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<ul><li>Three departments of the Indian government have been issued a show-cause notice to explain the development of India’s contact tracing app — <keyword id="8995296" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="aarogya-setu">Aarogya Setu</keyword>. </li><li>The <keyword id="6373306" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="national-informatics-centre">National Informatics Centre</keyword> (NIC), the <keyword id="3428254" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ministry-of-electronics-and-information-technology">Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology</keyword> (MeitY), and the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) have been asked to appear before the bench on November 24 by the Central Information Commission (CIC).</li><li>The NIC, in particular, as the app’s developer needs to explain how Aarogya Setu was created. </li></ul> India’s contact tracing app Aarogya Setu, which boasts of over 162 million downloads, is caught in the crosshairs of controversy again — this time over its origin story. A petition was filed by Saurav Das with the Central Information Commission (CIC) when three bodies within the government refused to answer Right to Information (RTI) requests asking about the creation of Aarogya Setu. “It is surprising that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) doesn’t have any information about Aarogya Setu since it is the app’s developer,” said the petition. The CIC, India’s transparency watchdog, has now served a show-cause notice to the three bodies — NIC, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) — to explain their role in the development of Aarogya Setu within the next two months. NIC, in particular, needs to explain how the <keyword id="8995298" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="aarogya-setu-app">Aarogya Setu app</keyword> was created. "None of the CPIOs were able to explain anything regarding who created the App, where are the files — and the same is extremely preposterous", said the CIC interim order. Central Public Information Officers (CPIOs) of the departments have also been asked to appear before the bench on November 24 to explain why they should not be penalised under Section 20 of the RTI Act for obstruction of information. A copy of any and all supporting documents that may be relevant to the hearing should be submitted five days prior to the hearing. The government has issued a clarification stating, "Aarogya Setu was developed in a transparent manner in collaboration with industry and academia." <div type="twitter" handle="SetuAarogya" handlename="Aarogya Setu" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1246377580594266113/wMJonS1Z_normal.jpg" favoritecount="149" retweetcount="37" status="Clarification issued on Aarogya Setu App. Aarogya Setu App is a product of Government of India built in collaborati… https://t.co/8YUSBVAnSd" createdat="1603891530000" id="1321442970424410112"></div> Other troubling signs around Aarogya Setu French security researcher Robert Baptiste, who goes by Elliot Alderson on Twitter, first claimed that the Aarogya Setu app showed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/these-are-the-privacy-issues-in-aarogya-setu-indias-covid-19-tracker-app-alleged-by-french-hacker-elliot-alderson/articleshow/75592800.cms">security flaws</a> back in May. At the time, the government thanked him for his concern but <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/aarogya-setu-claims-its-app-is-secure-denies-privacy-breach/articleshow/75569270.cms">dismissed the accusations</a>. They asserted that tracking the location of users is a documented feature of the app, not a flaw. As the reins around the app tightened, former Supreme Court judge Justice BN Srikrishna called the government’s move to make Aarogya Setu <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/covid-19-smartphone-without-aarogya-setu-app-will-draw-punishment-for-user-in-gautam-buddh-nagar/articleshow/75540878.cms">mandatory</a> for all citizens ‘<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/experts-explain-the-legal-and-moral-pitfalls-in-aarogya-setu-app-despite-the-governments-insistence-that-a-protocol-has-been-put-in-place/articleshow/75690239.cms">utterly illegal</a>.’ Another analysis by the renowned <a href="https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/270520/after-mit-tech-review-downgrades-aarogya-setu-rating-source-code-for.html">MIT Technology Review</a> gave Aargoya Setu only 2 out of 5 stars in its analysis of 25 contact tracing apps around the world. It highlighted that India is the only democracy that is making such an app mandatory. The rating was later <a href="https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/in-other-news/270520/after-mit-tech-review-downgrades-aarogya-setu-rating-source-code-for.html">further chopped</a> to just one star when the researchers discovered that the app was collecting more information than it needed to function. It was only after the review that MietY <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/amid-privacy-concerns-centre-makes-aarogya-setu-app-open-source/articleshow/76011848.cms">released Aarogya Setu’s source code</a> on GitHub and initiated a ‘<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/hacking-aarogya-setu-can-win-you-1-lakh-to-3-lakh-through-the-indian-governments-bug-bounty-programme/articleshow/76030048.cms">bug bounty program</a>’ for anyone who could find an issue with the app. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/building-blocks-of-life-discovered-in-titans-atmosphere-nasa-discovers-a-weird-molecule-on-saturns-largest-moon/articleshow/78909286.cms">Building blocks of life discovered in Titan’s atmosphere — NASA discovers a ‘weird’ molecule on Saturn’s largest moon</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/ajay-piramal-believes-that-if-banks-wont-lend-to-long-term-projects-india-will-need-to-revive-the-likes-of-idbi-and-ifci/articleshow/78906135.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Ajay Piramal believes that if banks won't lend to long-term projects, India will need to revive the likes of IDBI and IFCI</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/apophis-the-god-of-chaos-asteroid-is-speeding-up-increasing-the-likelihood-of-it-hitting-earth-in-2068/articleshow/78895818.cms">Apophis, the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid is speeding up — increasing the likelihood of it hitting Earth in 2068</a>

India's contact tracing app Aarogya Setu comes under the scanner again — three departments fail to explain their role in its development

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Police in Noida, <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, a city outside of New Delhi, ordered all residents to download <keyword id="8995296" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aarogya-setu">Aarogya Setu</keyword>, a COVID-19 contact tracing app developed by the Indian government.</li><li>City residents found without the application face a fine of around $13 USD and up to six months in jail, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/india-coronavirus-aarogya-setu-noida-contact-tracing">BuzzFeed News</a> reported.</li><li>Police did not say what would happen if a person did not own a smartphone, which less than half of Indian citizens do.</li><li>There have been privacy concerns over the state-created application, which requires a user to give constant access to their location.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Police in a city outside of New Delhi, India, ordered residents to download a COVID-19 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-contact-tracing-works-to-stop-coronavirus-spread-2020-4">contact tracing</a> application to their smartphones or risk a fine or jail time for violating the city's lockdown order.According to a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/india-coronavirus-aarogya-setu-noida-contact-tracing">BuzzFeed News</a> report, residents of Noida, India, who are found to have not downloaded the contact tracing app are subject to up to six months in jail and a fine of about $13 USD.Police told local media they will conduct random checks of residents to ensure they've downloaded the app, though as BuzzFeed <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> reported, it's not entirely clear what police would do should a person not own a smartphone capable of downloading the app, or be traveling without out their device.Approximately 400 million Indian citizens are projected to own a smartphone, according to an analysis by <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/467163/forecast-of-smartphone-users-in-india/">Statista</a> — that's a fraction of the country's <a href="https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/population/index.html">nearly 1.4 billion population</a>.The app, Aarogya Setu, was created by the Indian government and has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/covid-19-pm-modi-urges-people-to-download-arogya-setu-app/articleshow/75068393.cms">pushed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.</a> Over 90 million people have downloaded the app in the country in less than one month, according to BuzzFeed News.The app allows users to record their travel history, symptoms, and also requires constant access to Bluetooth and the device's location data. Using these factors, the app offers users designations of green, yellow, or orange "pages" to illustrate a user's risk of having COVID-19.There have been at least 52,559 cases and 1,768 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> in India, according to data from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">Johns Hopkins University</a>.According to the BuzzFeed report, there have been concerns over privacy due mostly do the state-created app's constant access to a user's location data. Some have even compared the city's mandate of the app to the existence of a police state. In addition to being mandated by the city of Noida, the application was mandated among all employees of the federal government, BuzzFeed reported.Pharmacies also reportedly denied services to people who did not have the application installed, BuzzFeed reported, and Zomato, the largest food and grocery delivery service in India, <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/tech/zomato-mandates-all-delivery-partners-to-use-aarogya-setu/story-aYe4FFRbPxlCnT0xkhgN0O.html">required all of its delivery partners to install the application</a> on their phones. It requested its customers to do the same."We are aware of the alleged privacy concerns that some of us have against using the app. But even if these concerns were well-founded, it is a small cost to pay for the sake of the collective long term," the April 22 announcement from the company read.According to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/05/aarogya-setu-app-security-privacy-concerns-india-response/">Tech Crunch</a>, the Indian government has dismissed privacy concerns of the app and argued the app's constant location tracking is part of intended features — not flaws. A similar contract-tracing effort <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-google-covid-19-contact-tracing-smartphone-screenshots-2020-5">in development by Google and Apple</a> notably does not request users' location data to operate.Cities in the US are trying to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-apply-contact-tracer-and-make-57000-with-benefits-2020-4">ramp up their contract tracing efforts</a>, which US experts have argued are essential in the path toward safely reopening shuttered businesses and minimizing the risk of a future COVID-19 outbreak.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indian-city-ordered-residents-to-download-contact-tracing-app-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

A city in India is ordering all of its residents to download the government's controversial COVID-19 contact tracing app or face jail time

