

Coronaviruses are a large group of virusesthat are known to infect both humans andanimals, and in humans causes respiratoryillness that range from common colds to muchmore serious infections. The most well-knowncase of a coronavirus epidemic was Severe AcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS), which, after firstbeing detected in southern China in 2002, wenton to affect 26 countries and resulted in morethan 8,000 cases and 774 deaths.

The COVID-19 disease appears to haveoriginated from a Wuhan seafood market wherewild animals, including marmots, birds, rabbits,bats and snakes, are traded illegally.Coronaviruses are known to jump from animalsto humans, so it is thought that the first people

infected with the disease — a group primarilymade up of stall holders from the seafoodmarket — contracted it from contact withanimals.

If we compare COVID-19 with two othercoronavirus outbreaks in the recent past, we willsee that it is less lethal. With a mortality ratecurrently estimated at around 2 percent (a rangeof 0.7 to 3), it is less deadly to those whobecome affected than SARS or MERS.According to early WHO estimates, the averagereproductive rate (r0) of coronavirus rangedbetween 1.4 and 2.5. That means, on an average,each confirmed case of coronavirus would infectbetween 1.4 and 2.5 other people. It is, therefore,more contagious than some of the deadliestairborne viruses.

India is one of the first countries in theworld to prepare for an outbreak of COVID-19outbreak. According to Health ministry, Indiabegan screening people at airports from 17January onwards, six days after Chinese statemedia reported the first known death from anillness caused by the virus and a good two weeksbefore the WHO declared it a global healthemergency.

As on date, India has over 200 confirmedCOVID-19 cases and is on Stage 2, whichmeans we have only local transmission frompositive cases. The Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) believes that we mayeventually slip into Stage 3, where the diseasespreads in the community and large areas areaffected. ICMR also says that we haveapproximately 30 days window period to haltthis transmission and that’s where our focus as acountry should be on.

Till now, India has taken following stringentmeasures to address the problem:● Mandatory checks at airport and quarantineas required.● Blanket Visa ban until at least April 15, 2020.● Invoked Disaster Management Act tocentralise the response and preparedness.● Invoked Epidemic Act for the same purpose.● Created isolation facilities across the countryusing Armed Forces and Paramilitary Forcesfacilities.● Carried Rescue Missions from China, Iranand Italy to bring back Indians who are at risk ofCOVID-19 exposure.

Indian Healthcare Sector along with Centraland State Government is fully prepared to dealwith the outbreak. However, we need to keep inmind that every country in the world is facingsome challenges despite their socio-economicstatus as the virus is spreading very rapidly.

In today’s world, naturally fear is always the

first wave of every epidemic. But, we mustrealise that we have had pandemics before, andwe have responded to them before. It is veryimportant to know what each one of us can doto fight against COVID-19.

WHO advises seven simple steps for everyone of us to stay safe and prevent the virus fromspreading to other people. These are:STEP 1: Wash your hands frequently, regularlyand thoroughly with an alcohol-based hand rub(use a hand sanitiser that contains at least 60%alcohol, for at least 20 seconds) or wash themwith soap and water (for at least 40-60 seconds).Wash your hands after coughing or sneezing,when caring for the sick, before, during andafter you prepare food, before eating, after toiletuse, when hands are visibly dirty and afterhandling animals or animal waste. We use ourhands to touch objects and surfaces that may becontaminated. Without realising it, we thentouch our faces, transferring viruses to our eyes,nose and mouth where they can infect us.Washing your hands with soap and water orusing alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses thatmay be on your hands, including the virus thatcauses COVID-19.STEP 2: Avoid touching your eyes, nose andmouth to avoid transmission of virus. Handstouch many surfaces and can pick up viruses.Once contaminated, hands can transfer thevirus to your eyes, nose or mouth and can thenenter your body and make you sick.STEP 3: Cover your mouth and nose when yousneeze or cough with the bend of your elbow orwith a tissue. Also make sure that you, and thepeople around you, follow good respiratoryhygiene. Dispose of the used tissue immediatelyinto a closed bin and wash your hands. Whensomeone coughs or sneezes, they spray smallliquid droplets from their nose or mouth whichmay contain virus. By covering your cough orsneeze, you avoid spreading viruses and othergerms to other people. By using the bend ofyour elbow or a tissue and not your hands tocover your cough or sneeze, you avoidtransferring contaminated droplets to yourhands. This prevents you from contaminating aperson or a surface through touching them withyour hands.STEP 4: Avoid crowded places and close contactwith anyone that has fever or cough, andinternational travel history in recent past. This ismore important for people over 60 years of ageor with underlying health condition such ashigh blood pressure, diabetes, heart and lungdiseases or cancer. Maintain at least 1 metre (3feet) of distance between yourself and anyonewho has a fever or cough. COVID-19 spreads

mainly by respiratory droplets that come out ofthe mouth or nose when a person who has thedisease coughs. By avoiding crowded places, youkeep yourself distant from people who may beinfected with COVID-19 or any otherrespiratory disease. This is called SocialDistancing and is proven a very effectivestrategy for containment.STEP 5: Stay at home if you feel unwell, evenwith a slight fever and cough. By staying homeand not going to work or other places, you willrecover faster and will avoid transmittingdiseases to other people. This is called HomeIsolation and is very effective for rationing ofhealthcare resources to sicker individuals.STEP 6: If you have a fever, cough and difficultybreathing, seek medical care early. If you can,call your hospital or health centre first so thatthey can tell you where you should go. In Indiathe helpline number set up by Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare is: +91 11 23978046.This will help to make sure you get the rightadvice, are directed to the right health facility,and will prevent you from infecting others.STEP 7: Get information from trusted sources.Stay informed about the latest information fromabout COVID-19 from trusted sources. Makesure your information comes from reliablesources — Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare, Government of India website, theWHO website, or local health authorities.Everyone should know the symptoms — formost people, it starts with a fever and a drycough. Local and national authorities will havethe most up-to-date information on whetherCOVID-19 is spreading in your area. They arebest placed to advise on what people in yourarea should be doing to protect themselves.

In addition, we also need to understand thatso far 80% of people affected by COVID-19have mild symptoms and recovered from thedisease in two weeks. Most coronavirus illnessare also generally mild for children and youngadults. Treatment is similar to other coronavirusoutbreak protocols with some drugs (Undertrial) are now being tried in very sick patients.We do not have an effective vaccine as yet andtherefore seek proper medical attention in timeand avoid self-medications.

It is time we realise that COVID-19 isspreading through our human networks —through our countries, our towns, ourworkplaces and our families. In this spread, asingle person’s behaviour can cause ripple effectacross the globe. Let us be responsible and fightthe coronavirus outbreak together.

The author is President, Asian Society forEmergency Medicine (ASEM)

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Recently, when US PresidentDonald Trump was in Indiawith the agenda to push the

Indo-American strategic andtrade relations to new heights,there was unrest in the Capital,with North-East Delhi being theworst hit by communal riots. Thesame period coincided with thefirst anniversary of the Balakot airstrikes, in retaliation to thekillings of 40 jawans who losttheir lives when terrorists —aided and abetted by Pakistan —attacked an Army base inPulwama. To mark the anniver-sary, the Global CounterTerrorism Council (GCTC) held around-table conference with Lt-Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, formerAir Marshal Anil Chopra, Lt-GenSatish Dua, former diplomat TCARaghavan, Prof Amitabh Mattooand retired police officer PrabhaRao as speakers.

Taking part in the discussion,Lt-Gen Hasnain reiterated that weshould not look at Balakot in iso-lation. “We must look at incidentswhich are happening today andthe incidents which happened onAugust 5, when the Governmentof India revoked the special statusgranted under Article 370 of theConstitution to Jammu andKashmir,” he said as he remindedhow it was only after the Uri ter-

ror attacks that India started tak-ing tangible action on terrorismgenerating from across the border.“It reduced the strength of terror-ists quite significantly,” he said.

Another watershed develop-ment of the Balakot strike wasthat it called the nuclear hoaxpaddled way too often by thePakistani political and militaryestablishment. It exposed themyth that any Indian ‘misadven-ture’ would lead to a war, more soa nuclear one. The conventionalwisdom was that with Pakistanwell equipped with nuclearweapons, it was suicidal to crossthe borders. And if ever that hap-pened, it would lead to nuclearcatastrophe in the subcontinent.Balakot proved it was a well-craft-ed lie. For, it showcased there isseveral layers of strategic anddiplomatic actions between apunitive strike on terrorism andnuclear warfare.

