The British government has signed an order for extradition of fugitive diamond dealer Nirav Modi to India, the country’s Home Office confirmed on Friday. UK Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the extradition order on Thursday.

A Home Office spokesperson said the extradition order was signed on 15 April. Nirav Modi, wanted in India on the charges of fraud and money-laundering, was arrested in March 2019 in London and charged with money laundering and defrauding Punjab National Bank (PNB) of more than Rs 11,000 crore.

The process may take months or even years, as seen in the case of liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who went to court against his extradition order signed back in February 2019.

“On 25 February the District Judge gave judgment in the extradition case of Nirav Modi. The extradition order was signed on 15 April,” the spokesperson said.

Nirav Modi now has 14 days to make an application for leave to appeal against the decision to the High Court.

In February, a UK court had ordered his extradition to India to stand trial after dismissing arguments of his “mental health concerns”, saying they are not unusual in a man in his circumstances. Judge Samuel Goozee, sitting at Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London, rejected each of the grounds laid out by Modi’s defence against extradition.

“On 25 February the District Judge gave judgment in the extradition case of Nirav Modi. He decided the bars to extradition in UK law do not apply in the case and sent the case to the Home Secretary for a decision on whether to order extradition,” the spokesperson “He may seek leave to appeal against both the decisions of the District Judge and of the Home Secretary Priti Patel,” the spokesperson added.

WITH AGENCY INPUTS

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that he would hold a meeting with state health ministers on Saturday. He would also hold a virtual meeting with all AIIMS hospitals across the country on Monday to discuss ramping up of Covid facilities.

“I will hold a meeting tomorrow with health ministers of states with maximum Covid-19 cases in the country. On Monday, we will hold a virtual meeting with all All India Institution of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospitals across the country to discuss ramping up of facilities,” the minister said in Delhi.

Dr Harsh Vardhan also said that according to the latest data, 54 districts and 44 districts in the country have not reported any new coronavirus cases in the last seven days and last 28 days, respectively.

“We have decided to add 70 more beds at the AIIMS Trauma Centre and 100 more beds at the National Cancer Institute, Jhajjar. I am sure we will be able to overcome the challenges before us due to the surge in Covid-19 cases now,” the Union minister said.

He also assured of taking strict action against those who are involved in black marketing of the Remdesivir drug and other malpractices. “Companies manufacturing coronavirus drug Remdesivir have been asked to ramp up production. I assure you that strict action will be taken against those who are involved in black marketing of the drug and other malpractices,” he added.

Dr Harsh Vardhan visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Friday. AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and other doctors of the hospital were present during his visit.

The state health bulletin of the Delhi government reported the national capital’s biggest single-day spike of 19,486 new coronavirus infections, and 141 related deaths, on Friday evening, as the weekend curfew went live at 10 pm. The curfew will continue till 5 am on Monday.

However, despite the curfew, e-passes would be issued by the police and Delhi government for the people who need to travel unavoidably, informed Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava. Besides this, doctors and journalists will be allowed to travel without an e-pass on the basis of a valid identity card.

“E-pass is needed for many things. Delhi Police and Delhi government are issuing e-passes. If anyone has to go to a hospital in an emergency, it’ll be considered. A doctor going to a hospital can go on the basis of an ID. If a vegetable seller is making sales and it can be seen then he’ll be allowed even without a pass,” said Shrivastava, adding, “Journalists can move on the basis of their IDs, they won’t face any issue, except for those whose IDs won’t be proper. They won’t be permitted and the same action will be taken as for anyone else.”

In view of the weekend curfew, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) announced that metro services will be available with a headway of 15 minutes across the whole network, except for the Noida/Vaishali and Kirti Nagar/Inderlok sections. “In the two sections, where there is a bifurcation in the network—Noida/Vaishali section of Blue Line and Kirti Nagar/Inderlok section of Green Line—the headway will become double, i.e., services will be available after every 30 minutes,” it added.

Meanwhile, the FMCG company Mother Dairy informed people in a statement that its services will be available without disruption during the weekend curfew as they are part of essential items.

