Coronavirus India: An IAF chopper showered petals over the police memorial in Delhi.
New Delhi:
The Indian Air Force jets and transport planes are showering petals on hospitals and places of national importance across the country in a show of support to medical professionals and others involved in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The Air Force is also conducting flypasts across the country and Army bands will play outside medical buildings in most districts. In the evening, Navy ships will be lit up. The “gesture of special gratitude” was announced on Friday by Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and all the three service heads. The show of gratitude for health workers started in March with Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting people to clap from balconies. A week later, there was the show of solidarity with candle-lit balconies.
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The gesture of thanks started with laying of flowers by the three service chiefs at the police memorial in Delhi this morning to honour police personnel deployed for enforcement of the nationwide lockdown.
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In Delhi, the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) fighter jets from the Western Air Command will drop petals at hospitals across the city. Some of the hospitals are Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.
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The fighter aircraft formations comprising Sukhoi-30MKI, MiG-29 and Jaguar will fly over Rajpath in central Delhi and will circle over the city for 30 minutes, PTI reported.
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In Mumbai, military aircraft will drop petals at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, among others.
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“Our Armed Forces have always kept the nation safe. Even in times of disasters, they are out there helping people. Now, our Forces are, in a unique way, saying a big thank you to our frontline COVID-19 warriors for their endeavour towards making India COVID-19 free,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Friday.
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The IAF’s C-130 transport aircraft will follow a similar flight profile as the fighters covering the entire Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR). “The planes will fly at an approximate height of 500 metres to 1,000 metres keeping aerospace safety in mind, especially in respect of bird activity,” news agency PTI quoted an IAF officer as saying.
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The jets showering petals are likely to be seen much clearer against the sky as visibility has improved in most cities due to no industrial activities and less pollutants in the air during the lockdown.
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Navy officials said the Western Naval Command will illuminate five ships from 7.30 pm to 11:59 pm off the Gateway of India in Mumbai, PTI reported. They will show banners like “India Salutes Corona Warriors” and will sound the siren of the ships and fire flares at 7:30 pm at anchorage.
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Additionally, the Naval air stations at Goa will organise a human chain on the runway to honour “corona warriors”. The Eastern Naval Command will illuminate two ships at anchorage from 7.30 pm to midnight at Visakhapatnam coast.
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India recorded the biggest single-day jump of 2,411 coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the total to 37,776, the Health Ministry said, adding that 1,223 deaths linked to the highly infectious COVID-19 have been reported so far. Seventy-one deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
