On day 67 of the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown Saturday, the Centre issued orders extending lockdown for one month beginning June 1, but has considerably eased restrictions outside of containment zones. From malls, hotels, restaurants to places of worship and schools and colleges have all been allowed to open in a phased manner over the next couple of months. However, States will ultimately have the freedom to decide whether or not to open them or put suitable restrictions if they deem it necessary for containment of coronavirus, the new guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs said. Meanwhile, with more than 8,000 fresh cases reported in 24 hours, India’s tally has risen to 1,73,763. The death toll stood at 4,971. Over 59,00,000 people have been infected with the virus worldwide and the death toll is 3,64,867. As many as 24,93,535 people have recovered so far, according to a tally by John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre. Here’s a curated list of some interesting stories from across the country on Day 67 of lockdown: Tripura professor creates ‘Warbot’ to minimise human contact with Covid patients in hospitals As governments struggle to manage enough Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) and protective gears for frontline workers to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a Tripura University Assistant Professor has devised a low-cost robot from scrap materials to minimise human contact for doctors and nurses and provide basic services such as distribute food and medicines to coronavirus patients admitted in hospital. Dr Harjit Nath, one of the youngest faculty members at Tripura Central University, joined the Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering in 2016. As reports of rapid growth of coronavirus positive cases kept trickling in from across the country, especially during lockdown 4.0, the 31-year-old IITian visualised making something that could help people minimise human contact and exposure to patients admitted in hospital wards. “I made this droid completely from scrap materials lying around in my lab. It cost me Rs. 25,000 to put them all together with the help of a worker from a local hardware store and it was ready within a week,” Dr. Nath told indianexpress.com. Collapsed due to heat, a glossy ibis rescued from Prime Minister’s house A glossy ibis bird was rescued from the Prime Minister’s residence on Friday after it collapsed due to heat exhaustion and dehydration. The bird was found near the reception area of the PM house at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi by the security personnel and was rescued by non-profit Wildlife SOS. “Suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, the bird was unable to fly. Concerned about its well-being, the officials immediately contacted Wildlife SOS on its 24-hr rescue helpline number,” Wildlife SOS said in a press release on Saturday. TN temple priests feel lockdown heat, want to atone for not conducting pujas Covid-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on various aspects of the society and temple priests in Tamil Nadu are among the most affected. The situation in temples is so dire that several temple authorities even requested the government to waive off the electricity bill citing low revenue due to the lockdown. ALSO READ | Kolkata priests feel the pinch as income dries up amid COVID-19 lockdown Though the government had announced cash support of 1,000 rupees, it is reportedly restricted to pujaris who are registered under the village temple pujaris welfare board of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE). The priests across the state are carrying out the daily rituals in the morning and evening as per agamas without any devotees. In Madurai, for the first time, the most famous – Chithirai Thiruvizha, a month-long festival was performed in a minimalistic manner. Events like flag hoisting ceremony, coronation, and car festival were canceled. The celestial wedding of Lord Sundareswarar and Meenakshi Amman – the temples’ presiding deity, was performed with just four priests on May 4. It was live-streamed for the devotees on the temple’s website. Close to lakh devotees from the near districts and towns used to flock the temple during this time to take part in the cultural extravaganza but due to the lockdown restrictions, the temple maintained a low key profile. This also had a significant impact on the livelihood of the temple priests. Stuck for 68 days, Japanese tourist to finally fly back When a 20-year-old Japanese tourist, Ryoma Tanaka, decided to go beyond the beaten tourist path to experience India on a bike, he did not know that his motorcycle diary would read like a lockdown log. After spending 42 days locked-in at a tourist complex in Pathankot’s Damtal village, he spent the next 26 days at a private officers’ club in Faridkot, courtesy the district administration. Finally on Friday, he was busy packing his bags to start his bike ride from Faridkot to Delhi to board a flight to Tokyo on Saturday night. Hours before his journey, Tanaka also cooked himself a comfort meal at the club’s kitchen – a bowl of Maggi noodles made to his taste. “I love Indian food, but sometimes I cook as per my taste,” he said.
