NewsGate Press Network

As India inches closer to Lockdown 1.0 ending on 14 April 2020, relief measures for farmers during the on-going harvesting season of rabi crops were announced in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

On Sunday, 12 April 2020, UP Chief Minister announced a slew of measures including opening of mandis and purchasing centers.

In Punjab, along with farm sector, special industrial units including those in MSME sector are also being asked to re-start production at the earliest.

Railways is being mobilized to run special trains during the harvesting season.

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) again asked all state governments to make sure there are no stoppages of movement of trucks along the national highways. MHA re-dispatched a set of consolidated guidelines to all state capitals giving specific directions.

In its daily press briefing,  officials from Ministry of Health and ICMR stated that at present more than 40 vaccines were under development but none had reached the next stage (of testing). “As of now, there is no vaccine to cure CoronaVirus,” the ICMR expert stated.

The only available and followed treatment is ‘social distancing’.

Nearly 3.9 billion people across the globe in 115 countries have some kind of lockdown measures enforced in a desperate attempt to break the chain of COVID19 virus.

On 12 April 2020, in India the total number of COVID19 cases crossed the 8,000-mark, with 909 infections and 34 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. The toll now stands at 274.  while 716 people have recovered.