By Yoshita Singh New York, Jun 21 () Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr. Ashish Jha has expressed concern over how quickly new the coronavirus cases are rising in India and said when populous states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh get hit hard, the country could see a "large increase" in virus infections and deaths. India on Sunday saw a record single-day spike of 15,413 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's infection tally over the 4 lakh-mark, while the death toll rose to 13,254 with 306 new fatalities. "Right now I'm concerned by how quickly the number of new cases are rising. India's density may be contributing to this and we've seen high rates of spread in some of the larger metro areas like Mumbai, Delhi and also Chennai," Jha told . "But what concerns me most is major population areas - such as in Bihar and UP - that have not yet gotten hit very hard. When they do get hit we will likely see a large increase in the numbers of cases and deaths, which we need to prepare for," he said. Jha stressed that the "trajectory" of cases is "very concerning" in India, which jumped into the top five countries in the world in terms of numbers of new cases. "For six days in a row, India has seen over 10,000 new cases, and given the lag between infection, onset of symptoms and death, I expect numbers to continue to rise in the coming weeks and months," he said in an email interview. The renowned health expert noted that the number of cases in India may be higher than what the data suggests because while testing has been improving, it has not been rolled out in a way that will capture all low-symptomatic patients. Jha said since several factors come into play, it is hard to predict how COVID-19 will pan out across India. Jha referred to the 'Youyang Gu COVID-19' model, which forecasts infections and deaths from the virus around the world, for an estimate of a probable COVID-19 death toll in India. The Gu model suggests that there could be 136,056 projected total deaths and 27,333,589 total infected people in India by October 1, 2020. Noting that while the number is only an estimate, Jha stressed, "What we do know is that we are not as far along in the trajectory of the disease as we hoped; this may be a 12 month fight or more." Responding to a question on India's response in dealing with the outbreak so far, Jha said he has supported the national lockdown implemented in March and thinks "it was the right thing to do" but may not be sustainable. "I also recognise the cost of this measure for people across the country. While it may have been the right approach, it's not sustainable. Lockdowns are meant to buy time, so the real question is - How did we use the time that the lockdown gave us? "What is not clear to me is if this period was adequately leveraged to set a strong foundation for getting the disease under control. It is imperative that when lockdowns are employed, they are used well," he said. Jha noted that in line with leveraging the lockdown, testing capacity has increased somewhat over the past two months but said that it is "still far too low." India is testing approximately 4.2 people per 1,000, which he said is "one of the lowest testing rates" in the world. It is the lowest of highly-infected countries, compared to the US (72/1000), UK (59/1000), Russia (106/1000). Jha pointed out that while the development of the contact tracing app 'Aarogya Setu' was a "step in the right direction", widespread privacy concerns may plague its effectiveness. On what should be done by India to control the infection rate, Jha said a lockdown is never a long-term strategy. "If COVID-19 is going to be the reality for the next 12 months, India requires a detailed plan for how to control this virus moving forward," he said. He stressed that testing needs to be ramped up significantly and broadened to include more people who are not acutely ill. Further, this testing strategy needs to be paired with comprehensive tracing and isolation efforts, particularly given what is now known about the potential for asymptomatic, or pre-symptomatic spread. There is also a need for real support for states that do not currently have the infrastructure required to meet an increase in cases. "What it comes down to is India's response needs to be driven by science and data as much as possible; keeping an eye on the number of cases, number of deaths and overall mortality due to the disease. Without the data that widespread testing and contact tracing provides, the government cannot make informed, evidence-based decisions to guide an effective COVID response," he said. Further, with the majority of India's workforce in the informal sector with limited or no basic labour assurances, Jha said workers are "highly susceptible to stresses in the system such as a lockdown, which is particularly painful, and in some cases, deadly." He asserted that he disagrees with the view that there are only two options - lockdown completely or engage in high-risk work. "There's a third option: with widespread testing, tracing and isolating, we carefully reopen, in a way that's responsive to risk, making sure that people who do need to work are as safe as possible - taking time off if they contract the disease. "But this requires sustained and country-wide commitment to testing workers regularly, tracing their contacts and safe and supportive isolation for the infected," he said. YAS RS AKJ RS

Concerned over how quickly COVID-19 cases are rising in India: Indian-origin expert

By Shakoor Rather New Delhi, Apr 21 () Scientists across the world believe that contact tracing using smartphone apps, such as India's Aarogya Setu, may help control the COVID-19 pandemic and ease the world out of the lockdown, while also flagging privacy issues with the technology-driven intervention. Experts say the technology can help trace all the people who come in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient, helping medical authorities to track potential patients, test them, and further prevent the spread. As India entered the second phase of lockdown from April 15, the government launched Aarogya Setu application which it said can track COVID-19 cases in addition to having other uses. "There are two parts to contact tracing -- the first thing is that it traces your location through applications like Aarogya Setu and other apps used worldwide," Aakash Sinha, an assistant professor at Shiv Nadar University in Uttar Pradesh, told . The second part is that wherever you have been, whomever you are coming in contact with can also be traced. If I have the app and you also have it. So when I meet you, the apps can register that we came in close proximity," he explained. Contact tracing is being used by China, South Korea and many other countries that have successfully controlled the spread of the virus, Sinha noted. He explained that the location of the places where a person goes is traced by using their phone's global positioning system (GPS) network as well as the location history. Many of these apps also have a way to share information via Bluetooth or a Wi-Fi if they are very close, and that way this information exchange is done if somebody came in contact with an infected person, Sinha noted. A global race to develop smartphone apps and other types of mobile phone surveillance systems to track and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus has started. After studying the dynamics of the early coronavirus epidemic in China, researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK have demonstrated that almost half of all transmissions occurred before anyone showed symptoms. They also estimated that delaying contact tracing by even a day from the onset of symptoms could make the difference between epidemic control and coronavirus resurgence. To respond to this, the team rapidly conceptualised a simple mobile contact tracing app that it said can help control the spread of the novel coronavirus, save lives, and ease the population out of lockdown. To boost the prospects of contact tracing, Google and Apple recently announced that they are working on a framework for smartphone apps that may help reopen the world economy. In the US, Boston University scientists, including one of Indian origin, are working on a smartphone app that could let people know if they have come in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, while protecting their privacy. The app being developed by researchers, including Mayank Varia, uses Bluetooth-enabled cell phones to notify a person if they have come into close proximity with someone infected with SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. However in order to work efficiently, the app requires many people to use it, whether they have had COVID-19 or not, the researchers said. Similarly, scientists at University College London (UCL) in the UK have developed a new Bluetooth contact tracing app for detecting COVID-19 proximity, that they say will help epidemiologists to analyse the spread of the pandemic while fully protecting individual privacy. The system ensures no personal data ever leaves an individual's device, and is not centralised in a cloud server, meaning it is not able to be repurposed for anything other than public health, they said. The scientists noted that several governments across the world have used contact tracing, as part of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus. However, concerns have been raised about what this means for individual privacy rights, and what happens if the data is misused or used beyond the initial purpose. "There are a lot of concerns about Bluetooth tracing being administered centrally by governments, particularly in countries that have weaker privacy laws and concern for human rights," said Michael Veale from UCL. In India, Sinha said, the government is "definitely" going to link phone numbers and whatever data users of these apps have in their smartphones with the location. "But as per reading the latest privacy policy of Aarogya Setu app, it uses that private information to only alert you in case you are traced to be in touch with somebody with the infection," Sinha explained. "The government is taking the responsibility that they are not going to use your private information for anything else," he said. Emphasising on the need for adopting contact tracing, he said, the last time the pandemic like this occurred was in 1918, when the Spanish flu outbreak happened in which India lost six per cent of its population. "And if you look at what 6 per cent will be today, you are talking like 10 crore people," Sinha noted. 'This is not an ordinary situation. This is extra-ordinary, happening once in a century and some extra-ordinary measures will need to be taken," he added. SAR VIS SARSAR

