The number of coronavirus cases in the country crossed 700 on Friday. Kerala and Maharashtra continue to grapple with coronavirus with the maximum number of Covid-19 cases. As many as 17 people have succumbed to death because of the virus while over 60 people have been cured. The country entered the third day of the 21-day Covid-19 lockdown on Friday.
Here are the key developments around the coronavirus crisis in the country.
1. Union ministers to submit a daily report to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on steps and measures being taken to contain and tackle the coronavirus situation as well as on health care facilities and the availability of essential commodities.
2. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday announced the reduction of repo rate considerably to help the country’s financial system tide over the coronavirus disease pandemic.
“The Monetary Police voted to reduce the repo rate by 75 basis points – to 4.4 per cent. The reverse repo-rate reduced by 90 basis points to four per cent,” Das said at a press conference in Mumbai.
“It will now be unproductive for the banks to park money with the RBI, they will have to give it to the people,” said Das.
3. In a massive move, Das also announced 3-month moratorium on EMI instalments of all term loans. This means that banks will be permitted to allow a 3-month moratorium on the payment of instalments.
4. Moody’s Investors Service has slashed its estimate of India’s economic growth forecast to 2.5% during the 2020 calendar year from an earlier estimate of 5.3% amid the rising economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic.
5. India on Thursday announced a Rs 170,000 crore package under a new scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKBY), to address the immediate economic distress in the wake of the lockdown prompted by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, and ensure food and cash reaches the marginalised segments of society.
6. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Thursday said that all stores selling essential items in the national capital will be allowed to remain open round the clock in Delhi.
7. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has added three more labs to evaluate commercial kits to test for coronavirus disease (Covid-19), taking the total number of such facilities clearing the devices to four, including the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.
8. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, technicians, and other health care professionals involved in the care of Covid-19 patients will get a special insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday.
9. United Nations’ child welfare agency, UNICEF, has said it is working with the Indian government towards providing alternative ways of learning to about 200 million children currently enrolled in government schools, who are missing out on learning as at least 1.5 million schools across India remain closed in the wake of nationwide lockdown.
10. The government will provide five kilograms of rice or wheat and a kilogram of pulses of choice to poor households for the next three months over and above the existing five kilograms of wheat/rice announced previously. The ban on international flights has been extended till April 14 with an exception to cargo flights or those specially permitted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Domestic flights operations will remain suspended till March 31.