Lt-Gen Hasnain also ques-tioned the notion that withBalakot we have done enough totackle terrorism. “Actually, thethought should be that we havejust started,” he said. “Now whatwe need in India is more of strate-gic planning through research, forwhich information is an impor-tant domain. It’s our responsibilityto convey our narrative just not

internationally but to our nationtoo,” he said explaining that aconflict doesn’t mean one opera-tion followed by victory. “There isa whole theory of conflict wherefirst comes conflict initiation,then progression, then stabilisa-tion, then transformation, thenresolution and finally termina-tion. And in this theory, Pakistan

is always a nice conflict initiatorbut worst conflict terminator,” headded.

Lt-Gen Dua took the dis-course to history and remindedthat India had never been anaggressor. “If we see the greatestemperors and kings, most of themfought within the boundaries andnever were they determined in

conquering the world,” he said,adding that in order to safeguardthe unity and integrity of thenation, “we should make our-selves strong and kinetic whenrequired”. Gen Dua also explainedthe inner dynamics of thePakistan Army and how it con-trolled almost every aspect ofPakistani life, including economy.

“In Pakistan, about 52% of fundsare used for and by the Army, andless than 1% for education,” hesaid.

Raghavan too emphasised theneed to move back and take awider look at Pulwama andBalakot and the general aspect ofhow we can deal with Pakistan onthe issue of terrorism. “Often tac-tical operations can be used toconvey strategic messages andthat we have very well conveyedthrough Pulwama and Balakot,but despite that we also need tomove back and see the wider con-text. Seeing this through historicaland political prospective whatBalakot did was to send the mes-sage to Pakistan very similar ofthe kind which was send toPakistan in 1965,” he said

The former Pakistani HighCommissioner too said thatBalakot alone wouldn’t be enoughto intimidate Pakistan to cut offits terror tentacles. While remind-ing that India has added an ele-ment of unpredictability in itsresponse to Pakistan, he cau-tioned against the impression thatPakistan had been successfullyintimidated. “The fact is there areno winners here,” Raghavan said,urging the Indian establishmentto again go to the drawing boardand draft new ways to engage

with Pakistan. “It cannot be justthrough military or through tacti-cal measures; the political anddiplomatic issues need to beaddressed with political anddiplomatic measures,” he said.

Former Air Marshal Chopralauded the political and militaryleadership for Balakot. Heinformed how this mission, whichinvolved about 6,000 people,could be kept under the wraps forthe international community. “Itmakes me feel proud that thismission which involved so manypeople and so many days of plan-ning could be kept away frompublic eyes.”

The Balakot operation maynot have stopped terrorists alto-gether. It may not have totallyconvinced Pakistan to shun thejihadi path. But it definitely sent amessage, and a strong one, to theinternational community, espe-cially the one having ambiguousstand on terrorism, to makeamends. Post-Balakot, it becameapparent to one and all this in‘New India’ any terrorist misad-venture on its soil won’t gounpunished. It’s, however, just thebeginning. The Government ofIndia must always maintain itsvigil and further build its securityapparatus to take on growing ter-ror challenges and threats.

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)H*H-?+� &��?+.+�?+��=<�=?)88+The past six months have seen a

lot of action in the sleepy townof Orchha in Madhya Pradesh,India. The kind that you seebefore a grand event about to

take place. The roads, all levelled andrepaired, look as good as new; signages arein place, homestays model a fresh look, dec-orated with local Gond art… the excitementis clearly visible. There is something aboutthe mood that takes you into a flashback,to the legend of Lord Ram’s condition to theBundela queen, that he be made the king,if she wanted him to leave Ayodhya andaccompany her to Orchha. This conditionalso makes Orchha the only place in Indiawhere Lord Ram is referred to as Raja Ramand worshipped as a king. Eventoday, there exists a templededicated to him called SriRam Raja Mandir.

Situated on thebanks of Betwa River,Orchha is locatedaround 80 km awayfrom Tikamgarh dis-trict in MadhyaPradesh and 15 kmfrom Jhansi of UttarPradesh. Jhansi being wellconnected, and as the nearestrailhead, you can easily drive down toOrchha once you reach there. Built by KingRudra Pratap Singh of Bundela dynasty inthe 16th century, this ancient town isfamous for its Chaturbhuj Temple, Orchhafort complex, Raja Mahal among others.

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The bustling Orchha Fort complexhouses several palaces and monu-ments. That Orchha is sheltered by

thick forest is one of the main reasons thatthe age-old monuments continue exist inexcellent condition. It is this well-preservedstate, and a clearly visible Mughal influencein the Bundela architecture, that recentlyput this historical town in the tentative listof the UNESCO’s world heritage.

It is recorded that King Veer Singh Devof Bundela dynasty was a close friend ofMughal emperor Jahangir and even gave

him refuge as support in latter’sfight against Akbar. The

Jahangir Mahal insidethe Orchha Fort

bears testi-

mony to the royal hospitality extended tothe Mughal king for a night. This four-storey architectural masterpiece is a mix ofMuslim and Rajput architecture and hascountless rooms with arched entrances, bal-conies and latticed windows that frameminiature painting-like views of the mon-ument-studded riverbank outside.

The Raja Mahal, Sheesh Mahal and RaiPraveen Mahal are three other palacehighlights that make this fort popularamong the tourists. Of these, Rai PraveenMahal has an interesting history. It is saidthat Rai Praveen was a courtesan inBundela king’s court. So famous was thebeauty of this courtesan that EmperorAkbar summoned her to his court in Agra.It is said that upon reaching Agra, the intel-ligent courtesan composed a couplet for theemperor asking him why he should wantto enjoy a meal that was already tasted. Thisearned her release to return home and aPalace inside the Orchha Fort.

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Outside the fort, an impres-sive Chaturbhuj templestands testimony to theKing Ram legend. The

story goes that

after the grand temple was built, Lord Ramappeared in the queen’s dream, refusing toreside there. A section of the palace wasthen converted into the Ram Raja Temple,which continues to be worshipped so bypeople who come to pay respects to “KingRam” who rules Orchha. To date, no deityis worshipped inside Chaturbhuj temple.

A beautiful Laxmi Narayan temple islocated very close to River Betwa, a 10-minute drive from the fort. Down the stepsof the temple, along the banks of the river,are located the chhatris or the cenotaphs ofthe Bundela rulers. Fourteen in number,these chhatris are made in stone with

domed ceilings, reminding you of a mixof Mughal and Hindu architecture.

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Cut to present,the banks ofBetwa river

next to the chhatris camealive to the strains ofIndian classical musicand dance,with leg-endary Hindustaniclassical vocalistShubha Mudgalopening the cul-tural evening witha soulful rendi-tion of a ban-dish dedicatedLord Ram —Jab harid h a n u s hdhare. She

was followed by a highly energetic danseuseAditi Mangaldas and her troupe. A surrealaarti was offered to the river by dance groupSadhya creating magic for the audience.

Curated by Yasmin Kidwai of Springboxfilms, Namaste Orchha is an attempt by theMadhya Pradesh Tourism Board to put thissleepy town on the active tourist map.Though the town has been attracting a fairshare of travellers, most look at it as an‘optional’ visit when they plan their travel toa more famous Khajuraho nearby. Thisunique three-day was organised earlier thismonth to celebrate the rich history, cultureand cuisine of Bundelkhand.

For the first time, the town bore witnessto unusual collaborations and performancesby international artistes such as sitarist SmitaNagdev, fusion band Mrigya, bhakti folksinger Kaluram Bamaniya, Indian Ocean,santoor-player Shruti Adhikari, Kabir-folksinger Prahlad Tipaniya, singer Shilpa Rao,composer Clinton Cerejo and Franco-Spanish musician Manu Chao. Multipleguided tours of Orchha, such as photogra-phy tours, heritage walks, yoga sessions andrafting were held to get the visitors to engagewith the locals and discover the hidden gem.

Crafts promotion, including directengagement with the weavers, aimed to putthe town on the textile map. DesignerAnupama Dayal collaborated with thehomestay owners and handpainted theexteriors and walls around town to lend anartistic touch and quirk to the stays.

What’s a festival without local food tast-ing? A unique food curation by Delhi-basedfood writer and curator, Anoothi Vishal,brought together noted Indian chefs likeVikramjit Roy and Harangad Singh tointerpret Bundelkhandi cuisine and localingredients in their inimitable styles. Therewas also a touch of the indigenous by homechef Vandana Dubey who put together aspread of Bundelkhandi food, includingbada, thandula-aloo sabzi and tamatarchutney-bathue ka raita. Anamika Singh ofAnandini Himalaya Tea gave Orchha its veryown blend — Ram Raja Blend.

