In his second national broadcast in a week on the pandemic raging across much of the world with the number of infections rising in India, Modi made a fervent appeal to the countrymen not to cross the 'lakshman rekha' of their homes in the next three weeks.
Six states and UTs have reported no new case in the last 24 hours
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.
It has taken 51 days to reach a daily caseload of 84,000 from 11,000, as against 85 days taken in the first wave, report Abhishek Waghmare and Sohini Das.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the central government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to states for inoculation of all above the age of 18 from June 21, and asserted that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the country in coming days.
'The handling of the pandemic, under this totally constitutional and legal three-level dictatorship, has begun to show its downside,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The US is the worst-hit nation with 211,793 deaths and 7,549,429 infections.
S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday said the second wave of COVID infections poses downside risks to India's GDP and heightens the possibility of business disruptions. The second wave brings in uncertainty and a drawn-out COVID outbreak will impede India's recovery, it said.
'India is a founding and permanent member of this 'club of shame': Journalists are murdered on account of what they write or intend to write, but nobody is finally brought to justice in such cases.'
Justice Bhushan, who was elevated as an apex court judge on May 13, 2016, was part of several landmark judgements including the November 2019 verdict by a five-judge Constitution bench which cleared the way for construction of Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot to Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.
The lockdown in India has been a timely, graded, proactive and pre-emptive public health measure to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and has been part and parcel of the government's overall strategy, Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Chairman, Empowered Group 1, said at a media briefing on the COVID-19 situation.
Experts say herd immunity is said to have been developed in a population segment if at least 50-60 per cent of those are found to have the presence of antibodies in a sero-prevalence survey.
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.
The exams were scheduled to be held from May 4.
The number of active cases stands at 2,20,114 ,while 3,47,978 people have recovered, and one patient has migrated, according to the updated data at 8 am.
'Aggressively stepping up vaccinations will constitute the most enduring stimulus of all in the coming quarters,' observes Sajjid Z Chinoy, Chief India Economist at J P Morgan.
Of the 56 deaths reported since Friday evening, 18 were in Maharashtra, 15 in Gujarat, nine in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Delhi and West Bengal, two each in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh and one each in Punjab and Kerala.
The active caseload was below the 8 lakh mark (7,85,996) last on September 1, the ministry said.
Reddy -- an Indian-American from Telangana who wrote the speech that outlined Biden's goals for his administration, focusing on healing from the current state of division in national politics -- has been praised for his "calming" and "inspiring" words.
'We are only amplifying the voice of scientists and experts. We are gathering information by talking to experts and are sharing it. If the government chooses to ignore that, what can we do?'
Many experts feel the concept of a national peak is nebulous, given that the growth in case numbers is dominated by a handful of states.
Trump indicated that his administration is looking at a bigger compensation from Beijing than the $140 billion being sought by Germany over the coronavirus pandemic.
Half of the Japanese public think the 2020 Olympics will take place this summer, a survey by the Yomiuri daily newspaper showed on Monday, despite most people opposing holding the Games during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A day after two new cases of novel coronavirus that included one from Delhi were reported, the health ministry on Tuesday said six cases with "high-viral load" were detected during sample testing in Agra and these people have been kept in isolation. The six have been kept in isolation at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi and their samples are being sent to NIV, Pune for confirmation.
West Bengal signed an MoU with the Centre for jointly implementing Ayushman Bharat but so far officials have received no word about how it will be done and the deadline is almost here.
'When there is unlocking, there is demand revival.' 'This is going to be the main growth engine in this kind of an economic scenario.'
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has received a request from the chief coaches in rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines to organise a one-month camp for the Olympic core group to ensure better preparation.
The hit to economic activity will be mostly confined to the first quarter. And a third wave, if it materialises, is unlikely to be hugely disruptive for the economy, predicts T T Ram Mohan.
Delhi BJP chief Tiwari said each poor family will be provided good quality, subsidised 'atta' (wheat flour) at a rate of Rs 2 per kilogram. The BJP will bring an ambitious 'Samridh Delhi Infrastructure Scheme', with a provision of Rs 10,000 crore, to ensure "focussed and priority" development of roads, flyovers, foot over-bridges and other key infrastructure projects, the manifesto stated. The manifesto promises to set up a 'Colonies Development Board' for undertaking development of various civic amenities.
The data, released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), shows that 65 out of 75 countries studied significantly reduced their multidimensional poverty levels between 2000 and 2019.
The jovial RJD chief, known for his earthy humours, apparently could not digest that his party drew a blank in its stronghold Bihar and also in the neighbouring Jharkhand.
Experts believe that under-reporting is likely to cause an underestimation of the spread of the disease.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 1.8 crore, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
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 affected nurse is being treated and is recovering well, junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan said. Meanwhile, China has locked down five cities, including Wuhan, suspending all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain the coronavirus that has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead.
As India prepares for a calibrated exit from the lockdown by easing more restrictions, 'Unlock-1 -- the first of the three-phase plan for reopening of prohibited activities in non-containment zones with a stringent set of Standard Operating Procedures(SOPs) -- kicks in at a time when the country recorded a daily jump of COVID-19 cases by over 9,000 for the fifth straight day on Sunday.
The government's decision to release the reports comes two days after over 200 scholars from across the globe issued a statement demanding release of all withheld reports produced by the NSO, including the household consumer expenditure survey that was junked.
The virus has infected over 6,71,000 people and claimed more than 33,000 lives, the highest for any country in the world.
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