The project is critical as the region expects huge investments in the automotive, renewable energy, and space sectors.
A Rs 7,056 crore outer harbour project by VO Chidambaranar (VOC) Port in Tuticorin is garnering interest from domestic and global majors in the sector, such as Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Singapore's PSA International, Dutch major Van Oord, JM Baxi, and JSW, among others, according to sources close to the development. The project aims to capitalise on the newfound investor interest in the region, spurred by mega investments such as the Rs 16,000 crore electric vehicle manufacturing unit by Vietnamese major VinFast, the Indian Space Research Organisation's second spaceport in Tamil Nadu's Kulasekarapattinam, and Singapore's Sembcorp's Rs 36,238 crore investment in renewable energy.
The yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted recently on the preprint repository BioRxiv, found that the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants exhibited more than two-fold longer survival on plastic and skin surfaces, than the Wuhan strain.
Creating a positive reform that does away with an official who constitutes a flawed aspect of Indian democracy will allow the BJP to rightfully claim this as one of its positive legacies, suggests Karan P Shah.
The Delta Plus variant have been detected sporadically in Maharashtra, Kerala and MP.
In the advisory, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said States and Union Territories may consider imposing need based, local curbs and restrictions, to control the crowd during the festive season.
The Delta variant of COVID-19, or the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) first identified in India, is about 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha strain identified in the United Kingdom and also reduces the effectiveness of vaccines to some extent, UK health experts report.
While acknowledging Shivaji's naval contributions, questions are being raised about the inadequate acknowledgement of Chola sea-power in southern Tamil Nadu, which dates back by a few centuries, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Researchers at Public Health Scotland and the University of Edinburgh, UK, found that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine offered better protection against the Delta variant compared to the Oxford-AstraZeneca preventive, known as Covishield in India.
The WHO has countries to enhance surveillance and sequencing efforts to better understand circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants, submit complete genome sequences and associated metadata to a publicly available database.
The WHO's move came nearly three weeks after India objected to the B.1.617 mutant of the novel coronavirus being termed an 'Indian Variant' in media reports with the Union Health Ministry pointing out that the UN's top health organ has not used the word 'Indian' for this strain in its document.
A new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which cause COVID-19, has been detected in South Africa and many other countries globally which could be more transmissible and evade protection provided by vaccines, according to study.
The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and was divided in three lineages -- B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.
Amid a gradual rise in daily Covid-19 cases, the Union health ministry said on Thursday that the XBB.1.16 subvariant of Omicron might be the dominant virus strain in the country but there has been no reported increase in the rate of hospitalisation or death so far.
There are at least seven major variants of coronavirus, including B.1.617 and B.1.351 (Beta), in Varanasi and its adjoining areas, according to a study conducted by the Banaras Hindu University and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).
Senior virologist Shahid Jameel on Sunday resigned as the chairman of scientific advisory group of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium, a forum set up by union government in December last year for laboratory and epidemiological surveillance of circulating strains of COVID-19 in India.
In a letter to the states and union territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan advised implementing strategic interventions for containment like imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings, curtailing numbers in marriages and funerals besides increasing testing and surveillance.
As a proactive step, the government has already placed nations, where this VoC has been found, in the category of 'at risk' countries for additional follow-up measures of international travellers coming into lndia from these destinations, he said in a letter dated November 27.
Excluding the tableau would deeply hurt the sentiments and patriotic feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu, he said.
There is a deep-seated sense of rejection that the new generation Tamil youth have felt for a decade and more now, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
These 51 cases were detected from over 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country.
'Delta continues to be the dominant lineage for new cases across all parts of India in recent samples and remains the most rapidly rising lineage globally that is responsible for multiple outbreaks, including across Southeast Asia, which shows the fastest growth in new cases globally,' the INSACOG said.
The genomic consortium, citing global data, said there is now clear experimental and clinical data supporting very high immune escape potential of Omicron, which appears to be the major component of its growth advantage over Delta.
Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha on Tuesday recorded their first cases of the Omicron variant of COVID as the count of the new strain in 14 states and union territories crossed 200 even as the Centre said there is a need to 'activate' war rooms, take 'pro-active' action and consider night curfews.
In the absence of sufficient testing, it is rather impossible to determine the true level of infection spread in the community, Additional Secretary of Union Health Ministry Arti Ahuja said in her letter dated January 5.
Neutralising antibody levels waned after six months in those who were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus with Covishield, Covaxin and a mix of both.
After a long hiatus of more than 20 months, the government had on November 26 announced the resumption of scheduled international commercial flights from December 15.
A nine-year-old lioness Neela and a male lion named Pathbanathan, aged 12 years, succumbed to COVID-19 earlier this month.
AY.12, a sub-lineage of Delta which is driving fresh cases in Israel, is being seen in many states in the country but the numbers need a closer examination, INSACOG, a genome sequencing consortium, has said in its latest bulletin.
The Union health ministry on Friday said while there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, some of the mutations reported may decrease the efficacy of the jabs.
Alert to the looming threat from the 'Omicron' variant, states began to re-tighten curbs and urgently trace people who arrived from abroad in the last one month while a demand to not allow flights from the affected countries was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The rapid surge in cases during Delhi's fourth COVID-19 wave was mainly driven by the Delta variant, which likely has immune-evasion properties and counted for 60 per cent of the cases in April, according to a new study.
The coronavirus variant B.1.617 first identified in India last year has been classified as a "variant of global concern", with some preliminary studies showing that it spreads more easily, a senior WHO official had said on Monday.
The Tamil Nadu government has changed the names of 370 areas in consonance with their Tamil pronunciation. While in all 1018 names changes were recommended by a committee of district collectors, the consultation group accepted changes to 370 place names.
The ministry, however, said it could not be sufficiently established yet if these variants were behind the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in some states.
These seven countries are South Africa, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
With the reporting of Omicron, a highly mutated variant of SARSCoV-2 virus and its classification as a Variant of Concern (VoC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Union Ministry of Health revised its 'Guidelines for international arrivals', Mandaviya said in a written reply.
The value of unclaimed securities and other assets was nearly Rs 20,000 crore in March 2020.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which monitors data related to the pandemic, said the sub-lineage known as BA.2 shows a low number of cases in the country, with the original Omicron lineage BA.1 still dominant.
Breakthrough infections of coronavirus cases comprise a very high proportion of the Delta variant, the INSACOG, a genome sequencing government consortium of laboratories, has said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances