Coronavirus updates for May 29

As the number of reported worldwide coronavirus infections near six million, India's count crossed 168,000, according to Worldometer — surpassing the count of Turkey and becoming the country with ninth-highest COVID-19 infections.

India's GDP slowed down to 3.1 percent in January-March 2020 quarter, partially due to the lockdown. As per another set of data released, eight core sector output — which comprises 40 percent of weight of items in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) — contracted 38.1 percent in April. According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, COVID-19 can lead to a loss of $8.5 trillion in global output.

Meanwhile, the Centre and states are announcing new measures as Lockdown 4.0 nears its end. West Bengal has announced that religious places will open in the state from June 1, however, no religious congregation has to take place, and not more than 10 people would be allowed. In a circular, Uttarakhand has ordered all government offices to function in regular working hours from Monday. Goa said it will demand the Centre to allow the opening of restaurants, malls, gyms, and hotels with social distancing, as well as continue the lockdown for 15 more days.

As the pandemic causes havoc on a global scale with deaths surpassing 360,000, Columbia extended its national quarantine until July. Mourning coronavirus victims, Spain also approved the creation of a minimum income for 2.3 million of its poorest citizens. With over 2,800 people testing positive in the last 24 hours, Iran reported its highest tally of new coronavirus infections since early April.

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