Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the TMC government in West Bengal of patronizing infiltration, leading to demographic changes and riots. He reassured refugees and promised action against illegal migration if the BJP comes to power.
The push given to rooftop solar installation in the Interim Budget ties in with its high rate of adoption in Tier-II and -III cities of India. If original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automobile industry, government, and the solar sector are to be believed, in cities of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Kerala, 45-50 per cent of electric-vehicle (EV) users are employing rooftop power to charge their vehicles. This is compared to the national average of 25 per cent, say industry sources.
With rising Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra and Kerala, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said check-posts will be set up in places where there are village-to-village contacts between Karnataka and neighbouring states.
An immune-escape Covid-19 strain coupled with the natural spike in influenza and pneumonia cases during winters may lead to a rise in hospitalisation.
Early indications of Covid infections plateauing have been reported in some places but the trend needs to be observed, the Union government said on Thursday whilst noting that 400 districts have logged weekly Covid positivity of over 10 per cent.
However, the R-values of major cities, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, are over 1.
Seventy-nine per cent of the new cases are from 10 states and UTs -- Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal, Karnataka, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The Centre said that there is no reason to believe presently on the that they are responsible for the surge in cases in some districts in these two states.
A dry run for COVID-19 vaccination will be conducted by all state and union territory administrations on January 2 to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges, the Centre said on Thursday.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday directed officials to conduct rapid antigen tests for all people arriving into the state from Maharashtra and Kerala at airports, a senior official said.
The active cases in the country, however, have declined to 4,12,153 and comprises 1.29 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.37 per cent, the ministry data updated at 8 am showed.
Karnataka's Manipal-MIT Campus declared Containment Zone due to rise in Covid-19 positive cases Campus of the Manipal Institute of Technology has been declared as containment zone by the Udipi administration after 59 people tested Covid-19 positive over the past few days.
The sources said Modi appreciated Prasad and Javadekar for their work.
Modi stressed on the need for constant genome sequencing to monitor emergence of mutants and also to ensure increased oxygen availability, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.
In a video interaction with chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala, where many districts have been reporting a high number of cases, Modi said the country stands at a point in its battle with the pandemic where apprehensions about a third wave are being continuously expressed.
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.
Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have recorded an 'upsurge' in daily new cases of COVID-19, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal reported their first COVID-19 variant Omicron cases on Wednesday, four more persons each tested positive in Maharashtra and Kerala.
'Since many people are vaccinated, this virus is now concentrating on the throat and the nose and replicating fast and transmitting also very fast.' 'That's because the current vaccines will not be able to fight it when it is in the throat, nose or the mouth.'
The first bench refused to restrain the media, both electronic and print, from publishing the oral observations of the judges relating the role of EC in holding elections to four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry in the country during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the country battles the second wave of COVID-19, the government Thursday said the virus may emerge again and so preparations have to be made at the national level in collaboration with states, infrastructure needs to be ramped up while curbs and appropriate behaviour must be followed.
Here's what some states are doing to get a grip on the situation. Ruchika Chitravanshi & Aneesh Phadnis report
India's most successful journeyman domestic coach Chandrakant Pandit will take over as the new coach of Madhya Pradesh in the next season after completing three eventful years with Vidarbha in which they won back-to-back Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup titles. In fact, Pandit during the final phase of his career played as a professional for Madhya Pradesh after successful time with Mumbai followed by Assam for a few years.
Maharashtra and Kerala alone account for 67.84 per cent of total active cases, it said.
This landmark achievement has been made possible by the Centre's sustained, graded and targeted strategies, their effective implementation by states and UTs, dedicated and selfless service of doctors and all other COVID-19 warriors, it said.
The recovered cases are nearly 10 times more than the active cases, it said. The active caseload of the country has fallen below 7 lakh for the first time after two months (63 days), the ministry said.
Presently 14 states and UTs including Chhattisgarh (0.96 per cent), Jharkhand (0.87 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (0.82 per cent), Telangana (0.57 per cent), Bihar (0.49 per cent), Assam (0.44 per cent), Odisha (0.43 per cent) and Kerala (0.34 per cent) are reporting case fatality rate of less than 1 per cent.
About 50 lakh people have registered themselves on the Co-WIN portal, without any system glitch, since the window opened Monday morning, the Centre said Tuesday, adding that over 2.08 lakh beneficiaries above 60 or those aged 45-60 with comorbidities have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine till this afternoon.
A special bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari, which posed tough questions to the Andhra Pradesh government on its decision to hold Class 12 board examinations, asked the standing counsel for the state Mahfooz A Nazki to place before the court the "snapshot of the file" giving reasons to hold the test.
The prime minister also asserted that in view of the COVID-19 situation, the states must ensure that people follow all health precautions such as wearing of face masks, hand sanitisation and maintaining an adequate physical distance with each other while undertaking rescue efforts.
'Scientifically the effect and change of Delta plus has to be watched through our INSACOG system. This has to be detected and we have to see its presence in the country'
After winning accolades for its 'Kerala model' of combating the contagion about a year ago, the state is now seeing daily fresh cases between 12,000 to 15,000 with no end in sight to the 'prolonged surge', as some experts put it.
Railway spokesperson Rajesh Dutt Bajpai on Tuesday said, "Consent of terminating state not necessary to run Shramik Special trains". He further said, "After the new SoP, the implication is that no consent of the receiving state is mandatory".
He asked the people to shun the argument that they 'want to enjoy before the third wave of coronavirus' and stressed that there should be no compromise in following COVID-19 protocols.
'Trust me, I don't even enjoy the company of friends who live in regret.' 'You either own your decisions or just let it go and work harder to get something better.'
Last year's semi-finalists played out a 1-1 draw in a quarter-final league match of the Natiiional Football Championship.
The court noted that the daily number of new COVID-19 cases received for November 10 was at 8,593 and "still counting" and the number of containment zones in the city were 4,016.
It has also been decided to suspend the interstate bus services till March 31, the officials said. The decisions have been taken at a high-level meeting attended by chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister.
India has flattened its Covid-19 graph and 146 districts have reported no new case of the viral disease in the last seven days, 18 in 14 days, six in 21 days and 21 districts in the last 28 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.
Opposition leaders believe this entire plan has been put in place to ensure that Mamata Banerjee is kept out of office in West Bengal.
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