Mumbai/METRO n Vol. XVI No. 155 WEDNESDAY, JULY 01, 2020 www.facebook.com/hindustantimes www.twitter.com/htTweets n DOWNLOAD OUR iPAD APP www.hindustantimes.com/iPad n OUR EDITION ON KINDLE http://read.ht/JS4 Letter No.: 2489/Nivida Prakashan/2020 Date:30.06.2020 Corrigendum for clarification NAME OF PROJECT: Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project-Additional Financing (UDRP-AF) Credit No.- 89210-IN Expression of Interst is invited for the selection of individual consultant for design & DPR of sri Purnagiri Temple protection work in District champawat vide Letter No. UDRP/AF/IC/01/2389 dated 11/06/2020 of this office. Due to unavoidable reasons the REOI is revised and will be available along with TOR at the website www.ukdisasterrecovery.in. Last date for submission of EOI is 18/07/2020. Other conditions will remain unchanged. (Chief Engineer) PIU (Bridge, Slope & Irrigation) UDRP-AF Fourth Floor, DDPM Tower, Haridwar Bypass Road, Ajabpur Khurd, Dehradun-248 001, Uttarakhand, E-mail : pwd.wb.uk@gmail.com REQUEST OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST, INDIA (CONSULTING SERVICES - FIRMS SELECTION) “PUNJAB RURAL WATER & SANITATION SECTOR IMPROVEMENT PROJECT” Assignment: Appointment of NGO to extend implementation support for social and communication activities, as part of the project implementation cycle in villages of Large Surface water supply schemes in: 1. District Gurdaspur and Amritsar under World Bank assisted Punjab Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Sector Improvement Project (PRWSSIP). 2. District Fatehgarh Sahib & Patiala under World Bank assisted Punjab Rural Water Supply & Sanitation Sector Improvement Project (PRWSSIP). 1. Government of India has received a Loan-IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) of amount US$248 Million towards the cost of the “Punjab Rural Water & Sanitation Sector Improvement Project” and intends to apply part of the available proceeds of this loan for the above stated two no. contracts for hiring Consultancy services. 2. The objective of the assignment is to achieve higher service delivery by accelerating the social engagement through community mobilization activities at the village level. 3. Eligible consultants are invited to indicate their interest separately for above said two assignments. Interested agency must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the Services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff etc.). The scope of assignment includes activities of preplanning and planning phases of scheme cycle which also includes formulating Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) plan, creating relevant information, education and communication (IEC) materials, Conducting resource mapping and village data situation analysis, conducting focus group discussions (FGD), conducting exposure tour of GPWSC, capacity building training for GPWSC members, providing monthly training for attitudes and behavioral changes of the villagers, providing digital learning platforms etc. Glimpses of Scope are summarized as under: • Generating public awareness and demand for improved water supply, water quality and sanitation services in rural Punjab. • Promoting and strengthening GPWSCs formed under the project. • Promoting personal responsibility and accountability of various stakeholders including women, besides community participation and involvement of the rural population to achieve PRWSSIP objectives • To make the systems financially sustainable, to encourage consumers engaging in metering, billing and paying for operations and maintenance on an on-going basis. The short listing criteria for REoI assignment are as under: (i) Minimum Annual Average turnover of last 5 financial years is INR 2 Cr (for each assignment). (ii) Minimum experience of 2 years in similar assignments of amount INR 70 lacs (for each assignment). 4. Selection of consultant will be on Consultant’s Qualification Selection (CQS) procedure set out in the World Bank’s Guidelines “Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers” [January 2011 edition revised July 2014] 5. ToR for each Consultancy assignment has been uploaded on DWSS website: www.pbdwss.gov.in . Interested Consultants may obtain further information in this regard through email specified in following address and from Departmental Website: www.pbdwss.gov.in 6. 