Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said a large population of the country is still not vaccinated against COVID-19, noting that only 42 per cent of the population will be vaccinated by December end against the required rate of 60 per cent to prevent the third wave of coronavirus.
Maharashtra minister Varsha Gaikwad on Thursday said that schools for Classes 1 to 9 in the state can be reopened for offline classroom sessions from January 24.
A DDMA meeting, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, also discussed ways to strictly enforce existing restrictions to check the rising cases of the coronavirus and its Omicron variant.
HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 5 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, Infosys, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, L&T and Nestle India. NSE Nifty climbed 137.90 points or 1.03 per cent to 13,466.30.
Amid fresh COVID-19 concerns, Karnataka government on Sunday decided to impose 'night curfew' for 10 days from December 28, between 10 PM and 5 am.
In case the test is negative, the passenger will still have to undergo seven-day home quarantine.
Tata Steel was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 4 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Bajaj Auto, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank and Maruti. NSE Nifty declined 70.75 points to close at 16,983.20.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pulled out Rs 17,696 crore from the Indian markets in December so far amid uncertainty due to a new coronavirus strain, Omicron, and expectations of faster tapering by the US Federal Reserve. According to the depositories data, FPIs took out Rs 13,470 crore from equities, Rs 4,066 crore from the debt segment and Rs 160 crore from hybrid instruments between December 1-17. In November, FPIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 2,521 crore in Indian markets.
'In the earlier waves, doubling of cases was happening at an interval of 4-6 days.' 'But in the case of omicron the doubling time we are seeing is in the range of 2-4 days.'
The government on Friday said there is no need to panic on the need for an immediate change in the dosage interval of Covishield vaccine, underlining that reducing the time gap requires proper scientific study in the Indian scenario.
Citing the massive surge in Omicron infections and the resultant impact on overall economic activities in the March quarter, Swiss brokerage UBS Securities has revised downwards its India's growth forecast for the current financial year to 9.1 per cent from 9.5 per cent earlier. However, UBS Securities does not see the third wave impact extending to the next financial year as it has revised upwards its real GDP forecast to 8.2 per cent, up from 7.7 per cent earlier, expecting the real GDP growth to remain well above the historical average. The World Bank pegs it at 8.3 per cent, unchanged from its June assessment, saying the recovery is not broad-based yet.
Insufficient testing at the border and the impossibility of controlling people's movements mean that the Games could exacerbate the spread of the infectious Delta variant of the virus, a prominent public health expert said.
Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata have already reached their peak in case numbers in the past seven days, said Manindra Agrawal, a professor at IIT Kanpur and one of the researchers associated with the Sutra Covid model.
A senior official said that they have added 20 more kiosks for the COVID-19 sample collection of passengers upon arriving at the airport.
The Union health ministry said 6 persons who returned to India from the UK have tested positive for the new strain of the virus.
The status of the current submarine force level is alarming and we need to address the threat perceptions expeditiously. Critical decisions pertaining to national security cannot be delayed any further due to the rapidly changing maritime threat perceptions and growing strategic importance of the Indian Ocean region, asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
It also recorded 16,764 fresh COVID-19 cases and 220 more fatalities due to the viral disease.
The 30-share BSE Sensex surged by 477.24 points or 0.83 per cent to close at more than one-week high of 57,897.48. As many as 28 of its constituents closed with gains while two declined. The broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange rose by 147.20 points or 0.86 per cent to settle 17,233.45, tracking gains in Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, and Reliance Industries.
Digital, new energy, supply chain resilience and health will be the themes of the over $100-billion Tata group's strategy going forward, according to its chairman N Chandrasekaran even as he asserted that all ambitions are contingent on learning to live with the coronavirus. In his New Year address to the over 8 lakh employees of salt-to-software conglomerate, Chandrasekaran said businesses and society must adapt to the virus by preparing as "best we can for new outbreaks and variants. We are seeing this now with the spread of Omicron". Reflecting on the year gone by, he said the group is becoming "simpler and financially stronger than we have been in a long time".
Tata Steel was the top loser in the Sensex pack, plunging over 8 per cent, followed by SBI, Dr Reddy's, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and L&T. NSE Nifty declined 118.35 points or 0.71 per cent to 16,450.50.
'Private banks are well-placed to deliver good performance over the next six months.'
"We cut short the Assembly session recently. So far, over 10 ministers and over 20 MLAs have tested positive for coronavirus. Everybody wants to be part of the celebrations of New Year, birthdays and other occasions. Keep in mind that the new variant (Omicron) spreads fast and hence caution is needed," he said.
The pandemic will be over but Covid will be here to stay, the scientists said as Covid numbers begin to ebb in several parts of the world, including India.
The former US president urges fellow Americans to get vaccinated.
The novel coronavirus has mutated before, and both companies say they've found that their vaccines worked against other variations of the virus.
'...signatures.' 'But such signatures are missing in this virus.'
'A third wave is possible, but we must try to restrict it to a low level by adopting all personal protection and public policy measures to prevent viral transmission, while speeding up vaccination.'
While some experts believe that a large part of India is still vulnerable to the virus that could trigger a third wave, others feel the country is not likely to be engulfed by another deadly wave unless a new variant emerges.
The government of Maharashtra on Thursday revised its guidelines for passengers arriving in the state.
Despite the most lethal COVID-19 wave that any country in the world has experienced so far, India's mask compliance is still low as indicated by the survey finding where 67 per cent of citizens say there is limited or no mask compliance in their area, district, or city, the survey revealed.
Making citizens queue to vote just when the disease is declining, but is still in the air, could just cause a fresh spurt. The logic for this scheduling is inexplicable, especially since the entire process could so easily have been pushed back by three weeks, argues David Devadas.
The decision was taken at a meeting headed by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with senior ministers, officials and the COVID-19 technical advisory committee consisting of experts in Bengaluru.
Will 2022 be a year of contrasting narratives -- one filled with caution and the other with continued optimism?
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.
Indian rupee is likely to test 76-76.50 levels as a relatively strong greenback, boiling crude prices and COVID headwinds deepen the depreciation bias for the domestic currency, according to experts. One of the significantly-hit Asian currency in recent months amid uncertain economic times, rupee is expected to see a consolidation in the vicinity of the current level before being pulled towards the depreciation bias. While the equity market has been surging with occasional blips, the rupee has mostly been weak against the US dollar in recent months.
He said the government had done everything that was important to handle the COVID-19 situation in the last one year.
Amid an uptick in daily cases of COVID-19 in Delhi and the positivity rate going beyond two per cent, there has been a rise of nearly 48 per cent in the number of home isolation cases in the last one week, according to official data.
As COVID-19 cases rise in Tokyo, however, public concern has grown that hosting an event with tens of thousands of overseas athletes, officials and journalists could accelerate infection rates in Japan's capital and introduce variants that are more infectious or deadlier.
Around 70,000 people are expected to watch the match from the venue on the first day.
'We would love to have more players entering the market because that is how the business will grow.'
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