Coronavirus: Govt may scale up drone monitoring to ensure ban on religious gatherings

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday suggested that increased monitoring through drones should be done to prevent mass gatherings amid the coronavirus lockdown, as per sources. Singh stated that the public has a tendency to gather in large numbers such as religious centres, and therefore it should be closely monitored to prevent and any such gatherings.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) tasked with monitoring the overall situation in the country arising out of the coronavirus pandemic. The GoM also briefly discussed possible scenarios after April 14, when the current spell of the lockdown will come to an end.

It also recommended measures to enhance testing facilities for coronavirus infection in medical laboratories, the sources said. Opposition leaders, as well as leading healthcare experts, have been pressing the government to ramp up infrastructure to increase coronavirus tests across the country to have a realistic assessment of the situation arising out of the pandemic in India.

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GoM meeting on post-lockdown strategy

The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by several key members of the Union Cabinet including Home Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani and Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were also among those who attended the meeting. According to official figures, India has recorded a total of 4,789 positive cases of coronavirus and 124 deaths, with a sizeable proportion of the cases and related spread being credited to a religious gathering in Delhi's Nizamuddin.

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(with PTI inputs)