The city witnessed an unprecedented surge of cases and deaths during the second wave of coronavirus in April and May. The situation seems to have been improving over the past few weeks, allowing the government to reopen the city in a phased manner.
Many parts of Cachar district's severely affected Silchar town are still waterlogged.
Security arrangements were on Monday tightened in the luxury hotel near Guwahati where rebel Maharashtra MLAs led by Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde are camping as advocates, senior police and government officials were seen entering there.
The government can verify 5 per cent of claims in four states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh -- where the gap between number of claims and recorded deaths was wide, said a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna.
In the last 24 hours, eight people have died after drowning in flood waters -- two each in Barpeta and Karimganj districts, one each in Darrang, Hailakandi, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts and eight people are still missing.
The flood situation in Assam deteriorated on Thursday with one more person losing his life and nearly 7.18 lakh people in 27 districts remaining affected by the deluge, an official bulletin said.
Union minister Jitendra Singh assured the members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that there is better nuclear safety in India as compared to many other countries and there are enough safeguards in the Indian nuclear plants.
The Mumbai police said prohibitory orders under Criminal Procedure Code Section 144 will be imposed in the city from December 16 to December 31, a period covering Christmas and New Year eve, banning large gatherings as part of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The order, listing various allowed and restricted activities because of the Covid pandemic, will come into effect from November 1.
Describing the Central Vista project as 'vital and essential', the Delhi high court on Monday allowed construction work on the project to continue and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioners for their 'motivated' plea.
Railway officials also indicated that possible 'sabotage' and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.
Tightening restrictions in the face of surging COVID-19 cases, the Maharashtra Government on Saturday prohibited movement in public in groups of five or more from 5 in the morning to 11 at night, effective January 10 midnight.
Floods triggered by the torrential rain since June 14 have wreaked havoc, inundating a vast swathe of flat land in the south and southwest of the country.
Amid a spike in coronavirus infections in some states, the Delhi government is likely to ask travellers from five states, including Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab, to show negative COVID-19 test report before entering the national capital, officials said on Wednesday.
Many families in the affected area are finding it hard to sever their emotional ties with their homes and move out.
Heavy rains continue to lash parts of Kerala on Monday affecting Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kottayam districts the most resulting in death of three people and widespread damage to property.
The Election Commission Wednesday decided to defer proposed by-polls to three Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country.
As rains continue to lash across Kerala days ahead of the expected onset of Southwest monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued a red alert in five districts of the state for Sunday and Monday indicating extremely heavy rainfall.
The National Disaster Management Authority on Monday asked states to be more proactive on disaster management and appoint full-time chiefs for disaster management authorities. "The states have to become more proactive. The responsibility to respond to any disaster is with them. I know many states which are not aware of what funds are available with them for natural disaster. We need to really educate the states," said NDMA's Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy.
The IMD DG said there should not be an impression that climate change leads to rise in the temperature, but on the contrary, it leads to erratic weather.
The toll due to the flood since mid-May is now 101, they said.
The epicenter of the quake was Sonitpur and the quake occurred at 7.51 am at a depth of 17 kilometres, it said.
The number of subsidence-affected homes rose to 678 while 27 more families were evacuated to safety, a bulletin from the Disaster Management Authority in Chamoli said, adding so far 82 families have been shifted to safe locations in the town.
With the flood situation in Assam remaining critical on Monday and affecting a population of nearly 43 lakh in 33 of its 35 districts, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed air dropping of food and other relief materials in areas where there is heavy inundation, officials said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said future decisions on COVID-19 SOPs will be taken in consultation with the Union Health Ministry and the state Task Force, amid a difference between the Centre and the state over guidelines for international travellers in the wake of the new variant of SARS-CoV2.
After the Maharashtra government revised the guidelines on quarantine for international passengers in view of concerns over the Omicron variant, the Centre on Wednesday asked the state to align its order with the SOPs issued by the Union Health Ministry.
In view of the continuous dip in coronavirus cases, the home ministry has decided to end its all Covid-19 containment measures from March 31, two years after their implementation following the outbreak of the pandemic.
The meeting of DDMA chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, will review the COVID situation in the national capital, as per notice of the meeting.
Amid a spike in Covid-19 infections in some parts of the country, the Centre on Wednesday asked states and Union territories to consider imposing local restrictions in public observance of the upcoming festivals and limit or do away with mass gatherings for effective control of the pandemic.
The Supreme Court Monday said no state should deny the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 50,000, as recommended by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), to the kin of persons who died of COVID-19 on the sole ground that death certificate does not mention it as the cause of death.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia said the number of cases might have increased but the hospitalisation rate is low.
Long queues of passengers were seen outside various Delhi Metro stations on Wednesday morning, a day after new restrictions were put in place by authorities, including running of its trains with only 50 per cent seating capacity and no provision for standing for commuters, in view of rising cases of COVID-19 in Delhi.
The Delhi Metro will operate at 50 per cent capacity and markets and malls in the national capital will open on an odd-even basis from June 7, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday as he announced further relaxations in lockdown.
In view of the rising Omicron threat, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the state government has decided to strengthen the home isolation module since the new variant of COVID-19 causes mild infection.
The Election Commission has decided to set up a panel to identify the experiences and shortcomings during the recently-held five assembly polls.
Ernakulam district authorities on Tuesday said 350 cumecs of the water from Idamalayar, which reached Periyar river but there was no considerable rise in the water-level.
Delhi witnessed one of the biggest coordinated mock drills on Wednesday, when disaster management agencies checked the alertness and preparedness of various other agencies. The drills were conducted in several places, including at six Metro stations, across the national capital by the National Disaster Management Authority and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority at 11.30 am. The drill's motive was to check the preparedness of the agencies in the event of a major quake.
The plea has been filed by the Centre in a PIL, which was earlier instituted by lawyer Gaurav Kumar Bansal, saying it may not be desirable to continue the process of ex gratia payment without any outer limit.
The apex court said this while dealing with an application filed by the Assam which had sought a clarification whether each of the children of the deceased parents would be provided ex-gratia payment of Rs 50,000, in case there is more than one child.
The main rail and road routes in Andhra Pradesh, connecting the south and east, remained cut off as the Penna river in spate caused heavy destruction on Sunday.
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