Corona Updates You Must Track: Migrant Workers Run Over By Train, Indians Stranded Overseas Return

On day 5 of lockdown 3.0, India woke up to the news to 15 migrant workers, who were sleeping on the tracks, being killed by a goods train on Friday morning. While special trains to ferry workers back to their home states has started, many are still walking miles to return to their homes. Meanwhile, India’s coronavirus count is showing a spike with 3,390 fresh COVID-19 cases being reported in the last 24 hours.

Follow all the important developments related to COVID-19 and lockdown 3.0 here  

India cases and toll: The number of fresh COVID-19 cases is increasing rapidly—3,390 new confirmed coranavirus cases and 103 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. India’s total coronavirus tally on Friday morning stands at 56,342, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Of these, 37,916 are active cases, 16,539 discharged/cured patients and 1,886 deaths. The doubling rate for the virus has come down to 10.2 days from 12 days on Tuesday, reported The Times of India.

Maharashtra spike worrying: The western state reported 1,216 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the state’s highest single-day surge so far. Maharashtra has reported a total of 17,974 cases with 3,301 recoveries and 694 deaths. In Mumbai, which has reported over 11,000 cases by Thursday night, Dharavi continues to be a coronavirus hotbed with the area alone recording 783 cases of COVID-19 so far.

COVID-19 tracker/Photo: @MIB_India/Twitter

Where Delhi stands: The national capital continues to report a surge in COVID-19 cases. In the last 24 hours, Delhi reported 448 new cases of coronavirus, its highest one-day spike, with health experts predicting the trend could continue for the next few days and peaking in June-July.

On the brighter side, recoveries too have gone up significantly—389 people recovered from the illness on Thursday, the highest so far. According to MoHFW figures, Delhi’s total confirmed coronavirus cases are at 5,980 with 1,931 recoveries and 66 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research or ICMR gave nod to five more private labs in the capital to conduct real-time RT-PCR COVID-19 tests, taking the count of private labs conducting COVID-19 tests to 13.

Migrant workers run over by train: The coronavirus pandemic has lead to a humanitarian crisis in the country, with thousands of migrant workers walking miles to return to their home towns. On Friday morning, 15 migrant workers were mowed by a goods train in Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The workers were walking back to their homes in Madhya Pradesh and slept on the tracks after getting exhausted.  

Extremely anguished by the loss of lives due to the rail accident in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Have spoken to Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal and he is closely monitoring the situation. All possible assistance required is being provided.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 8, 2020

Meanwhile, the Karnataka government, after facing severe criticism for cancelling trains for migrant workers, has decided to resume the services from Friday.   

First batch of stranded Indians overseas arrives: Under the Indian government’s massive repatriation exercise Vande Bharat Mission, two special flights from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, carrying 363 Indian citizens, landed in Kerala’s Kochi and Kozhikode airports on Thursday night.  A flight carrying Indian students stranded in Dhaka in Bangladesh will land in Srinagar on Friday.

First @airindiain flight of #VandeBharat from Dhaka has taken off for Srinagar. Our gratitude to everyone who cooperated in this exercise. @MEAIndia @IndianDiplomacy @PMOIndia @DrSJaishankar @harshvshringla @MoCA_GoI @DDNewslive @PIBSrinagar @listenshahid @diprjk @PIB_India pic.twitter.com/07oGxqPkZV

— India in Bangladesh (@ihcdhaka) May 8, 2020

Global corona update: Globally, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 have surged to 39,17,627 with 13,44,164 recoveries and 2,70,720 deaths, according to worldmeter, a website that provides real-time data on confirmed coronavirus cases. Russia, which has shown a worrying spike in cases in the past few weeks, has now crossed France and Germany in total COVID-19 cases. Against Russia’s 1,77,160 cases, Germany and France have reported 1,69,430 and 1,74,791 cases of coronavirus respectively.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the virus could kill 83,000-1,90,000 people in Africa in the first year if containment measures are not put in place or fail, Al Jazeera reported.