CM KCR announced today that the state has decided to conduct 50,000 tests in the coming week in Hyderabad and surrounding areas. KCR has ordered health officials to conduct the Covid-19 tests in the 50 Assembly segments of Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Vikarabad, Medchel and Sangareddy districts in the next 7 to 10 days.

He stressed that Hyderabad is like the heart of Telangana and keeping its brand-image and more cases being reported from the city compared to other districts, KCR said the government is taking steps on war-footing measures to control the spread in the city.

“In the next ten days as a precautionary measure, 50,000 people from Uppal, LB Nagar, Maheswaram, Ibrahimpatnam, Rajendranagar, Seri Lingampalli, Chevella, Pargi, Vikarabad, Tandoor, Medchel, Malkajgiri, Qutballpur, Kukatpally, Malakpet, Amberpet, Musheerabad, Khairatabad, Jubilee Hills, Sanath Nagar, Nampally, Karawan, Gosha Mahal, Charminar, Chandrayangutta, Yakutpura, Bahadurpura, Secunderabad, Secunderabad Contonment, Patancheru Assembly Constituencies would undergo the Corona detection tests. Utilise the services of the private labs and hospitals in this regard. The officials are going to issue the guidelines for conducting tests and the fee to be collected by the private labs and hospitals,” CM KCR said.

KCR held a high-level review meeting today with Health Minister Etela Rajender, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, CMO Principal Secretary S Narsing Rao, Secretary Rajasekhar Reddy, senior medical officials, medical experts. KCR said the government is permitting private labs to conduct Covid-19 tests.

He also said the government is permitting private hospitals to offer treatment for Covid-19. He however asked the medical and health officials to prepare guidelines and fee structure to be duly followed by the private hospitals, labs without charging higher rates.

CM KCR said asymptomatic Covid-19 patients would be offered home quarantine. He also added that the government is ready to offer treatment to the Corona patients irrespective of the number. He assured that the state government has adequate number of Test Kits, PPE Kits, ventilators, ICU Beds and masks. He asked people to not panic. However, CM KCR has asked people to follow personal hygiene and due precautions to avoid the spread of the pandemic.

T Veena, daughter of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday tied the knot with Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) National President Mohammed Riyas in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram.

The wedding was organised at the Cliff House, Chief Minister’s residence with close friends and family as attendees. Veena works in the IT sector as managing director of Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd, a start-up company based in Bengaluru.

While Riyas is the all-India president of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI(M). This is the second marriage of both Riyas and Veena.

Earlier, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor shared details of the conversation he had with Kerala chief minister in a tweet. “Finally, took the opportunity to convey my blessings for his daughter’s marriage tomorrow. Life must go on amid a pandemic, and “love in the time of COVID” carries a special joy!” he said.

Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon continues to be in the ICU of a private hospital in Lucknow, officials said on Monday.”He is undergoing intensive treatment,” Medanta Hospital Director Dr. Rakesh Kapoor told PTI.

Mr Tandon, 85, was admitted to the hospital on the morning of June 11 with breathing problems, difficulty in urination, and fever.

On Sunday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the hospital and enquired about his health.

Mr. Tandon was kept under the supervision of doctors and his condition improved following the treatment given by experts, the hospital said in its medical bulletin on Sunday. His COVID-19 sample report came out negative at the time of admission, it said.

Last evening, Personal Assistant (PA) of Telangana finance minister Harish Rao was tested positive of the novel Covid-19. He was immediately shifted to Gandhi hospital in Hyderabad and as precautionary, Harish Rao and 51 supporters who are always behind the TRS leaders have undergone the tests.

The TRS leader’s and 17 others results have arrived as negative and rest of the results are awaited. Yet Harish Rao has gone into self-isolation.

At his residence in Siddipet, Harish Rao locked himself in a room and called off all the activities for the day. He is likely to stay indoors for another two weeks which is Telangana government’s norm.

Telangana has reported 164 in the last 24 hours and the total cases count stands at 4484 including that of foreign returnees and migrants.

Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal at 11 am Sunday to review the coronavirus situation in the national capital amid a worrying surge in new cases in recent days.

Members of the SDMA will also attend the meeting, the Home Ministry Office tweeted Saturday evening, adding that Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and other senior officers would also be present.

On Friday Delhi reported 2,137 new COVID-19 cases – the first time that over 2,000 fresh infections were reported in a 24-hour period in the national capital. The total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi, the third worst-affected state in the country, has crossed 36,000, with 1,214 deaths linked to the virus.

