The Supreme Court asked the Centre set up within 24 hours a portal for disseminating real time information on the pandemic to counter the panic being spread through fake news. 

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, asked the Centre to prevent migration of people due to coronavirus. “Panic will destroy more lives than the virus”, the top court said and asked the Centre to get trained counsellors and community leaders of all faiths to calm down the migrants, who are kept in shelter homes across the country. 

It asked the Centre to prevent migration of people and take care of their needs of food, shelter, nourishment and medical aid. It was also stated that these shelters should be run by volunteers and not the police, and there should be no use of force and intimidation. 

The Centre told the apex court that the suggestion by a petitioner to sprinkle water and chemicals on migrants to sanitise them does not work scientifically and is not the right way.

On the role of the High Courts, the Top Court, which had refused to restrain High Courts from taking up the issue of migrants, said they may monitor the issue more closely. It, however, asked the Centre to tell government lawyers to inform high courts about the orders passed by the apex court.

As the number of positive cases and deaths in America increase at an alarming rate, Trump wants every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. 

President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for a “hell of a bad two weeks” ahead as the White House projected there could be 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus pandemic if the current norms continue to operate.  

The Public health officials stressed on Tuesday that the number could be less if people across the country bear down on keeping their distance from one another. 

“We really believe we can do a lot better than that,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. That would require all Americans to take seriously their role in preventing the spread of disease, she said. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, added that “This is a number that we need to anticipate, but we don’t necessarily have to accept it as being inevitable.” 

President Trump called it “a matter of life and death” for Americans to heed his administration’s guidelines and predicted the country would soon see a “light at the end of the tunnel” in a pandemic that in the United States has infected about 190,000 people and killed about 4,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. He admitted  that America is going to lose thousands of people and that the coming two or three weeks will be the roughest that America has seen. 

The jaw-dropping projections were laid out during a grim, two-hour White House briefing. Officials described a death toll that in a best-case scenario would likely be greater than the more than 53,000 American lives lost during World War I. And the model’s high end neared the realm of possibility that Americans lost to the virus could approach the 291,000 Americans killed on the battlefield during World War II. 

“There’s no magic bullet,” Birx said. “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors. Each of our behaviors, translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic.” 

While Fauci urged Americans to “step on the accelerator” with their collective mitigation efforts. “We are continuing to see things go up,” Fauci said. “We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work.

A meeting was held today through Video-Conferencing with all the Chief Secretaries/DGPs of the States. 

During the meeting, the States were sensitized about the intensive contact tracing of Tablighi Jamat participants as this has increased the risk of containment efforts of COVID-19. The States were asked to complete the contact tracing process on a war footing. After the Jamat took place, the participant shad returned to several States of the Country. 

It has been found that several foreigners had also participated in the Tablighi Jamat, this took place through violations of Visa conditions. The States were asked to initiate action for violation of Visa conditions against the foreign participants and also the organizers of the event.

Another crucial guideline that the States were asked to follow, was the implementation of the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana within the next week. This will involve large cash transfer to the beneficiaries under the scheme. It should be organized in a systematic manner to ensure social distance. 

It was also noted that the lockdown is being implemented effectively all over the country. The States were asked to ensure that intra-state movement of goods is allowed without any hindrance while maintaining social distance. 

An important aspect of the assurance of the Lockdown is to maintain the manufacturing of essential goods. It should also be ensured that the supply chains of such goods are maintained.