“The history and story of Orchha is tooimportant and too beautiful to be dependenton anything or anyone to discover,” saidKidwai as she shared the tourism plan toextend the golden triangle of Delhi to Agratill Orchha, both for national and interna-tional tourists. “The aim of the festival is toget people to visit Orchha once. And we are

confident that they would want tocome back again.” There’s the

temptation!

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South Korea initially emergedas one of the potential

hotbeds of coronavirus(COVID-19) along with China,Italy, Iran. The ShincheonjiSect, a mysterious Christianreligious group, has played avital role in fast spreading thevirus across South Korea.When the cases of coronavirusspiralled in the country, the sci-entists discovered the com-mon source of its origin: themuch talked-about ShincheonjiSect, to which more than three-fifths of the victims belong.And it is based mainly inDaegu, the fourth largest city ofSouth Korea. What hasshocked the Korean authoritiesand the global health experts isthat the unique style of con-gregation of Shincheonji mayhave catapulted the virus out-break to the current alarmingsituation in the country. Its fol-lowers are supposed to kneelon the floor in close rowswhile praying, not allowed towear masks (until recently)and encourage attending thechurch even when unwell.

In the month of February,a female follower who later test-ed positive for the virus wasamong the first to be infectedas per the information provid-ed by the South Korean healthofficials. In fact, this woman’srefusal to undergo examinationdespite attending severalchurch gatherings may havehelped spreading the virus.This has signaled that Daegu,the southern city of the coun-try, wherein the major activi-ties of the sect take place, isresponsible for the fast growthof the COVID-19 in SouthKorea. Also what has alertedthe authorities is that it isquite common among its dis-ciples to hide their identities inpublic. The faith itself has cat-egorised “sickness” as weak-ness. These all may haveallowed or rather forced theinfected followers not come outin public. This can be consid-ered as too dangerous lookingat how fast the disease has trav-elled from faraway Wuhan todifferent parts of the world.

The Shincheonji cult wasformed by Lee Man-hee in1984. Many say this apocalyp-tic Christian group is a cult.The very origin of the sect liesin the Book of Revelation. Inthe Korean language, the wordShincheonji refers to “NewHeaven and Earth”. Its officialname is “Shincheonji Churchof Jesus, the Temple of theTabernacle of the Testimony.For all the believers, it is noother than Lee who is the onearound whom their livesrevolve. They address him as“Chairman Lee” or at timessimply the “Chairman”. But in

prominent Church literatures,he is referred to as “PromisedPastor”, “The Advocate” andfinally, “The One WhoOvercomes”.

It has lakhs of followerswho generally keep their iden-tities dormant in public places.The founder identifies himselfas the “Promised Pastor” men-tioned in the Bible. But whathis critics say is that he is sim-ply peddling Christian heresay.It is interesting to note that thecardinal principles of the faithsay that the followers of thefaith are the embodiment of theone true Christianity and posefor salvation when the momentof final judgment comes. All ofthem strongly believe thateveryone else will be deniedforgiveness and destroyed. Tothis sect, the end of the worldis just near. Once we browsethrough the recent history of

South Korea, we can easilylocate such religious move-ments, sects or faiths that havequite often appeared and influ-enced a significant part of itssociety. Interestingly, Lee hasbeen having long experience insuch controversial movementsthat have quite often appearedin South Korea. Hence suchreligious revivalist movementsare nothing new in this coun-try. In fact, the Shincheonji hasemerged from the ruins ofearlier Tent Temple Movementthat fell apart in the 1970s afterits leader was accused of mas-sive fraud. Even little beforethat there was another suchrevivalist religion called OliveTree Movement that toobrought millions togetheracross South Korea. Such newreligious movements thoughare on the fringe, they play sig-nificant roles in mobilising

people and shaping opinionsthe way they feel right. Andmany a times the leaders ofsuch cults are questioned, triedand even prosecuted as per thelaw of the land.

What is the current posi-tion of the sect and reaction ofthe common people over it?Since COVID-19 as globalpandemic has already infectedover 2,76,000 people and killed11,419 (till March 21) global-ly, including 8,800 cases and102 deaths in South Korean,people in the country areannoyed with the Shencheonjichurch. What has irked manyis that initially its leader Leesquarely blamed the COVID-19 on evil spirits that are pure-ly jealous of the rise of his faith.But very recently, he came outopenly in public apologising forhis church’s role in the outbreakof the virus in the country. He

also offered all his support inchecking the disease.

Meanwhile people aredemanding the dissolution ofthe sect in no time. Thus, theShencheonji has become thenerve centre of the nationwideinvective as the COVID-19 isshowing no signs of recedingaround the world. Again morethan 5,52,000 Koreans havesigned an online petitiondemanding quick actionagainst the church. Along withthis, many politicians are com-ing up against the Shencheonjiand the way it has helpedspreading the menace. TheMayor of Seoul demanded theprosecutors to investigate Leefor murder on the charges ofnegligence.

It is an unusual kind of acrisis that South Korea hasexperienced. But there isresigned acceptance among

the people. Many feel thattheir health system is robustenough to gear up to countersuch epidemics. Medics andhealth experts are on standbyduty across the country. Andthe weekly briefings at leasttwice daily from the Centre forDisease Control not only alertspeople but also helps theexperts to track each infectedperson. Despite that, unlikeHong Kong and Singapore,there is no such panic prevail-ing in South Korea aboutCOVID-19.

Unlike China, the epicen-tre of coronavirus outbreak,South Korea has not adhered tototal lockdowns or any otherauthoritarian measures to con-trol the epidemic. Many healthexperts in the country feel thatas it’s a democratic country totallockdown is not a reasonablechoice for it. Though there is no

astronomical rise in cases, theauthorities in the country arenot denying that there may bea resurgence of COVID-19.However there is hope due tothe implementation of wideranging and well-organisedtesting of the infected personsin the country. Accompanyingsuch efforts is the complete iso-lation of the victims and traceand quarantine their contacts.So far South Korea has con-ducted 2,70,000 tests, thatcomes to 5,200 tests every mil-lion people. But when it comesto the US, it has so far carriedout 74 tests per one millionpeople as the data revealed bythe Centre for Disease Controland Prevention points out.

Any epidemic of suchnature can be effectively con-trolled only by fast diagnosingthe cases or infected people.And tracing the contact of the

affected people and theirimmediate isolation could actas bulwark in preventing anysuch spike. Also the healthexperts have taken enougheffort to investigate the casesrelated to Shincheonji megachurch and equally quaranti-ning the infected ones in theDaegu city. However concen-trating on the Shincheonji fora long time has literally pouredthe entire energy of theGovernment behind it. And ithas allowed new clusters ofCOVID-19 appear in Seouland its surrounding areas suchas Gyeonggi province. Now thisneeds to be urgently addressedby the epidemic experts.

Finally, what has madeSouth Korea learn their lessonto hard hit such crisis is theexperience of handling ofMERS (Middle EastRespiratory Syndrome) in 2015.This happened when a SouthKorean businessman wasinfected with MERS after vis-iting three West Asian nationsin that same year. He was treat-ed in three hospitals but in theprocess infection spread, killing36, and isolating nearly 17,000people before coming to stop intwo months. That epidemichad forced the South KoreanGovernment to pass strict lawsthat gave enough power to theofficials to collect mobiles,credit cards and other datafrom those who tested positiveto map their whereabouts. Thisinformation barring their iden-tities shared in social mediahave helped others to trackvirus affected or their owncontact with such people. Mostimportantly, once China wit-nessed the outbreak of theCOVID-19, the Korea Centrefor Disease Control andPrevention started developingits tests and planned its com-plete cooperation with the diag-nostic manufacturers to makethe commercial kits for testing.This all seriously have con-tributed to prevention and sub-stantial control of the COVID-19 in South Korea.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

As the fight against a newvirus shifts to Europe and

beyond, China is supplyingmillions of masks and otherdesperately needed items tostruggling Governments, hop-ing to build political ties anddefuse criticism that it allowedthe disease to spread early on.

Serbia’s president plans tobe at the airport this weekendto welcome a shipment ofmedical supplies from his“brother and friend,” Chineseleader Xi Jinping. Xi’sGovernment has flown glovesand protective clothing toLiberia. It is sending 100,000test kits to the Philippines.More than 10 flights carryingmillions of masks and othersupplies are bound for theCzech Republic this week.

