There are 2014 RT-PCR labs, 941 TrueNat, 132 CBNAAT and 30 others. There are more than 200 manufacturers of RT-PCR test kits while 53 are making rapid antigen kits. A total of seven home-testing RATs should be available soon and daily testing capacity is in excess of 20 lakh, said official sources.
Maharashtra confirmed the presence of Omicron in a 52-year-old man who recently died of heart attack in Pimpri Chinchwad, but stopped short of calling him the first casualty of the variant and attributed the death to his underlying health conditions.
The decision to continue the enforcement of AFSPA across the whole of Nagaland comes amid shrill demands to withdraw the Act from the state in view of the killing of over a dozen civilians in Mon district by 21 Para-Special Forces, allegedly due to “mistaken identity”.
On Thursday, India had recorded 16,695 fresh cases till late night, with data from a couple of states yet to come in. This is the highest single-day increase in cases in 71 days since 18,388 cases were reported on October 20. Thursday’s final tally is expected to exceed 16,700.
Scientists at the Pune-based Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV) have successfully isolated the Omicron strain of the novel coronavirus. The exercise will also find an answer to another critical question: Will the new variant outsmart existing antibodies in those who have had Covid from old strains?
Prominent seers in Haridwar have condemned the provocative statements that were made at the ‘Dharma Sansad’ held recently in the holy city. Several speakers at the meeting had then lashed out at the minority community, with one even threatening to kill former PM Manmohan Singh for his alleged “appeasement views”.
The explosion of cases has been sudden and widespread since overall Covid numbers had been falling till last week. At least 18 state and Union territories, spread across the country except the northeast, have registered a rise in cases this week as compared with the corresponding days of the previous week.
People above 60 years with comorbidities will not be required to upload or provide a medical certificate to be eligibile for the “precautionary” dose of Covid vaccine. However, they must consult their doctor before taking the jab, the Centre said on Tuesday. States have been advised to set up separate vaccination centres dedicated for children between 15-18 years.
Germany has arrested prominent Khalistani terror plotter Jaswinder Singh Multani in what marks a breakthrough for India’s counter-terror effort to foil plans of Pakistan’s Inter State Intelligence to engineer terror attacks in Punjab and other parts, including Mumbai. He is currently in German custody and will be questioned by Indian investigators.
After being briefed in detail on the extent of Omicron cases in UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur as well as the status of vaccination in these states, the EC has now asked the health secretary to follow up on its instructions to step up the pace of vaccination and come back in a week’s time with a fresh report. The EC will then take a call on fine-tuning guidelines for Covid-safe campaigning and polling in the five states.
Children between 15 and 18 years can register online on CoWin from January 1 or onsite at vaccination centres to receive Covaxin shots from January 3. They can register themselves online through an existing account or create a new one. Among healthcare workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities, prioritisation and sequencing would be based on completion of 9 months from the date of the 2nd dose as of Jan 10.
The Union home ministry has constituted a five-member committee headed by registrar general of India Vivek Joshi to examine the possibility of withdrawing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Nagaland in the wake of the botched December 3 Army operation in Mon district that resulted in 14 civilian deaths. The committee will submit its report within 45 days.
Nearly three crore health and frontline workers will be eligible in January for the ‘precaution dose’ of Covid vaccine that will be administered after a gap of nine months from the second dose, official sources said on Sunday. As of now, the third jab that will also be given to around three crore people above 60 with co-morbidities will be of the same vaccine that one had got in the first and second instances.
Khalistani elements based in Pakistan may have radicalised dismissed Punjab police head constable Gagandeep Singh, the lone casualty and suspected perpetrator of Thursday’s Ludhiana court complex blast, when he was in prison for heroin possession for two years, DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya said on Saturday. A woman cop once attached to the Khanna SP’s office and suspected to have been Gagandeep’s girlfriend was detained.
Gujarat has topped states in the overall Good Governance Index (GGI) for 2020-21 in the indicators launched by Union home minister Amit Shah on the occasion of Good Governance Day. Delhi topped the list among all UTs. The GGI 2021 framework covered 10 sectors and 58 indicators. These include agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industries, human resource development, public health, public infrastructure and utilities.
In the wake of rising Omicron cases and low vaccination coverage in some states, the Centre on Saturday deployed multi-disciplinary teams in 10 states to assist them in addressing hurdles and suggest remedial measures. These 10 states are Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Punjab.
PM Narendra Modi announced on Saturday that “precaution doses” (boosters) of Covid vaccines for health and frontline workers as well as for those above 60 with co-morbidities will begin from January 10. He also said vaccination for children aged 15-18, using Covaxin, will begin from January 3.
Indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use in children aged between 12-18 years. The drug regulator’s nod comes over two months after the Subject Expert Committee (SEC), that advises the DCGI, recommended emergency use approval for vaccinating kids in the 2-18 years age group.
Nearly two dozen Punjab farm groups are expected to form a political front, or even a party, on Saturday and join electoral politics. According to reliable sources, the new political entity is likely to carry the word “Sanyukt” in its name just as the Haryana-based BKU, led by Gurnam Singh Charuni, named its political wing the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party.
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