2 (two) separate Proposals of Expressions of Interest shall be delivered by Consultant in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail) on or before 14.07.2020 for above said assignments. Note: Any corrigendum(s) to the Request for Expression of Interest shall be published on the website only.” Office of Head Department of Water Supply & Sanitation Punjab Water Works, Phase-2, Mohali-160054 Tele Fax: 0172- 4330317, Tel: 0172-4330300, 4330304 42305 E-mail: procurementdwsspb@gmail.com Society for Affordable Redressal of Disputes-Ports (SAROD-Ports) 1st Floor, NBCC Place, South Tower B.P. Marg, Lodi Road, New Delhi-110003 Tel. No.: 0091-011-24369061/63, 24368334 sarodports@gmail.com CIRCULAR No. SAROD-P/01/2020 Date: 01.07.2020 SAROD-Ports invites applications for empanelment of Arbitrators to decide disputes between the Ports and the Concessionaires. The eligibility criteria and other details are available at website http://www.ipa.nic.in under the head What’s New/Recruitment Notice/Advertisement. The last date for submission of applications is 31.07.2020 davp 37203/11/0003/2021 Secretary To access India’s leading dailies, please scan the codes below epaper.hindustantimes.com epaper.livemint.com epaper.livehindustan.com 147 MN. INDIANS COUNT ON HT MEDIA’S DIGITAL PLATFORMS FOR CREDIBLE NEWS Source: Digital- Comscore, MMX Multi-Platform Unique Visitors - [P] HT Media Group | Geo: India, May ’20 Manish K Pathak n manish.pathak@hindustantimes.com MUMBAI : The Mumbai Police beefed up security outside Hotel Taj Mahal Palace and Towers in Colaba and Hotel Taj Lands End in Bandra after a caller who iden- tified himself as a Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT) operative from Paki- stan made two phone calls to the hotels and issued threats on Mon- day night. The iconic hotel in Col- aba was the major target of Paki- stani terrorists during the 26/11 attacks. The calls were made on the day the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi was attacked by four terrorists, kill- ing four security personnel. CONTINUED ON P 11 Cops step up vigil after terror threat calls to Taj hotels Badri Chatterjee n badri.chatterjee@hindustantimes.com MUMBAI : Overnight rain and high- speed winds helped Mumbai on Tuesday record its lowest pollu- tion levels since air-quality moni- toring began in 2015. The air qual- ity index (AQI) equalled the all- time record of the past five years, which was on September 4, 2019. The pollutant-measuring indi- cator for PM2.5 pollutant — breathable particulate matter which is 2.5 microns in size or smaller that can cause ailments — was 12, falling under the ‘good’ category, according to the System of Air Quality Weather Forecast- ing and Research. CONTINUED ON P 11 Mumbai records cleanest air since monitoring began must read MADRAS HC PAVES WAY FOR MURDER CHARGE IN TN CUSTODIAL DEATHS There is prima-facie grounds to book policemen at the Sathankulam police station for the murder of P Jayaraj and J Bennicks, the Madras high court observed on Tuesday after reading preliminary post-mortem reports and a report by the local judicial magistrate, which said the father-son duo was thrashed through the night with lathis. ›› P13 Swapnil Rawal n swapnil.rawal@hindustantimes.com MUMBAI : After clocking over 5,000 Covid-19 cases on each of the past four days, the number came down marginally on Tuesday as Maharashtra reported 4,878 fresh infections. The state also recorded 245 fatalities, including 150 deaths from the previous weeks, taking the toll to 7,855. The state’s case count now stands at 174,761. Of the total cases, the state reported a whop- ping 107,106 cases in June alone, which is 61.29% of the tally in Maharashtra. In June, 61,582 patients have also been dis- charged. Maharashtra saw its first case on March 9 and recorded 302 cases till March 31. In April, the state recorded 10,498, while it recorded 67,655 cases in May. With the current trend in the daily increase of Covid-19 cases, the state is expected to cross the grim landmark of 2 lakh cases in the first week of July, state offi- cials said. Mumbai, meanwhile, reco- rded 893 new cases on Tuesday. The city recorded less than 1,000 cases after five days. CONTINUED ON P 11 State reports 4,878 new Covid-19 cases TRANSFUSION GUIDELINES TWEAKED n Convalescent plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 received a boost on Tuesday when the Union health ministry revised blood transfusion guidelines to include the collection of convalescent plasma under the clinical trials protocol from people who have recovered from infection by the Sars-CoV-2 virus. P8 ›› RELATED REPORTS, P2 & P3 Sutirtho Patranobis n letters@hindustantimes.com BEIJING : New research in China has revealed a variant of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, according to a study published in a US science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. The new influenza variant has been named G4 and is genetically linked and descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pan- demic that killed thousands in 2009. It possesses “all the essen- tial hallmarks of being highly adapted to infect humans,” said the authors, who are scientists at Chinese universities and at the Chinese Centre for Disease Con- trol and Prevention (CDC). “The virus is a unique blend of three lineages: one similar to strains found in European and Asian birds, the H1N1 strain that caused the 2009 pandemic, and a North American H1N1 that has genes from avian, human, and pig influenza viruses,” the American Association for the Advances of Sciences (AAAS) said in a report on the findings. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China was closely following developments. The WHO will read the Chi- nese study carefully, spokesper- son Christian Lindmeier told a Geneva briefing on Tuesday, say- ing it was important to collabo- rate on findings and keep tabs on animal populations. ›› P13 New ‘pandemic virus’ in China raises alarm Deeksha Bhardwaj and Sutirtho Patranobis n letters@hindustantimes.com NEWDELHI/BEIJING : TikTok stopped working in India on Tuesday as the company appeared to comply with a ban announced a day before by the Union government, which said that the widely used video sharing tool and 58 other mostly Chinese apps were a threat to national security. Those who had the applica- tion were no longer able to use it, and it no longer came up in searches on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, while the company disabled the webpage. Some of the other prominent applications – such as WeChat and CamScanner – con- tinued to work and were availa- ble on the application stores of both platforms till Tuesday night. “TikTok has been removed from both the app stores,” said an official from the ministry of electronics and information technology (MEITY), asking not to be named. “The cyber cell is working to ensure the other apps are taken down as well.” A MEITY spokesperson con- firmed that the TikTok ban had come into force. TikTok, accord- ing to Bloomberg data, had nearly 200 million users in India as of January this year and had become one of the most promi- nent social media tools used by young Indians. In a statement issued by Tik- Tok on twitter on Tuesday, the company’s India head Nikhil Gandhi said: “The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok, and we are in the process of complying with it. We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifica- tions.” CONTINUED ON P 11 TikTok offline after India app ban, says will follow directive ›› RELATED REPORTS, P10 HT Correspondent n letters@hindustantimes.com NEWDELHI : Prime Minister Naren- dra Modi on Tuesday announced the extension of the provision of free rations to 800 million people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKY) for five more months, until November, at an additional cost of ₹90,000 crore. Modi also reiter- ated the government’s commit- ment to institute the “one nation- one ration card” system to enable migrants to access the public dis- tribution system (PDS) anywhere in the country, asking state gov- ernments to take the proposal for- ward. In an address to the nation, PM Modi also spoke about the need to maintain all precautions against the coronavirus disease (Cov- id-19) — social distancing, wear- ing of masks and regular hand- washing — and pointed out that there has been an increase in “negligence” after Unlock 1.0 saw the country opening up in the past month. While claiming that the announcement was a result of pressure from Congress presi- dent Sonia Gandhi — who had urged the government to extend the scheme — the Congress criti- cised the PM’s speech for not addressing the situation at the India-China border, and for fail- ing to come up with more specific announcements on economic revival and employment crea- tion. The announcement also took a political turn, as the Oppo- sition accused the PM of being motivated by Bihar elections, due at the end of the year, and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announcing the provi- sion of free ration in her state up to June 2021 — elections are due in West Bengal in the middle of next year. The PM’s focus in the speech remained on Covid-19 and the extension of the welfare scheme. “Under the lockdown, our national priority was to ensure that no one who was poor went hungry. The Centre, state gov- ernments and civil society worked hard to ensure no one was hungry,” Modi said. In this backdrop, he men- tioned the PMGKY — the ₹1.7 lakh crore government package announced at the end of March right after the lockdown for three months — and how it had bene- fited 800 million people. CONTINUED ON P 11 TWO TERRORISTS KILLED IN ANANTNAG GUNFIGHT >P8 CHINA APPROVES CONTENTIOUS HK NATIONAL SECURITY LAW >P13 PM extends food aid till November COVID CRISIS Modi announces free ration for 800mn people for 5 more months, warns of negligence in following health safety rules WHAT THE PM SAID , I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the taxpayers and farmers, and also salute them... we will further strengthen our efforts and continuously work to empower the poor... While taking all the precautions, we will further expand the economic activities Since Unlock 1, there is increasing negligence in personal and social behaviour. Earlier, we were very careful with respect to wearing of masks, social distancing... But today, when we need to be more careful, increasing negligence is a cause of worry From July, the festival seasons start, Guru Purnima will be celebrated on July 5. Following this, the month of Saawan will start. In this season of festivals, the needs and expenses of all increases. Keeping this in mind, the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana has been extended till Diwali and Chhath Puja, that is till the end of Nov Rahul Singh n rahul.singh@hindustantimes.com NEW DELHI : The Indian Army has moved three divisions, several squadrons of frontline tanks, additional artillery pieces and fully-ready mechanised infantry squads to the Ladakh sector, as part of its efforts to strengthen its deployments in response to forti- fied Chinese military presence in the region, four people familiar with developments said on Tues- day, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The three army divisions sent to build the necessary military strength to deter possible aggres- sive moves by the Chinese forces deployed across the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) account for up to 30,000 well- trained soldiers, as high-altitude deployments are being bolstered with sharp focus on contingency planning, said the first person cited above. A large number of the troops reinforcements sent to Ladakh have been drawn from the army’s reserve formations, based in a mountainous region in north India and another state in the Hindi-speaking belt. These reserve troops have operated in the sector as part of their regular training, said the person quoted above. CONTINUED ON P 11 Army moves 3 divisions, tanks to Ladakh sector › Equipment, including tanks, has been moved to Ladakh from areas in the western sector where very favourable combat ratios already exist to deal with Pakistan AN OFFICIAL NEW YORK : Imports from China have been piling up at Indian ports pending government clear- ances, causing concern that a recent border standoff between the two nations could have an economic fallout that will dis- rupt supply chains. From active pharmaceutical ingredients that go into the world’s most-consumed drugs to the innards of popular mobile phones, Indian companies pur- chase Chinese raw materials that feed their finished products. The consignments are being delayed and firms aren’t sure why. “Customs authorities have not been clearing consignments coming from China, and they haven’t been offering any rea- sons,” Dinesh Dua, chairman of India’s Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council, said by phone. “Five consignments of mine are stuck,” said Sudhir Hasija, chairman and founder of Kar- bonn Mobiles. ›› P10 E C O N O M I C F A L L O U T China imports stuck at ports amid tension Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, commander of the Leh- based 14 Corps, and Major Gen- eral Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region; and the second after the brutal clash at Galwan Valley that left 20 Indian and an unconfirmed number of Chinese soldiers dead. The Galwan Valley clash, which took place while a previ- ous disengagement process was on, has created trust deficit between the two sides, said a sec- ond person. ›› P10 NEWDELHI : Senior Indian and Chi- nese commanders on Tuesday held an hours-long meeting at Chushul in Ladakh as part of ongoing efforts at the military level to cool heightened border tensions that have soured bilat- eral ties between the two neigh- bours, even as the military build-up on both sides of the con- tested Line of Actual Control (LAC) continues unabated, peo- ple familiar with developments said on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. The talks between the army delegations, led by corps com- mander-ranked officers, began at around 11 am and were still on till the time of filing of this report. There was no official word from the army on the talks. A breakthrough is unlikely at this stage but talks will go on, said one of the persons cited above. This was the third meeting between the delegations led by India, China hold 3rd Lt Gen talks THIS WAS THE THIRD MEETING BETWEEN THE DELEGATIONS LED BY LT GEN HARINDER SINGH OF THE LEH-BASED 14 CORPS, AND MAJ GEN LIU LIN OF THE SOUTH XINJIANG REGION Jamie Mullick n letters@hindustantimes.com NEW DELHI : California and Texas marked record spikes in new Covid-19 infections on Monday to cap a week that saw the highest-ever number of new infections reported in the US. This latest surge in cases in the southern and western parts of the country caused what experts said was the second wave of infections in the US, undoing gains made by north-eastern states such as New York and New Jersey. New York led the ‘first- wave’ states that also included New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsyl- vania when Covid-19 first swept through the country in the second half of March. By the end of March, 60% of all new cases could be traced to these five states. Since then, these regions managed to con- tain the virus, contributing just 6% in the last seven days. However, this drop in cases was undone as