Scientists bat for smartphone contact tracing to fight COVID-19, but say privacy remains a concern

New Delhi, Jun 6 () The railways has sent a missive to its zones to ensure 100 per cent punctuality in the running of 230 special trains, which is less than two per cent of the 13,000 trains that normally run on the railway network. Sources said Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav has sent a message to all general managers and divisional railway managers to ensure that the 15 pairs of Rajdhani special trains and 100 pairs of passenger trains maintain their schedule without any delays. He has asked the zonal heads to monitor the punctuality of these trains, adding the number of trains being run on the network is currently small so the punctuality has to be "100 per cent". The sources said the national transporter, which has been criticised over delays in running these trains, wants to be extra vigilant in the operations of these trains. Yadav has also asked the seven railway zones - the East Coast Railway, South East Central Railway, East Central Railway, Central Railway, West Central Railway, North Central Railway and the Northern Railway - to identify the issues causing punctuality loss and take remedial measures. These are the zones in which most of the loading of freight trains take place. Most of the goods trains also run in these zones. The East Coast Railway (ECoR) loaded 200.85 MT of freight in 2019-2020, the most among the railway zones, followed by South Eastern Railway (SER) which carried 171.11 MT, South East Central Railway (SECR) 169 MT and East Central Railway (ECR) carried 148 MT of freight during the 2019-20 financial year. The railways has been facing major issues with the running of the Shramik Special trains. According to the sources, 50 per cent of these trains were running two hours behind schedule, right at the origin stations, because of the protocols involved. They said the protocol prescribed for coronavirus like thermal screening of every passenger to ensure that only asymptomatic persons board the trains, maintaining social distancing, ensuring Aarogya Setu mobile application is downloaded on their phones -- is taking a lot of time at the originating stations. The railways had recently appealed to all passengers to come to the station 90 minutes in advance and not earlier than that to avoid crowding at the premises. ASG SRY

Maintain 100% punctuality of 230 special trains: Railway board directs zones

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Thursday.<ol><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-announces-first-members-oversight-board-instagram-2020-5?op=1&amp;r=US&amp;IR=Tamp;IR=T">Facebook has announced the first 20 members of its oversight board that will decide what controversial content is allowed on Facebook and Instagram</a>. The "supreme court"-style body will make rulings over what controversial content will be allowed on the social network.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-preparing-to-restart-operations-despite-stay-home-orders-report-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Tesla is reportedly preparing to restart operations at its California factory in possible violation of local shelter-in-place orders</a>. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become increasingly vocal in his opposition to coronavirus lockdowns, calling them "fascist" during a call with investors.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-vp-responds-engineer-tim-bray-quit-over-fired-whistleblowers-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">An Amazon VP hit back at former colleague Tim Bray, who quit in protest after the company fired workers who raised safety concerns</a>. Brad Porter, a vice president and engineer at Amazon, responded to Tim Bray's criticism, calling it "deeply offensive to the core." </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-employees-cannot-expense-food-and-other-perks-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Google employees have been told they can't expense food and other perks while working from home, as they're made to forego the company's usual free meals</a>. Employees also won't be able to put their unused budgets towards any of these expenses, nor can they put the surplus cash towards a charity. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spotify-tiktok-tinder-venmo-other-apps-down-some-users-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">An issue in Facebook's code broke a ton of popular apps on iOS including Spotify, TikTok, Venmo, and Tinder</a>. The issue was identified and resolved following the update to the social network's software developer kit. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cuomo-taps-ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-chair-reimagining-commission-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">New York Gov. Cuomo tapped former Google CEO Eric Schmidt to help invent a more tech-focused future for the state post-pandemic</a>. Cuomo announced during his daily briefing Wednesday that Schmidt would chair a 15-member group to help New York "use technology in the economy of tomorrow."</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-schools-reverse-zoom-ban-online-learning-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">The NYC Department of Education is reversing its ban on Zoom after the company addresses its security and privacy concerns</a>. Zoom made several fixes to address the NYC Department of Education's concerns about privacy and security for students and teachers using the tool. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indian-city-ordered-residents-to-download-contact-tracing-app-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">A city in India is ordering all of its residents to download the government's controversial COVID-19 contact tracing app or face jail time</a>. Police in Noida, a city outside of New Delhi, ordered all residents to download Aarogya Setu, a COVID-19 contact tracing app developed by the Indian government.</li><li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-07/virgin-media-o2-will-combine-to-create-u-k-telecom-heavyweight?srnd=technology-vp">Two of the UK's largest telecom companies Virgin Media and O2 have combined</a>. The deal between Liberty Global and Telefónica creates the UK's largest phone and internet operator with the new company valued at £31 billion ($38 billion), per Bloomberg.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/77-phone-masts-fire-coronavirus-5g-conspiracy-theory-2020-5?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">77 cell phone towers have been set on fire so far due to the continued spread of a weird coronavirus 5G conspiracy theory</a>. Philip Jansen, CEO of British telecoms company BT, also said that one engineer had been violently assaulted while out maintaining network infrastructure.</li></ol>Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear <keyword id="9070519" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="10-things-in-tech">10 Things in Tech</keyword> each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings.You can also <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/free">subscribe to this newsletter</a> here — just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know."Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-in-tech-you-need-to-know-today-may-7-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

