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 garings amid coronavirus lockdown, as per sources. Singh stated that public has a tendency to gar in large numbers such as religious centres, and refore it should be closely monitored to prevent and any such garings.

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

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

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GoM meeting on post-lockdown strategy

meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by several key members of 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 Prhan.

Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D V Sananda 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 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 cases and related spre being credited to a religious garing in Delhi's Nizamuddin.

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(with PTI inputs)