the virus started spreading in the southeast and the western parts in early June. California is among a number of states including Florida, Texas, Ari- zona and North Carolina, bat- tling a new wave of cases. This group of ‘second-wave’ states was responsible for less than 3% of new cases reported in the final week of March. Since then, their contribution to the infection has grown to 30% in the last seven days. ›› P13 Wave in new US states fuels raging outbreak R O L L I N G C O V I D P E A K S America’s shifting caseload A surge in cases in the southern and western US is causing a ‘second wave’, undoing gains made by containment in north-eastern states First-wave states (New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts & Pennsylvania) Second-wave states (California, Texas, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina) March 1 April 8 June 29 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 Rest of the country New Covid-19 cases (7-day average) First-wave states Second-wave states 6% 55% 39% 60% 12% 28% Mumbai/METRO n Vol. XVI No. 155 n Price ₹4.00 n 18 Pages + 2 Pages of HT Café (for Mumbai only). Area specific pages extra. WEDNESDAY, JULY 01, 2020 www.facebook.com/hindustantimes www.twitter.com/htTweets n DOWNLOAD OUR iPAD APP www.hindustantimes.com/iPad n OUR EDITION ON KINDLE http://read.ht/JS4 02 hindustan times HIN DUSTA N TIMES, MUMBA I WE D N ESDAY, J ULY 01 , 2 02 0 h t spotlight spotlight CORONAVIRUS: METRO CASES IN MAHARASHTRA Source: Maharashtra health department 77,658 Mumbai (4,556 deaths) 22,327 Pune (752 deaths) 1,076 Satara (43 deaths) 89 Other states Treated in Mumbai (23 deaths) 245 Buldhana (12 deaths) Sangli (11 deaths) 376 Akola (76 deaths) 1,536 47,742 MMR excluding Mumbai (1,166 deaths) 1,087 Malegaon (81 deaths) 2,651 Solapur (265 deaths) 1,468 Nagpur (15 deaths) 5,328 Aurangabad (256 deaths) 1,094 Dhule (54 deaths) 566 Amravati (28 deaths) 3,415 Jalgaon (234 deaths) Latur (18 deaths) 331 Kolhapur (11 deaths) 846 Nashik (141 deaths) 3,139 Ratnagiri (27 deaths) 595 Nandurbar (7 deaths) 175 Chandrapur 94 Bhandara 80 Washim (3 deaths) 102 Wardha (1 death) 19 270 Hingoli (1 death) Nanded (13 deaths) 344 Parbhani (4 deaths) 99 * The above data is based on figures provided by the authorised laboratories on Central government’s COVID-19 portal. Because the laboratory report scrutiny and the availability of figures accordingly is an ongoing process, state numbers are subject to change. 1,74,761 90,911 75,979 Beed 118 (3 deaths) Gadchiroli (1 death) 66 Jalna 552 (14 deaths) 7,855 Yavatmal (10 deaths) 285 Sindhudurg (4 deaths) 219 Ahmednagar (14 deaths) 431 215 Osmanabad (10 deaths) Gondia (1 death) 123 9,66,723 5,78,033 38,866 Eeshanpriya M S n eeshanpriya@htlive.com MUMBAI : A total of 4,041 Covid-19 cases in Mumbai’s slums are not high-risk contacts of earlier patients , and hence their source of infection is not yet identified, Brihanmumbai Municipal Cor- poration’s (BMC) ‘Chase the Virus’ mission data for June 3 to June 29 on its website revealed. However, BMC officials have denied the possibility of commu- nity transmission (in which peo- ple get infected, even if they are not in contact with an infected person) saying the source in the 4,041 cases is unidentified due to different reasons. They attrib- uted the spread to intermingling within population of contain- ment zones in slums, saying the source is linked to earlier positive cases through layers of contacts. Ashwini Bhide, additional municipal commissioner in BMC, said, “This means, there are some cases which are not from among high-risk contacts which are identified and shifted to Covid Care Centres (CCC1). The ratio is 1:13, on an average. But in slums, there are low-risk contacts too, who are not necessa- rily shifted outside [from their homes to quarantine centres]. There is some intermingling within population of contain- ment zones for essential supplies. So we cannot say that the source of transmission for new cases is not known. Somewhere, it is linked to the earlier positive cases in layers of contacts.” BMC’s ‘Chase the Virus’ mis- sion was launched by municipal commissioner IS Chahal on May 26. Among other targets, ward officers were given the task of tracing or ‘chasing’ maximum contacts of Covid-19 patients, moving them to institutional quarantine facilities, and break- ing their contact with the commu- nity around them. From the ear- lier target of ‘chasing’ 10 high- risk contacts for every one Covid- 19 patient, Chahal increased it to 15-high risk contacts. Currently, on an average, BMC has traced up to 13 high-risk contacts per posi- tive patient across the city. Many slum pockets with high number of Covid-19 cases such as Dharavi, Govandi, Mankhurd and Kurla noticed a trend that most subsequent cases were among persons already moved to quarantine facilities by BMC as high-risk contacts of positive patients. In G-North ward, which includes Dharavi along with Dadar and Mahim, BMC has sent 