10 things in tech you need to know today

<ul><li>As TV viewership grows by 40% on the back of return of mythological shows, advertisers jump on the trend and buy ad spots for <keyword id="6373819" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ramayan">Ramayan</keyword> and <keyword id="6366669" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="mahabharat">Mahabharat</keyword>. </li><li>Classics gave a 43% push to overall <keyword id="874299" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hindi-GEC">Hindi GEC</keyword>’s performance. </li></ul>As the mythological shows continue to drive TV veiwerhsip’s growth, <keyword id="2801660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="BARC-India">BARC India</keyword> and <keyword id="6456080" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="nielsen">Nielsen</keyword>’s latest report reveals that advertisers are also jumping on the bandwagon. Ramayan and Mahabharat attracted more advertisers in the week starting from March 28 to 16 April. Ramayan continues to be advertisers’ favourite as it sees a 14X increase, followed by Mahabharat that saw a 12X increase in week 15. <div type="image" title="ramayan attracts advertisers" msid="75314453" hostid="261"></div> The report further revealed that the return of mythological shows have become the main source of entertainment among Hindi GEC’s. It contributed 43% to overall Hindi’s GEC viewership growth, garnered 109 million viewing minutes and was watched by 353 viewers. <div type="image" title="mythological shows" msid="75314465" hostid="261"></div> Week 15 recorded a 40% growth over the pre-COVID period, standing at 1.24 trillion minutes. Individuals watching TV for all 7 days in the week increased by 48%. <div type="image" title="growth in tv viewership; barc" msid="75314485" hostid="261"></div> Some of the Key Highlights of TV and Smartphone consumption during the fifth week of Lockdown are as follows: - Considerations: <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#ffff00;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"> </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#ffff00;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">BARC </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#ffff00;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Nielsen Smartphone Panel </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Coverage </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">All India (Urban + Rural) </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">All India (Urban 1 Lakh plus) </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">TG </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">ALL NCCS 2+ years </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><ol><li>NCCS ABC 15-44 years </li><li>Android Smartphone Users </li></ol></td></tr><tr></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Time Period </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:middle;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">PRE COVID - 11th Jan 2020- 31st Jan 2020 </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:middle;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">PRE COVID - 13th Jan 2020 - 2nd Feb 2020 </td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">COVID DISRUPTION Week 4 – 4thMarch 2020 to 10th April 2020 Week 5 – 11th April 2020 to 17th April 2020 </td></tr></tbody></table> <ol><li>'CORONA Virus' continues to be most searched among Top 100 Google searches. </li><li>1 in 5 smartphone consumers use the Aarogya Setu app now - an 80% + increase v/s the launch week. </li><li>TV consumption continues to show a growth of 40% over pre-COVID period now at 1.24 Trillion minutes - the increase led by both Reach and Average Time Spent. </li><li>The new normal of 3 hrs, 40 minutes+ a day on Smartphone continues - 10% increase over pre Covid times. </li><li>TV Viewership Growth led by News and Movies - the Movies growth coming more from the PAY platform. </li><li>News franchise on Smartphone continued to be nearly 50% of all smartphone audience, Views grow by 40%. </li><li>Hindi GEC in HSM at an all-time high with 8.5 BN impressions with Mythological shows leading the way. HSM Urban is all time high for 3rd week in row. </li><li>Strong double-digit growth seen across various segments of OTTs (movies, originals, etc.) while Audio streaming apps show a decline possibly on account of commuting going down. </li><li>FCT on TV recovers a bit after a huge fall last week - most advertisers using the COVID19 theme; Essentials category sees a growth across genres; while on Digital Video Advertising spends drop across most categories.</li></ol>

Ramayan and Mahabharat attracts more advertisers; sees a 14X and 12X increase in advertiser count respectively