With the Centre doing unlock after nearly 80 days of lockdown, last week temples across the country have opened. From Tirumala to Rameshwaram many renowned shrines after opened the doors for the devotees.

However, the Sabarimala temple in Kerala has been shut down by the Kerala government for the entire month. The Sabarimala temple board, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) had held talks with Priests of the temple to allow devotees or not. But this meeting did not yield any logical conclusion and there came reports that there are differences between TDB and Priests of the temple.

Kerala government has involved in this matter and asked Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran in look into the issue. After a lot of deliberations, the minister announced that Sabarimala will be closed for the entire month. So far Kerala has reported 2,161 while 19 people have died. As per the government sources over two Lakh, people are under observation.

Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP) will announce AP Inter Result today. The Annual examinations in the state began in March but could not be concluded due to coronavirus outbreak and the remaining papers were finally concluded on June 3.

The board usually released Inter results in April but due to the Covid-19 crisis, the process was delayed this year. The result for Intermediate students in Andhra Pradesh will be released on the board’s official website and result portal. Students would need their hall ticket number to check their result.

Inter Admissions in Andhra Pradesh will be carried out in online mode from this year. The Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh (BIE AP) had notified college management across the state in March this year that from 2020 academic session, admission to intermediate courses will be held through Computerized Automated Student Online Intermediate Admission System.

Students who pass in Intre 1st year will be promoted to Inter 2nd year and students who pass Inter 2nd year will become eligible for admission to degree college.Meanwhile, the Board of Secondary Education Andhra Pradesh (BSEAP) has announced the Class 10 or Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination will be held from July 10 to 17.

With Telangana government cancelling off the tenth standard board exams, everyone was anticipating for Andhra Pradesh government’s decision. There were some rumours on this and to clear the speculations AP Education minister Audimulapu Suresh has come forward.

Speaking to the media, minister Audimulapu said, there is no change in tenth standard exams and they will be held as per rescheduled dates. From July 10th, the exams will go on and we are going to take all the precautionary measures.

About the preparatory works the minister said, we have increased the number of exam centres from 2900 odd to over 4000. Also the seating arrangements will be made following the guidelines. CM Jagan has instructed us to ensure students’ health is high priority than anything else.

The YCP government has cut down the 11 papers to six papers and each paper would carry 100 marks. The exams would conclude on July 15th. But it will be a daunting task for the government to declare the results.

Telangana firebrand leader Revanth Reddy is at it again. Revanth, who is waging war with KCR and KTR, unleashed a new battle as he is fighting against KTR’s Janwada farmhouse. Following a complaint from MP Revanth Reddy who accused KTR of buying a 25 acre site in Osman Sagar catchment area and constructing building flouting rules of Government Order 111 that prohibits permanent structures in the catchment areas, the National Green Tribunal has served notices to KTR and ordered a probe.

While KTR has denied all the accusations and allegations, Revanth Reddy in his latest press conference blasted KTR. Alleging that KTR’s defense is pure lie, he demanded CM KCR to launch a detailed and unbiased probe into the matter.

He asked CM KCR to prove his credibility to Telangana society by ordering a probe into his son’s property. Raising concerns over the probe of municipal officials into Municipal Minister KT Ramarao, Revanth demanded KTR to step down from the post for two months for a fair and unbiased probe.

Meanwhile, Revanth blasted TRS MP Balka Suman and actor Posani Krishna Murali who came in support of minister KTR. Revanth shot back at KTR’s supporters saying that they are a group of “locusts” (Midathala dandu). Revanth alleged that KTR is sending “locusts, brokers and jokers” against him.

Meanwhile, Revanth has thrown a challenge to KTR. “This is a direct challenge. Even if you call me at midnight, I’ll directly come to my 20 guntas in Vattinagulapally. If there’s any sign post or any construction, I myself will demolish it with the help of hoe (paara in Telugu) and JCB,” said Revanth who further asked KTR to take him to Janwada farmhouse from there and find out about his “illegal” construction.

The novel Covid-19 is not sparing the politicians too. BJP’s Jyotiraditya Scindia and his mother are reportedly tested positive of the global pandemic. Though this news is yet to be officially confirmed by the government sources, renowned journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has tweeted about it.

