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 activity is proposed to be conducted in all state capitals in at least 3 session sites.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that preparations are underway to run the world's largest vaccination programme in the next year. He appealed to everyone to be careful regarding rumours and as responsible citizens refrain from forwarding messages on social media without checking.
The CBI on Thursday carried out searches at multiple locations in West Bengal including the premises of TMC leader Vinay Mishra, considered close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the cattle smuggling case.
Thousands of farmers stayed put at their protest venues near Delhi's border on Thursday as their talks with the government remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.Thousands of farmers stayed put at their protest venues near Delhi's border on Thursday as their talks with the government remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
India's Covid-19 caseload increased to 1,02,66,674 with 21,822 new infections being reported in a day, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98.60 lakh pushing the national recovery rate over 96 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
Google on Thursday unveiled a doodle to mark the New Year's Eve. The doodle showed the letters of Google encased in colourful light with a symbolic cuckoo clock in the middle to announce the arrival of New Year's Eve. "It’s been a cuckoo year, but 2020’s clock is ticking," Google wrote.
Ten more returnees from Britain tested positive on Wednesday for the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus found in the UK, taking the tally of such patients in India to 17. With four cases each, Karnataka and Delhi accounted for 80% of the load of the new variant on Wednesday. One infection each was reported from Uttar Pradesh and Bengal.
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Andhra Pradesh government on a plea challenging the pre-requisite condition of three years of practice as an advocate to be eligible to write Civil Judge Exam in Andhra Pradesh. A Bench headed by Justice Indira Banerjee also refuses to stay the Andhra Pradesh State Judicial Service Rules of 2007 which lays down the condition.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the farmers do not trust the prime minister due to his "long history of asatyagraha".
India's Covid-19 caseload rose to 1,02,44,852 with 20,549 new infections being reported in a day, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98.34 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 95.99 per cent, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.
China feels that it should control religious institution in Tibet and due to this a greater crisis will emerge with the eventual demise of 14th Dalai Lama as there will be a major power struggle over who will get to choose the religious leaders of Tibet, according to a report in Taiwan Times.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday took strong objection to remarks made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month concerning protest by farmers on farm laws and said no leader of a country should speak about India's internal affairs.
Twenty people who returned to India from the United Kingdom have tested positive for the new UK variant genome of SARS-CoV-2 so far, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. The tally includes six people who were found positive for the new virus strain on Tuesday.
Backing the "anti-conversion" legislation brought by Uttar Pradesh government, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that he personally does not support conversion for marriage. He was responding to a question about the misuse of "love-jihad law" enacted by the Uttar Pradesh government. Rajnath Singh is Lok Sabha MP from Lucknow.
India has the capability to hit terrorist targets across the border if the need arises, defence minster Rajanth Singh has said and noted that Pakistan has been indulging in notorious actions along the border since its creation. The minister said Pakistan has been resorting to 300-400 ceasefire violations in a few months but the Army gives a befitting reply.
Noting that farmers are "annadatas" and "backbone of the economy", Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday strongly disapproved of remarks such as "Naxals" or "Khalistanis" in the context of protesting farmers. He said that "allegations should not be made by anyone" against them. His remarks came ahead of scheduled talks between the farmers and the Centre today.
"There will be no reduction in our deployment and I fell their deployment will also not come down. I don't think that status quo is a positive development at all. Talks are on and they result in a positive outcome, that is our expectation," he added.
The strength of women personnel in state and Union Territory police forces registered a significant 16% jump last year, with their share rising to 10.3% as on January 1 this year (reflecting 2019 data) from 8.9% on January 1, 2019. Though the improvement is welcome, the cumulative percentage and numbers continue to reflect the male domination of police forces.
The state government will take over the guardianship of two sons of the couple who lost their lives while resisting the attachment of three cents of land in which they were residing at Neyyattinkara. CM Pinarayi Vijayan said the government would provide protection to the children and promised a free house for them. He also said the government would examine the lapses in connection with the incident.
