India COVID-19 Cases: PM urged people switch off lights for nine minutes on Sunday, 9 pm
Highlights
- PM’s appeal raises concerns among state electricity boards
- Sudden power fluctuations may lead to surges: State Boards
- PM appealed to turn off lights for 9 minutes as “show of solidarity”
New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to turn off all the lights for nine minutes on Sunday, 9 pm, and light candles to show solidarity during India’s fight against coronavirus has drawn concerns from several state electricity boards.
The state boards expressed concern that sudden mass power fluctuations could lead to power surges, and have issued guidelines to prevent blackouts.
The Power Ministry, however, has allayed these fears, saying the mass lights-out will not harm electrical appliances and that lights in hospitals and other essential services will remain on.
“Some apprehensions have been expressed that this may cause instability in the grid and fluctuation in voltage which may harm the electrical appliances. These apprehensions are misplaced,” the Power Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The government also said there is no call to switch off street lights, computers or appliances such as TV sets, fans, refrigerators and air-conditioners in the homes. “Only lights should be switched off. The lights in hospitals and all other essential services like public utilities, municipal services, offices, police stations, manufacturing facilities, etc will remain on… All local bodies have been advised to keep the street lights on for public safety,” the Power Ministry said.
Several state power boards have asked their workers to be on stand-by on Sunday evening with necessary back-up to handle the adverse impact, if any, during or after the voluntary blackout.
In Uttar Pradesh, the State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), the top body that oversees the power system in the state, has asked officials to have load shedding in the state from 8 pm to 9 pm on Sunday in a staggered manner to avoid a power crash.
The SLDC in its letter asked the utilities to keep all the reactors of state grid in service while not keeping capacitor banks operational.
The letter states these instructions have been given in view of the call by the Prime Minister to switch off lights at 9 pm for nine minutes.
The Tamil Nadu power corporation too will have a staggered load-shedding in the state from 8 pm to 9 pm on Sunday. The corporation has asked its workers to be available at the headquarters from 8 pm to 10:30 pm on Sunday.
Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut has expressed similar concerns, also saying turning the lights off “can affect emergency services”. “Do not turn off all the lights at the same time. We should rethink before switching off all the lights at the same time at our homes. This can lead to a grid failure and affect emergency services,” Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut said.
With several states expressing concern, central power regular POCOSO has advised them to use gas and hydro-power as a back-up. The power regulator has advised a gradual approach to the mass lights-out programme.
On Friday, PM Modi, in his third address to the nation in the last few weeks on COVID-19 pandemic, urged people across India to switch off their lights and hold candles, lamps and mobile flashlights at 9 pm on Sunday, for nine minutes in a nationwide show of solidarity with the coronavirus warriors.
India has reported over 2,900 cases of coronavirus and 68 deaths.
World
12,18,485Cases
9,00,093Active
2,52,492Recovered
65,900Deaths
Coronavirus has spread to 183 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 12,18,485 and 65,900 have died; 9,00,093 are active cases and 2,52,492 have recovered as on April 5, 2020 at 7:08 pm.
India
3,577 505Cases
3,219 435Active
275 62Recovered
83 8Deaths
In India, there are 3,577 confirmed cases including 83 deaths. The number of active cases is 3,219 and 275 have recovered as on April 5, 2020 at 6:00 pm.
State & District Details
| State | Cases | Active | Recovered | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DistrictCases South77 South West14 West10 East9 North West9 South East9 North East8 North6 Central4 New Delhi3 Shahdara2 Details Awaited*352 |