2,631 high-risk contacts to institu- tional quarantine facilities between June 3 and June 29. The ratio is 1:15. In G-North ward, there are 178 cases who are not high-risk contacts of earlier posi- tive cases. Similarly, in M-East ward that includes Govandi and Mank- hurd, BMC has sent 2,150 high- risk contacts to institutional quarantine facilities between June 3 and June 29, and there are 130 cases who are not high-risk contacts of earlier positive cases. The ratio is 1:16. In H-East ward in Bandra East, where the ratio is 1:19, 465 high- risk contacts have been sent to institutional quarantine facilities between June 3 and June 29. There are 25 patients who are not high-risk contacts of patients. The highest instance of Cov- id-19 patients – 400 – who are not high-risk contacts of earlier cases is in S ward in Bhandup, where the ratio if 1:14. BMC has sent 6,586 high-risk contacts to institu- tional quarantine facilities. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner incharge of the civic health department, said, “In some cases, BMC is unable to trace the source of infection in any particular patient because maybe the patient is in a hospital, and may or may not be reached by civic staff to record his contact his- tory.” When asked if the trend shows signs of community transmis- sion, Kakani said, “No. So far, there is an index case for every Covid-19 positive patient in Mum- bai. In some cases, there are delays in identifying the connec- tion between this index case and new Covid-19 patient. For exam- ple, if a patient is in a hospital and is not able to speak with BMC staff, we may not know who all he has come in contact with.” Community transmission is supposed to be formally announced by the government and it has not yet been announced. On Tuesday, Mumbai reported 893 new cases and 93 new deaths. However, 57 of these 93 deaths occurred earlier. The number of cases now stands at 77,658 and deaths stand at 4,556. Mumbai’s fatality rate now stands at 5.8% and recovery rate at 56.8%. Source unknown in 4,041 cases? IN SLUMS Patients not high-risk contacts of cases; BMC says no community transmission, source not identified due to other reasons n Checking of vehicles led to a traffic jam at a police nakabandi on the Western Express Highway at Kandivli on Tuesday. SATYABRATA TRIPATHY/HT PHOTO Eeshanpriya M S n eeshanpriya@htlive.com MUMBAI : To reduce rising fatali- ties due to Covid-19 in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has come up with a nine-point strategy called ‘Save Lives’. Mumbai’s fatality rate due to Covid-19 was 5.86% as of June 30, higher than Maha- rashtra’s average fatality rate of 4.49%, and India’s average fatal- ity rate of 2.9% (according to a report by Medical Education and Drugs Department, Govern- ment of Maharashtra). The Save Lives strategy will include more detailed monitor- ing and supervision of critical patients, including video sur- veillance by the head of the unit and head of the hospital. In light of a Covid-19 death, a mandatory audit will take place, and the video footage will be forensically examined to deter- mine causes. BMC noted that several deaths occurred between 1am and 5am, often when serious and critical patients disconnect oxygen support and leave their beds to go to the toilet. They often end up straining them- selves and collapse. As part of the Save Lives strategy, the civic body has decided to keep a bedpan for every bed and a commode for every four beds nearby and has instructed all healthcare staff to cooperate with patients who want to use the toilet in the night. Municipal commissioner IS Chahal said, “Each hospital has to ensure supply of medicines like antivirals, steroids, and plasma and see that they are used. There will be a mandatory video or telephone meeting twice a day for every case, between junior and senior healthcare staff.” BMC has also mandated that healthcare staff maintain a proper protocol for every patient through checkboxes on individual case papers, updat- ing the concerned patient’s treatment, from medicines, dos- age, timings, diet, etc. Fatality rate in the city shot up from 3.7% on June 15 to 5.2% on June 16, after Mumbai recon- ciled figures of deaths, adding 862 deaths to the cumulative Covid-19 toll. The figures were reconciled after many public and private hospitals reported the deaths that had occurred as early as March and April, belat- edly to BMC. Following this, BMC issued two warnings to hospitals to submit pending data of all old deaths within 48 hours (post warning) or face strict action. BMC will also conduct a study to examine the increase in fatality progressively (day after day) in May and June. The civic body believes that the fatality rate has not progressively shot up in the city over the past few weeks, and the sharp jump from 3.7% to 5.2% is attributed to the reconciliation of figures. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, in charge of the health depart- ment, said, “I have instructed staff from the health depart- ment to plot the reconciled fig- ures of 862 deaths day-wise, as and when they occurred, and then calculate the increase in fatality. This exercise will be completed within two to three days, and will give us a clear pic- ture of the fatality rate through May and June.” In mid-April, the Maharash- tra government set up a task force of nine doctors to examine reasons for high fatality in the state and suggest measures to reduce it. At the time, the fatal- ity rate in the state had crossed 6%. BMC’s ‘Save Lives’ strategy to curb fatality rate n Healthcare staff screen residents of a slum in Mankhurd. SATISH BATE/HT PHOTO Naresh Kamath n naresh.kamath@htlive.com MUMBAI : More than 50% of the city’s hotels and restaurants may be forced to close if they don’t get immediate relief from the gov- ernment, according to the Res- taurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) and Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association (AHAR). Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, presi- dent of HRAWI, described the industry as “unsustainable” because of shrinking demand combined with costs ranging from licensing fees to staff sala- ries and rent. “Our assessment is that 50% of the restaurants will be unable to open their establishments,” he said. HRAWI has demanded relief in terms of reduction in both property tax as well as electricity bills. President of AHAR, Shivan- and Shetty, agreed with Kohli’s assessment. “The current take- away business is hardly giving us any income. More than 80% of our staff are migrants and we cannot open if they don’t return,” he said. On Monday, the state announced that hoteliers pay 50% of the annual liquor licensing fee, which was raised from ₹6.93 lakh to ₹7.96 lakh this year, by Septem- ber-end and the remainder by the end of the year. “The government has always been lenient and hence, we decided to give more time to hoteliers,” said excise commissioner Kantilal Umap. However, Shetty said the hike in licensing fees posed difficulties for establishments. “Our hote- liers are paying rents and salaries to staff during the lockdown. They cannot survive with addi- tional expenses,” said Shetty, pointing out that earnings would reduce once they open, because of distancing requirements. Satish Nayak, who owns A Rama Nayak’s Udupi Srikrishna Boarding, said, “We can serve 79 patrons at a time. With distancing norms, we will not be able to serve no more than 25 at a time.” ‘50% EATERIES WILL HAVE TO SHUT WITHOUT GOVT RELIEF’ Surendra P Gangan n surendra.gangan@htlive.com MUMBAI : Less than 10% of 7.34 lakh industrial units have resumed operations in Maharashtra after the state government opened up the sector from lockdown restric- tions on April 20. The govern- ment had set a target of resump- tion of 60% of the industrial units, weeks after they were allowed to be operational. Industry stakeholders said that economic slowdown, disrup- tion in the supply chain, and lesser demand are the reasons for this low response. After Maharashtra opened up the industrial sector, 63,891 of total 7.34 lakh industrial units that were functioning before the lockdown was announced in March, have resumed opera- tions. Of them, 62, 490 are micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and 1,401 are large scale industries. Around 15.57 lakh employees have reported back to work, though many units are running at only 40-50% capacity. “We have stricter restrictions in 19 municipal corporations that are in red zones. Entry of employ- ees to these zones or from them is restricted. Industries are facing a phasing problem of the supply of raw material or some of the com- ponents that are supplied from restricted areas,” said industries minister Subhash Desai. An official from the Maharash- tra Industrial Development Cor- poration (MIDC) said that while the percentage of industries becoming operational is less in the organised sector, it is more than 50% in the unorganised sec- tor among small and micro indus- tries. Aurangabad-based industrial- ist Ram Bhogale said, “The units have been running at 40-50%of the workforce and much lesser production than their capacity. Industries are facing many chal- lenges; one of them is a disruption in raw material supply.” Only 10% industries operational after govt opened up the sector n Residents of Malad being screened. SATYABRATA TRIPATHY/HT Rupsa Chakraborty n rupsa.chakraborty@htlive.com MUMBAI : Dr Zabir Hussain, 51, a general physician from Chem- bur, who also worked with gov- ernment ambulance service (108) for Covid-19 patients at night, died on May 23. The sole bread- winner is survived by his wife and three teenaged children. While the family so far managed the household with Hussain’s sal- ary of ₹27,000 for May, they now plan to return to their hometown in Uttar Pradesh. “My father had to feed four mouths, which left him with no savings. My mother can’t work as she is