India Coronavirus Dispatch: Crypto relief fund may run into hurdles

No bar on procuring medical equipment from China, death rate rises in Mumbai even as daily cases plateau, and more-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Nearly 380,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 379,257 fresh coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the cumulative caseload to 18.3 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 3,645 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 204,832. This is the biggest one-day rise in cases and fatalities. The active caseload is at 3 million, while the total recoveries have surged to 15 million. As many as 150 million shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 2.1 million were given on Wednesday. Read more here

India's 'crypto relief' Covid fund may run into regulatory hurdles

A cryptocurrency fund was started by India's cryptocurrency and blockchain industry professionals to aid efforts to check the Covid crisis. In three days of launching, the fund claims to have collected as much as Rs 22 crore in cryptocurrencies—including 1 Bitcoin worth over Rs 40 lakh from Australian cricketer Brett Lee. However, the fund could run into some regulatory hurdles as there is a problem in tracking what donations come from outside India. Cryptocurrency payments are structured so that the identity and location of the fund sender are anonymous. Read here

No bar on procuring medical equipment from China

Private firms in India are allowed to buy critical medical equipment and items from China to aid the fight against Covid-19, but there is no initiative between the two governments due to tensions over Ladakh, a report in ThePrint said citing official sources. As India reels from an explosion in Covid cases, the Chinese government has offered to help, but the Modi government has not responded owing to border tensions, the report said. As many as 20 troops were killed during a clash with Chinese troops last June. Read here

Mumbai: Covid death rate rises even as daily cases plateau

While the slowing numbers of daily cases in Mumbai show signs that the city may have passed its peak in the second Covid wave, there has been a grim spike in the death rate in recent weeks, a report in The Indian Express said. The death rate was as low as 0.2 per cent until the first week of March. It gradually rose in a month and touched 0.87 per cent last week. It might climb up to 1 per cent by the end of this week, according to estimates by the state death audit committee. Read here
 

Punjab: Covid cases on the rise but govt teachers still coming to schools

Teachers and non-teaching staff have been reporting physically in Punjab's government schools even as over 6,000 Covid cases are being recorded on an average in the state, a report in The Indian Express said.

According to the orders issued by the director (secondary education) Punjab dated April 19, all schools including government, aided, private and affiliated will remain shut across the state till April 30 but ‘entire teaching and non-teaching staff have to remain present in their schools like usual’. Read here