503 58 |
492 56 |
18 3 |
7 1 |
|
DistrictCases Mumbai173 Pune51 Mumbai Suburban41 Sangli24 Nagpur15 Thane14 Ahmednagar11 Raigad5 Palghar5 Buldhana4 Yavatmal4 Satara2 Kolhapur1 Jalgaon1 Nashik1 Aurangabad1 Ratnagiri1 Gondia1 Sindhudurg1 Details Awaited*134 |
490 |
472 |
42 |
24 |
|
DistrictCases Chennai69 Coimbatore33 Tirunelveli30 Dindigul25 Erode25 Namakkal19 Theni12 Karur11 Madurai11 Thiruvarur9 Tiruppur8 Thoothukudi6 Salem6 Virudhunagar5 Sivaganga5 Kanniyakumari5 Tiruvannamalai4 Villupuram4 Kanchipuram4 Nagapattinam3 Ramanathapuram2 Vellore2 Tiruchirappalli1 Ariyalur1 Details Awaited*185 |
485 74 |
482 75 |
6 |
3 1 |
|
DistrictCases Kasaragod58 Kannur25 Ernakulam18 Pathanamthitta14 Kozhikode6 Malappuram6 Thiruvananthapuram6 Thrissur5 Idukki3 Kottayam3 Palakkad3 Alappuzha2 Kollam1 Wayanad1 Details Awaited*155 |
306 11 |
259 3 |
49 8 |
2 |
|
DistrictCases Hyderabad55 Warangal Urban12 Medchal Malkajgiri9 Ranga Reddy7 Karimnagar5 Mahabubnagar4 Kamareddy4 Bhadradri Kothagudem4 Nalgonda3 Sangareddy2 Nizamabad2 Jogulamba Gadwal2 Suryapet1 Mulugu1 Nagarkurnool1 Jangoan1 Mahabubabad1 Medak1 Details Awaited*154 |
269 110 |
244 79 |
32 31 |
7 |
|
DistrictCases Gautam Buddha Nagar28 Meerut12 Agra11 Lucknow7 Ghaziabad6 Baghpat2 Moradabad2 Bareilly1 Ghazipur1 Jaunpur1 Kanpur Nagar1 Kheri1 Pilibhit1 Varanasi1 Shamli1 Details Awaited*151 |
227 53 |
210 53 |
19 |
2 |
|
DistrictCases Jaipur36 Bhilwara23 Jodhpur16 Tonk9 Jhunjhunu8 Churu6 Ajmer5 Bharatpur3 Dungarpur3 Alwar3 Pratapgarh2 Udaipur1 Jaisalmer1 Sikar1 Pali1 Dholpur1 Dausa1 Details Awaited*80 |
200 |
179 |
21 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Visakhapatnam3 Krishna2 Chittoor1 East Godavari1 Guntur1 Spsr Nellore1 Prakasam1 Details Awaited*180 |
190 29 |
190 29 |
1 |
1 |
|
DistrictCases Indore65 Jabalpur7 Ujjain5 Bhopal4 Gwalior2 Shivpuri2 Details Awaited*80 |
165 61 |
174 64 |
0 |
9 3 |
|
DistrictCases Bengaluru Urban38 Mysuru11 Uttar Kannad9 Chikballapur9 Dakshin Kannad4 Kalaburagi3 Udupi3 Bengaluru Rural2 Davangere2 Chitradurga1 Dharwad1 Kodagu1 Tumakuru1 Details Awaited*59 |
144 16 |
136 17 |
12 |
4 1 |
|
DistrictCases Ahmadabad32 Surat10 Gandhinagar9 Vadodara9 Rajkot7 Bhavnagar4 Porbandar3 Gir Somnath2 Kachchh1 Mahesana1 Botad1 Details Awaited*43 |
122 17 |
115 14 |
18 4 |
11 1 |
|
DistrictCases Srinagar17 Bandipora11 Badgam7 Udhampur4 Jammu3 Rajauri3 Baramulla2 Pulwama2 Shopian2 Details Awaited*55 |
106 31 |
104 30 |
4 1 |
2 |
|
DistrictCases Kolkata15 Nadia5 Hooghly4 24 Paraganas North3 Medinipur East3 24 Paraganas South2 Howrah2 Medinipur West1 Details Awaited*45 |
80 11 |
73 4 |
10 7 |
3 |
|
DistrictCases Gurugram25 Faridabad6 Panipat4 Sirsa3 Panchkula2 Ambala1 Hisar1 Sonipat1 Palwal1 Details Awaited*15 |
59 10 |
35 10 |
25 1 |
1 1 |
|
DistrictCases Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar18 S.a.s Nagar9 Hoshiarpur5 Jalandhar5 Amritsar2 Ludhiana2 Patiala1 Details Awaited*15 |
57 |
61 |
1 |
5 |
|
DistrictCases Patna5 Munger4 Saharsa2 Begusarai1 Lakhisarai1 Nalanda1 Siwan1 Details Awaited*15 |
30 |
31 |
0 |
1 |
|
DistrictCases Marigaon2 Karimganj1 Nalbari1 Details Awaited*22 |
26 2 |
26 2 |
0 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Dehradun6 Pauri Garhwal1 Details Awaited*15 |
22 6 |
20 6 |
2 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Khordha3 Details Awaited*17 |
20 15 |
20 15 |
0 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Chandigarh16 Details Awaited*2 |
18 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Leh Ladakh11 Kargil2 Details Awaited*1 |
14 |
4 |
10 7 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases North And Middle Andaman7 South Andamans3 |
10 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Raipur4 Bilaspur1 Durg1 Rajnandgaon1 Details Awaited*2 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases North Goa2 South Goa1 Details Awaited*4 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Kangra3 Details Awaited*3 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
|
DistrictCases Mahe1 Details Awaited*4 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Details Awaited*3 |
3 1 |
3 1 |
0 |
0 |
|
DistrictCases Imphal West1 Details Awaited*1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
DistrictCases Details Awaited*1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |