Talking about the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Agarwal said, "If the Tablighi Jamaat incident had not taken place and we compare the rate of doubling -- that is in how many days the cases have doubled, we will see that currently it is 4.1 days (including Jamaat cases) and if the incident had not taken place and additional cases had not come then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days."
With as many as 2,30,599 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,26,581) and Delhi (1,07,051).
On the COVID-19 tests, the Home Ministry also said from Thursday tests will be done with the new Rapid Antigen method approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research and Delhi will be given priority for these tests. It said 169 testing centres have also been set up across the national capital.
The chief minister said the Delhi government was implementing from November 19 its decision to reserve 80 per cent of ICU beds in private hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
Nurses in government hospitals across the country on Saturday called off their indefinite strike after reaching a compromise with the Centre, in a major relief for Delhi and some other cities battling rising cases of dengue and chikungunya.
The capital recorded 2,373 fresh coronavirus cases taking the tally to 92,175. With 61 deaths, the fatalities now stand at 2,864.
In a statement, the Federation of Resident Doctors' Association said the decision has been taken in view of the developments in the last few days in connection with the issue, and the death of chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat and others in a helicopter crash on Wednesday.
India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 6,48,315 on Saturday, while the death toll rose to 18,655 with 442 new fatalities.
In a zone-wise classification of districts in the country, the Union health ministry has designated all 11 districts of Delhi as red zone. The city has 272 wards.
As India launched the world's largest vaccination drive against the coronavirus pandemic, showing the light at the end of a 10-month tunnel that upended millions of lives and livelihoods, here are some of the quotes from politicians across parties and other people who took the jab:
India registered over 10,000 cases for the tenth day in a row.
The rise in the number of coronavirus cases has gained pace significantly. It took 110 days for the number of cases in the country to reach one lakh but just 53 days more to race past the eight-lakh mark.
India has 0.3 deaths per million population, as compared to 86 in the US, 402 in Spain, 358 in Italy and 190 in the UK, 263 in France, 45 in Germany and one in Japan.
Kejriwal had on Sunday assured the bureaucrats that he will use all the powers and resources at his command to ensure their safety and security and called them part of his family.
The first COVID-19 vaccine shots in India were given on Saturday to nearly two lakh frontline healthcare and sanitary workers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against the pandemic that has caused 1,52,093 deaths and upended millions of lives in the country.
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.
India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
The country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fourth consecutive day. India went past Russia on Sunday to become the third worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
They detailed how by following the rituals, one would not actually die "but would be saved by God and attain something great".
The thanks-giving activities will start with laying of wreaths at the police memorial in Delhi and in several other cities on Sunday morning to honour the police personnel deployed in enforcement of the nationwide lockdown, officials said. It will be followed by fly-pasts by fighter and transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force, covering a sizeable number of cities and towns across the country between 10 am and 11 am, officials said.
In accordance with ''Level-1'' alert under the graded response action plan (GRAP), private offices will function with physical attendance of 50 per cent of the staff, barring essential categories.
In his fresh letter to Modi, Kejriwal urged him to end IAS officers' strike so that he can attend a meeting of NITI Aayog on Sunday.
According to an order issued by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, the night curfew will also be imposed from 11 pm on January 1 to 6 am on January 2.
Ankit Sharma, 26, had been missing since Tuesday and might have been killed in stone pelting, officials said.
All international passengers will henceforth be screened at airports, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were screened at airports for the disease that has claimed over 3,000 lives and infected more than 90,000 worldwide.
Seeking cooperation from the public to fight the pandemic, the Union health ministry officials said there was no need to panic. They also said not everyone needs to wear masks and that following social distancing is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Sisodia said several meetings, attended by IAS officers, were held during the day.
A 21-year-old woman was brutally stabbed to death in broad daylight on Tuesday by her 34-year-old stalker, who attacked her nearly 22 times as passersby looked on in north Delhi's Burari area.
'There is a special benefit in the matter being taken up by the Supreme Court rather than the high courts.' 'The orders of the high courts are limited, but the Supreme Court order is binding upon everybody.'
The apex court lashed out at the law enforcing agencies for allowing the 'instigators of violence' to get away and said they should act as per law without waiting for somebody's nod.
Hospital authorities said of the deceased at the GTB, at least nine received gun shots. One of the deceased is also a woman, they said.
In a case of road rage, a person was beaten to death by occupants of a car in front his children after their vehicles collided in central Delhi's Turkman gate area on Sunday.
