Australia suspends direct passenger flights from India until May 15
Melbourne: Australia on Tuesday suspended all direct passenger flights from India for the next three weeks due to the unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
The pause on arrivals would be reassessed before May 15, Morrison said.
The decision was taken during a meeting of Cabinet's national security committee to consider the move to temporarily restrict flights from India along with what equipment and assistance could be sent.
The flight suspension is expected to affect direct flights to Sydney and two repatriation flights scheduled to arrive in Darwin, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
There are about 9,000 Australians in India who are registered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as wanting to return home, the report said.
India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals in several states are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds. On Monday, the country recorded 3,52,991 cases on Monday, the highest so far.
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Karnataka village switches off TVs, mobiles for two hours daily to help students study
Belagavi: Every evening at 7 pm, a siren rings out in Halaga, a village near Belagavi, signalling residents to switch off all screens including televisions, mobile phones, laptops and tablets for the next two hours.
The community has voluntarily adopted this “digital-free time” to help students focus on studies and to encourage families to spend more time talking to each other. The 'digital detox' initiative, 'No TV, no mobile, just study and conversation', is said to be the first such to be adopted by a Karnataka village, Deccan Herald reported on Monday.
According to the report, Halaga, which has a population of about 12,000 and is located close to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, launched the initiative on December 17. A siren installed at the gram panchayat office marks the start of the no-screen period at 7 pm, and another siren at 9 pm signals its end.
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Gram panchayat authorities are reaching out to those residents who are yet to comply and are urging them to stay away from screen during the two hours.
Authorities are also visiting households that have not fully adopted the practice and are encouraging parents to follow the routine strictly. Teachers and panchayat members plan to continue meeting families to ensure more participation.
The Halaga village exercise is said to be inspired by a similar experiment in Agran Dhulgaon near Sangli in Maharashtra which had a positive response on students' learning habits.
