Monsoon likely to arrive over Kerala on May 31

Singapore is returning to the lockdown-like conditions, banning dining-in and limiting gatherings to two people, as a rising number of untraceable virus infections pressures one of the most successful places in the world at COVID containment.Country's Health Ministry in a statement said, for four weeks, from  May 16 to June 13, gathering sizes as well as household visitors will be cut to a maximum of two people from five people now, working from home will be the default, and food places can only do takeaways and deliveries.The Singapore dollar extended its decline after the announcement of the new rules.The number of new cases in the community has increased to 71 in the past week from 48 in the week before. The number of unlinked infections -- the most concerning to officials has risen to 15 in the past week from 7 in the week before.A long-gestating air travel bubble with Hong Kong, set to start 26th of this month, is now unlikely to go ahead on schedule. Singapore was also scheduled to host the Shangri-La Dialogue early next month and the Davos-based World Economic Forum in August.

-Andhra Pradesh has scaled up its efforts to procure sufficient medical oxygen to meet the requirement in the state for the treatment of COVD-19 patients. A train carrying two cryogenic containers with 20 Metric Tonnes of liquid oxygen each will be reaching Krishnapatnam in Nellore District of the State from  Durgapur Steel plant in West Bengal today after noon. Another train with 60 Metric Tonnes will start from Durgapur this evening and will come to Nellore in 24 hours. These two trains will be run in opposite directions to ensure the assured supply of 60 Metric Tonnes per day to Rayalaseema region and Nellore district.

-India’s export performance continues to be impressive in April this year with merchandise exports accelerating by an impressive 195.72 per cent over April 2020 levels and 17.62 per cent over the April 2019 levels. Merchandise exports, excluding POL and Gems and Jewellery, have increased by 160.24 percent in April this year over the same period of 2020-21 and by 20.47 percent over the same period of 2019-20.The Economic recovery is also visible in the rising import growth of 167.05 per cent during the month of April this year over the same period of 2020-21 and 7.87 per cent in April this month over the same period of 2019-20. Service exports estimated for the month of April this year are 21.17 billion dollars registering a positive growth of 28.68 percent as compared to April 2020. The estimated value of services import for April 2021 is 13 billion dollar, registering a positive growth of 39.75 percent vis-à-vis April 2020.

-Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal held a virtual meeting with US Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, and discussed measures to enhance COVID-19 vaccine production. The meeting that took place yesterday focused on increasing vaccine availability in an inclusive and equitable manner to combat the global pandemic caused by Covid-19. The proposal of India on waiver of certain Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights provisions to increase global vaccine production to take on the challenges of vaccinating the poorest of the poor and saving lives were also discussed. Mr Goyal mentioned that the supply chains for the vaccine manufacturers must be kept open and unbridled as the entire world is in dire need of vaccines. Both sides agreed to work towards the common resolve of increasing vaccine availability and saving lives.

-India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that this year the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala is expected on 31st of this month. IMD in a statement said, the forecast comes with a model error deviation of four days. Generally, the normal date for the monsoon onset over the State is 1st of June. IMD said, in the Indian monsoon region, initial monsoon rains are experienced over south Andaman Sea and the monsoon winds then advance in north-westwards across the Bay of Bengal. As per the new normal dates of monsoon onset, the southwest monsoon advances over the Andaman Sea around 22nd May.