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Von der Leyen proposes travel restrictions to EU

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that she has proposed a temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the European Union (EU), as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. After a teleconference with leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries, she said on Monday, together with the President of the European Council Charles Michel, that “we informed today our G7 partners that we propose to introduce a temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the European Union”, Xinhua reported. “There will be exemptions, for example for EU citizens coming back home, for healthcare workers, like doctors and nurses, but also scientists working on the solution of this health crisis,” she said, adding “that should be in place for an initial period of 30 days.” The proposal is expected to be discussed by leaders of EU member states during a video conference on Tuesday.

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Himachal Pradesh government in favour of relaxing curfew restriction for 3 hours

The Himachal Pradesh government under Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur will be relaxing the ongoing lockdown curfew in the state by three hours every day. According to the news reports, the decision to relax the curfew has been taken on March 27, Friday. Reportedly, people will now be able to leave their homes for carrying out essential work for three hours during the curfew restriction instead of the previous six. A meeting was held today to discuss the feedback given to the state government about its earlier decision to remove curfew from 7 AM to 1 PM every day. As per the news reports, some officials remarked that a 6-hour relaxation on the curfew was too long. Now, the deputy commissioners of various districts will take the decision on the time slot for relaxing the curfew restrictions. At the same time, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has asked district authorities to identify ways of developing a method in continuing social distancing. Till March 26, about 2186 people were under surveillance for Coronavirus in Himachal. Before the national lockdown, all the tourists were asked to leave the state in the wake of preventive measures to control the spread of COVID-19.

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Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil lit up with the flags of countries hit by COVID 19

The Coronavirus pandemic has gripped the world and continues to spread and, for now, it seems like there’s no stopping it. Amid all the sad and depressing news pouring in from all over, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil has been lit up in colours of flags of all the countries hit by the deadly virus. This has been done to pay tribute to the countries fighting a war against the virus, which has claimed thousands of innocent lives till date. The statue, overlooking Rio de Janeiro, is 125 ft tall. It is one of the prime tourist attractions in the country and is visited by lakhs of tourists every year. Recently, the statue was projected with colours of flags of each country that has Coronavirus positive patients. The development took place after the President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was tested for Coronavirus not once but twice, and both the times his reports were negative. Bolsonaro was among the 14 people who travelled to meet American President Donald Trump in Florida and, beside him, everyone tested positive for the virus. Not only this, the statue of Christ the Redeemer had the words "pray together" illuminated In myriad languages with an image of the world map in the middle of the statue. It's after nearly 90 years, the monument on top of the Corcovado mountain was closed for visitors because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Social distancing seems to be the only way out to break the chain of the virus to spread further or slow it down. As of now, there are 536,615 Coronavirus cases and 24,116 deaths across the globe. In Brazil, the number of total reported cases is 2985, with 77 deaths.

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DGCA extends domestic flight ban in India till 14 April amid country lockdown

After all the international flights were banned till 14 April following India lockdown amid COVID 19 outbreak, now Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), aviation regulator, has decided to ban all the domestic flight operations till the same period. The decision was taken by the aviation body on Friday due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Before this, the ban on domestic flight was only till 31 March, but now it has been extended to the full lockdown duration. As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), "All domestic operators engaged in scheduled, non-scheduled and private aircraft operations in India shall ensure strict compliance of the order." The memo was signed by Deputy Director General Sunil Kumar. So now for the next 17 days, there won’t be any kind of air travel in the country. The decision to lockdown the country was taken after the COVID 19 positive cases increased in India at a drastic rate. Before the DGCA made the announcement, GoAir and Air India had already announced that their domestic flight operations will remain suspended till 14 April, 2020 and will only start functioning after the situation improves Meanwhile GoAir to help customers has said, “Our ‘Protect your PNR’ scheme allows customers to reschedule their travel for 1 year from the date of their original booking”. As per the new scheme, customers who had their flight tickets scheduled between March 26, 2020 and April 14, 2020, can reschedule their flights up to April 15, 2021, with the same PNR. Besides, other domestic private airlines like IndiGo and Spicejet too have joined the team and are supporting the government's lockdown decision. IndiGo has offered its services for ferrying supply of medicines, equipment and relief material across India in the time of crisis. IndiGo CEO wrote to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation and said “I know you must be facing major logistical challenges in moving medicine, equipment and relief supplies from one part of the country to another. We at IndiGo would be extremely proud to be associated with this critical life-saving activity at this hour of great need for our nation.” According to the recent update from the Health Ministry, the virus has already claimed 19 lives while the total number of has gone up to 908. Talking on a global scale, the total number of infected people has spiked to 607,310 and the number of casualties has reached 27,677.

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Disney furlough of theme park employees in April could save $500 million, analysts say

A month-long furlough of Disney theme park employees in April along with other measures could save the entertainment giant $500 million during the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new analyst’s report. An analysts report from J.P.Morgan estimates that furloughing some employees in April at the Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris resorts could amount to $500 million in cost savings amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney’s two Anaheim theme parks, four Florida parks and two parks in France remain closed through the end of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shuttering of Disney’s domestic parks was preceded by closures of Disney parks in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan. The Walt Disney Co. announced that during the closures of the Disneyland, Disney World and Disneyland Paris resorts through the end of March that it would pay employees, known as cast members in Disney parlance. Disney employs 125,000 cast members at its theme park resorts in Florida, California and France — with 77,000 at the Disney World resort, 31,000 at the Disneyland resort and 17,000 at the Disneyland Paris resort. The J.P.Morgan report anticipates that the shuttering of Disney’s theme parks in Anaheim and Florida could extend until May 1 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. J.P.Morgan analysts anticipate the closure of the Disneyland, Disney World and Disneyland Paris resorts through May 1 could have a $1 billion negative impact assuming Disney furloughs some employees for the month of April along with other cost mitigation amounting to $500 million in cost savings.

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There was no leniency in screening for foreign travellers, 'prosperous Indians', says Centre

India has been “proactive and preemptive, and graded” in its response to the COVID-19 crisis, the government said on Saturday. Amid criticism that the three-week lockdown announced on March 24 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was without prior planning, the Centre released a timeline of its actions since the breakout of the global pandemic. As lakhs of migrant labourers remain stranded without food and supplies in several parts of the country due to the lockdown, the government countered criticism that its response system was lenient towards foreign travellers. “…the statement that 'prosperous Indians' were allowed to return without screening, is preposterous. The government took swift action to put in a place a comprehensive and robust system of screening, quarantine and surveillance are part of its robust response to the public health crisis right from the beginning. This covered every traveller, Indians returning after business, or tourism, students as well as foreigners,” the release by the Press Information Bureau said. It said India acted much before WHO declared COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, to put in place a “comprehensive response system” at its borders. “Screening of incoming air passengers followed by suspension of visas and and ban on international flights was much ahead of any other country,” the government said, pointing out that Italy and Spain, which are devastated by COVID-19, started screening of travellers after 25 days and 39 days respectively of first reported case. “Though the first case of coronavirus was detected in India on 30th Jan., we had started thermal screening of incoming international passengers coming from China and Hong Kongs on 18th Jan itself,” said the release. Screening of passengers at 30 airports, 12 major and 65 minor ports and at land borders covered over 36 lakh passengers, the Centre said. It had also started intensive coordination with the States. “A meticulous system has enabled States to track down individuals who tried to avoid surveillance or who did not not follow quarantine,” the government said, adding that 20 video conferences by Union Health Secretary with State Governments and six by the Cabinet Secretary with the State Chief Secretaries have been held to review the preparedness.

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