Economy to be focus of Narendra Modi's interactions with CMs today

Migrants travel on a truck towards their native places, in Mumbai, on Saturday. Pic/PTI

With the focus on boosting economic activities amid a graded exit from the Coronavirus-induced lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers of various states via video-conference on Monday afternoon. This will be his fifth interaction with the chief ministers after the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus in the country.

The Prime Minister's Office said the video conference will begin at 3 pm on Monday. Sources in the government said the focus of the meeting would be on boosting economic activities and pushing efforts to convert 'red' zones with high COVID-19 case load into 'orange' or 'green' zones.
The number of COVID-19 infections has more than doubled since the prime minister interacted with the chief ministers last on April 27 - from just over 28,000 cases to nearly 63,000 cases. Days after the meeting, the central government had extended the lockdown by two more weeks till May 17 to arrest the spread of the virus, but gave several relaxations in economic activities and movement of people.

The nationwide lockdown has been in force since March 25. Several states have recently relaxed labour laws to pump up industrial activities with staggered shifts or limited staff as a fresh spike in Coronavirus cases could undo the gains so far. Monday's meeting could also discuss further relaxations as part of a graded exit from the lockdown but all restrictions are unlikely to be withdrawn in one go, the sources said. At a meeting on Sunday, state chief secretaries told Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba that while protection is required from COVID-19, economic activities also need to be stepped up in a calibrated manner.

UP's first patient to get plasma therapy dies

A government doctor, UP's first Corona patient to get plasma therapy, died on Saturday night due to kidney infection. Dr Sunil Agarwal, 58, was infected in the line of duty. His Corona test report came negative for the second consecutive time on Saturday, hours before he passed away. Dr D Himanshu, in-charge infectious disease unit, King George's Medical University, said, "He was diabetic and suffering from acute respiratory syndrome. He was on ventilator throughout the treatment. Since he was critical, we tried plasma therapy on him, after which the condition of his lungs improved. However, five days ago, he developed UTI that was not related to Corona. The dialysis was done twice, but infection aggravated and he died due to kidney failure."

Rajini warns AIADMK against liquor shops

Nearly a week after the Tamil Nadu government decided to open liquor shops, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth on Sunday warned the ruling AIADMK government not to dream of coming back to power if it opens liquor outlets. In a tweet he said if the liquor shops are opened at this juncture the government should forget about coming back to power. He urged the government to look at other good ways to fill up its coffers. The state government on May 4 announced its decision
to open the liquor outlets from May 7.

K'taka sees biggest spike in cases

Karnataka witnessed the biggest spike in COVID-19 cases in a single day with 53 people testing positive on Sunday, taking the tally to 847 and reported one more death, increasing the number of fatalities to 31. Belagavi, with 22 cases, Bagalkote and Shivamogga with eight cases each and Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada with seven, were the biggest contributors to the tally, the health department said. This was the biggest spike in a single day in the state, a senior government official told PTI.

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