SP leader Akhilesh Yadav has successfully poached a number of OBC leaders from the ruling party, including Swami Prasad Maurya, in his efforts to broaden his party's social base beyond the traditional Muslim and Yadav votebank to take it on this time round.
The government said the use of such masks will help in protecting the community at large
For communities, inadequate shelter and overcrowding are risk factors in the transmission of diseases with epidemic potential such as COVID-19, the National Centre for Disease Control, which falls under the health ministry, said.
In a bid to save its New Year fixture between India and Australia, the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust has offered to host the Brisbane Test too, if the Queensland government refuse to grant exemptions to the teams returning from New South Wales.
'That is the one headline the world is reading about India this week, and it is a potentially damaging story...' 'I don't think a panic mentality has set in, but this story is one that investors and market watchers are absolutely seized with.'
From helping their employees infected with the Covid-19 virus to vaccinating them or supporting the families of those who might have succumbed to the infection, several companies in India are trying to do their bit in this difficult time. Some have even widened their support net to include all stakeholders as well as an extended community. To the families of the employees it lost to Covid-19, Noida-headquartered IT services and consulting company HCL Technologies is, for instance, paying salary for a year, medical insurance for three years and extending support for their children's education for five years.
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.
In a review meeting by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, these states and the union territory were asked to continue with rigorous vigil so as to contain the spread of infection as well as take steps to reduce fatalities.
The highest number of confirmed cases are from Maharashtra (748), followed by Tamil Nadu at 571 and Delhi with 523 cases. Cases in Telangana have gone up to 321, in Kerala to 314, in Uttar Pradesh to 305, while the number of cases has gone up to 274 in Rajasthan.
'The situation is especially serious in major hotspot districts or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu),' the MHA statement said.
'There will be increases.' 'There is bound to be, but you have to bear with all this.' 'The focus should be to provide optimum care for those who are in the need.' 'We should focus more on care, better care. Not on testing.'
This year is expected to be an extremely low-key Ramzan with social-distancing imposed across the world, including Saudi Arabia which is home to Islam's holiest shrines.
The COVID-19 tests will be started at every polling station in the containment zones of Delhi in a few days
The central government should provide for free vaccination to all Indian citizens and greatly ramp up RT-PCR testing in both rural and urban areas, a group of former civil servants said on Thursday in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Observing that an environment has been created in the Indian society over the years that has led to deep-rooted discrimination against the community, a five-judge constitution bench, hearing petitions seeking decriminalisation of 158-year-old colonial law under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, said discrimination against such people has also adversely impacted their mental health.
The fund used to fight the coronavirus pandemic will be spent from CSR funds.
Although China still faces the threat of new outbreaks due to local community transmissions or from imported cases, the country's capability to contain the COVID-19 has been honed, thanks to its experience in battling the virus for months.
'The virus has been ahead of us till now, and we have been chasing the virus.' 'It is time we have to be a step ahead of the virus, and this is possible only by checking the oxygen level.'
The country is still in the ascending limb of the epidemic, said Prof D Prabhakaran.
The authorities claimed the segregation was driven by COVID-19-related protocols and denied any religious bias.
Deane De Menezes hopes to reduce the awkwardness and stigma around menstruation.
Opposing a dialogue with Pakistan till it stops 'exporting' terror into Jammu and Kashmir, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir president Ravinder Raina at an all-party meet in New Delhi on Thursday said those seeking engagement with the neighbouring country should meet the victims of violence to understand their pain.
Asymptomatic cases pose a problem as the patients are tested COVID-19 positive but develop no symptoms such as fever, cough or sore throat. However, they pose a risk of spreading the disease to others.
'The key purpose of vaccination is to prevent hospitalisation, severe disease, and death.' 'All vaccines work equally, although mild disease cannot be prevented.'
The doubling time of coronavirus cases has slowed down to 13.9 days in the last three days.
In his remarks in New Delhi at an all-party meeting held virtually, Modi said healthcare workers involved in treating COVID-19 patients, frontline workers, who include police personnel and municipal staff, and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority.
'Serial testing is much more valuable than a single test which reflects just a point in time.'
Fresh guidelines were issued by the government on Wednesday for enforcing the second phase of the coronavirus lockdown, with the Union home ministry barring all kinds of public transport and prohibiting opening of public places during this period.
The government, every year, hides behind the mystery of the disease, linking it with litchis, and does not confess malnutrition as the prime cause, points out Mohammad Sajjad.
Mohammed Shami has also set up food distribution centres for the poor migrants near his house in Sahaspur, Uttar Pradesh.
'Whenever you roll out: effectiveness is important, operational logistics are important, side effects are important and vaccine hesitancy is important.'
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said the COVID-19 vaccination drive will be extended in the coming days and asserted that there should not be any misconceptions about the two Indian vaccines being administered in the country.
'The pride of the devoted Seinfeld fan is that he happens to love a show that doesn't take his love for granted, so that even on repeat viewings he is never really sure what directions an episode might take,' observes Sreehari Nair.
Officials from the Centre say there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia asserted on Tuesday, and estimated that there might be 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases in the city by July 31. Delhi will need 80,000 beds by July end, he told reporters after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA). The meeting was chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal who is also chairperson of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.
At present only government labs are permitted to do the test and the Centre is making arrangements to nearly double its capacity to test for the respiratory ailment. According to Health Ministry officials, around 60 accredited private laboratories are likely to be given permission to conduct the tests soon.
We knew from the moment the pandemic took hold that this would be a long haul -- at least 12 to 18 months. Nothing should have changed that assessment, says Mihir S Sharma.
'Unless we see four weeks of low and stable numbers with only minor fluctuations, we cannot call the valley as endemic just as yet'
"Don't mess up with the education system", the Supreme Court said on Thursday while refusing to direct the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations to provide option of hybrid mode, instead of only offline mode, to the students for appearing in class 10 and 12 board examinations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Essentially a message movie, Jayeshbhai Jordaar masks its horror in humour to play out like an on-the-run road trip, observes Sukanya Verma.
