News18 Daybreak | India Reports Record-High 2,003 COVID-19 Deaths, Talks Between Indo-China Major Generals Remain 'Inconclusive' and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

The continuing talks between the Major Generals of India and China in Galwan Valley in Ladakh, the site of a violent face-off between the two armies, ended “inconclusive” Wednesday. Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in a conversation with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, said the ‘unprecedented’ development will have a ‘serious impact’ on the bilateral ties, holding the Chinese army responsible for the violence by taking premeditated action.

Following the escalation, the government is set to ask state-owned BSNL not to use Chinese equipment in the up-gradation of its 4G faculties.

Congress attack: Questioning the silence of India's ruling establishment on the incursion by Chinese forces in Indian territory, interim Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi asked PM Modi to brief the nation on the situation at the LAC in Ladakh. Paying her homage to the 20 soldiers martyred, Gandhi in a video message said the government needed to share with the people of this country its policy and action plan in dealing with the current crisis.

Befitting response: India wants peace but, when provoked, has the capability to respond appropriately, Prime Minister Modi declared in no uncertain terms Wednesday. Integrity and sovereignty are at the top of India's interests, he added. "The sacrifices of our soldiers will not go in vain," he said before observing a two-minute silence, along with chief ministers of several states at a virtual meeting.

 Sovereignty claimed: China claimed that the sovereignty of the Galwan Valley area in Ladakh ‘always belonged to it,’ a day after the armies of the two countries were engaged in a violent face-off. At a briefing at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Spokesman Zhao Lijian refused to comment on reports of 43 casualties on the Chinese side during the face-off in the Galwan Valley. "The border troops are dealing with relevant matter," he said.

‘No Plans’: The White House said there were "no formal plans" when asked if United States President Donald Trump would mediate between India and China on the border issue. "There are no formal plans on that," said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. However, Trump last month had offered to "mediate or arbitrate" the raging border dispute between the two Asian neighbours.

In Other News

COVID count: India recorded the highest ever spike of 2,003 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday after Maharashtra and Delhi added earlier fatalities not attributed to the disease. The COVID-19 recovery rate for the country currently stood at around 53 per cent. Meanwhile, Maharashtra in the last 24 hours reported 3,307 new COVID-19 cases and 114 deaths, taking the overall case count to 1,16,752 and fatalities to 5,651, a Health official said.

Affordable? Close on the heels of ramping up testing and hospital beds in the national capital, the government has now decided to put a cap on the cost of COVID-19 testing. The VK Paul Committee Wednesday recommended that Rs 2,400 be charged for coronavirus testing in Delhi. Capping of private hospital treatment and testing costs will help in containing the number of coronavirus cases.

Political upheaval: Four National People's Party (NPP) ministers, including Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar Singh, resigned from the BJP-led government in Manipur. The other three who tendered their resignation letters are Tribal and Hills Area Development Minister N Kayishii, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Letpao Haokip and Health and Family Welfare Minister L Jayanta Kumar Singh.

Trial begins: Following on from the discovery that the simple drug dexamethasone can bring new hope for COVID-19 patients, a major new trial of a vaccine has begun on Wednesday in the United Kingdom. This is the first human trial of the new vaccine developed by Imperial College London.

On Our Specials

Execution spree: Furious hand-to-hand fighting raged across the Galwan river valley for over eight hours on Monday, as People’s Liberation Army assault teams armed with iron rods wrapped in barbed wire hunted down and slaughtered troops of the 16 Bihar Regiment, a senior government official familiar with the debriefing of survivors at hospitals in Leh has told News18. The savage combat, with few parallels in the history of modern armies, is confirmed to have claimed the lives of at least 23 Indian soldiers, Praveen Swami writes.

‘Nothing to hide’: Coming clean on the massive data discrepancy in the number of deaths reported from Maharashtra, state's chief secretary Ajoy Mehta said the government had realised the problem much before anyone else. "Last week itself, we had issued orders to all the district administrations and municipal corporations to reconcile their data. We have nothing to hide," he said in an interview. Maharashtra has declared 862 additional Covid-19 deaths in Mumbai and 466 more in the rest of the state after a massive data reconciliation exercise, Vinaya Deshpande writes.