According to data on the Union health ministry's website, of the 142 COVID cases reported in the country till 8 am on Tuesday, 115 were from Kerala.
The first nationwide mock drill was held on January 2 which, the health ministry said, helped to iron out any glitches in the final execution and further refinement of the operational procedures.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday sought keen oversight and personal indulgence of health ministers, principal secretaries and additional chief secretaries of states and union territories to lead the second nationwide mock drill on the COVID-19 vaccination scheduled to be held on January 8.
SII has so far provided more than 170 crore doses of Covishield to the government for the national immunisation programme.
According to the health department, both samples have been sent for whole genome sequencing.
Prime Minister Modi last week called for optimal grain storage, fire audits and mock drills in hospitals as preparations for the harsh summer forecast by the meteorological department.
Around 200 schools in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday morning received a hoax bomb threat via email which led to widespread panic among parents and students, prompting authorities to suspend classes and ask parents to pick their wards from the school.
The Karnataka government on Monday asked those above 60-years of age, with comorbidities, and symptoms of cough, phlegm and fever to mandatorily wear face masks, in the wake detection of a case of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 in neighbouring Kerala.
The parliament duty group of the CRPF wound up its entire administrative and operational paraphernalia -- vehicles, weapons and commandos -- from the complex on Friday and its commander, a deputy inspector general-rank officer, handed over all the security points in the complex to the incoming CISF group, the sources said.
The remarks of Dr Parvaiz Koul, director of the SKIMS Hospital in Kashmir, came in the backdrop of the highly transmissible Omicron strains, mostly BF.7, causing a spike in coronavirus cases in many countries, including China.
In view of the farmers' protest and march to Parliament, the Delhi police started preparations to check the advancing farmers' march beforehand, an officer said.
As the country eagerly awaits an expected coronavirus vaccination drive in January, at least 125 intended beneficiaries each in four states who had registered on the Co-WIN App were on Monday sent SMSes informing them about the time and place of their 'COVID-19 vaccination' under a mock-drill to administer the shots at designated centres.
The government had aimed at completing the new Parliament building before the winter session which usually starts from the third week of November.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.11 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.16 per cent, the ministry said.
The health ministry sources said even if there is a wave, deaths and hospitalisation will be very low.
Fans gathered in large numbers at the airport, outside their hotel and on both sides of the road for a glimpse of the cricketing stars.
"The man has been isolated at his home and teams of the health department have been asked to conduct tests of his family members and those who came in contact with him," CMO said.
The Goa government will not impose any COVID-19-related restrictions till January 2 but will review the situation on January 3, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday after chairing a high-level meeting in Panaji.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it clear to the government that all safety measures for handling disaster must be put in place at the Kudankulam power plant before it is operationalised saying there can be no compromise on it.
With different agencies showing divergent predictions regarding the southwest monsoon, the central government and states are gearing up to face adversity with various line ministries reportedly being directed to undertake mock drills and hold preparatory meetings. Around 56 per cent of the net cultivable area of the country is rain-fed, accounting for 44 per cent of foodgrain production. The June-September rains contribute around 73 per cent of the annual precipitation.
An important focus of the dry run will be on management of any possible adverse events following immunisation.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Home Minister P Chidambaram said the security overlays in the games clusters will be completed by September 15. He also said security agencies would start carrying out mock drills at the venues.
The sources said 39 international passengers were found positive for COVID-19 out of the 6,000 tested on arrival in the last two days.
As the 'Delhi Chalo' agitation of farmers entered the third day on Thursday, two key border points between Delhi and Haryana remained closed for traffic, while security personnel in anti-riot gear conducted drills and mock exercises to ensure their fool-proof preparation.
If you want to get the perfect score, you must take as many mocks as you can.
There are altogether 80 teams of doctors and trained medical personnel with three teams in each hospitals.
The panel headed by Justice (retired) Ritu Raj Awasthi has submitted its report to the government, calling for an exhaustive overhaul of the law.
'The consensus was that the debate was between looking backward and looking forward.' 'Trump, with his great enamourment of his own 'achievements,' was obviously looking backward, while Harris, nearly 20 years his junior, was focussing on the future, with hope,' notes Shreekant Sambrani.
We bring to you some of the best pictures from across the nation in the last one week.
Each state will plan it in two districts and preferably in five different session-type settings -- district hospital, community health centre or primary health care centre, urban site, private health facility and rural outreach.
The much-awaited annual event of Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, is slated to be even bigger and better in 2019. Although it is usually spread over a 20 km radius, the Kumbh Mela -- set to begin on January 15 and continue till March 4 -- will be sprawled across 45 km this year. Authorities are expecting approximately 100 million visitors to come for a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati Rivers. Ahead of the festival, preparations are under full swing to construct 22 temporary pontoon bridges.
Around 6,000 security personnel will be deployed and a total of 24 help desks will be set up in the New Delhi district for those who attend Republic Day celebrations, the police said.
'Certain groups should be more cautious, especially the 60-plus population, and the population which suffer from co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension.'
The players along with the management staff were taken to a fortified hotel in the state capital amidst tight security by platoons of armed police force.
Questions that the state had come to recognise over time but consistently delayed treating seriously because doing so requires an overhaul of perspective and lifestyle, notes Shyam G Menon.
Hina, Kite, Jelly, Jessy, Lucy, Lovely and the lone male dog Veer were accorded a warm send-off by the CISF after they completed their varied tenures in securing the Delhi Metro.
The Centre and the states need to continue working in collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management, Mandaviya said.
The Kerala high court on Friday restrained a US-based IT firm from analysing or processing the data related to COVID-19 patients and directed it to retransfer to the state government any data it has obtained. However, the court permitted the state government to utilise the services of the firm Sprinklr for processing data, subject to stringent conditions.
Apparently aimed at keeping the flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, all ruling Congress MLAs in Karnataka will stay put together at a hotel in Bengaluru on Monday after the budget session of the state legislature concludes and will later also travel together for voting the next day.
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