British Airways to lay off 28,000 employees, 60% of its workforce
The United Kingdom's flagship airline British Airways (BA) will temporarily lay off 28,000 employees, which is a staggering 60% of its entire workforce, news agency PTI reported. The move comes amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis which is spreading like wildfire across the world and paralysing the airline sector, among several others. The deal will now be sent to Unite's members at British Airways for final approval. International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, had on Monday said it would slash the group's flight capacity by 75% during April and May owing to the coronavirus outbreak. Global airlines have cancelled thousands of flights worldwide, as COVID-19 decimates demand for passenger travel, with destinations to China and Italy hit particularly hard.
Source:dna
April 03, 2020 03:22 UTC
'Stay home, save lives': Google's new doodle urges people to stay indoor amid coronavirus outbreak
Search giant Google, on Friday, dedicated a special doodle with all information about COVID-19. Save Lives', the doodle has all the information related to coronavirus just on a click. Call the helplineAs COVID-19 continues to impact communities around the world, this doodle will provide you with all the information related to this virus. Notably, the number of deaths in Spain and France crossed 10,000 and 5,000 over the night as well. Cases in India has crossed 2000 with total confirmed cases 2069.
Source:dna
April 03, 2020 02:26 UTC
Coronavirus: Total confirmed COVID-19 cases cross 10 lakh worldwide; more than 50,000 dead
The number of 'confirmed' coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the world crossed 10 lakh around late Thursday night, with the Coronavirus Resource Center at the John Hopkins University putting the total number of confirmed cases worldwide at 1,014,673 on Friday at 7 AM. It is worth noting that it just took a little over 24 hours for the number of global cases to jump from nine lakh to 10 lakh. As of now, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Spain and Italy stand at 1,12,065, and 1,15,242 respectively. The number of positive COVID-19 cases in the UK crossed 30,000 on Thursday itself and now stands at 34,173 with 2,921 total deaths from the virus. India, too, witnessed the maximum number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours (April 1 midnight to April 2 midnight) with 545 new infections and 14 new deaths reported from different parts of the country taking the total cases past the 2,000-mark, at 2,069 total confirmed COVID-19 cases and 53 deaths, according to the latest government update.
Source:dna
April 03, 2020 02:03 UTC
LIVE Coronavirus News Updates: मुंबई के धारावी में डॉक्टर में कोरोना की पुष्टि, देश में कुल 2331 मामले
कोरोना वायरस का देश और दुनिया में तेजी से प्रसार हो रहा है। मुंबई के धारावी में कोरोना वायरस का एक और पॉजिटिव मामला सामने आया है।यहां एक 35 साल के डॉक्टर में कोरोना पॉजिटिव पाया गया है। देश में अब तक सामने आए कुल संक्रमित मरीजों की संख्या 2331 तक पहुंच चुकी है। गुरुवार को देश में एक दिन के अंदर 342 नए मामले सामने आए। एक दिन में 14 लोगों की मौत से देश में मरने वालों की संख्या भी बढ़कर 73 हो गई है। वहीं 174 लोग इससे ठीक हो चुके हैं। दुनिया के कई देश भी कोरोना की भयंकर चपेट में आ चुके हैं। अमेरिका में पिछले 24 घंटे में कोरोना के 1169 मौतें होने से हड़कंप मच गया है।
Source:Dainik Jagran
April 03, 2020 01:58 UTC
Zoom grapples with security flaws that sour users on app
In a Wednesday blog post, Zoom said that it takes security concerns “extremely seriously" and is working to address them. Zoom also apologized, in another blog, for “the confusion we have caused by incorrectly suggesting that Zoom meetings were capable of using end-to-end encryption." There are a few simple steps to host secure video meetings, according to security experts. Yet Zoom’s privacy policy doesn’t explain to users that its app contains code that discloses information to others, according to the complaint. Concerns over Zoom’s security practices aren’t new.
