A healthcare worker collects a test swab sample from a child amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a testing centre inside a hospital in New Delhi. (Reuters)Delhi Live News: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said the national capital is expected to record about 17,000 Covid-19 cases and the number of cases has declined for the third consecutive day.
On figures provided by states and Union Territories under Baal Swaraj Portal-COVID care, NCPCR stated that a total of 1,47,492 children since April 1, 2020, have lost either their mother or father or both parents due to Covid-19 and other reasons, to the supreme court. NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) addressed it to the apex court in order to access care and protection for these children after losing their parents.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority has exempted persons with disabilities and pregnant employees of the city government’s departments and agencies from attending office, amid surge in Covid-19 cases in the national capital.
With the maximum temperature falling below normal, ‘cold day’ conditions were recorded in parts of Delhi for the second consecutive day on Saturday and is predicted to continue till Sunday.
National Security Guard (NSG) and police personnel with a sniffer dog examine the nearby areas after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found inside a bag at Ghazipur flower market. (PTI)
National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has advocated increasing taxes on tobacco products as well as on films, OTT platforms and other media that display use of such items in any form.
He said affordability and easy availability of lethal tobacco products is harmful, especially for the youth, and an increase in taxes will not only make these products out of bounds, but the additional revenues earned can be used for the treatment and rehabilitation of those suffering from tobacco-related diseases.
At present, India loses more than 13 lakh of its citizens annually to tobacco and secondhand smoke. "The number of tobacco users is rising and it is scary to note that children between 13 and 15 years of age constitute 8.5 per cent of them," said Prof (Dr) Uma Kumar, Head of Rheumatology Department, AIIMS, New Delhi. (PTI)
The Gurgaon health department in association with 'Park+' application on Sunday organised a COVID-19 vaccination drive in Cyberhub here for the 15-18 age group and those requiring booster doses.
"This initiative is aimed at benefiting teenagers with first dose and adults with comorbidities to get booster doses since they are the most vulnerable in the current pandemic situation. The drive will help in maximising convenience as these people can get vaccinatedin the comfort of their own car. We plan to have many more similar camps in Gurgaon in theis useful coming weeks," Virender Yadav, Chief Medical Officer, Gurgaon said.
Park+ application to manage car needs has close to 2 million downloads, and its access control and parking automation solutions are deployed at prime locations, including airports, malls and over 3,000 residential apartment gates. (PTI)
India's 'R-value', which indicates how rapidly COVID-19 is spreading, was recorded at 2.2 between January 7 and 13, a drop from the previous two weeks, according to a preliminary analysis by IIT Madras. The R value of Mumbai was 1.3, Delhi 2.5, Chennai 2.4 and Kolkata 1.6, according to the analysis by IIT Madras' Department of Mathematics and Centre of Excellence for Computational Mathematics and Data Science headed by Prof Neelesh S Upadhye and Prof S Sundar.
It was close to 2.9 nationally from December 25 to December 31 while it was 4 between January 1 and 6. The R value marks the number of people an infected person can spread the disease to. A pandemic is considered to end if this value goes below 1. Dr Jayant Jha, an assistant professor in the department of mathematics at IIT Madras, said the R value depends on transmissibility probability, contact rate and expected time interval in which infection can happen.
India added 2,71,202 new coronavirus infections to the Covid case tally that reached 3,71,22,164 on Sunday, including 7,743 cases of the Omicron variant. The country saw 1,702 new cases of Omicron variant, the highest in a day so far, and an increase of 28.17 per cent since Saturday. Experts said it is not possible to undertake genome sequencing of each and every sample, but stressed that this wave is largely being driven by Omicron. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre and the customs department to ensure that any pending Look Out Circular (LOC) against a man is deleted so that he does not face inconvenience or humiliation at airports.
The order of the court came after the customs department submitted that it does not want an LOC issued against the petitioner to be extended.
"In the light of the aforesaid stand taken by...(customs department counsel), the respondent nos 1 and 2 (Centre and customs department) will ensure that any pending LOC against the petitioner be deleted so that he is not put to any further inconvenience or humiliation at the airports," Justice Rekha Palli said.
Petitioner Captain Jagminder Singh Brar, in his plea, had submitted that as and when he enters or wishes to leave India, he has always been unnecessarily harassed by immigration authorities at the airports, without being informed of any reason. (PTI)
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain sought to nix concerns over "fewer" Covid testing in the national capital, saying the diagnostic tests being conducted in the city is three times the number recommended by ICMR. All those who need to undergo testing are being tested, he said.
According to the Centre's new guidelines, asymptomatic patients do not need to undergo a test. Also, contacts of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients do not require a test unless they have comorbidities or are aged above 60.
Jain said these new guidelines on testing have come after thoughtful consideration. (PTI)
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the government will monitor the situation for 3-4 days before reviewing curbs to check the spread of Covid-19.
He added that hospital admissions have plateaued and the Covid positivity rate will also come down.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Sunday said the national capital is expected to record about 17,000 Covid-19 cases today with case positivity expected to decline. He added that the number of cases has declined for the third consecutive day.
Three hundred government schools in Delhi have been selected to pilot a 'kindness wall' scheme. As per this scheme, schools with boundary walls facing roads or major streets will set up a designated portion of these with multiple hooks so that people willing to donate items such as clothes, food and footwear can give them away for the needy.
