New Delhi, March 24

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 8 pm on Tuesday on the coronavirus outbreak.

“Will address the nation at 8 PM today, 24th March 2020, on vital aspects relating to the menace of COVID-19,” Modi tweeted.

He had addressed the nation on efforts to combat the virus on March 19.

Nearly 500 coronavirus cases have been reported in India so far, according to Health Ministry data on Tuesday.

As cases of the viral infection surged, authorities have put almost the entire country under lockdown, banning gathering of people and suspending road, rail and air traffic till March 31. PTI

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Chandigarh, March 23

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today ordered a state-wide curfew. The government has decided to further scale down its staff in government offices. Heads of departments have been asked to prepare the duty roster of bare minimum Group B, C and D employees for running essential services. The staff would report for work till April 5. The orders do not cover the departments running essential services, like the police, health, transport and food and supplies.

The government had on Friday last decided to reduce the employee strength in government offices to 50 per cent. The state’s Personnel Department has asked all Administrative Secretaries, DCs and the Registrar of Punjab and Haryana High Court to follow the guidelines. The orders are not applicable to Group A officers, employees handling emergency services and those directly engaged in initiating measures to combat Covid-19.

“Alternative attendance to office cannot be construed as holiday. As it is treated as working day, each staff member should be available at their respective residences and should respond to calls from office. As the arrangement made is on the lines of ‘work from home’, employees should not leave the headquarters or make themselves unreachable by switching off phones,” the orders read.

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 23

A total of 267 persons were today detained by the Chandigarh Police for violating the lockdown order in the city. The police also rounded up 105 vehicles plying in the city and impounded seven. Meanwhile, the police have decided to register an FIR against people violating the lockdown order from 8 pm onwards.

SSP Nilambari Jagadale said 267 persons roaming in the city were stopped and detained by cops of the police stations concerned.

The persons detained were not released till the filing of the report.

“They were made to sit in the police station at a distance of at least one metre from each other,” the SSP added.

The SSP further said from 8 pm onwards, people would be booked for not following the lockdown instruction.

To enforce the lockdown in the city, the Chandigarh Police also impounded vehicles of those found driving in the city without any proper justification.

After witnessing a large number of vehicles on the roads despite the lockdown, the police and traffic cops initiated a drive to stop vehicles and question the driver about the reason for coming out on the road.

A police official said vehicles of those who failed to give a valid reason were impounded. A total of 105 vehicles were rounded up and seven were impounded during the drive.

SSP (Traffic) Shashank Anand also tweeted to inform people that vehicles are being impounded. “We appeal to everybody to sincerely abide by the lockdown order in Chandigarh. Action is being taken against those roaming around without any proper justification. Their vehicles are also being impounded,” the SSP (Traffic) tweeted.

Tribune News Service 
Chandigarh, March 24

The Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday announced that it would enforce a sector-wise curfew or ensure door-to-door delivery of essential items from Wednesday.

The city has been put under a complete lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“We will give sector wise relaxation or door to door sell /delivery of essential items from tomorrow,” said UT Advisor Manoj Parida in a tweet.

The Administration has also converted the Cricket Stadium in Sector 16 and the Sports Complex in Manimajra into a “temporary jail” to house those found violating curfew orders.

Police have also started registering FIRs, under Section 188 of IPC, against people who violate of the curfew orders.

1 Sector 20 parlour woman (quarantined)

2 Sector 21 resident, neighbour (negative)

3 Sector 38 resident (21 yrs brother positive)

4 Mohali female friend (positive, her landlady also positive)

5 Panchkula woman who massaged her (positive)

6 Brother (positive)

7 Mother (positive)

8 Father (negative)

9 Driver (negative)

10 Maid (quarantined, asymptomatic)

11 Male cook (positive)

12 Sector 19 male friend (positive)

13 Gardener (quarantined)

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Tribune News Service
Patiala/Bathinda, March 24

Punjab Police on Tuesday punished those violating the curfew in the state, which has been enforced to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

In videos that have emerged from different parts of Punjab, police can be seen wielding lathis or forcing violators to do sit-ups or crawl on the road to discourage them from venturing outside.

Bathinda police punished the violators at Ghorewala chowk.

In Patiala, despite repeated reminders to people to stay indoors, residents continued to roam on the roads, following which police personnel used mild force to ensure a complete ban on public gatherings.

Senior officials said that the police officers have been doing rounds in colonies and residential areas to ensure that there are no gatherings.

“The whole purpose is defeated if people continue to come out and meet outside their houses. It is a virus spread and we can take no chances as this time is vital to save lives,” said Patiala SSP Mandeep Sidhu.

Earlier in the day, milk, newspaper and vegetable supplies were hit as authorities failed to take any decision on the movement of these commodities. However, senior officials said that a decision to this effect will be taken by evening so that essential supplies are not hit.

Chandigarh, March 23

After the Council of Ministers, led by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, on Monday announced to contribute one-month salary to the CM’s Relief Fund, the state IAS officers have decided to contribute their one day salary towards the fund for battling coronavirus.

The IPS, PCS and PPS officers of the state too have announced to donate a day’s salary for the welfare of police personnel involved in combating the virus. An official said all ministers would contribute one-month salary on account of donation towards “Coronavirus Disaster Management and Relief Fund”.

The CM Relief Fund would be utilised to help those whose livelihood was affected as a result of lockdown. DGP Dinkar Gupta said Rs 33.2 lakh would be collected as all IPS and PCS officers had volunteered to contribute a day’s salary to the Police Welfare Fund for welfare of the police personnel battling coronavirus pandemic across the state. — TNS

mritsar, March 23

In its attempt to help the health authorities fight against Covid, the SGPC has offered the premises of the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (Amritsar) and inns for accommodating suspected patients.

Gobind Singh Longowal, SGPC president, said special isolation wards would be set up in the Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Amritsar and a dedicated team of doctors would be deployed to attend to Covid patients.

“Inns can be used to accommodate persons under quarantine. We have already tied up with health officials under whose guidance services will be offered. We have also decided to offer langar at places instructed by the district administration,” he said.

The SGPC has already started sanitising areas in and around the Golden Temple, inns and offices. It intends to suspend its Budget meeting. — TNS

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 23

With Covid-19 pandemic virtually covering the entire globe today and progressing rapidly in India, the government deepened national lockdown asking states to punish curfew violators, deciding to suspend domestic passenger flights from Tuesday midnight and adjourning both Houses of Parliament sine die after transacting urgent financial business.

COUNT : 471, Discharged: 34, Deaths: 09

Nineteen states had declared blanket lockdowns by Monday evening to break the chain of Covid-19 virus transmission and reduce viral impact.

Read also: 

• Punjab 1st to declare curfew
• HP under complete lockdown
• Haryana to seal borders
• Parliament adjourned sine die
• Stick to lockdown

Six states are under partial curfew and three have declared activity-based restrictions. As of Monday evening, 82 districts in 23 states had reported Covid-19 confirmed cases or death.

On the medical management front, the ICMR, India’s apex medical research body, approved the use of anti-malarial drug hydroxy-chloroquine for the protection of two categories of high risk people — healthcare workers caring for Covid-confirmed cases and household care givers of patients. The drug can, however, only be administered under medical supervision. The ICMR also approved 12 private labs for Covid-19 testing and two Indian manufacturers of test kits that would not need to get kits validated from US FDA to start detection of cases.

Overall, the government maintained focus on effective social distancing, hoping the measure would delay the onset of community transmission of the virus—a stage that’s inevitable given the behaviour of the virus in other nations. In a message to CMs, PM Narendra Modi today advocated strict compliance of protocols and laws on infectious disease management.

“Even now, people are not taking the lockdown seriously. Please honour government directives, protect yourselves and protect your families. I urge states to enforce compliance of protocols and laws,” PM lamented, following which Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba in a video meeting with state chief secretaries asked them to authorise district magistrates, SPs, police and municipal commissioners to take action to enforce lockdowns.

The pandemic, meanwhile, spread to 186 countries with 2,94,110 cases and 12, 994 deaths worldwide. India confirmed 424 cases, up from 396 on Sunday and the government said deaths were stagnant at seven; this despite reports of two fresh suspected Covid deaths across India. The Health Ministry, however, attributed the death of a Filipino in Mumbai to renal complications although he had tested positive for Covid.