<ul><li>In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, <keyword id="6370462" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="tata-communications">Tata Communications</keyword>’ IoT head Alok Bardiya explains how the company caught the ‘tailwind’ of the COVID-19, which led to a surge in demand.</li><li>The company’s revenue from ‘innovative’ services — which includes the <keyword id="970768" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="internet-of-things">Internet of Things</keyword> (IoT) — saw a massive 62.4% yearly jump in revenue in the second quarter. </li><li>According to Bardiya, COVID-19 forced IoT to expand beyond the manufacturing line.</li></ul>The Internet of Things (IoT) includes everything from sensors to <keyword id="387162" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="data-collection">data collection</keyword>, and till now, large companies were mostly using it to make their manufacturing process more efficient. But with the coronavirus pandemic disrupting the workplace, IoT is expanding beyond the manufacturing line. “A factory is not just the manufacturing line. There are a lot of people and a lot of processes. That is where the wave will take IoT — touching that broader set,” Tata Communications’ Head of IoT Business Alok Bardiya told Business Insider in an exclusive interview. Over the last six months, Tata Communications’ IoT services have brought in three new customers and deployed nearly 15,000 new devices across 45 cities. “We actually did get a tailwind there. The interest in IoT solutions has clearly increased,” Bardiya explained. <div type="image" title="tata comms iot" msid="78924591" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Tata Communications&amp;#39; IoT performance over the last five quarters&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Overall, Tata Communications’ profit increased seven-fold to hit ₹385 crore in the second quarter. The following day the company’s share price surged 5% and hit the upper circuit in trade. Tata Communications’ share price has increased 9% over the past one month and 129.45% since the beginning of the year. <div type="image" title="tata comm share price (1)" msid="78925829" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Tata Communications&amp;#39; share price since January&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Sectors driving the growth in IoT IoT falls within Tata Communications’ “innovation” services along with Mobile Innovation. The segment saw a 57% increase in revenue over the last three months compared to the previous quarter, a yearly jump of 62.4%. According to Bardiya, a significant increase in demand was seen from clients in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and pharmaceutical sectors. “For the FMCG sector, it’s important that demand comes back at scale and that frameworks are put in place for COVID tracing and tracking,” he explained. Due to the urgency of finding solutions that work, Tata Communications notes that companies are now only taking a few weeks to make decisions about deploying IoT within their organisations — a process that used to take between six to 12 months before the pandemic. Even sectors like metals and mining and oil and gas have shown interest in IoT even though that was not previously the case. The only industry to not show a substantial change in momentum is travel and associated hospitality vertices, according to Bardiya. This is because they were also deploying IoT solutions prior to the pandemic and the current slowdown will take time to dissipate. IoT is expanding beyond the manufacturing line “IoT solutions have been restricted to high-end manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The OEM-drive IoT wave did have some legs, but it was restricted — it wasn’t all pervasive,” said Bardiya. Now, while most companies are focusing on making work from home the new normal, IoT helps others figure out how to get workers back into offices in a safe manner — shifting the focus from the manufacturing line onto workers and their safety. And, once the infrastructure is in place, companies can continue to add use cases and expand the application of the data collected, increasing the return on investment (RoI). Another aspect of this is the actual cost of deploying IoT solutions. Right now, lower price points are required to ascertain RoI in the Indian context. But, as volumes continue to increase, the price of sensors and hardware could come down. “More use cases and the flexibility of IoT will drive IoT adoption. I’m optimistic even in the medium term, the next two to three years,” said Bardiya. He believes that one day a massive OEM like Foxconn could be manufacturing IoT hardware and sensors at scale, just as we saw with smartphones. Over time, not only will the sensors get cheaper but also improve in quality. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/largest-contact-tracing-app-aarogya-setu-in-the-world-comes-under-the-scanner-as-developers-refuse-to-answer-questions-around-its-creation/articleshow/78912462.cms">India's contact tracing app Aarogya Setu comes under the scanner again — three departments fail to explain their role in its development</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/axis-bank-q2-results-profit-revenue-fee-collection-and-provisions/articleshow/78913594.cms">Axis Bank is back in the black as fee collections ramp up and ₹10,000 crore in fund raising cushions the balance sheet</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/building-blocks-of-life-discovered-in-titans-atmosphere-nasa-discovers-a-weird-molecule-on-saturns-largest-moon/articleshow/78909286.cms">Building blocks of life discovered in Titan’s atmosphere — NASA discovers a ‘weird’ molecule on Saturn’s largest moon</a>

EXCLUSIVE: Tata Communications’ IoT head explains how COVID is driving the next wave of Internet of Things

