Covid-19 hinterland digest: Blood banks face crisis; veggies go waste in HP

Hospitals and blood banks do not have blood units in stock. No more blood donation camps are being organised

India has good and bad news in its fight to control the coronavirus outbreak. Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Indore and Lucknow are among cities sitll under hard lockdown, but Goa has been declared disease free. Also, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are on recovery path. Some cities have eased the lockdown norms and activities have picked up there. Government offices and factories have begun operations in some places, but the rest remain behind the locked doors. 

Business Standard takes a look at regional editions of Hindi newspapers to provide you a picture of the Covid-19 situation in the hinterland.

Citizens scared of donation blood; patients suffer

The coronavirus is not only endangering the lives of those infected but of others as well. Dainik Bhaskar reports from Indore that people are scared of donating blood. The fear has its own merit but it is impacting the lives of several patients who are dependent on regular blood supply. Cancer, kidney patients and those suffering from thalassemia need blood frequently. Hospitals and blood banks do not have blood units in stock. The situation is so bad that they are forced to ask the patients to bring along a donor before any medical procedure can happen. No more blood donation camps are being organised anymore. The city of Indore has far too many patients with diseases that require blood transfusion. Private hospitals are charging Rs 1,900 instead of Rs 1,500 for one unit of blood. Moreover, they are not providing blood unless there is a donor to compensate for it. 

Vegetables in Hamirpur mandi remain unsold

Hamirpur, in Himachal Pradesh, has reported Coivd-19 positive cases. In order to control the spread, the entire area has been declared a containment zone, which has led to a complete halt of transportation. Due to this, the vegetable vendors are now left with no customers, reports Dainik Bhaskar. The biggest mandi of the city is unable to send vegetables outside the city. Hundreds of quintals of vegetable has rotten in the past two days. If the situation persists then fruits worth lacks of rupees will rot as well. The shopkeepers have no clue about when will they be able to send their commodities for sale, but they are incurring heavy losses. 

Manesar-based company manufactures rapid testing kits; Harayana gets 25,000

SD Biosensor, a South Korean company operating in Manesar, has started manufacturing rapid testing kits for coronavirus, reports Dainik Bhaskar. These kits can be used to detect coronavirus in a patient. The company has proposed to provide each kit at Rs 380, which is around Rs 400 less than the Chinese kits. The Haryana government has ordered for over 100,000 such kits. The Haryana government will be able to focus on random testing, once it gets its hand on these kits. Interestingly, the company got a go-ahead for the manufacturing of these kits within 15 days, which takes 5 months in normal circumstances. The company will manufacture 10 million kits in one month. 

Bihar screens over 17 million people in 4 days

As coronavirus is spreading its wings, the Bihar government has launched a door-to-door campaign to screen people for coronavirus, Dainik Jagran reported. Between April 16 and 19, the volunteer and medics visited 3.6 million homes and tested more than 17 million people. During the screening process, 1,335 people have been identified with symptoms of coronavirus. 23 people were found who had travelled to other nations, while 138 had travelled to other states. The medics have sent samples of 899 people out of 1,335 people for testing. The remainder will be sent soon. Interestingly, out of the 23 people will history of foreign travel, 11 are from Buxar. Three are from Banka, two each from Purniya and Gopalganj, and one each from Bhagalpur, Bhojpur, Madhubani, Navada, and Siwan. 

Himachal to resume 2000 factories; millions of MNREGA workers to find job

After the government allowed work to resume from 20 April, the Himachal Pradesh government has ordered 2000 small and big industries to commence operations, reports Amar Ujala. On Monday, millions of labourers and workers flocked at the centres where curfew passes were being made. Around 1,500 industries will resume operations in Solan, while 200 have got permission in Sirmour. Sanitisation and necessity-related industries have been already operational. Now, iron, cardboard, packaging industry will resume. For now, it will not be necessary to take permission from gram sabha to start MNREGA work.