As per the DDMA, the National Zoological Park will also be closed on Saturday and Sunday.

The Delhi government on Thursday imposed a weekend curfew in view of the rising Covid-19 cases across the city. The total infection caseload of Delhi has reached 8,03,623, with 61,005 active cases. The overall casualties have soared to 11,793. The Covid positivity rate in Delhi also jumped to 19.69 percent on Friday while the fatality rate stood at 1.47 percent.

Furthermore, a total of 12,649 people recovered from the virus in the 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,30,825. However, the recovery rate has dropped to 90.94 percent.

Nearly 99,000 coronavirus tests were also conducted in the city during the period. A total of 64,939 RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and as many as 34,018 rapid antigen tests were conducted. So far, a total of 1,60,43,160 tests have been conducted in the national capital.

India witnessed another grim milestone as 2,17,353 Covid-19 cases were reported in 24 hours, making it the highest single-day spike in daily cases since the pandemic broke out last year. Amid the unparalleled surge, when most hospitals are overflowing with Covid patients, PM Narendra Modi on Friday took a comprehensive review of the health infrastructure to ensure adequate medical oxygen supply in the country.

The detailed review of the current oxygen supply situation and projected use in the coming 15 days included 12 high burden states, namely, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

The Centre and states are in contact over the supply chain and estimates for projected demand have been shared with the Centre by the states. Accordingly, 4,880 MT, 5,619 MT and 6,593 MT have been allocated to these 12 states for meeting their projected demand as on 20th April, 25th April and 30th April. 

The PM was briefed about production capacity in the country to meet the rising demand on which he suggested that oxygen production as per the capacity of each plant be increased. It was discussed that surplus stocks of oxygen supply in steel plants are being offered for medical use.

PM Modi also urged officials to ensure seamless and free movement of tankers carrying oxygen throughout the country. The Centre has exempted all interstate movement of oxygen tankers from registration of permits to enable easier movement. States and transporters have been asked to ensure tankers move round the clock with drivers working in shifts to ensure faster turnaround and adequate capacity to meet the surge in demand.

Cylinder filling plants will also be permitted 24-hour working with necessary safeguards. The government is also allowing industrial cylinders to be used for medical oxygen after due purging. Similarly, nitrogen and argon tankers will be automatically allowed to be converted to oxygen tankers to overcome the potential shortage of tankers. 

Officers also briefed the Prime Minister about the efforts being made to import medical grade oxygen. Inputs from ministries like Health, DPIIT, Steel and Road Transport were shared with the PM.

The sudden resurgence of the infection is also being attributed to the spread of newer variants of the novel coronavirus. A total of 1,189 samples have so far tested positive for variants of concern of the SARS COV-2 in India, which include 1,109 samples testing positive for the UK variant, 79 for the South Africa variant and one sample for the Brazil variant.

With the new cases reported across the country, India›s Covid tally has shot up to 14,291,917 cases. Last week India had replaced Brazil as the second worst-hit nation in terms of total Covid-19 cases, and now it has claimed the spot for having the second highest active cases too.

India also witnessed 1,183 fatalities due to Covid-19 in a single day. The death toll from the deadly infection now stands at 174,335.

With 19,486 fresh cases in 24 hours, Delhi once again broke its record of highest single-day tally of infections recorded since the beginning of the pandemic. The previous record had been on Wednesday when the city reported 17,282 new cases. The fresh spike has pushed Delhi›s total caseload to 8,03,623, which includes 61,005 active cases. Apart from the record jump in cases, Delhi also registered 12,649 recoveries in the 24-hour period. The infection rate in Delhi currently stands at 19.69 percent.

India’s worst-affected state Maharashtra broke its own record with 63,729 new Covid-19 cases and 398 fatalities in a single day, Maharashtra›s tally reached 3,703,584 and the death toll climbed to 59,551. As many as 45,335 people also recovered on the day, taking the total recoveries to 3,519,208. Meanwhile, Mumbai city logged 8,803 new cases and 53 deaths as the state capital’s tally reached 562,207 and the death toll 12,250.

