'By the time actual action began, it was already too late.' 'The virus was raging.'
Janata Dal-United president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan on Saturday alleged that political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor was 'working for' the Bharatiya Janata Party, as part of its 'conspiracies' to find a firm foothold in Bihar.
Among the major political parties, chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United is contesting in 35 of the 71 seats, followed by its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (29), while the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has fielded its candidates in 42 and its coalition partner Congress is in the fray in 20 assembly segments.
The active cases in the country have reduced to 11,67,952 after 60 days comprising 4 per cent of the total infections.
The Election Commission is confident of holding the five assembly polls due early next year, including in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, on time as the poll panel has gained a lot of experience from the electoral exercise in Bihar, West Bengal and four other assemblies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra has asserted.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
The number of people who have recovered from the disease has risen to 3,02,69,796, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.33 per cent, the data stated.
The data, which was shared by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in response to an RTI query from PTI, also stated that 686 children living in child care institutions (CCIs) have been infected with COVID-19 so far this year.
Most of those who tested positive either recently arrived from African countries or were in contact with such people.
People living in the national capital and in states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are more likely to contract COVID-19 due to prolonged exposure to high concentration of PM 2.5, according to a new pan-India study.
'The uneducated think of their rights as a gift. This is deeply troubling.' 'If they were educated they could claim what is rightfully theirs.'
The high courts of Madras and Delhi have been very critical, making strong observations against the Centre and various authorities for the way they have been handling the severe second wave of COVID-19.
As the country battles the second wave of COVID-19, the government Thursday said the virus may emerge again and so preparations have to be made at the national level in collaboration with states, infrastructure needs to be ramped up while curbs and appropriate behaviour must be followed.
Kumar had shared the dais with the Council Acting Chairman during the oath ceremony of newly elected MLCs on July 1.
is puzzled by the politics of the COVID-19 vaccine. Will only Indians in states going to the polls get a vaccine shot? What happens to Indians in non-election bound states? When will they be protected from the pandemic?
Maharashtra has reported 3,75,799 coronavirus cases, the highest among states in the country.
This is the second day in a row that the case positivity rate has remained below 10 per cent, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate has also declined to 11.45 per cent.
'If deaths had been properly reported, it would have helped contain the pandemic.'
There are 1,49,348 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while 1,62,378 people have recovered and a patient has migrated, according to the ministry data updated on Sunday morning.
In an effort to provide some help to over 10,000 children who lost both their parents to Covid-19, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed all state governments to reach out to those kids and pay them compensation.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 40,23,179, while the death toll climbed to 69,561 with 1,089 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, data updated at 8 am showed.
Vaccinating all citizens above the age of 18 years against COVID-19 will cost Rs 67,193 crore, of which states together will incur Rs 46,323 crore, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said on Thursday. As the second wave of COVID-19 sweeps the country with alarming speed and severity, the government has announced a liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination. Under this scheme, all persons above 18 years of age will be eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine doses from May 1.
There are 8,97,394 active cases of COVID-19, which is 20.53 per cent of the total caseload in the country, the data stated.
The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 47,033 with 942 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, health ministry data updated at 8 am showed.
The number of poor people in India fell by about 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21, a "historic change" and a demonstration that the Sustainable Development Goal target of reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty by 2030 is possible to achieve, even at a large scale, according to the UN.
Bihar, Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana and West Bengal accounted for 70 per cent of the precautionary doses given to the 18-59 age group.
The seven states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
India's mutual fund (MF) industry had barely any retail footprint when it completed 50 years in 2013. MFs had Rs 7 trillion in assets under management (AUM) in March 2013, of which around Rs 5 trillion was in institution-focused debt funds. By comparison, bank deposits in the country stood at Rs 67.5 trillion around the same time.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country has reached nearly 3.9 crore, it added.
With 1,73,195 cases, Maharashtra has the highest number of active cases.
Stating that the fight against COVID-19 is at the final stage, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday cautioned against letting the guard down before it is completely over and requested states to enhance the vaccination coverage and motivate the over 12 crore beneficiaries who are due for their second dose to take it.
With 1,209 new deaths reported across the country, the toll due to the disease stands at 76,271.
Of the 2,206 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 832 fatalities, Gujarat comes second with 493 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 215, West Bengal at 185, Rajasthan at 107, Uttar Pradesh at 74, Delhi at 73, Tamil Nadu at 47 and Andhra Pradesh at 45.
India is the third worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US and Brazil in terms of cases and deaths.
It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh and just 59 days more to go past the nine-lakh mark.
The daily rise in infections has been below 50,000 for 160 consecutive days now.
The Centre has started the process of identifying around 30 crore priority beneficiaries who will be given vaccine in the initial phase. The Centre will procure the vaccine directly and make it available free-of-cost for the priority beneficiaries.
A total 179 deaths deaths have been reported since Monday evening, of which 98 were from West Bengal, 35 from Maharashtra, 29 from Gujarat, six from Rajasthan, five from Uttar Pradesh, two from Punjab and one each from Chandigarh, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
This is the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 28,000.
This was the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country have increased by more than 26,000.
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