Maharashtra citizens will get free health cover: Health minister Tope

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope gives a relief announcing that all citizens will be covered under the State government's health scheme that makes Maharashtra the first state to provide and cashless insurance protection to its people.

Friday Tope said that 85 per cent of the State's population was covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) at present and the cover will be extended to the remining 15 percent.

Maharashtra leads in Corornavirus cases and remains the most affected State with 11,506 cases. The State records 26 new deaths in the past 24 hours. A total of 485 have succumbed to the virus.

Neighbouring State Gujarat runs second 4,721 Coronavirus cases followed by Delhi's 3,738 cases. Gujarat has registered 236 fatalities and 735 have recovered from COVID-19.

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Odisha govt prepares SOP to send stranded migrant workers to their home states

After Centre allowing movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists who were stranded due to the Coronavirus-led lockdown, the Odisha government initiated a standard operating procedure (SOP) for sending persons stuck in the State to their home States by road or rail.

Additional chief secretary-cum special relief commissioner (SRC) PK Jena, in a letter to all district collectors and municipal commissioners, asked to ensure smooth return of about 60,000 "guest workers" to their respective States.

Odisha government appointed nodal officers for different States to make sure that the people reach their native places safely.

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Indian Railways announces 6 'Shramik Special' trains

On Friday, the Indian Railways starts running special "shramik" trains to ferry migrant workers to and fro home from various States where they were stranded since the nationwide lockdown since 25 March.

It started the operation with 1,200 passengers from Hyderabad to Jharkhand on Friday. The other five scheduled ‘Shramik Special’ trains are — Nasik to Lucknow (9:30 pm), Aluva to Bhubaneswar (6 pm), Nasik to Bhopal (8 pm), Jaipur to Patna (10 pm) and Kota to Hatia (9 pm).​

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33% population in red zone, 43% in orange, says report

The Indian Express report suggest that 130 districts in the red zone that cuts 17 percent of the total districts in the country, but account for about 33 percent of the population (2011 Census).

The 284 districts in the orange zone — 39 percent of the total districts — account for about 43 percent of the population. And the 319 districts in the green zone form 44 percent of the total districts, but account for only about a quarter of the population.

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Half of India to be fully operational from 4 May, says Prakash Javadekar

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said that the lockdown is successful in containing COVID-19 pandemic. He was quoted saying “Now, in the third phase of the lockdown, practically half of the country will be fully operational from 4 May."

Following Centre’s announcement on lockdown extension, Javadekar said India is doing far better than other countries by following social distancing norms, 'do gaz ki doori' will be the new normal till the time a vaccine is not developed for COVID-19.

" I think the worst is over. But till the time the disease is not completely contained, we should continue to follow all precautions and guidelines," he added.