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>'s daily <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> cases have plummeted since September.</li><li>The nation is now reporting just 8 daily cases per one million people, among the lowest per-capita rates in the world.</li><li>Experts say the decline is puzzling. The difficulty of recording rural cases, combined with strict public-health measures, may offer some explanation.</li></ul>At the start of the pandemic, few countries were more ripe for a major coronavirus outbreak than India.Not only is India the world's second most populous country, it's also one of the densest, with around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.POP.DNST?locations=IN">1,200 people per square mile</a>. Cases there climbed steadily from April through September, reaching a peak of nearly 100,000 daily cases on September 16.Then something unexpected happened: India's daily cases plummeted from mid-September until February, with average weekly cases dropping by roughly a third each month. The nation is now reporting fewer than 11,300 daily cases, on average - around 8 per 1 million people, among the lowest per-capita rates in the world.India's health ministry has attributed this success to a few factors, including a robust testing and contact-tracing effort. But infectious-disease experts say the quick turnaround is puzzling.India only began administering coronavirus vaccines in mid-January, so it's probably too soon for vaccinations to affect transmission. Some public-health experts say India's strict mask mandates may have helped lower cases, but masks have been required there since April, so that don't fully explain why cases dwindled so dramatically in the fall."There are a lot of questions and lessons to be learned, and I think that we need to do a deeper dive into what they've done well," Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, told Insider.Kuppalli's previous research focused on barriers to medical care among women with HIV in southern India."I know from having worked and lived in India that they have a lot of challenges in terms of dealing with large populations that are in close quarters, infection control issues, hygiene issues, ventilation issues - all the things that we are concerned about in terms of how this disease spreads," she said.Kuppalli added that it's worth studying whether India's population may have unique genetic or demographic characteristics that make people less susceptible to symptomatic COVID-19 infection. It's also possible, she added, that coronavirus cases are simply hard to record in rural areas.<h2>Penalties for not wearing masks </h2><div type="image" title="india mask school" height="3100" width="4650" msid="80678829" hostid="261"></div>Widespread adherence to public-health measures may partly explain why India has gotten its outbreak under control. Several large cities and states there began requiring masks in public places in April, two months before the World Health Organization recommended face coverings for the general public.Since then, the nation's largest city, Mumbai, has levied fines against those who violate the rule. By October, Mumbai had <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/since-april-bmc-fined-14207-people-for-not-wearing-masks-6618446/">collected a total of more than $70,000 in fines</a> from more than 14,000 people who'd failed to wear masks in public. By early December, Delhi had also issued around 500,000 mask fines, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-was-consuming-india-until-nearly-everyone-started-wearing-masks-11609329603">The Wall Street Journal reported</a>. For the most part, Indians have been supportive of mask requirements: In an <a href="https://qz.com/india/1909711/indians-support-high-penalties-for-not-wearing-coronavirus-masks/">October survey</a> from social media platform LocalCircles (which included more than 15,000 responses across roughly 200 districts in India), nearly 90% of respondents said they were in favor of a mask mandate. About 40% said they would support increased penalties for those who didn't comply.The US, by contrast, has struggled to convince large segments of the public that masks are an effective tool. "The United States very much failed from a lack of national leadership, miscommunication, and a lack of community engagement. I think we can really boil it down to those three things," Kuppalli said, adding, "we still have people who don't believe the pandemic is real in this country."<h2>A focus on 'test, trace, isolate'</h2><div type="image" title="india contact tracing" height="3280" width="4928" msid="80678833" hostid="261"></div>Epidemiologists typically rely on a three-step strategy to contain a virus: test, trace, isolate.Though India's testing got off to a slow start, it has ramped up considerably since the summer. By August, the nation had <a href="https://www.who.int/india/news/feature-stories/detail/how-india-scaled-up-its-laboratory-testing-capacity-for-covid19">nearly 1,600 testing labs</a>, up from just 14 in February 2020. India is administering nearly 486,000 daily tests. Only two other countries, the UK and the US, are testing more.India's large population also worked to its advantage when it came to enlisting contact tracers.From March through April, tens of thousands of health workers <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6517/691">traced the contacts of more than 435,000 infected people</a> across two southern states, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The workers reached more than 3 million contacts, around 575,000 of whom had available COVID-19 test results.These efforts were made easier by a longstanding disease surveillance network that began monitoring <keyword id="8785701" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="COVID-19-cases">COVID-19 cases</keyword> in late January 2020.As of April, Indian residents could download the nation's contact tracing app, Aarogya Setu, to find out if they had been been within 6 feet of an infected person. Indian residents are asked to download the app if isolating due to a positive COVID-19 test and report any symptoms to a local surveillance officer.<h2>Possible immunity to new pathogens</h2><div type="image" title="India covid" height="3626" width="5439" msid="80678837" hostid="261"></div>India has indeed seen fewer COVID-19 deaths per million than many developed nations. As of Wednesday, 113 out of every million people in India had died of COVID-19, compared to nearly 1,500 out of every million in the US and 1,755 per million in the UK.India is now recording fewer than one daily death per million people.Kuppalli said India's rapidly falling cases raises another important question: "Are there things about this particular population, this ethnicity, that puts them at decreased risk?" An <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7444648/">August study</a> suggested that populations with a higher exposure to diverse types of bacteria - predominantly due to poor sanitation - might see fewer COVID-19 deaths per million, perhaps because of an acquired or innate immunity to new pathogens. This line of thinking isn't new: A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1472979206000278">2006 study</a> found that developing countries may have a different "immunological experience" with tuberculosis than the US and Europe."Look at the average Indian: He or she has probably had malaria at some point in his life or typhoid or dengue," Sayli Udas-Mankikar, an urban policy expert at the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, recently <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/02/01/962821038/the-mystery-of-indias-plummeting-covid-19-cases">told NPR</a>. "You end up with basic immunity toward grave diseases."The idea remains a theory for now, however.<h2>Rural populations are harder to surveil </h2><div type="image" title="rural india coronavirus" height="3456" width="5184" msid="80678845" hostid="261"></div>The coronavirus spreads best in dense, crowded environments. That means countries like the US, where more than 80% of residents live in urban areas, face an uphill battle to contain the virus' spread.India, on the other hand, is less urbanized: Around 65% of Indian residents live in rural areas. Though the virus has undoubtedly reached India's rural population, the nation's cities have been particularly hard-hit. By May, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hpm.3047">nearly 80% of India's total COVID-19 cases</a> hailed from just 30 cities. A <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news">January survey</a> found that 56% out 28,000 people sampled in Delhi tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.But Kuppalli said health trends among India's rural population are difficult to track.For one thing, rural areas are larger and more spread out. Many Indians living in these communities also lack internet access, which prevents them from plugging into the nation's surveillance network.Kuppalli also noted that it's difficult for patients who are sick in rural places to get to large urban hospitals because of transportation or financial issues. A <a href="https://www.smilefoundationindia.org/Media/rural-healthcare.html">2018 report</a> found that only one state-run hospital is available for every 90,000 people in India's rural communities. That could mean that India simply isn't recording as many rural cases.That too, is just a possibility, though. For now, Kuppalli said, "it's great that they've had this turnaround.""It's an opportunity for us to study this population," she added. "There are lots of things to think about and try to understand."This article was originally published on February 3. It has been updated to reflect the latest data on India's coronavirus cases.

India's sudden drop in coronavirus cases has puzzled disease experts. Strict public-health measures and difficulty recording rural cases may have factored in.

