The government on Friday warned about the declining compliance to mask usage in the country amid concerns over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated to prevent surge in cases.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 95,80,402 pushing the national recovery rate to 95.51 per cent.
It said it will also allow reservation of reserved tickets from common service centres (CSC) and through ticketing agents with effect from Friday. The zonal railways have been instructed to decide and notify opening of reservation counters as per local needs and conditions, the order stated.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged citizens to observe Janta curfew by not going out of their homes from 7 am to 9 am on Sunday amid novel coronavirus pandemic.
Travellers coming from the United Kingdom to the national capital will have to undergo a seven-day institutional quarantine and a seven-day home quarantine even if they test negative for COVID-19 on arrival, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday.
The protection to the driver's chest due to high chest compression was poor and the passenger's chest received weak protection
Though India's airlines are certainly bleeding, they haven't yet faced the ignominy of shutting down.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement urged world leaders not to implement 'knee-jerk' policy decisions in response to the detection of the Omicron variant.
There are 4,55,555 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 4.89 per cent of the total caseload.
Next weekend's season-opening MotoGP race in Qatar has been cancelled because of travel restrictions on passengers from Italy and elsewhere due to the coronavirus epidemic, MotoGP said on Sunday. The floodlit night race was scheduled for the Losail circuit on March 8.
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.
'If the government does its job of vaccinating all the population with the booster dose, and also monitoring the virus, and we do our job of wearing a mask and avoiding crowded places, we will be free of this virus in a few months.' time.'
'Since it was the last day of flights, the feeling was weird. There were hardly any aircraft on the ground or in the air.'
Many states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu were opposed to opening up of their airports in view of rising cases of the coronavirus infection.
Ticket refunds remain a challenge, though Jet claims the amount would be credited in 7 to 10 working days after the request is processed.
Long distance love, heroic doctors, murderers masquerading as witnesses, pet-friendly robots, Sukanya Verma gives you your OTT fix of the week, take your pick from this eclectic menu.
An Iran Air flight carrying Indian pilgrims stranded in coronavirus-hit Iran landed at the airport in Mumbai on Friday afternoon, an official said.
China's National Health Commission said on Wednesday that 93 locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 16 new imported cases were reported on Tuesday, the highest in a single day in recent weeks.
Sri Lankans were on the edge on Tuesday as they waited whether embattled Gotabaya Rajapaksa will honour his offer to resign as president, amid signs that key members of the erstwhile powerful ruling family were attempting to flee in the face of massive public anger against them for mishandling the economy that has bankrupt the country.
'This means that there is a higher likelihood of individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 to be reinfected with the Omicron variant'
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.
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 meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha which had been scheduled in Bangaluru has been suspended.
The sudden massive cancellations of Jet have put travel agents and customers in jeopardy
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'This year, we know the virus. Last year we didn't know anything about it.' 'The best part is that for the Indian population there has been some amount of cross protection.'
'Being alert is the most important weapon in one's armoury when one is on her own or is venturing out in unknown territory.'
The government has requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to reduce the number of flights from these states in view of high prevalence of coronavirus cases there, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said in a statement.
The Western Railway in a statement later said a Shramik Special train was scheduled for Purnia from the Bandra Terminus in which passengers registered with the state authorities were to travel. However, many people, who were not registered and not called by the state authorities, gathered on a road and a bridge near the station, it said.
'We really need to look seriously to see if there are any local variants.'
'India's future: To manufacture so efficiently that we do not need protection,' says Naushad Forbes.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister. The districts where lockdown was announced include 10 districts each in Maharashtra and Kerala, six districts each in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, five each in Karnataka and Haryana, three each in Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
From the Gulf countries to Malaysia and the UK to the US, the multi-agency operation christened 'Vande Bharat Mission' will see the state-owned AI operate 64 flights till May 13 in the first phase to ferry around 15,000 Indian nationals from 12 countries.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 86,04,955 pushing the national recovery rate to 93.76 per cent
'The rail network all across the state of Punjab is presently totally clear for uninterrupted movement of goods trains,' a home department statement said in Chandigarh. However, hours after the Punjab government's statement, the Railways accused it of 'misguiding' people over the extent of blockade of rail tracks in the state by the protesting farmers.
In another tweet, the PMO said Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Extended check-in time, frequent disinfection every hour, additional queue managers at entry, exit, boarding point, check-in halls, security check areas and boarding gates, with social distancing markers and reminders - welcome to our airports post-coronavirus.
Flight occupancy and fresh bookings have dropped over ten per cent in last few days as individuals and corporates defer trips. International travel is already hit due to a series of visa restrictions.
'There is no emergency of a third wave that we are rushing for booster doses.'
Ten people -- seven males, three females -- were injured by gunfire and an additional 13 were either injured as they rushed to get out of the train station or they suffered smoke inhalation.