“Breaking now: Not so good news: @JM_Scindia and his mother have tested positive for corona, The former Cong turned BJP leader from MP has been admitted to hospital.. Wish him a speedy recovery!,” wrote Rajdeep.

Scindia and his mother Madhavi Raje Scindia have complained of sore throat and fever, both symptoms of COVID-19. They were reportedly admitted to the Max Hospital at Saket in New Delhi on Monday and their COVID test results are still awaited.

Sometime back Scindia made it to the headlines for quitting Congress and joining BJP. Later he got Rajya Sabha ticket from the saffron party.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday underwent the COVID-19 test after he developed a sore throat and mild fever on Sunday.

At present, the fever of the Aam Aadmi Party convenor has come down and also his throat pain is decreasing. The 51-year-old Delhi Chief Minister on Sunday complained of fever and cancelled all of his meetings thereafter.

According to the Health Ministry, Delhi so far has recorded as many as 29,943 cases of COVID-19. Out of the total, 17712 are currently active in the capital and 11357 have been discharged/cured.A total of 874 have died in Delhi due to lethal infection.

The spread of global infection, covid19, is like never-ending in Telangana and ever since unlock1.0, the state is observing a huge spike in cases. At least 100 plus cases are being reported each day, leaving the locals in extreme panic and fear.

Moreover, the relaxations by the government like the opening of shops and malls made Telangana streets heavily crowded with very few people following social distancing norms.

The Chief Minister KCR has convened an important meeting today on Monday at Pragati Bhavan to review coronavirus cases in GHMC limits. The rumours from sources came in that KCR might reimpose the lockdown in the city with stricter rules, similar to the first and second phases.

After suffering unpleasant results of an action, that is, the unexpected spike in cases after a few relaxations is now leaving the government in thoughts about changing its decision.

However, the clarification on this will be out once KCR holds a press meet and states his decisions. So far, the lockdown may commence once agin after 10 June, but without official confirmation, one needs to see what’s approaching us.

Currently, the state has temples, restaurants, shopping malls, street shops and religious centres opened. Also, the majority of the people when surveyed has shown that they prefer complete lockdown until 30 June, instead of relaxations to avoid the dangers of repercussions.

Arvind Kejriwal has gone into self-quarantine and will take a coronavirus test after complaints of mild fever and a sore throat, Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said today. The Chief Minister has cancelled all his meetings.Mr Kejriwal, 51, had been unwell since Sunday afternoon and hasn’t met anyone since then.

He has isolated himself at his official home in Delhi.AAP leaders and many others tweeted get-well-soon wishes for Mr Kejriwal.”Our beloved Arvind Kejriwal has mild fever and sore throat since yesterday and is on self-isolation on doctors’ advice. Tomorrow he will get a Covid-19 test at 9 am. We all pray for your good health,” posted AAP MLA Jarnail Singh.

“ArvindKejriwal, you are our inspiration and hero – a frontline warrior against coronavirus. You put yourself at risk for the well-being of people of Delhi. As you face a health challenge, our thoughts, wishes and prayers are with you,” tweeted another MLA, Raghav Chaddha, with the hashtag #TakeCareAK.

On Sunday, the Chief Minister addressed a very brief digital press conference at noon to announce a new policy of reserving hospital beds for residents of Delhi. He was seen wearing a mask.

Amid complaints of coronavirus patients or suspected patients being denied hospital beds, Mr Kejriwal declared that hospitals run by the Delhi government and some private hospitals would be reserved only for residents of the capital.

He also said Delhi would reopen its borders, which were sealed in the first place “thinking that our hospitals will be flooded with people from other states”.

Delhi has seen a spurt in COVID-19 cases and over 1,000 new cases daily for the past few days. There are over 27,600 cases in the capital.

In a never before history, the temples across the country were shut for nearly 80 days. In the unlock one, the Centre has permitted for reopening of temples, hotels and others from Monday. This morning temples across the country have opened their doors for devotees.

Tirumala temple which is the biggest in the country too, reopened. However, Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) will be not letting outsiders for the next three days. TTD is doing a trial run for the first three days of the darshan with the employees and locals. Probably from the fourth day, the outsiders will be allowed for darshan.

Masks have been made mandatory for all the devotees and thermal screenings are being set up at entry point of queue lines. TTD has made marking of six feet physical distance from one person to another in the queue line. TTD is estimating to allow 500 people per hour for darshan and it would be around 6000 people per day in the fixed timings.

