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. Life after the 17th Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his fifth consultation with chief ministers today. The plan of action post-May 17, when the third phase of the national lockdown end will end, was the main agenda. Modi said that while his government had made efforts to keep everyone where they were in the fight against the coronavirus, certain decisions had to be changed because it was ‘human nature’ to want to go home. “The whole world feels India has been able to successfully protect itself from Covid-19. The States have played a major role in this. Wherever we have not followed social distancing, our problems have increased. Our biggest challenge will be to ensure Covid-19 doesn't spread to villages in spite of relaxations,” the PM said, according to a PTI report. The States have demanded more autonomy in deciding the areas where restrictions can be eased, in case the red, orange and green zoning system continues to be in place. Tamil Nadu, one of the states that has lately seen a big spike in Covid-19 cases, urged the Prime Minister not to resume flights and trains this month. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, meanwhile, urged a return to normalcy to revive the economy and said it was important to reopen agricultural markets, public transport, and shopping malls, with some rules. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Centre was playing politics over the crisis. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that since the challenges faced by each State are different, they should have the freedom to make the necessary changes in the lockdown-related guidelines. He wanted States, for instance, to have the leeway to assess the situation in each district and accordingly allow autorickshaws to operate with a limited number of passengers. Covid Watch: The Numbers India’s coronavirus tally stands at 69,007 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 2,242. The country has seen its largest single day spike, with 1,847 cases being recorded over the past 24 hours, though the Health Ministry has also said that India’s recovery rate has improved to 31 percent. Trains roll on Train services are set to start from tomorrow for limited operations, as announced by the Railways on Sunday. New guidelines have been issued for those who will be travelling. No linen will be provided, only packaged food and hand-sanitisers will be made available, and travellers are required to reach stations at least 90 minutes before departure. All passengers must wear face masks during the journey. In addition, the Railways said tickets cannot be cancelled at less than 24 hours’ notice and the cancellation charge will be half the fare. Passengers will be required to install the Covid-19 tracker app Aarogya Setu on their mobile phones. Passengers have also been asked to travel with light luggage. The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the movement of people by trains, and made it clear that only asymptomatic and confirmed e-ticket holders will be allowed to travel. Online booking for passengers is set to begin today evening (May 11). More stops for Shramik Specials The Railways, which has so far run about 468 Shramik Special trains, has now decided to run such trains with three stops in the destination State. Currently, these trains run from point to point without any stops en route. Additionally, these trains will now have an increased carrying capacity of 1,700 passengers in each train, as opposed to 1,200 passengers at present, a Railways spokesperson confirmed. Bihar migrants test positive As thousands of migrants continue to reach Bihar every day, as many as 150 of them have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last one week, The Hindu reports today. The samples were taken from 25 quarantine centres that have mostly been accommodating people coming in from red zones. The maximum number of positive cases were from Begusarai, Nalanda, Araria and other districts. Since May 1, over one lakh migrants have returned to different districts by 84 trains, and an estimated 85,000 are expected to reach the State in the next four-five days. Manmohan Singh stable Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was admitted to AIIMS, New Delhi on Sunday evening, is stable, a Congress official said today. “Dr. Manmohan Singh was admitted for observation and investigation after he developed a febrile reaction to a new medication. He is being investigated to rule out other causes of fever and is being provided care as needed,” the source said, quoting AIIMS doctors. Another person, close to the family, confirmed to The Hindu that “Dr. Singh is fine but will spend the night at the hospital, just to be safe”. Condemning arrests In a joint letter to President Ramnath Kovind, eight political parties have condemned the recent arrests of activists and students in connection with the anti-Citizenship Law protests at a time when the country is battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter has been signed by Sitaram Yechury, CPI (M) general secretary, D. Raja, CPI general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(ML) general secretary, Debabrata Biswas, AIFB general secretary, Manoj Bhattacharya, RSP general secretary, Sharad Yadav, LJD general secretary, Manoj Jha, RJD MP, and Thol. Thirumavalavan, MP and VCK president. In Brief: The World Health Organisation’s Chief Scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan commended India for keeping coronavirus cases and deaths very low compared to other countries. She said India will play an important role in the development of a vaccine for Covid-19. She said the whole world has to be prepared for a continuous spread of the infection for “many, many months and for perhaps years to come”. The Rajasthan government has allowed movement of people within the districts and to other districts in the State without a pass. Guidelines for travel between 7am and 7pm have also been relaxed, with more exemptions. The exemptions will not be available in areas where a large number of Covid-19 positive cases have been detected. The Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) has developed an immunological assay — enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) — to detect antibodies that the body develops in response to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, an official source told The Hindu. The test will detect IgG antibodies present in blood samples. ELISA is routinely used for detecting HIV infection. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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