Source:Mint
April 03, 2020 00:56 UTC
Coronavirus lockdown: Migrant dies on walk home
Vilas had covered around 250km when he suddenly crumbled on the road to Patna in Dehri-on-Sone in Bihar’s Rohtas district. Dehri station house officer (SHO) Subodh Kumar said Vilas died on Wednesday. Tiwary, deputy superintendent, Sasaram Sadar Hospital, said prima facie it appears Vilas died of a heart attack. Vilas’s death captures the plight of thousands of migrant workers forced into an unprepared exodus by the sudden lockdown. Figures put out by the Bihar government say around 1.81 lakh such migrant workers returned to the state till March 31 and have been quarantined.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 23:26 UTC
‘Riot’ cuffs on relief minder
The RJD youth wing’s Delhi president was arrested on Wednesday night on charges of inciting the February riots at a time the party said he was coordinating relief operations for migrant workers. The police visited Haider’s home in the Abul Fazl Enclave on Tuesday evening but he was not in. “He was taking care of all the relief work in Okhla and even in Gurgaon. An officer privy to the case suggested the police would try to link Haider to the Shaheen Bagh protest too. The Jamia Coordination Committee and the Chhatra RJD have demanded Haider’s release and termed the charges baseless.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 23:26 UTC
Bengal: 34 active cases
(PTI)Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha has said the state had 34 active Covid-19 cases till 6pm on Thursday and three deaths had been reported so far because of the coronavirus infection. He said the final number of active cases as of now would be 34 as four others counted as Covid-19 cases too had died, although their deaths could not yet be attributed definitely to the coronavirus. During a news conference at Nabanna, Sinha explained how the figure of 34 active cases had been arrived at, although 16 people had tested positive in the past 24 hours taking the number of positive cases recorded in the state to 53. He said the final number of active cases as of now would be 34 as the four other deaths could not yet be attributed to Covid-19. So the number of active cases in the state right now is 34,” said the chief secretary.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 23:26 UTC
‘Possible civil unrest’ in US email
US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster has said in an internal email to his colleagues here that the mission is “tracking security issues around the country, including concerns about possible civil unrest” although “for the time being, we do not see signs of this” against the backdrop of the virus outbreak. In the April 1 email to all employees of the mission, ambassador Juster had confirmed that one embassy official in Delhi, an American, had tested positive for Covid-19. The email was aimed at addressing the concerns of the employees after their colleague tested positive last week, sources said. “We are also tracking security issues around the country, including concerns about possible civil unrest. We have been told that the ambassador has sent out a detailed email mentioning it and also concerns about civil unrest in India.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 23:26 UTC
Smear attack on infected doctor
A Jammu newspaper on Monday quoted Dr Shashi Soodan, head of microbiology at the medical college, as saying his infected junior was not part of the coronavirus testing team. However, Dr Soodan told The Telegraph on Thursday that the infected doctor was “100 per cent” part of the sample collection team. The Jammu newspaper claimed it was being ascertained whether the infected doctor had come in contact with pilgrims from “Saudi Arabia, Iran or Indonesia”. Doctor sahib was in the collection team.”Asked whether the Jammu newspaper had quoted her correctly, she said she had not been reading newspapers. For days after the doctor tested positive and some family members developed symptoms, no one responded to their pleas for help.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 23:15 UTC
Cows feast on strawberries
Some of the cattle in the country are getting treated to strawberries and broccoli that farmers are struggling to transport and sell in cities amid the three-week lockdown. Demand for such premium farm produce typically jumps in the summer, but with the farm supply chain in disarray, farmers are unable to get goods to market. “Tourists and ice cream producers are the main buyers of strawberries, but there are no tourists now,” said Anil Salunkhe, while feeding strawberries grown in his two-acre farm to his cows in Satara district, some 250km south-east of Mumbai. “In summer, I sell one flower for Rs 15 to 20. Now, nobody is willing buy even at Re 1,” said Rahul Pawar, who owns a 2-acre flower farm, as he plucked flowers to dump them into a compost pit.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 23:15 UTC
Plan for more quarantine facilities across Bengal
(PTI)More quarantine facilities are being planned across Bengal as part of an attempt to identify as many people exposed to the coronavirus as possible and minimise chances of community transmission of the pathogen, health department officials said on Thursday. “School buildings in the city as well as districts will be converted into quarantine facilities,” the official said. The Covid-19 task force set up by chief minister Mamata Banerjee has recommended setting up of more quarantine or observation facilities, officials said. According to the state health department, around 60,000 people have been “enlisted for observation/surveillance” at quarantine centres. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in a recent video conference, asked officials of all districts to set up quarantine facilities.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 22:41 UTC
Fear of watermelon waste in Bengal due to the lockdown
Over 5,000 watermelon farmers in Cooch Behar are fearing losing most of their produce as wholesale traders have not come to buy the fruits because of the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Around 100 metric tonnes of watermelon are cultivated in the Cooch Behar, Mathabhanga and Dinhata sub-divisions of the district. But this year, because of the lockdown, the buyers are not coming. The production is much higher than the demand for watermelons in Cooch Behar district. “We have told them that they can come to Cooch Behar along with vehicles, buy watermelons and take them away.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 22:30 UTC
Musical message from Gariahat cops
The officers picked up microphones and sang a Bengali song based on a popular Anjan Dutt track. Please stay indoors. Gariahat police officers said all police stations were trying to find unique ways to create awareness and they decided to do it through music. The officer in-charge of the police station, inspector Soumya Banerjee, sergeant Debjit Mukherjee and sergeant Sourav Chakraborty took the lead and penned the lyrics to the tune of Dutt’s Bela Bose on Wednesday. All our efforts will be successful if people follow what we tried to say,” Banerjee told Metro on Thursday night.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 22:30 UTC
Digital-divide caution from Jadavpur VC
The note signed by VC Suranjan Das has been circulated among the heads of all departments under the arts faculty by pro-VC Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya. “I personally support taking online classes under this unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic on digital platform, like ZOOM or others…. Under these circumstances, option for online classes or digital content sharing should be exercised cautiously,” the note from the VC said. Considering this divide, the VC has advised teachers against going evaluation/ grading for internal assessment online. Asked whether the digital divide would pose any problem, an official of the department said: “We have advised them to opt for digital platforms as much as and wherever possible.
Source:The Telegraph
April 02, 2020 22:30 UTC