NEW DELHI: Twitter on Saturday removed the blue tick from legendary cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s account. Dhoni last tweeted on 8 January 2021. The blue tick on a Twitter handle is to let people know that the social media account is authentic. It said to receive the blue badge, the person’s account must be authentic, notable, and active. Having retired from international cricket on August 15, 2020, Dhoni now only plays in the Indian Premier League and will be back in action when the UAE leg of IPL resumes in September.

LONDON: Initial findings on the Delta variant of Sars-CoV-2 indicate that the people vaccinated against Covid-19 may transmit the highly contagious strain as easily as the unvaccinated, Public Health England said on Friday. The findings come after concerns raised by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over people’s infectiousness amid Delta variant spread. The variant of concern, first detected in India, is rapidly becoming the dominant variant across the globe, threatening the gains made by vaccination drives. In a report published by the PHE, scientists have said that vaccination will not completely stop coronavirus transmission even as they provide high levels of protection.

US Charge d’Affaires to Afghanistan Ross Wilson has expressed his condolences over the death of the Afghanistan government’s media head on Friday. Dawa Khan Menapal, who headed the Media and Information Centre of the Afghanistan government, was assassinated on Friday, local media reports said. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for his death.

Dawa Khan had served as head of the Afghan government’s media wing in Kandahar in 2015 and worked as deputy presidential spokesman between 2016 and 2020.

Taking to Twitter, Wilson wrote, “We are saddened & disgusted by the Taliban’s targeted killing of Dawa Khan Meenapal, a friend and colleague, whose career was focused on providing truthful information to all Afghans about Afghanistan. These murders are an affront to Afghans’ human rights & freedom of speech.”

Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that the groups’ fighters had killed Menapal. In a statement Mujahid put out later, he said Menapal “was killed in a special attack of Mujahideen” and was “punished for his deeds”.

The interior ministry spokesman Mirwais Stanikzai on Friday said: “Unfortunately, the savage terrorists have committed a cowardly act once again and martyred a patriotic Afghan.”

Fighting in Afghanistan’s long-running conflict has intensified since May, when foreign forces began the final stage of a withdrawal due to be completed later this month.

The Taliban already control large portions of the countryside, and are now challenging Afghan government forces in several large cities.

WITH AGENCY INPUTS

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, on Friday cautioned people against lowering their guard against the coronavirus and urged them to strictly follow Covid-appropriate protocols for another six months.

Chief scientist of the World Health Organization Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Friday warned that if the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues mutating, then a new variant that could be worse than Delta can emerge.

“I know everybody is tired, everyone wants to meet their family, organise parties. But this is not the time to let down your guard. Let’s be careful for another six months. By then, if the vaccination coverage is very high, then things should definitely start improving,” she said.

The WHO chief scientist also said that there is no scientific evidence for anxiety that the third wave will target children. While speaking to ANI, Dr Swaminathan said, “The ICMR serosurvey showed that 65 per cent of children and adults have been infected and have developed antibodies. This means that children are very mildly affected by Covid, either they are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. We should not be too worried about a third wave affecting children. There is no scientific evidence.”

Dr Swaminathan said that if the virus mutates further and get a new variant, “it could be worse than Delta variant.” The highly transmissible and more infectious Delta variant of COVID-19 has been attributed to be reason behind the second wave of COVID in the country. India reported 44,643 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of health and family welfare said on Friday. India’s active caseload currently stands at 4,14,159 which constitute 1.30 per cent of the total coronavirus cases. (ANI)

Dr Swaminathan dismissed fears that the third wave will be impacting the children most and said it is not yet time to let down the guard. Speaking to news agency ANI in Chennai, she said that 65 per cent of children and adults have developed antibodies, according to the ICMR serosurvey. This data proves that children have also been mildly affected by Covid, though their infections might have been mild. So the assumption that children will get affected the most in the third wave as they have not been affected in the first two waves has no scientific backing as it is wrong to assume that children were not affected in the first two waves. “We should not be too worried about a third wave affecting children. There is no scientific evidence,” Dr Swaminathan said.

In the meantime, India reported 44,643 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. With these new cases, the active tally has climbed to 4,14,159 and constitutes 1.30 per cent of total cases. With 41,096 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the overall recoveries in the country have reached 3,10,15,844. The recovery rate now stands at 97.36 per cent.

