Health

Kochi, Apr 26 (PTI) As many as 226 Swiss nationals stranded in India following the nationwide lockdown have left for Zurich by a Swiss International Airlines, an airport spokesperson said here on Sunday.

The flight departed for Zurich at 11.20 PM on Saturday from Cochin airport, he said.

The aircraft had arrived here after picking up 62 Swiss nationals stranded in Kolkotta and 164 of them boarded the flight from here

Earlier, the UK and Oman had evacuated their citizens stranded in Kerala due to lockdown by operating special flights.

Kolkata, Apr 26 (PTI) A senior government doctor involved in the fight against COVID-19 and a 34-year-old man, both diagnosed with the disease, died at a hospital here on Sunday, sources at the facility said.

The 60-year-old doctor, posted as assistant director health services (equipment and stores), was initially admitted to Beliaghata Infectious Diseases hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in Salt Lake on April 18, where he succumbed to the disease.

MADRID, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Spaniards will be allowed out for exercise and to take walks from next weekend, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said, in the latest move to ease one of the world’s tightest coronavirus lockdowns.

And the government will on Tuesday unveil its broader lockdown exit plan that will likely be put into action in the second half of May, he said.

“If the pandemic keeps evolving positively as it has been doing until now, from May 2, individual physical activity will be permitted and walks with the people you live with,” he said.

AMSTERDAM, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Netherlands rose by 655 to 37,190, health authorities said, with 120 new deaths.

The country’s death toll stands at 4,409, the Netherlands Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.

The actual numbers are likely higher, as not all suspected cases are tested, the RIVM said.

DJIBOUTI, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US military has declared a public health emergency in all its installations in Djibouti following a sharp rise of coronavirus cases in the country.

Djibouti has so far recorded two deaths and 986 positive cases of the virus, with concerns that it could spread even further in the tiny nation with a population of under one million.

COLUMBUS, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — When the first cases of the new coronavirus surfaced in Ohio’s prisons, the director in charge felt like she was fighting a ghost.

“We weren’t always able to pinpoint where all the cases were coming from,” said Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. As the virus spread, they began mass testing.

They started with the Marion Correctional Institution, which houses 2,500 prisoners in north central Ohio, many of them older with pre-existing health conditions. 

LIMA, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seventeen police officers in Peru have died after contracting novel coronavirus while enforcing the nation’s pandemic lockdown, officials and state media said.

Authorities admitted earlier this week that at least 1,300 officers had been infected by COVID-19.

On Saturday new interior minister Gaston Rodriguez, who was sworn in a day earlier after the sudden resignation of his predecessor when the infections tally emerged, said: “We have 17 deceased police officers nationwide, 11 of them in Lima.”

PARIS, April 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The new coronavirus has claimed at least 200,736 lives since its outbreak in China in December, according to official sources at 1900 GMT on Saturday.

More than 2,864,070 cases were registered in 193 countries and territories. Of these cases, at least 772,900 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

Mumbai, Apr 25 (PTI) A 57-year-old police constable who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 passed away at a private hospital in Mumbai on Saturday, officials said.

This is the first known case of a police personnel dying due to coronavirus infectionn in Maharashtra.

The constable was attached to a police station in western suburbs. He lived in Worli Naka area in south Mumbai.

A total of 96 police personnel, including 15 officers, have contracted coronavirus infection in Maharashtra so far, officials had said earlier in the day.

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has sought a report from authorities on steps taken for preventing the spread of COVID-19 in jails here.

Justice Brijesh Sethi issued the direction while hearing the interim bail plea of an accused in a murder case who cited potential risk of COVID-19 infection to seek the relief.

"Let a report be called from the concerned Jail Superintendent as to what steps have been taken to protect the prisoners from COVID-19 pandemic like social distancing etc. in jail.