Telecom industry body COAI has approached the information technology ministry for removal of fake and misleading messages from social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter linking spread of COVID-19 to 5G technology. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, said the claims linking 5G with coronavirus are baseless as 5G networks have not yet been installed in the country and even 5G trials are yet to be started by the telecom operators. In a letter dated May 15 to MeitY additional secretary Rajendra Kumar, COAI director general S P Kochhar said: "To safeguard the national interest, we request your good office to kindly instruct all the social media platforms such as Facebook, Watsapp, Twitter, etc, to remove all such posts and misleading campaigns from their platforms on an urgent basis." People have been sharing audio and video messages on social media platforms in which 5G towers are being blamed for rise in casualties across the country even though none of the companies have installed 5G technology anywhere in India.
'Many cricketers belong to an average middle-class family, their families also facing a financial crisis due to Corona. My humble request to you to kindly make an arrangement to clear the genuine demand of players who represent the state in the BCCI tournaments.'
Patna-resident Gaurav Rai has helped save the lives of over 1,100 patients in home isolation in the state capital and other parts of Bihar so far by providing oxygen cylinders free of cost.
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
"Look at the devastation wrought by Covid in Pakistan and elsewhere. We were saved by Modi's vaccine and his deft handling of the economy," Ram Surat Rai said.
A home ministry official said while 9,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their primary contacts have been quarantined till now across the country due to "massive efforts" to check the outbreak, the Centre has written to all states and union territories that "the lockdown measures should be implemented in letter and spirit".
116 doctors treating COVID patients in Bihar have succumbed to the disease. The family of only one doctor has received compensation.
The expert noted that in India the pandemic is unlikely to be over in the months to come, and the number of people getting infected will continue to rise.
Para high jumper Sharad Kumar has not met his Ukrainian coach Nikitin Yevhen for more than two years due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
He also said the Bihar chief electoral officer has already responded to everything. The EC held four press conferences on counting day on November 10 to respond to various aspects of the process, Arora pointed out.
If the precautions are not taken and guidelines are not followed properly, there can be chances of spike in cases, the government said.
This classification of districts is to be followed by states and union terrotories till a week post May 3, when the second phase of lockdown will end, for containment operations.
Hundreds of people are still seen attending the rallies without wearing face masks and pushing and shoving each other for space.
Hundreds of migrant workers from Delhi, Haryana and even Punjab reached Anand Vihar, Ghazipur and Ghaziabad's Lal Kuan area after taking arduous treks of many kilometers on foot to take buses to their respective native places
The party has said resources should now be focussed on curbing the COVID-19 crisis and tackling floods in the state and not holding the polls.
Thakur comes from middle-class family and his parents, who are from Sitmani in Bihar, own a shop in Noida.
This was not Sharad Pawar or Prithviraj Chavan speaking. It was Uddhav Thackeray, the undisputed chief of the Shiv Sena!
While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 6,039, as many as 515 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases include 71 foreign nationals.
Active cases stand at 1,45,779, while 1,54,329 people have recovered and one patient has migrated. "Thus, around 49.9 per cent patients have recovered so far," a ministry official said.
The study noted that nine of 30 large states -- Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha, and Gujarat -- have high vulnerability to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While some CMs suggested reopening economic activity in phases, others pitched for the extension of the coronavirus lockdown, but with a carefully crafted exit strategy
'The worst is possibly over because too many of us may already be infected.'
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
'We don't want to lead this hellish life. Enough is enough.'
Two women doctors were injured in Indore when a five-member team of health officials was pelted with stones in Taatpatti Bakhal area on Wednesday while they were trying to trace a person who had come into contact with a COVID-19 patient, police said.
'The Modi government must create conditions to integrate millions into the rural economy as many migrants are certainly not going to return to live an undignified life,' notes Ramesh Menon.
"Votes will be cast for the second phase in the Bihar assembly elections today. I appeal to all voters to make this festival of democracy successful by voting in large numbers," Modi said in a tweet in Hindi. He urged voters to adhere to social distancing norms and wear a mask while voting.
Pappu Qureshi, a good samaritan in Mumbai, helps feed more than 50 migrants, mostly daily wagers and their children, but with the 21-day national lockdown looming large, time is running out.
In its daily briefing, the government also reported Goa is now free of coronavirus.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
Addressing his first election rally in poll-bound Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday paid tributes to the soldiers from the state who had made the supreme sacrifice in the Galwan Valley clash and the Pulwama attack.
The maximum 80 companies, as per an official order, will be drawn from the Central Reserve Police Force followed by 70 from the Sashastra Seema Bal, 55 from the Border Security Force, 50 from the Central Industrial Security Force, 30 from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force and 15 from the RPF.
While amending the rules on the suggestions of the Election Commission, the ministry also allowed "COVID-19 suspected or affected persons" to use the postal ballot facility.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, after receiving complaints about several bodies found floating in the Ganga river in the two states.
Kishor held out the possibility of Jan Suraaj metamorphosing into a political party at a latter stage.
The petitioner, Avinash Thakur, had sought a direction to the Chief Election Commissioner to postpone the polls due to the COVID-19 pandemic on the ground that the Representation of the People Act provides for the deferment of polls in extraordinary situations.
Bihar Police ADG wrote a letter to the Mumbai municipal commissioner, seeking the IPS officer's exemption from quarantine protocols and facilitate his return to Patna to resume his duty.
'It might get worse. We don't really know what is it that is resulting in the high value of R now.'
As of now, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has launched a vaccine, Gemcovac-OM, which is based on the Omicron variant.
As 32 states and Union Territories imposed complete lockdown till March 31, the Centre asked them to clamp curfew wherever necessary in the wake of people defying lockdown orders.
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