Also TTD has reopened the Alipiri ghat road to Tirumala and the timings of the vehicle moments are from morning 5’o clock to 8:30 PM. TTD has hiked the toll fee of vehicles.

A video of government workers in Puducherry hurriedly throwing the body of a COVID-19 positive man into a pit has caused massive outrage, prompting the administration to order a probe into the incident.

The video shows four men in PPEs moving the lifeless body from an ambulance and literally dumping it into the grave. Less then 30 seconds later one of the men is heard telling a government official that they have “thrown the body” for which the official shows thumbs up in approval.

It also appears that the front line workers ignored a series of COVID protocol while handling the body. The video shows the dead person was merely wrapped with a white cloth and not in a bag as manadated in such cases. The cloth wrapped around the body also opened up as it was dropped exposing the workers to tremendous risk of infection. It is not clear yet if the body was duly embalmed.

Sources in Puducherry told NDTV that the body was of a Chennai resident who had tested positive during his visit.The undignified handling of the COVID patient has led to massive outrage in Puducherry.

“Dignified disposal of dead body is a matter of right. Such an insult to a dead person is an offence under section 500 of Indian Penal Code. The health workers along with those supervisory staff are punishable with penalty for defamation of deceased person,” India Against Corruption said in statement.

Its President, Dr S Anandkumar, called it “Unprofessional disaster management in Puducherry”.Sources in the health department say, the body was handed over to Revenue officials for burial.

Puducherry Collector Arun has ordered a probe. “I’ve issued a memo to the concerned department. It’s very unfortunate. I am enquiring into the issue. Have properly briefed them,” he told NDTV.Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi said show cause notices are being served to the individuals involved.

Not long ago in neigbouring Chennai, the body of a doctor who died after contracting coronavirus was not allowed to be buried. Mob attacked the health workers in the ambulance carrying the body of Dr Simon Hercules forcing his friend to drive the ambulance and bury the doctor himself.

The incident later forced the Tamil Nadu government to bring an ordinance which allowed jail term of upto three years for anyone blocking or attempting to block funerals of coronavirus victims.

Telangana minister KTR condemned the castigating allegations against him regarding the farmhouse construction in Janwada village near Hyderabad Gandipet, against the GO 111.

Congress working president MP Revanth Reddy filed a petition alleging KTR violation of the Government order with illegal construction.

KTR strongly retorted Revanth Reddy’s allegations, calling them a deliberate defamation campaign. The Telangana minister said he will seek appropriate legal remedies by exposing the falsehood of allegations by Revanth Reddy.

Earlier, based on the petition filed by Congress leader Revanth Reddy, NGT (National Green Tribunal) issued notices to KTR along with the Telangana pollution control board, GHMC, Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply, Sewerage Board, HMDA, Hyderabad lakes, and Water Body management circle.

NGT started investigating with members Justice Ramakrishnan and Saibal Das Gupta. NGT initiated a fact-finding committee to verify illegal construction, permissions, and other facts.

This committee will be visiting the site and verify the legitimacy of the construction and if not, what could be the recovery process and compensation against violation of GO.

Revanth Reddy lawyer K Sravan Kumar argued that the construction is under the disguise of green cover like a poly-house farming model and that is the reason for not recognizing it as a farmhouse for a long time. He also recalled villagers mentioning KTR’s frequent visits after the construction completed.

According to the allegations of Revanth Reddy, the farmhouse is built in almost one lakh square feet with three-story, a swimming pool, and a garden. Revanth’s petition also alleged that a prime water source for Usman Sagar is sealed with mud to lay the road for the farmhouse.

Revanth claims his visit to the construction was to collect evidence regarding the illegality of it and was arrested during the same. Revanth Reddy was arrested for flying a drone unlawfully over the farmhouse.

Claiming that the one-year rule of the YSR Congress government has been hailed by all sections of the society, the party cadre held celebrations in the last week.A special programme, “Mana Palana-Mee Suchana” was also organised to get feedback from the people on the 1-year rule. The party leaders boasted that their party president and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has fulfilled more than 90 per cent of the promises he had made at the hustings.

It seems that Jagan has won the hearts of the people by implementing a boquet of welfare schemes.However, amidst this euphoria, there a few party leaders who had raised voice of dissent against the poor state of affairs in the state.Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram said that illegally distilled liquor was overflowing in the state as the excise department was in a slumber. He charged the excise officials with being non-chalant in initiating action against those involved in the manufacture and transportation of ID liquor.