VISAKHAPATNAM/PUNE/BHUBANESWAR: The Andhra Pradesh government is on high alert after laboratory reports confirmed that the woman (47) who had evaded health authorities at Delhi airport on returning from the UK last week was carrying the mutated strain of the novel coronavirus currently rampaging through Britain.
NANDIGRAM: Suvendu Adhikari’s first public rally in Nandigram on Tuesday after defecting to BJP was marred by violence after party supporters travelling in a bus from Sonachura were attacked nearly a kilometre from Nandigram. I have a message for the jihadis who attacked the bus — I’l not tolerate this kind of attack,” said Suvendu.
In the climax of his 2002 flop ‘Baba’, Rajinikanth makes a last-minute return from sanyaas to socio-political life. On Tuesday, the actor made a virtual repeat of the theme, this time in reverse, going back on his promise to launch a political party. “I regret to announce that I am not in position to launch a party and enter politics. This will come as a disappointment to those part of RMM (Rajini Makkal Mandram), my fans and people. Forgive me,” Rajinikanth said.
India has reported the first six cases of mutant Coronavirus strain as six returnees from the United Kingdom tested positive, the health ministry informed on Tuesday. Out of the six returnees, three have been shifted to Bengaluru's NIMHANS, two in Hyderabad's Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), and one to National Institute of Virology, Pune.
Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar's wife, Santosh Shailza, succumbed to Covid-19 in the early hours of Tuesday, Health Minister Rajiv Saizal said. Shailza was undergoing treatment at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, in Kangra district of the state.
he existing guidelines of the home ministry for surveillance, containment and caution against Covid-19 were on Monday extended to January 31, 2021 even as the ministry asked states and Union Territories to maintain "strict vigil" to avert a fresh surge in cases in wake of gatherings expected during the New Year celebrations.
The government is bracing for a possible post-holiday surge in Covid-19 cases around mid-January with reports of people violating various Covid norms to gather in large numbers at tourist destinations and a rise in travel. The Centre has asked the states to increase alert levels of surveillance and containment systems and keep a close watch on any super-spreading events, particularly in the light of the new UK strain, so far not detected here but whose presence in India cannot be ruled out, official sources said.
India will initially get most of the 40-50 million ‘Covishield’ vaccine shots stockpiled by the Serum Institute of India (SII), since exports would require the World Health Organisation’s pre-qualification, which is likely to take around a month after regulatory approval.
As many as 46 travellers who returned from Britain have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. Most of the samples of the passengers who tested positive were sent to the National Institute of Virology for genome sequencing to determine whether any of the patients are carrying the new strain of Covid-19 found in the UK. The results of genome sequencing are not out yet.
The Centre has identified 10 advanced regional laboratories to serve as regional hub laboratories for genome sequencing as part of its surveillance strategy to monitor the genomic variations in the Sars-Cov-2 virus. The health ministry has charted a detailed action plan which the genomic surveillance consortium (INSACOG) would follow if the new Coronavirus variant, which is more infectious, is detected in the samples of returnees from the UK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the government had taken up farm reforms after adequate preparation while flagging off the 100th run of the Kisan Rail service from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal. Modi said this service opens a huge avenue for lakhs of small farmers of West Bengal and the local small businessman.
While post-Covid syndrome is a well-known entity in which some patients continue to experience Covid-like symptoms for months, city doctors have now noticed a debilitating spine infection in some elderly patients hospitalized for the viral fever. At Nanavati Hospital in Juhu, six elderly patients with spine infection or abscess were treated in four weeks. “They needed hospitalization for weeks during their Covid-19 infection,’’ said spine surgeon Dr Mihir Bapat.
Shiv Sena MP and chief spokesperson of the party Sanjay Raut described the Enforcement Directorate’s notice to his wife Varsha as “political vendetta” and a “pressure tactic aimed at toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra” and said the Sena would respond to it in a political manner. He alleged that BJP was misusing Central agencies like the ED, CBI and the income-tax department for political purposes.