Domestic Politics
After over 300 cases of COVID-19 across India were traced back to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, Indian authorities are struggling to identify all the attendees and their secondary contacts. [BBC]
On Thursday, a Pakistani court commuted the death sentence of the main accused in the kidnapping and murder of American Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, and acquitted the other three co-accused in the case. Before his murder, Pearl was investigating militancy in Karachi after the 9/11 attack. [Reuters]
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans a staggered exit following the 21-day lockdown and called for a common exit strategy across states to avoid a second wave of cases. [Reuters]
Health
The Nepalese government is preparing to assign responsibility for medical equipment procurement contracts to the army. This decision comes amidst accusations against a private company regarding the price and quality of protective gear and COVID-19 tests that were bought from China. [Kathmandu Post]
In anticipation of a surge in COVID-19 cases, India is converting railway carriages and sports stadiums into isolation wards. On Wednesday, the Indian Railway authorities announced that work had begun on modifying 20,000 carriages, with each carriage housing 16 beds. [Al Jazeera]
16 health workers, including six doctors, are quarantined in Western Afghanistan. The region saw a surge in coronavirus cases after Afghans fleeing from Iran returned to the country. [Reuters]
Bangladeshi authorities rubbished the United Nations’ predictions of up to two million deaths in the country, stating that the estimate was based on the assumption that no measures were taken by the government to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Shahriar Alam, said that Bangladesh implemented social distancing policies, shut down public spaces, and suspended all domestic and international flights, except those to and from China. [SCMP]
Law
Indian authorities announced a new set of laws to govern domicile rights for citizens in the newly formed Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. According to the new law, permanent residents include those who have resided in the region for 15 years or studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10/12 examinations in educational institutions in the region. [Al Jazeera]
Science & Technology
Young engineers in India are working towards developing a low-cost ventilator that could reduce the number of deaths caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in India. If successful, this would alleviate some of the pressure on the Indian healthcare system, which, according to most estimates, has merely 48,000 ventilators. [BBC]
Image Source: Deccan Herald
South Asia in Review: April 03, 2020
Read more about the latest events from South Asia.
April 3, 2020
