India's top vaccinologist Gagandeep Kang stressed the need to develop better vaccines that can deal with new variants, and strengthening of the regulatory mechanisms.
In a virtual interaction with state chief ministers over the pandemic situation and the ongoing vaccination drive, Modi said in states like Maharashtra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh the number of COVID cases has seen a rise while nearly 70 districts in the country have seen an increase in the positivity rate by over 150 per cent of late.
Only patients developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will have to test negative through RT-PCR test before being discharged by a hospital, the Union health ministry said.
Heavy dew, which will minimise the toss advantage, has been predicted for India's opening T20I against New Zealand as Jaipur gears up to host its first international match in eight years on Wednesday.
Travellers coming from the United Kingdom to the national capital will have to undergo a seven-day institutional quarantine and a seven-day home quarantine even if they test negative for COVID-19 on arrival, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday.
The New Delhi district authorities on Monday issued a show-cause notice to Etihad Airways for allegedly violating the Centre's guidelines for international passenger arrivals at the IGI airport here, amid concerns over the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The academy is taking every measure to break the chain of COVID-19 spread in consonance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the District Administration, Dehradun, a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry on Saturday said. All officer trainees, who have tested positive, have been quarantined in a dedicated COVID care centre, it said.
The city has reported around 2,100 deaths due to the deadly virus in the last 11 days.
Out of two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus that have been detected in Bengaluru, one is a South African national who has left the country after testing negative, while the other is a local with no travel history, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike said on Thursday.
Cases with the Omicron variant have already been detected in Karnataka and Gujarat.
'Such waves will keep coming until we attain 70 percent vaccination and herd community. So, do not lower your guard, especially mask'
The UK on Saturday detected two cases of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, according to health secretary Sajid Javid as he added four more African countries to Britain's travel red list.
The Centre had on Thursday asked all states and union territories to conduct rigorous screening and testing of all international travellers coming from or transiting through South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana, where the B.1.1.529 variant has been detected.
Bayern Munich midfielder Thomas Mueller has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the Club World Cup final against Mexico's Tigres UANL on Thursday
The players will get tested again for the second time on Monday.
A tab was kept on visiting pilgrims through CCTV cameras to ensure there was no violation of COVID-19 protocol.
The positivity rate rose to 4.48 percent from 4.11 per cent a day before, amid a massive surge in cases recorded over the past few weeks.
President Ram Nath Kovind will stay at a private hotel in Shimla instead of the presidential retreat where he normally stays, during his visit beginning Thursday to Himachal Pradesh, where he will address a special session of the state assembly.
'The Union government has discouraged state and local governments from imposing restrictions on their own.' 'That advice should be withdrawn,' asserts Mihir S Sharma.
ECB writes to ICC, wants the ICC's Dispute Resolution Committee to address the issue and expect that a forfeiture would be granted so that they can claim insurance as they are going to lose 40 million pound if the match is declared abandoned due to COVID.
Kushal Das feels their model could be used as a case study for institutions and international sports federations which have seen their bio-bubble being breached
'The game of cricket needed this Test match. The series was brilliantly poised. It just does not sit comfortably that a Test match can be cancelled 90 minutes before the toss. It is completely disrespectful towards the paying public.'
Officials said the study would have started earlier as it was planned to be conducted with the rapid antibody test kits brought from China.
Earlier on Wednesday, the prime minister also chaired a meeting to review the availability and supply of oxygen and medicines in the wake of the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The active cases have declined to 4,04,874 comprising 1.23 per cent of the total infections while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.44 per cent, the ministry said.
A two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature will begin from July 5 amid the coronavirus outbreak, the state government said on Tuesday.
The test named the "SARS-CoV-2 DETECTR" is easy to implement and to interpret, and requires no specialised equipment, said researchers from the University of California, San Francisco in the US.
The Centre on Thursday advised states slated to hold assembly polls in the next few months to ramp up COVID vaccination exponentially to protect the vulnerable population given the steady rise in cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in India.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
Announcing this in Dehradun on Thursday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said conducting the yatra amid the raging pandemic is not possible.
Experts said the strain has not propelled a surge in cases like Omicron, but advised strict adherence to COVID-19-appropriate behaviour.
'We are going to be overwhelmed by the need for hospital beds. There are simply not enough beds in government hospitals.' 'We will need a large number of medical professionals and without the private sector's involvement, the government won't be able to expand capacity.'
Shastri, batting coach Vikram Rathour, bowling coach Bharath Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar have all reached from their respective home cities on Sunday.
Players security beefed up after lynching incident in Pakistan
The Indian women's cricket team, which will be travelling to the United Kingdom along with the men's team for their month-long series, will also undergo their hard quarantine in Southampton.
The Indian team will stay in 'managed isolation' before the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, the ICC said on Saturday but did not mention the exact period of hard quarantine upon reaching UK.
They include a woman who came from Nigeria along with her two daughters to meet her brother in adjoining Pimpri Chinchwad area, the official said.
England name nine uncapped players in new squad for series against Pakistan
This comes as flight services from the UK to India have been suspended till December 31 over the spread of a new strain of coronavirus in London and England.
India captain Virat Kohli, his white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma and head coach Ravi Shastri joined the England-bound squad's bio-bubble on Tuesday as it began its eight-day hard quarantine along with the women's team in Mumbai.