Those in need may pick up the items from the wall anytime they like. Schools have been told that this should be promoted as through this "anonymous giving and receiving initiative", the dignity of the receiver is upheld all the time. The walls will have a poster saying 'Neki Ki Deewar’.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to redevelop and beautify the Hanuman Mandir complex at Connaught Place with traditional Jaisalmer stones and granite, ultra-modern technology, green toilet blocks, sanitary napkin vending machines and other basic amenities for visitors and devotees.
NDMC Vice-Chairperson Satish Upadhyay said the redevelopment of Hanuman Mandir Vatika is being done under the vision of the Prime Minister's Swachh Bharat Mission and as part of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ being celebrated to mark 75 years of India’s Independence.
"Under this beautification and redevelopment work, NDMC is replacing all the granite flooring, old tiles on the footpath with granite and Jaisalmer marble cladding. The old blocked drainage system will be replaced with a new drainage system and it will be covered with granite, there will be a modernised shoe house provision for devotees, the old tree guard will be replaced with stainless steel and drinking water will be provided to visitors 24x7,” said Upadhyay.
The NDMC will also replace the lighting fixtures and install decorative lights, lanterns and poles at the temple.
The CBI has arrested the director (marketing) of GAIL in a case of allegedly taking bribe of over Rs 50 lakh from perspective beneficiaries of a policy of providing discounts to dealers selling products of the Maharatna PSU.
The CBI had unearthed the alleged bribery scam involving Ranganathan, middlemen, and businessmen, and arrested five individuals on Saturday.
The central agency had conducted searches at eight locations including the office and residence of Ranganathan. "Cash of Rs 1.29 crore (approx), and gold jewellery & other valuables were recovered during searches from the premises of said accused (Ranganathan)," CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.
Founder of the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC), professional mountaineer, and Padma Shri recipient — Major HPS Ahluwalia donned many hats. He passed away on Friday evening at the age of 85.
At the age of 26, Major Ahluwalia was part of the first Indian expedition to summit Mount Everest in 1965. Six months to the exact date of scaling the Everest, he was posted at Gulmarg during the Indo-Pak war when a gunshot wound to his neck left him paralysed waist down and confined him to a wheelchair.
Read more
The three municipal corporations of Delhi — North, South and East — have come up with amnesty schemes for property taxpayers as the financial year nears closure.
The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has extended the last date for the amnesty scheme for depositing property tax till January 31 from January 15. Under this scheme, a 100 per cent rebate on interest and penalty will be given to those depositing outstanding taxes.
The Mayor of East Delhi, Shyam Sunder Aggarwal, said that owing to a surge in Covid cases and weekend lockdowns, many people are not able to take advantage of the scheme and hence, the extension was given.
Read more
After inoculating around 2 lakh pregnant women and lactating mothers in the capital, the Delhi government has decided to deploy ASHA and anganwadi workers to create awareness and encourage those left to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
It is also planning to set up exclusive centres, such as pink booths, in all sub-divisions and prioritise pregnant women at government vaccination centres. There are about 4,000 ASHA and anganwadi workers in all 11 districts.
Under the campaign, workers will visit each division, sub-division, RWA, colony, street, and slum cluster to talk about why vaccination is important for expectant women, who constitute 2% of Delhi’s total population, and to break the myth that it is harmful for the baby.
Read more
The camera traps at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary have shown the presence of around 20 mammals, while a bird survey conducted on Saturday counted around 45 species of birds.
The mammals at the sanctuary include five leopards that have been found to mostly use streams and forests of dhau trees within the sanctuary for movement, said Sohail Madan, who heads the Conservation Education Centre of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.
There are two adult males, two adult females, and one sub-adult — the fifth leopard that was recently spotted on the camera traps.
Read more
A day after an improvised explosive device (IED) was discovered inside an unattended bag at East Delhi’s Ghazipur flower market, police said preliminary forensic examination has revealed that it was a military-grade explosive, which is not easily available and has been used in the past by “external elements” for making bombs.
Security agencies had a scare on Friday as the IED, set to go off at 11.40 am, was discovered a little over an hour earlier. It was destroyed via a controlled explosion by the National Security Guard’s (NSG) bomb detection and disposal team, which first created an eight-foot-deep ditch in an open area. An FIR has been registered at the Special Cell police station.
Read more
A draft policy has been prepared by the Delhi government to make the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) mandatory for ride aggregators and delivery services in newly inducted vehicles.
Going by the policy, aggregators and delivery services will have to ensure 10% of all newly inducted two-wheelers and 5% of new four-wheelers are electric within three months of the date of notification. And, a total of 50% of all new two-wheelers and 25% of all new four-wheelers will have to be electric by March 2023.
Read more
The IMD has forecasted a ‘cold day’ for Delhi on Sunday. The maximum temperature on Sunday is likely to be 14 degree Celsius, while the minimum is predicted to stand at 6 degree Celsius. Moderate fog remains on the forecast for Jan 17 and 18.
The minimum temperature is forecasted to climb back up to 9 degree Celsius by Jan 20, while the maximum temperature is also likely to rise to around 19 degrees by then, going by the IMD forecast. A western disturbance is likely to affect parts of northwest India from Jan 18 onwards and the IMD has predicted the possibility of rainfall for Delhi on Jan 21.
Read more
Delhi on Saturday reported 20,718 fresh Covid-19 cases, nearly 4,000 less than the previous day’s tally, according to the Delhi state health bulletin. The decline in the number of cases, however, was driven by fewer tests being conducted after the new ICMR guidelines did away with testing on demand.
The positivity rate – proportion of samples that return positive – remained the same as the previous day at 30.64 per cent. This, however, is less than the positivity rate of over 36 per cent seen during the delta variant-driven wave of infections in April-May last year.
Read more