Centre Takes Note of Plight of Migrant Worker; Kerala, Telangana Records First COVID-19 Death

After media highlighted the plight of million of migrant workers using the only transportation available to them to return to their home towns – their feet, the Narendra Modi–led central government  finally woke up on Saturday.
The government instructed state governments and Union Territory administrations to utilise the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), to which ₹29,000 crore has been allocated for the next fiscal, for providing food and shelter to migrant workers hit by the 21-day lockdown.
Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Punya Salila Srivastava said the central government has also asked the states and UTs to set up camps for migrant workers fleeing cities and carry out their health check-ups.
Meanwhile, it was chaos at the Anand Vihar Bus Terminal in Delhi, as the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday said that 1000 buses have been arranged from Ghaziabad to take the migrant workers to their respective hometowns.
As on Saturday evening, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 918, with active cases standing at 819, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Fresh cases were reported from Gujarat (7), Karnataka (10), and Uttar Pradesh (6) among others.
Saturday also marked the day when Kerala reported its first death due to the contagious coronavirus of a  a 69-year-old man at Kochi Medical College in Ernakulam district. Telangana, which has reported 65 coronavirus infected patients, also recorded its first death, according to news agency ANI. A 46-year-old patient, reportedly with no travel history, also passed away in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. With these, the death toll in the country now stands at 22.