Delhi, TN, Haryana flatten the Coronavirus curve in India

Five states in India have so far ‘flattened’ the Coronavirus curve in India, while the situation in nine states continues to be cause for concern. In all, four states are seeing strong daily increases in COVID-19 numbers. These are Maharashtra and Gujarat — the most worrisome — as well as Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (see […]

CORONAVIRUS: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan warns of possible famine

Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister of Kerala — a region with one of the highest success rates in arresting Coronavirus spread anywhere in the world — today warned the people of the state about a possible famine-like situation if the infection gets out of hand in other parts of India. Kerala, with one of the highest […]

CORONAVIRUS: Gujarat overtakes Delhi for No.2 spot, leads in death rate

With an addition of 127 cases so far today, the western Indian state of Gujarat has dislodged the national capital Delhi as the state with the second highest number of Coronavirus 2019 cases in India. The state, which also crossed the 2,000 patient milestone today, also has the highest death rate — along with Madhya […]

Colors, Star Plus & Zee TV see sharp fall in ratings after COVID-19 lockdown

Premium Hindi general entertainment channels, including Star Plus, Zee TV and Colors, have seen a sharp decline in their viewership during the COVID-19 lockdown, even as viewership of Doordarshan, movie channels and news channels have seen sharp increases, reveals ratings from BARC, India’s largest TV ratings agency. Even as general TV viewership increased, no category […]

ICMR to start BCG Vaccine study for Coronavirus next week

Indian Council of Medical Research, India’s top body for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, said it will start a new trial next week to study the efficacy of anti-TB vaccine BCG in preventing mortality in COVID-19. The statement comes even as the World Health Organization has said that there is no evidence […]

Dabur explores online sales, sees material COVID-19 impact

Dabur, one of India’s largest manufacturers of daily essentials such as toothpastes, nutraceuticals and so on, said it saw a material impact on its its finances from the ongoing COVID-19 impact, and said it was exploring online options to boost sales. “On account of Covid-19 and consequent lockdown since March, the impact on our production […]

Govt requests cable, DTH players not to disconnect users

Government of India has “requested” cable and DTH operators to not disconnect those subscribers who do not recharge or pay their monthly bill during the COVID-19 lock-down. The request has been made based on two justifications: First, doing so will help keep the people indoors, and second, it will help counter fake news that spreads […]

New COVID-19 cases in India cross the 800/day mark

Even as discussions about the continuation of the national lockdown continues, India has seen a record number of new COVID-19 patients in the last 24 hours. According to various crowd-sourced data sources, a total of 809 new cases of Coronavirus infections were reported in the last 24 hours (official confirmation expected today afternoon). This is […]

L&T to provide network monitoring for Indian Army

Construction firm Larsen & Toubro said it has won a large deal — worth Rs 2,500-5,000 cr — to create a monitoring and management solution for Indian Army’s pan-India fiber-optic communications network. The network, part of India’s network for spectrum project, was envisioned almost ten years ago as a way for the armed forces to […]

RISING COVID-19 CASES: Is India’s lock-down a total failure?

The first case of COVID-19 in India was reported 67 days ago on January 30 in Kerala. It was only after 55 days that India imposed a countrywide lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading. In those 55 days, the Coronavirus infected around 500 people — at an average rate of 9 new infections per […]

Kerala Govt body starts online delivery of grocery

Kerala State Co-operative Consumers’ Federation Ltd, popularly known as ConsumerFed, has started online ordering of grocery kits, starting with the Ernakulam district. The government-controlled body, however, is yet to scale up deliveries, and is accepting only 100 orders per day. Moreover, orders are currently being delivered only out of the Kakkanad depot, in an around […]

Kerala High Court stays order to provide alcohol to addicts

Kerala High Court has stayed a government of Kerala order allowing the sales of alcohol to anyone who produces a doctor’s prescription for the same. A civil supplies department official had issued directions to liquor dispensing agencies instructing them to provide liquor in case a person came with a doctor’s prescription for the same. At […]

CORONAVIRUS: DD Free Dish may give channel slots without e-auction

Prasar Bharati has set up a committee to explore an alternative way of allowing private TV channels to use its DD Free Dish DTH service without going through an auction process. Traditionally, private channels have to pay crores of rupees per year if they want to get a slot on the free satellite broadcasting (DTH) […]