The Evening Wrap Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying home and staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: Exit strategising The numbers: The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has crossed 7,500, with the death toll now at more than 250. Globally, 1.6 million people have been affected by COVID-19, with the death toll hurtling towards 1,00,000. The ways and means by which we may emerge from the 21-day lockdown continues to dominate the news, and is the most pressing question on everyone’s mind. By the time we next come to you with The Evening Wrap newsletter, on Monday, April 13, there might well be a firm decision on an extension after Prime Minister Narendra Modi confers with Chief Ministers tomorrow. Today, our political editor Nistula Hebbar has some more details on what kind of extension may be decided, writing that rural areas may see a relief from lockdown while cities will remain shut. “Stoppered supply lines with trucks waiting on highways, the ongoing harvest season, and procurement of food grains in various parts of the country are some of the issues that will inform the kind of lockdown the country will continue to have post April 14.” “Harvesting is very important, as is procurement, as there are standing crops and they need to be taken care of. Mandis, etc do not lend themselves to social distancing,” said a government source. With much economic activity at a standstill due to the lockdown, it appears that harvesting and procurement at least will be exempted from it, while big urban areas will continue to be under strict lockdown. Meanwhile, The Home Ministry has sought views of State governments on the 21-day lockdown, including whether more categories of people and services need to be exempted, officials said on Friday, amidst indications of a possible two-week extension of the restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. Following Suit Punjab has extended its state-wide curfew till May 1 amid apprehensions of a community spread of COVID-19. It becomes the second state to do so after Odisha announced an extension of the lockdown till April 30 on Thursday. A meeting of the Punjab Council of Ministers chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh took the decision also to prevent overcrowding at “mandis” in the light of the ensuing wheat harvesting/procurement season. Capt. Amarinder will convey the decision to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter’s Saturday video conference with the Chief Ministers, an official statement said. TN on course for same The Expert Committee of medical experts constituted to track the spread of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu has recommended to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami the extension of the ongoing lockdown by two weeks beyond April 14. “Despite all the efforts taken by the government, cases [of COVID-19] have been increasing so far…All the doctors [on the 19-member panel] feel that it would be good if the lockdown is extended for 14 more days. This is among the recommendations of the Committee,” a panel spokesperson told journalists at the Secretariat in Chennai in the afternoon. On Thursday Mr. Palaniswami had said the recommendations of the Expert Committee as well as that of the 12 coordination teams set up to combat COVID-19 would be taken into consideration before a decision is taken on extending the lockdown. Breaking the chain Our Rajasthan correspondent Mohammed Iqbal reports that the “ruthless containment” model adopted in Bhilwara, which emerged last month as the worst-affected district in Rajasthan, has succeeded in breaking the chain of COVID-19 transmission. Among the 27 COVID-19 positive cases found earlier, 25 patients have recovered from the infection, and 15 discharged from hospital. Bhilwara Collector Rajendra Bhatt said on Friday that the remaining 10 persons, who were under observation, would be discharged in a couple of days. Some free testing Some private labs have said they were offering free testing for COVID-19 as per the Supreme Court directive on Wednesday, but noted that it was unsustainable unless the government stepped in soon with guidelines on how they could be compensated. Every test is said to cost ₹4,500, and the 67 private labs authorised by the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) across the country were charging the same until the Supreme Court order, which had also directed the government to issue guidelines. For private labs, there are numerous costs, such as reagents, consumables, skilled manpower, and infrastructure. The pandemic also calls for immense infection control measures such as personal protective equipment and viral-transport media. Plus one needs to keep sanitation and employee safety in mind at every step,” Dr Arjun Dang, CEO, Dangs Labs, told The Hindu in an email. In brief: As part of its efforts to ramp up testing capacity, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the use of diagnostic machines used for testing drug-resistant tuberculosis for conducting COVID-19 tests. Major oil producers except Mexico agreed to cut output in May and June by 10 million barrels per day (bpd), OPEC said Friday, after marathon talks to counter a collapse in prices. The agreement, which reduces production to eight million bpd from July to December, depends on Mexico's consent for it to take effect, the oil cartel said after a video conference. Evening Wrap will return on Monday. | 
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