illiterate. We have there- fore decided to go back to our hometown,” said Adil, his 17-year-old son. Like Hussain, 17 other private physicians have succumbed to Covid-19 infection in Maharash- tra since the outbreak in March, according to data available with the Indian Medical Association (IMA). Additionally, 180 doctors have been diagnosed with Sars- Cov-2 virus that causes Covid-19, and more than 1,500 physicians have been quarantined all across the state. Members of IMA said their records do not reflect the real pic- ture owing to poor collection of data, and the actual numbers are likely to be higher than what exists on paper. As gatekeepers in screening Covid-19 patients, the state, under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, had directed private physi- cians to keep their clinics open. Doctors said, in addition to not providing them with personal protective equipment (PPE) despite being highly susceptible to the infection, the state govern- ment has not included private practitioners under the Covid-19 insurance cover of ₹50 lakh. On the eve of National Doctor’s Day, the Maharashtra chapter of IMA in an open letter stated that their decision to observe and not celebrate July 1 as ‘Atma-Sam- man Divas’ as protest against what they describe as discrimina- tion meted out towards private doctors. Doctors said the credit for patients’ recovery goes to the medical fraternity. “The govern- ment declared insurance of ₹50 lakh for every healthcare worker. Later on the policemen were included...but the private doctors’ plea for a similar insur- ance was ignored. Even the doc- tors were ready to pay the pre- mium amount for this insurance, at the same rate by which the gov- ernment will pay the premium of these healthcare workers,” reads the open letter sent by IMA on June 30. The kin of Dr Mithkesh Rampal Singh said they are not covered under Covid-19 insur- ance although the general physi- cian contracted the infection on duty and died on June 8. “While treating an asymptomatic patient in a hospital, he got exposed to the virus. In this backdrop, he should get insurance,” said Dr Vimal Singh, brother of the deceased doctor. “The money could have secured his wife’s life .” J U L Y 1 I S N A T I O N A L D O C T O R ’ S D A Y Discrimination irks private doctors MUMBAI : Working for six hours straight donning per- sonal protective equipment (PPE) inside a Covid-19 ward is tough, especially for women doctors during their monthly menstrual cycle. The social discrimination that they face makes it worse, said most doctors HT spoke to ahead of the National Doc- tor’s Day (July 1). Dr Reshma Shinde, a resi- dent doctor in pathology department at KEM Hospital, Parel, said even as they are being honoured as Covid warriors, she is experiencing stigma that is attached to the highly contagious infection. In an open letter, Shinde wrote, “Though my house was blessed with praises for my work, marriage proposals had stopped knocking my house doors. It took me no time to realise, that, it was due to the stigma associated with the word ‘COVID’. I started feeling very low as I could only see my dreams of marriage getting shattered (sic).” Shinde told HT, “That’s the mentality of the society. We are being stigmatised for sav- ing lives of patients.” Another 28-year-old resi- dent doctor who is on duty at SevenHills hospital also had a similar experience. “The groom’s family approached my father through a matri- monial website in February. We started chatting and everything was going fine until April, when I was put on Covid-19 duty,” she said. “He started to pressure me to stop going to the hospital, which I couldn’t as it is my responsi- bility. In May, they cancelled the marriage proposal.” “During periods, we lose additional water and blood, which makes us weak and dehydrated. In safety suits for six hours, we can’t even go to the bathroom to change sanitary napkins. Then come the cramps that burn us out,” said Dr Shinde. Dr Sudeshna Salvi from the Grant Medical College, also known as JJ Hospital, said how once she had forgot- ten her date of menstrual cycle and started bleeding in her PPE suit. “I had no option as I was on my duty and I couldn’t open my PPE which could have been too risky. I spent six hours standing as I couldn’t sit,” she said. Dr Gautam Bhansali, in-charge of private Covid-19 hospitals in Mumbai, said women doc- tors have been working brav- ing all odds. “If any woman doctor wants to postpone the duty dates around their men- strual cycle, we do it immedi- ately. It takes a toll on a woman to work for hours wearing PPE during that time of the month. But hats off to them, for they always work with full devotion and enthusiasm,” he said. RUPSA CHAKRABORTY MENSTRUAL CYCLE, STIGMA: WOMEN DOCTORS’ WORRY n BMC health workers screen a resident of Mahim Police Colony on Tuesday. VIJAYANAND GUPTA/HT 9 Video surveillance on every case by head of unit and head of institution Detailed audit of every death and