(Eds: Combining related stories) New Delhi, Apr 11 () The nationwide lockdown to contain the deadly coronavirus looks set to be extended by two more weeks till April-end after a consensus emerged among states on Saturday for continuing the curbs amid the tally of confirmed infections crossing 8,000 with a record increase of over 1,000 cases within 24 hours. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked state governments to take steps to curb the lockdown violations and ensure adherence to social distancing, he also announced a shift in focus from 'Jaan hai to jahaan hai' (health is wealth) to 'Jaan bhi, jahaan bhi' (lies as well as livelihoods), which many saw as indications towards relaxations for certain economic activities, including for industrial and agriculture sector. The next 3-4 weeks would be critical to determine the impact of steps taken till now to curb the virus spread, Modi told the chief ministers. During their interaction, several chief ministers demanded financial and fiscal relief from the Centre to fight the pandemic, while Modi suggested measures to incentivise direct marketing of farm produce to help farmers, among other steps to help the country remain healthy and to prosper too. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the states have demanded Rs 10 lakh crore package. Modi also said the crisis is an opportunity to become self-reliant and turn the nation into an economic powerhouse. Maharashtra, which became the third state to announce an extension in the lockdown after Odisha and Punjab even before an official extension to the nationwide lockdown, was much more clearer in announcing that areas identified as hotspots of the virus spread would see stricter curbs while restrictions would be relaxed in unaffected areas. After attending Modi's interaction with chief ministers, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the second phase of the two-week lockdown would not be the same as the ongoing three-week one, which entered its 18th day and was originally scheduled to last until April 14. "The Prime Minister said during the next fifteen days lockdown will be relaxed in graded manner... Agriculture and industrial sectors will be given relaxation. Government offices will be allowed to function with partial strength. He (Modi) will announce such measures soon," Yediyurappa said. Separately, sources said all central ministers have been asked to resume office from Monday and put together plans for post-lockdown period to kick-start the economy. All ministries have also been directed that joint secretary and above rank officers will resume work in respective departments and one-third of the essential staff members in every ministry need to be present. While government officials said guidelines for the second phase of lockdown would be announced in next few days, the Union Health Ministry said testing and treatment infrastructures were being augmented on a daily basis and asserted that the number of confirmed cases could have reached 8.2 lakh by April 15 in the absence of a lockdown and other containment measures. In its evening update as on 5 PM, the Ministry put the number of confirmed cases so far across the country at 7,529 with 242 deaths. These results are from nearly 1.7 lakh tests conducted so far across the country. According to the Ministry, 1,035 new cases and 40 deaths were reported in 24 hours till Saturday afternoon. However, a tally of numbers reported by various states as on 6.30 PM showed at least 8,016 positive coronavirus cases and 261 deaths. More than 800 people have been cured and discharged so far. Fresh cases were reported from various places, including in Maharashtra, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. While Maharashtra saw its tally of confirmed cases rising to at least 1,666, Mumbai alone has more than 1,100 cases now. Tamil Nadu and Delhi have also seen their respective numbers cross the 1,000-mark, while Rajasthan has over 600 cases. The states with over 400 cases included Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The death toll in Maharashtra alone has reached 110. Announcing an extension to the lockdown till April 30 soon after attending Modi's interaction with chief ministers, Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray said that the lockdown can be relaxed in certain areas while in others it will become stricter. The state's Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the lockdown can be extended even beyond April if norms are flouted. According to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, Modi also suggested specific measures for agriculture and allied sector including modification of APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) laws to facilitate sale of farm produce. He also referred to the newly launched 'Aarogya Setu' app -- which can tell an individual whether he or she has come in close vicinity of an infected person or area, as "an essential tool in our fight against COVID-19" which can subsequently act as an e-pass to facilitate travel from one place to another. Modi, who himself was seen wearing a white mask during the video conference, also condemned attacks on health professionals and incidents of misbehaviour with students from North-East and Kashmir. He also said measures are being taken to ensure availability of protective gear and critical equipment for all front-line workers. He assured the states that the country has adequate supplies of essential medicines and gave a stern message against black marketing and hoarding. Observing that the combined efforts of the Centre and states have helped reduce the impact of COVID-19, he said the situation is rapidly evolving and constant vigilance is paramount. On the exit plan from the lockdown, Modi said there seems to be a consensus amongst the states on an extension by another two weeks, but underlined that the government wants to not only save lives but also livelihoods. "While announcing the lockdown, I had said 'jaan hai to jahan hai'... Most people in the country understood it and discharged their responsibilities by remaining indoors. And now it is imperative to focus on both aspects, 'Jaan bhi Jahan Bhi', for India's bright future, and prosperous and healthy India," Modi said. While Modi asked states to curb violations to the lockdown conditions, the Union Home Ministry separately has written to the West Bengal state administration, flagging a "gradual dilution" of lockdown in the state including by allowing permission to hold religious gatherings and keep open shops of non-essential goods. In another communication to all states and union territories, the Union Health Ministry has asked them to prohibit the use and spitting of smokeless tobacco in public places as spitting in public places could enhance the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Ever since its emergence in China last December, more than 17 lakh people have tested positive for this deadly virus globally, while more than 1 lakh people have died. The US reported more than 2,000 deaths in a single day on Friday, while France also reported over 1,000 deaths in a day. An estimated 3.4 lakh people are considered to have recovered from COVID-19 so far. PLB GJS GJS NAB JTR KSU SS MR PM BJ VJVJ

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