Karnataka also reported its biggest single-day spike with 14,859 Covid-19 cases, and 78 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 11,24,509 and the toll to 13,190, respectively. Bengaluru Urban accounted for the bulk of the cases, with 9,917 infections. The day also saw 4,031 patients getting discharged after recovery.

Uttar Pradesh reported 27,426 fresh Covid cases in 24 hours. This is the biggest-ever single-day spike that the state has seen since the pandemic began. Over 100 people also died during the day due to the viral infection.

Gujarat recorded 8,920 new Covid 19 cases, its highest single-day spike so far. With the new cases, the total tally reached 3,84,688, while active cases touched 49,737. The death toll rose to 5,170, with 94 people succumbing to the deadly virus in the span of 24 hours.

Rajasthan›s Covid-19 total mounted to 3,95,309 with a record single-day jump of 7,359 fresh cases, while 31 more deaths pushed the toll to 3,072. There are currently 53,813 active cases in the state.

Tamil Nadu reported 8,449 new Covid-19 infections and related 33 deaths in 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 9,71,384 and 13,032 respectively. Recoveries mounted to 8,96,759 with 4,920 patients being discharged, leaving 61,593 active infections. Chennai continued to constitute the major chunk of the new cases, accounting for 2,636 new infections aggregating to 2,77,300. It leads in the number of fatalities too, with 4,364 deaths.

Kerala recorded 10,031 Covid cases and 21 deaths in 24 hours. This is the first time the daily Covid cases crossed the 10,000 mark in the state since October 2020.

Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday said that the government is looking forward to introducing Hydrogen-CNG (H-CNG) as an intermittent technology “in a big way for both automotive and domestic cooking applications”.

In the inaugural edition of the Hydrogen Roundtable titled ‘Hydrogen Economy: New Delhi Dialogue-2021’, Pradhan said, “By establishing synergies with natural gas, hydrogen can be easily adopted in the energy mix without seeking major infrastructural overhauling. Our refineries are planning to leverage the available surplus hydrogen capacities in gray form for meeting the initial demand in mainstreaming hydrogen. One of such projects is underway at our Gujarat refinery of Indian Oil wherein the combination of hydrogen production through natural gas and its hyphenation with the carbon capture technology will result in the production of blue hydrogen.”

“Multiple buses powered by fuel cells will be covering various iconic routes. Efforts are underway to leverage the vast CNG pipeline infrastructure to reduce the transportation cost of hydrogen,” Pradhan said adding that the utility of hydrogen is not going to be limited only to the transport sector. “Role of hydrogen as a chemical is well known. We all now recognize the importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier and efforts are underway to devise ways to harness it in a reliable, cost-effective and safe manner,” he added.

The Minister said that India remains committed to environmental and climate causes with a massive thrust on deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency measures. “In the past six years, India has increased its renewable power portfolio from 32 GW to almost 100 GW. We are well on track to achieve the 450 GW target of renewable energy generating capacity by 2030,” he stated. WITH ANI INPUTS

Cases of Covid-19 are increasing at an alarming pace in Maharashtra, with the second wave having a major impact on Mumbai. The daily number of cases is way past the peak that the maximum city had experienced in August/September 2020.

To contain the spread of Covid-19, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has resorted to various measures, including sealing buildings and making mini-containment zones. As per current norms, if one or more Covid-19 patients are found in a building, then the entire floor is sealed. If more than five patients are found infected, the building is sealed by the municipal corporation. Mumbai police also keeps home guards outside such buildings to ensure rules are not broken.

According to the BMC, at present Mumbai has 90 containment zones in slums and “chawls” (old multi-storeyed row tenements), while 995 buildings have been sealed.

However, if the building is small, the municipal corporation has no problem in sealing the entire building. But when there are many buildings or wings in the complex, it becomes a problem for other residents.

To avoid any inconvenience to other residents, the municipal corporation has adopted a policy of sealing the floors or the entire wing of the building, instead of completely sealing the building. Besides, the authority to seal the building has been given to local authorities.

The city’s Covid-19 recovery rate stood at 81 per cent, while the case growth rate was 1.71 per cent.