China, said Czech InteriorMinister Jan Hamacek, is “theonly country capable of sup-plying Europe with such

amounts.”It’s part of an effort by the

Communist Party to reshapethe narrative, from one of earlymissteps to a nation that acteddecisively to bring the outbreakunder control. China is toutingits deliveries of ventilators andmasks overseas and dispatch-ing its medical experts to sharethe lessons of its success.

China hopes to benefitfrom a realisation in the Westof how difficult it is to bring thevirus under control, said JulianKu, a law professor at HofstraUniversity in New York.

“The ChineseGovernment’s failures ... will beless harshly viewed in light ofthe failures of otherGovernments to respond effec-tively as well,” he said.

Serbian PresidentAleksandar Vucic blasted theEuropean Union and praisedChina for offering help when

he announced a state of emer-gency to combat the outbreak.His country wants to join theEU, but his Government hasmoved closer to Russia andChina in a seesaw battle forinfluence.

“I believe in my brotherand friend Xi Jinping and Ibelieve in China’s help,” Vucicsaid. “European solidarity,” hesaid, was just a fairy tale.

EU officials denied theywere stopping aid to Serbia, butsaid their first priority was EUmembers.

China has given $20 mil-lion to the World HealthOrganization for COVID-19efforts. While the EU and theUS have made larger pledges tocombat the disease, they arenow preoccupied by the crisisat home.

The Chinese “are winningpoints,” said Theresa Fallon, thefounder of the Center for

Russia Europe Asia Studies inBrussels. “Serbia thinks thatChina is their savior.”

Six weeks ago, Chineseauthorities were trying to quelloutrage at home and condem-nation abroad. The critics saiddue to politically motivatedfoot-dragging, China had mis-handled the viral outbreak rac-ing through a major provinceand its capital, Wuhan.

Now the criticism is rain-ing down on governmentsfrom Tehran to Washington,DC. A visiting Chinese RedCross official chastised Italy onThursday for letting so manypeople stroll the streets ofMilan.

“Right now we need to stopall economic activity, and weneed to stop the mobility ofpeople,” said ExecutiveChairman Sun Shuopeng.

For most people, the newcoronavirus causes only mild

or moderate symptoms, such asfever and cough. For some,especially older adults andpeople with existing healthproblems, it can cause moresevere illness, including pneu-monia. The vast majority ofpeople recover from the newvirus.

At one level, China is rec-iprocating assistance itreceived. Nearly 80 countriessent supplies to China, some oncharter flights they sent toevacuate their citizens fromWuhan.

“It is China’s traditionalvirtue to repay goodwill withgreater kindness,” Chinese for-eign ministry spokesman GengShuang said, citing an ancientConfucian saying: “You throwa peach to me, and I give youa white jade for friendship.”

But at the same time,China is deepening ties withcountries that have been recep-

tive to its outreach as it assumesa larger international role. It isshipping supplies to Cambodia,whose Prime Minister HunSen has been an outspokensupporter of Xi and even vis-ited him in Beijing last monthas the outbreak raged.

China moved quickly tosend experts and equipment toItaly, which last year becamethe first western Europeancountry to join China’s Belt andRoad Initiative. The massiveprogramme seeks to expandtrade by building ports, roadsand other transportation pro-jects in a 21st century versionof the fabled Silk Road.

China is ready to workwith Italy to contribute tointernational cooperation onepidemic control and to thebuilding of a “Health SilkRoad,” Xi was quoted as tellingItalian Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte in a phone call

Monday.“It’s not an accident that the

heat map of where Xi Jinpingis sending condolences andChina is sending N95 masksoverlaps pretty closely withthose countries that havedemonstrated a willingness toaccommodate China,” saidDaniel Russel, a former seniorU.S. diplomat now with theAsia Society Policy Institute inNew York.

Opinions vary on the effec-tiveness of China’s efforts.

“It’s an open question howfar that’s going to get ... butthey’re clearly giving it theold-school try,” Russel said.The Communist Party’s pro-paganda, he said, has beenmore successful at home thanabroad.

Clive Hamilton, author of“Silent Invasion: China’sInfluence in Australia,” saidthat China has poured enor-

mous resources into shapingthe global discourse in recentyears.

“It would be a mistake tounderestimate how effective”this “major international cam-paign to rewrite the history ofthe coronavirus” might be, hesaid.

