Daily briefing: Maharashtra shapes Covid map; Yogi says states will have to seek nod before employing UP workers

As India's Covid-19 caseload increased in the last two months, Maharashtra's share has also simultaneously grown to more than one-third of all cases in the country.

Dear Reader,

As India’s Covid-19 caseload increased in the last two months, Maharashtra’s share has also simultaneously grown to more than one-third of all cases in the country. Such has been its dominance that a sizable part of the problem in the country would be taken care of if the outbreak in Maharashtra is somehow contained. But doing that is easier said than done.

Meanwhile, the ICMR records show a steady rise in Covid-19 positivity rates over the last four weeks. More so in the last 10 days when migrant workers have started returning home on board Shramik Special trains.

As domestic flight operations resume today, landing in at least 11 states and the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir means that arriving passengers must either check into an institutional quarantine or self-isolate at home. A senior executive at a low-cost airline compared the situation to visa rules implemented by various countries.

A computer scientist from the University of Western Florida has some valuable insight for fliers pulling their hair over what flight seat to pick. While aisle seats might increase the chances of contact with other passengers and cabin crew and window seats minimise this risk, it ultimately boils down to air flow patterns inside the aircraft.

Today’s top edit argues that China should back off from a prolonged confrontation with India at Ladakh and not risk deepening chill in bilateral relations in a world still reeling under the effects of COVID, and at a time when its own handling of the outbreak is coming under mounting scrutiny.

The Shiv Sena had recently claimed that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari share a father-son like relationship. But all’s not well between the two leaders. Koshyari has sought the delinking of the administration of Raj Bhavan from the state’s General Administration Department under the chief minister. Will the Sena give in to the Governor’s demand?

Two members of Pinjra Tod, who were granted bail in connection with the anti-CAA protest in Delhi’s Jafrabad earlier this year, have been arrested again and sent to police custody on charges on murder and rioting.

Remember Jyoti Kumari, who cycled almost 1,200 km to Darbhanga from Gurgaon amid the lockdown with her injured father riding pillion? The girl has now found support in LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan who has offered to sponsor her education till graduation and also urged Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju to arrange training and scholarship for her.

Taking note of the unfair treatment meted out to migrants, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that states seeking to employ labourers from Uttar Pradesh in the future will need to take his government’s permission. He also said that workers who were infected were recovering faster than the others.

Some brands have become so synonymous with the Indian identity that most people are easily confused about their origins. Take Bata or Hindustan Unilever. The first is Czech and the latter Anglo-Dutch. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vocal for local” call, brands are now scrambling to buttress their Indian roots.

🔊 In today’s episode of Three Things podcast, our reporter Santanu Chowdhury talks about the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan, the damage it has done in West Bengal, and how authorities are struggling to tackle the situation.

📬 You can now subscribe to all The Indian Express newsletters here: indianexpress.com/newsletters

Until tomorrow,

Leela Prasad G and Liu Chuen Chen