Coronavirus updates: Centre says no plan to extend lockdown, PM apologises to citizens

On Monday, confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in India rose to 1,071, including 99 who have recovered and 29 who have died.

Mann ki Baat

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation in his weekly radio programme, Mann ki Baat. He apologised to the citizens for the “inconvenience” caused by the “strict measures his government had to take” to contain the spread of the virus. He especially apologised to the poor for the difficulties they have been facing owing to the lockdown.

Praising the efforts of the healthcare workers battling the pandemic, he announced an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh each for them.

The humanitarian crisis sparked by migrant workers returning home, however, didn’t find a mention in the prime minister’s talk. He did share his fitness regime on Twitter, though.

Migrant workers

Thousands of migrant workers are gathered near Lal Kuan in Ghaziabad and Anand Vihar in Delhi, hoping to find a way home to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and elsewhere. On Sunday, the Ghaziabad district administration deployed around 1,500 buses to ferry these workers to their villages and hometowns.

The Karnataka government also sent buses to bring back over 2,400 workers working in Maharashtra.

Thousands of these workers are walking home. As many as 17 have died on the way.

Newslaundry spoke with some migrant workers in Pune. Shankar, who came to the city 15 days ago in search of work, had nowhere to stay in Pune. So, he decided to walk to his village in Osmanabad, Maharashtra. “We can’t live here without money and food. So, we have decided to walk back to our village,” he said. “There is no other option. It is better to walk 350 km than to stay here.”

Read the full report.

The Centre has directed state governments to set up quarantine camps for the workers arriving at their borders. They are to be screened for coronavirus and kept in the camps for a minimum of two weeks.

The Centre has also issued an order asking landlords to not force migrant workers to pay rent. According to the order, any person who is found violating it could be sentenced to a six-month prison term or a fine.

The Congress party has criticised the Narendra Modi government for “forgetting” about the migrant workers. Anishek Singhvi, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, said this was the “worst internal migration since Partition”.

Other updates

• Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba said on Monday there was no plan yet to extend the 21-day lockdown. Referring to speculation about the extension of the lockdown, he said, “I am surprised to see such reports, there is no such plan of extending the lockdown."

• Doctors, nurses and other staff at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital have been exposed to a Covid 19 patient. The entire staff has now been quarantined.

• Sensex saw a fall of 400 points in morning trading on Monday.