A total of 4,26,754 deaths have been reported so far out of which 464 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. Also, the weekly positivity rate, which is currently at 2.41 per cent, remained below 5 per cent. The daily positivity rate, currently at 2.72 per cent, has been less than 3 per cent for the last 11 days. The testing capacity has substantially ramped up as the country has conducted 47.65 crore tests so far.

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said that he is “hopeful” that American pharmaceutical firm Novavax’s vaccine candidate against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Covavax, will be launched in India for both adults and children in October and early 2022, respectively.

“I’m hopeful that for adults, Covavax, will be launched in October, depending upon approvals from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). For kids, the Covavax vaccine will be launched in the first quarter of the next year, most likely in January-February,” Poonawalla told news agency PTI, after meeting Union home minister Amit Shah in Parliament for 30 minutes.

He also thanked the government for all the support provided to Serum Institute and said the company is always trying to expand its Covishield production capacity to meet the demand. Poonawalla met Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament and the meeting between the two lasted for 30 minutes.

“The government is helping us and we are facing no financial crunch. We are thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all the cooperation and support,” Poonawala told PTI after his meeting.

When asked about vaccines for kids, he said, “The Covovax vaccine for kids will be launched in the first quarter of the next year most likely in January-February.” Poonawala said he is hopeful that for adults Covovax will be launched in October, depending on DCGI approvals.

Jammu Kashmir’s new film policy unveiled by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in presence of Bollywood star Aamir Khan and filmmaker Raj Kumar Hirani is likely to rejuvenate the bonding between Bollywood and Kashmir.

Kashmir used to be the favourite destination of filmmakers before violence engulfed the region in the beginning of the 1990s. Who can forget films like Kashmir ki Kali, Junglee, Roti, Bobby? A hut in Gulmarg is still known as Bobby hut after the film turned a rage in the 1970s.

Renowned filmmakers and film personalities like Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Dilip Kumar in the 1960s, and later, big names like Yash Chopra, Rahul Rawail, Mani Ratnam had their deep association with Jammu and Kashmir. If all goes well, the world will once again get to see and experience the same scenario after decades

Terming the day “historic” for J&K, the Lt Governor observed that the UT Government is creating a vibrant film ecosystem to bring back the golden era of filmmaking in J&K, and transform the UT into the most preferred film destination.

Among one of the best in the country, the new film policy will transform Jammu & Kashmir and revive its halcyon days of being a cinematographer’s delight, he added.

“I invite filmmakers from across the world to come to J&K and explore the pristine beauty of Jammu and Kashmir. At the same time, also avail a host of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, besides world-class facilities offered by the J&K Government,” said the Lt Governor.

The government has set up single-window clearance mechanism; prepared equipment, location and talent directories, besides offering a host of incentives for filmmakers coming to the UT. The new policy also aims at maximizing the potential of promising local talent & creating livelihood opportunities for many, he further added.

The film policy has been drafted after consultations with the experts and in-depth study of progressive film policies of other states/UTs and aboard. Suggestions of renowned names of the Indian film industry have also been incorporated while formulating the policy. The facility, which one gets at locations in Europe or America, we are committed to providing the same at the locations in Jammu and Kashmir, the Lt Governor said.

The new film policy will also give a fillip to the film tourism sector, thus opening up more employment avenues for the locals, added the Lt Governor. As far as security is concerned, 10 lakh 52 thousand tourists coming in July alone itself shows that there is no concern from the security point of view, said the Lt Governor.

Pertinently, J&K Film Policy-2021 has been worked out to facilitate the overall growth of J&K Film Industry; setting up of Jammu & Kashmir Film Development Council; providing hands on access to Website for Talent Pool and all shooting destinations; development of shooting locales, infrastructure for film screening; revival of closed cinema halls; upgradation of existing cinema halls; encouraging setting up of multiplexes and cinema halls; destination marketing for J&K; organizing J&K Film festival; restoration and preservation of J&K Films and many more.

The Government has decided to install illuminating signages dedicated to the directors, film actors and crew members at the locations where memorable films have been shot. The installed signage boards will also have some interesting information related to the film for the attraction for the tourists, he added.