Here are the top 5 news updates of April 20, 2021:
Maharashtra government has issued an order curtailing the timings of grocery and other shops between 7 am and 11 am. However, home delivery will be allowed between 7 am to 8 pm. "All groceries, vegetable shops, fruit vendors, dairies, bakeries, confectionaries, all type of food shops, shops related to farm produce, pet food shops, shops related to materials for impending rainy season for individuals/organisations to be open only between 7 to 11 AM," the order read.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the government over its vaccine policy, alleging it is discriminatory and that there is no vaccine guarantee for the weaker sections. He also said that there will be no free vaccines for those between the age of 18 and 45 years. "No free vaccines for 18-45 yr olds. Middlemen brought in without price controls. No vaccine guarantee for weaker sections. GOI's Vaccine Discrimination- Not Distribution- Strategy," he said in a tweet. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi today said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild symptoms.
The Supreme Court today granted an interim stay on the Allahabad High Court order directing the Uttar Pradesh government to impose strict restrictions till April 26 in five cities in view of the COVID-19 surge. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde stayed the implementation of the order on an urgent mention made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government today decided to impose a weekend curfew from Friday evening to Monday morning in the entire state till further orders.
The COVID-19 vaccination program at Mumbai's BKC jumbo vaccination centre has been temporarily halted due to the unavailability of stock from April 20, 9 am until further orders. Apart from this, in the last two days, 66 COVID-19 vaccine centres in the city didn’t conduct the vaccination drive due to a shortage of vaccines following which the beneficiaries turnout dropped by 60 per cent. Dr Rajesh Dere, dean of BKC jumbo covid centres said they had to stop the vaccination drive today as the vaccine stock dried up and they have turned away beneficiaries until they get the fresh stock.
Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty erased early gains to settle with losses for the second day on the trot today, as surging COVID-19 cases and growing localised restrictions continued to dent investor sentiment. The BSE Sensex slipped 243.62 points or 0.51 per cent to close the session at 47,705.80. Intra-day, the BSE gauge rose as much as 529 points to touch the day's peak of 48,478.34.