Vinukonda YSRC MLA Pallam Brahma Naidu and YSRC leader Rosaiah alleged that the sand-laden vehicles leaving the ramps were not reaching the public. Indirectly, they pointed at the blackmarketing of sand, its diversion to other places. They said that sand was being looted and shifted to some unknown destinations where remunerative price would be paid, putting all others dependent on it in AP in trouble. They alleged the role of sand mafia in it.

Meanwhile, Narsapuram MP Raghurama Krishnamraju has faulted the YSRC governance on more than one issue, in the recent past. He took exception to the YSRC government’s handling of State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar’s removal from the post and even TTD’s plan to sell temple lands. He also raised the issue of poor supply of sand since the day the YSRC government came to power.

YSRC MLA from Kandukuru Manugunta Maheedhar Reddy also expressed displeasure over the poor implementation of schemes in his constituency. He lamented that he was not being able to provide adequate supply of drinking water to the people in his constituency due to non-cooperation of the officials. The MLA even staged a protest demonstration at the ZP office in Ongole seeking solution to the problem. He wondered if the situation was the same in other constituencies.

Venkataigiri YSRC MLA Anam Ramanarayana Reddy too, who is also a former minister, also joined the bandwagon of disgruntled party leaders. Addressing the media a couple of days ago, he lamented that he could not do anything to his constituency in the last one year. He alleged that the irrigation officials were selling water.

The MLA said that the whole of last year he had spent on giving reports and letters regarding the development activities that need to be taken up his constituency but nothing came out of it. Further, he said that he had submitted proposals for a 100-bedded hospital, dialysis centre, trauma care centre, Gurukul school even before the Model Code of Conduct for local body polls came into force, but that no steps have been taken to make them a reality.

The YSRC MLA lamented that the officials were not responding properly and taking action despite orders from the Chief Minister.Political analysts say that it is necessary that the CM focus on the dissidence in his party or else, the trouble would brew and make it hard for him to govern the state. The benefits of all the welfare schemes introduced by the state government under Navaratnalu are reaching the beneficiaries through village volunteers but no development works have been taken up in any of the constituency, political observers say.

Meanwhile, there is word that dissidence was increasing among the YSRC men because Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not allowing corruption at the field-level. When the party leaders are not allowed for corruption, they are finding fault with the governance and official administration, say political observers.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented challenges for several nations, could be an “opportunity” for India to speed up the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary healthcare, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus was responding to a question on the COVID-19 situation in India, where the number of coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly. India went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.

India has seen a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the number of deaths to 6,642, according to the health ministry.

“Of course COVID is very unfortunate and it’s challenging for many nations but we need to look for opportunities too. For instance for India, this could be an opportunity to speed up Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary health care.

I know there is a very strong commitment from the government to speed up the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and with primary healthcare and community engagement, I think we can really turn the tide,” Mr. Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest health insurance scheme and was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018. Last month, PM Modi had said that the number of people who have benefited from the scheme crossed the one crore mark. The scheme aims to cover more than 500 million beneficiaries and provide coverage of Rs 500,000 per family, per year.

Referring to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Mr. Ghebreyesus added that “using and speeding up what has started could actually help in India and that’s what WHO was very appreciative by the way when Ayushman Bharat started. And this could be a very good opportunity actually to test that and speed up and use it to really fight this pandemic.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to take part in an International Yoga Day programme on June 21 in Leh, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his travel there is doubtful, the AYUSH Ministry has said.

In March, AYUSH Ministry officials had said that Leh in Ladakh will be the venue for the main event on International Yoga Day on June 21 and Prime Minister Modi will attend it.

However, asked if the Prime Minister will participate in any Yoga Day event this year keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic, AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha told news agency Press Trust of India that “it is not decided yet”.He also said that this year’s Yoga Day will be celebrated on digital media platforms.

“It is not yet decided whether the Prime Minister will participate in a programme. Earlier, it was decided that he will go to Leh, but now due to the COVID-19 crisis, it is not yet decided whether he will go to Leh or not,” the official told news agency PTI.

“The main event will be a big event, but it will be digital,” he said, adding that the modalities are still being worked out.In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s International Yoga Day would be celebrated on digital media platforms and there would be no mass gatherings, the government said.

This year’s theme will be ‘Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family’. People will be able to join Yoga Day celebrations virtually at 7 am on June 21.