MANGALURU  SUNDAY  APRIL 04, 2021  `12.00  PAGES 24  CITY EDITION Frontliner window closed Centre on Saturday said no fresh registration of frontliners will be allowed to prevent the misuse of provisions by ineligible people to jump the queue SHARP SPIKE 89,129 cases recorded on Saturday 714 fatalities, the highest in over six months 47,913 cases reported from Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka and Chhattisgarh (4,174) The last time such a high spike was reported was on September 20, 2020, when 92,605 infections were recorded in 24 hours IPL UNDER COVID SCARE 50% CASES IN 10 DISTS 6,58,909 active cases on Saturday (5.32% of total infections) 10 DISTRICTS: Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Bengaluru Urban, Aurangabad, Delhi, Ahmednagar and Nanded (50% of the total active caseload in the country) PROBLEM STATES Maharashtra has shown a nine-fold jump in the number of active cases in the past two months In percentage terms, Punjab has reported the maximum increase in active cases Five states — Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, K’taka and Chhattisgarh — together account for 77.3% of the total active cases A raft of Covid-19 positives dampened the build-up to the next edition of the IPL, scheduled to begin on April 9. Here's a look at developments ■ ■ ■ ■ Axar Patel becomes second IPL player after Nitish Rana to test positive. Rana started training again on Saturday More than 15 others, including six event management officials, also test positive Organisers bringing in different set of ground staff to tend to Wankhede Stadium after they also test positive Reports suggest Hyderabad kept as a back-up option to shift games but Mumbai to remain venue as of now | P9, 11 24,69,59,192 SAMPLES TESTED FOR COVID-19 UP TO APRIL 2 EIGHT STATES Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh account for 81.42% of single-day infections CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ANNOUNCEMENT The cover price of The New Sunday Express has been revised to A12 with effect from April 04, 2021. — Editor JAILED PROF SAIBABA SACKED FROM DU COLLEGE Delhi University’s Ram Lal Anand College has terminated the service of assistant professor G N Saibaba, who is serving life term in Nagpur Central Prison for alleged Maoist links. Terming the development a “witch hunt”, Saibaba’s wife Vasantha alleged that it was a “violation of employee’s rights” and she will move court. WITH THIS ISSUE THE SPIRIT IS WILLING PLUS 12 PAGES Govt climbs down on movie hall curbs 50 pc seating will now be enforced from April 7; move comes after film industry representatives meet CM C H E TA N A B E L A G E R E @ Bengaluru A day after it announced stringent measures to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, the State Government modified its order on 50 per cent seating capacity in cinema halls, coming under pressure from the film industry Cinema halls can now have full . seating capacity till April 6. “Under Clause 10 of the order, seating in cinema halls was restricted to a maximum of 50 per cent of the capacity The Karnataka . Film Chamber of Commerce has made a request to the CM to allow cinema halls to run to full capacity as advance online bookings have been made and due to non-receipt of advance notice. It is now decided that the restriction will be made applicable with effect from April 7, 2021,” a fresh order from Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar said. Just a few hours before Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa did a Uturn, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar had insisted that the government was State Government’s U-turns in the past BATTLING THE SECOND WAVE 4,373 TO P T H R E E D I ST R I C TS W I T H T H E M OST C AS ES 3,002 172 171 BENGALURU URBAN BIDAR MYSURU APRIL 2020: Allowed two-wheelers and opening of IT-BT offices with one-third workforce, but withdrew the relaxations following criticism from health experts NOV 2020: Banned crackers for Deepavali, but revoked it later, allowing only green firecrackers DEC 2020: Announced night curfew, but withdrew the order six hours before it was to be imposed firm on its Covid-19 guidelines issued on Friday and that there won’t be any relaxation even if there is pressure from any sector. However, actor Puneeth Rajkumar, whose big budget movie “Yuvarathna” saw a grand release on Thursday along with members of , the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce met the CM on Saturday evening and requested him to revoke the order citing pre-bookings for movies that were released P3 on Thursday . CASES REPORTED IN THE STATE ON SATURDAY 3.53% Positivity Rate 1,23,830 41,73,573 Samples tested on Saturday Total vaccinations achieved so far HATHRAS PLOT CHARGE-SHEET FILED AGAINST 8 PFI MEMBERS N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow THE Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday filed a 5,000-page charge-sheet against eight members of Popular Front of India (PFI) in the Mathura additional district judge and sessions court on Saturday The court has posted the matter for next . hearing on May 1. Those named in the charge-sheet include journalist Siddique Kappan, Atiqur Rehman, Rauf Sharif, Mohammad Danish, Alam, Masood Ahmad, Feroz Khan and Asad Badruddin. All the accused were charged with receiving Rs 80 lakh from financial institutions in Muscat and Doha for fomenting unrest in UP The STF . had arrested five PFI members, including Kappan, in Mathura on October 5, 2020, while they were on the way to Hathras, allegedly to meet the family of a Dalit girl who was gangraped. The FIR against them said they were going to Hathras with an intention “to breach the CONTINUED ON: P8 peace” as part of a “conspiracy”. Maoists kill five jawans in ambush EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Raipur A fierce gun battle between ambushed security forces and Maoists left at least five personnel and two rebels dead in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday. Around a dozen personnel were reported injured. Reinforcements were rushed to the site, but the forces were yet to return from the operation, Director General of Police D M Awasthi said. CONTINUED ON: P8 EVEN AS CORNAVIRUS BITES, FEWER PEOPLE GO FOR THE VACCINE Drunk man sets house on fire, kills 6 Even as Covid-19 cases continue to alarmingly rise in the state, the number of people coming foward to get vaccinated is comparatively low. According to Dr V Ravi, former head of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, and member of Karnataka Covid Task Force, only about 70 per cent of the vaccine stock allocated to Karnataka is being used daily on an average. P3 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Madikeri Six people, including four children, were burnt alive in their sleep by a family member at Mugutageri village in Ponnampet taluk of Kodagu district in the early hours on Saturday Two oth. ers were injured and are being treated at hospitals in Madikeri and Mysuru. The accused Yeravara Boja (50), however, is absconding. Boja, an estate labourer staying at the workers’ quarters (line house) in a private estate at Mugutageri, used to have frequent fights with his wife Babi. Miffed, Babi moved to her brother Manju’s quarters in the same village about a week ago and is said to have ignored all phone calls from Boja. P3