But Chu Yin, a professor ofpublic administration at theUniversity of InternationalRelations in Beijing, said Chinalags the U.S. and Europe in itsunderstanding of public diplo-macy and has always struggledto convert humanitarian aidinto diplomatic returns.

“If people really expect abig boost of China’s influencethrough the aid, it will be dif-ficult,” he said. “In my opinion,let’s just take the aid as doinga good deed, and it would helpChina’s economy if the epi-demic situation in these coun-tries is contained.” AP

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Awoman worried about her mar-riage prospects given her advanc-ing age came asking the other

day: “I am touching 40 this year, and yetI have not been able to find a reliablepartner who would stand by me. I amfairly attractive to look at and profes-sionally, too, I am doing comfortablywell. What is it that prospective groomsfind lacking in me? In the past, I cameclose to settling down with three guys atdifferent times, but they all ditched mejust as the marriage was fixed. Whatdoes my destiny have in store for mewhere marriage is concerned? Is itdenied?”

Answering her questions, I told herthat marriage was not denied at all.Rahu, the 7th sub-lord identified withmarital prospects, occupied the 2ndhouse marked with addition to family.Rahu is conjunct the lagna lordMercury, and in a sign owned by Moon,which occupies the 5th house identifiedwith love life. The linkage of thedenominators of the 7th house with the2nd, promises marriage. Further linkagewith the 5th house indicates a marriageof one’s own choice, which she has beenvying for. For this very reason, she

keeps rejecting the proposals offered byher family members. Here again, the 5thsub-lord Saturn, occupies the nakshatraowned by the Sun posited in the 2ndhouse, implying that she will developrelationship. But she could not hold onto any of them. The question now iswhy? Particularly when marriage seemspromised. Was it because by chance shehappened to pick up unfaithful lovemates? Or, they felt that their chemistrywill not work because of her habit ten-dencies? A look into astrological point-ers to her personality traits will offer theright answer.

She was born in Gemini lagnaimplies that she may quickly developfriendships but will find fault with themequally fast. For, she wishes to live onher own exclusive terms. So, she maylike only ‘yes persons’ around. Till suchtime people agree to her viewpoints,they remain her best friends for whomshe may do all that she could do. Themoment one disagrees with her on anycount, she can’t digest. Mercury thelagna lord is conjunct erratic Rahu, andboth placed adverse to Uranus. Thatmakes her unconventional, eccentric,and opinionated. It also accounts for her

insensible reasoning and judgment. Ifthat would not be enough, even the Sunis placed adverse to Uranus, which fur-ther accentuates the above tendencies.

Mind signifying Moon is debilitat-ed. It is conjunct mischievous Neptune,and also placed adverse to Jupiter aswell as fiery Mars. This in the firstplace, makes her stuck to delusionaldream perceptions, often distancedfrom ground realities. She may not bekeen to look beyond for a reality check.She may not acknowledge truth on itsfirst appearance. She may rather preferpassionately pursuing her own line ofthinking on hope against hope tillpushed to the wall. Second, she wouldbe temperamental, moody, aggressive,impulsive, rash and argumentative.Third, she may be emotionally volatile.All the more, because the Sun is alsoplaced adverse to emotions signifyingVenus. That makes her too much touchyand sensitive. Even on trivial issues, shemay get over exercised, and may stretchthem beyond due, mulling over themfor long. In the process, she loses hersense of objectivity and priority prefer-ence get compromised. Third, shewould be domineering and live in ademanding mode, not realising that theworld doesn’t necessarily move to an

individual’s asking. Once provoked, shemay become stingy and overcritical ofothers. At times, she may become meanalso. Fourth, she carries peculiar beliefsbecause of which, she is often misun-derstood by others.

Her love mates were good or bad, isbeside the point, as their personalitytraits can’t be figured out through herastrological chart. But because of herown mental infirmities as detailedabove, she would have scared themenough to run away from her life. She,therefore, in the first place, needs tounderstand that before blaming othersone should look into own fault lines.Second, life can’t be lived just in ademanding mode. One needs to beaccommodating, often ignoring someweaknesses in the other. In the process,their positives, that may be more, eludesone’s attention. So is said: “Watch yourthoughts, they become words; watchyour words, they turn in action; watchyour actions, they become habits; watchyour habits, that forms your destiny.”

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The Pioneer · and banquet halls across the State till March 31 to prevent ... Kolkata, Bengaluru...

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