The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
People aged 45 and above account for about 88 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in India making them the most vulnerable section, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday, a day after the government opened up vaccinations for all those in the age bracket from April 1.
Rain or thundershowers have also been predicted in south interior Karnataka and at a few places over Coastal Karnataka and North interior Karnataka.
Thirty districts in the country, including 13 in Kerala, eight in Mizoram, four in Meghalaya, three each in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, two in Sikkim and one in Meghalaya are reporting a weekly positivity rate of over 10 per cent.
There are 1,53,106 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while 1,69,797 people have recovered and a patient has migrated, according to the ministry data updated in the morning.
Vardhan said the ICMR is actively researching on reports of COVID-19 reinfection and although the number of such cases is negligible at this moment, the government is fully seized of the importance of the matter, the health ministry said in a statement.
In its morning update, the Union health ministry said the total number of positive cases has reached 2,16,919 with a record spike of 9,304 new cases since Wednesday 8 am across the country, while the death toll has increased to 6,075 with 260 more fatalities in this period. A PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.50 pm, showed a higher number of confirmed cases across the country at 2,17,389 and the death toll at 6,233.
Alok Verma, the 1979-batch IPS officer, will be in the hot seat because he will serve in 2018 and into 2019, the year of the general election.
Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are at second and third spot, whereas Uttar Pradesh and Bihar remained at the bottom.
Besides Pratapgarh, incidents of rape and sexual abuse of women and girls at shelter homes run by NGOs have also surfaced recently in Muzaffarpur in Bihar and Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.
This is the sixth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. The country has seen a surge of 3,57,783 infections from June 1 till date.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 9,272 and as many as 1,189 people have been cured and discharged, and one has migrated, it said.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 92,97,749 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to July 2, with 2,41,576 of those tested on Thursday.
The second meeting of the NITI Aayog's governing council, was, however, attended by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The rush for prohibition and the Supreme Court's decision to ban liquor sales within 500 metres from highways have hurt companies.
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 fatality rate is down to 3.1 per cent and the recovery rate has improved to 37.5 per cent, he said.
The third phase of Lok Sabha elections scheduled for Tuesday will see the maximum number of seats going to the polls in a single phase -- 117 across 15 states and Union Territories. It will also be a test for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which will aim to defend the maximum number of seats at 62. This time the BJP will be tested in its bastion Gujarat -- where polling will be held for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state -- apart from Karanataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where the party had done well in 2014. Here are some of the big political leaders' who await their fate on Tuesday.
All travellers and contacts have been tested and quarantined.
'With more and more young people relocating outside their home states for work, an all-India MLDA of 21 would be a good way to ensure that more Indians can go with the flow,' recommends Kanika Datta.
"People must realise that mob violence and taking of law into the hands will invite wrath of law," said the bench.
The rise in fresh Covid cases and the effective reproduction number -- indication of how fast an infection spreads -- in many states is worrying but don't panic. Instead, mask up and get vaccinated, say experts, stressing that it is too early to declare the beginning of a new wave.
The death toll climbed to 20,642, the updated data at 8 am showed. Amid surging cases, the health ministry said it has roped in specialist doctors from the AIIMS here to provide expert guidance and knowledge support on COVID-19 to doctors manning ICUs in state hospitals, in an effort to reduce the fatality rate.
According to the EC, no mismatch has been reported since the practice of cross-checking votes was introduced.
Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir seek more time.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested to a Non-Governmental Organisation to file a contempt case alleging that hospitals and other authorities were not complying with court directions on providing free treatment to acid attack victims.
Authorities also said the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients was improving consistently in India and it was in a much better position in handling the pandemic, which has seen more than 63 lakh people testing positive for this virus since its emergence in China last December and over 3.7 lakh having lost their lives.
While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 7,409, as many as 764 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. Of the total 273 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 127 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.
The Bill provides for according Indian citizenship to the the Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12 years even if they do not possess any document.
'The home minister of India has given his assurance to the MP of Lakshadweep.'
In the year 2016, 8132 human trafficking cases have been reported in India.
During the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting to review preparedness for COVID-19 management, through video conference with health ministers, chief secretaries of all states and UTs, central ministers and representatives from the related organisations and stressed on the need for keeping testing and quarantine facilities, isolation wards, and labs in active readiness.
India is currently under the 21-day lockdown since March 25, with only essential services exempted to contain the fast-spreading virus.
In a major exercise ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Congress on Thursday night constituted screening committees for all states and union territories for early selection of candidates.
In a nearly 25-minute televised address to the nation, Modi said implementation of the lockdown will be strictly ensured in its second phase and detailed guidelines will be brought out on Wednesday to ensure that outbreak does not spread to new areas.
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.
If the government could do without 23 per cent of the authorised posts, surely a start could be made in government downsizing by abolishing these vacancies, says A K Bhattacharya.
'Your confidence is shaken when the government does what it does these days, but then it is the same confidence that gives you the courage to stand up to the government's high-handedness.' 'There will always be people who will not fear jails or the physical and mental torture that visit citizens protesting against the government's draconian policies and laws.' 'There will always be Indians who will not be afraid to face the consequences of fighting for their Constitutional rights.'
This assumes significance as a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra is currently hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the enabling 2016 law.
According to officials, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam and Telangana wanted the lockdown to be continued, some of them wanted the powers to decide the zoning of districts -- green, orange and red -- as per the COVID-19 situation.
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