Taking into account the impact of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly on vulnerable groups, the MHA has again reiterated to States/ Union Territories to focus on vulnerable sections, especially children who may have been orphaned due to loss of parents due to COVID-19. The MHA has asked States/Union Territories to undertake an immediate review of existing facilities for vulnerable groups, especially for children who have been orphaned, senior citizens who may require timely assistance and support (medical as well as safety and security), and members of the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes who may need guidance to access Government support facilities.

The MHA has requested States/ Union Territories forsensitization of police personnel, coordination with various line Departments/ Agencies concerned to effectively deploy the Women Help Desk in Police Stations and Anti-Human Trafficking Units in Districts. The NCRB has released several tools to States/Union Territories to facilitate in this activity, such as the Crime Multi Centre Agency (Cri-MAC) for police to share inter-state information; online National Alert Service for police on missing and found persons using the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), and an automated photo matching web-based application UNIFY that uses the Machine Learning model to enable police personnel to search photographs of missing persons, unidentified dead bodies etc. against the national image repository in the CCTNS. The MHA has requested the States / Union Territories to create greater awareness on the central citizen servicefor missing personswhich is available online. The MHA has also referred to the recent SOPs issued for safety of Transgendersduring COVID-19.

States/ Union Territories have been using these facilities for the benefit of citizens.

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WHO officials said that it is hard to predict when the pandemic will be over, but countries should stay positive and collaborate closely.

“I think it’s important to put this on the table: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away,” said Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, at a press conference in Geneva. “It is important that we be realistic and I don’t think anyone can predict when or if this disease will disappear.”

He believes that there is a “massive opportunity for the world” to turn “a tragic pandemic into a beacon of hope for the future,” urging the world to “work together to solve our problems through solidarity, through trust, through working together and through a multilateral system that can actually benefit mankind.”

“In some senses, we have control over that future, but it’s going to take a massive effort to do it,” he said, noting that “It’s going to need the political, the financial, the operational, the technical and the community support to be a success.”

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 technical lead at WHO, added that, despite people may be “in a state of feeling quite some despair,” we should remain positive and hopeful.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added: “The trajectory is in our hands, and it’s everybody’s business, and we should all contribute to stop this pandemic.

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Trump told reporters he was “going to put a very powerful hold on” funding to WHO, the UN body whose biggest funding source is the United States.

“We’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO,” said Trump, who pursues an “America First” agenda and has previously criticized other UN and multilateral agencies.

He gave no details about how much money would be withheld and minutes later during the same press conference he said: “I’m not saying I’m going to do it.”

“We will look at ending funding,” he added.

According to Trump, the WHO “seems to be very biased toward China. That’s not right.”

His comments built on an earlier statement on Twitter in which he accused the WHO of being “very China centric.”

Trump asked why the WHO had given “such a faulty recommendation,” apparently referring to the UN body’s advice against curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from China.

“Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on,” Trump wrote, referring to his decision to ban travel from the country.

China faces criticism in Washington, particularly from Republicans, over the way it handled the pandemic and Trump has expressed doubt over the accuracy of Chinese statistics for cases and deaths.

However, Trump himself has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu and said was under control in the United States, before later accepting that it was a national emergency.

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“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus,” the US president tweeted Monday night.

Trump’s allies had previously referred to the pandemic as the “Chinese coronavirus,” but the tweet marks the first time the president said it himself.

Critics slammed the move, calling it racist and potentially inciting a backlash against the Asian-American community.

Our Asian-American communities — people YOU serve — are already suffering. They don’t need you fueling more bigotry,” tweeted New York city mayor Bill de Blasio, whose state is one of the hardest-hit by the virus in the US.

The clash came on the day that the World Health Organization said more cases and deaths had been reported in the rest of the world than in China, where the new coronavirus virus was first detected late last year.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a phone call he initiated with top Chinese official Yang Jiechi, voiced anger that Beijing has used official channels “to shift blame for COVID-19 to the United States,” the State Department said.

Pompeo “stressed that this is not the time to spread disinformation and outlandish rumors, but rather a time for all nations to come together to fight this common threat,” the department added.

The State Department on Friday summoned the Chinese ambassador, Cui Tiankai, to denounce Beijing’s promotion of a conspiracy theory that had gained wide attention on social media.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, in tweets last week in both Mandarin and English, suggested that “patient zero” in the global pandemic may have come from the United States — not the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.

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“All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/international organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020,” it said in the statement.

The order will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13.

The decision was taken at the meeting of group of ministers held here under the chairmanship of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

“All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International organisations, employment and project visas stand suspended till 15th April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure,” the statement said.

Visa-free travel facility granted to OCI card holders is also kept in abeyance till April 15.

Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian Mission, the release said, adding that all incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after February 15 will be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days.

Over 1,18,000 positive cases have been reported globally across 114 countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11 said that according to its assessment, COVID-19 “can be characterised as a pandemic.”

“WHO has been assessing this outbreak round-the-clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” it said.

“Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

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