Jharkhand has asked the Centre to provide them with at least 50,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine as cases of the deadly coronavirus surge in the state.

Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta in a statement said he raised the issue at a review meeting chaired by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday.

Gupta said that Jharkhand has run out of Covid-19 vaccine doses and had sent a request to the centre to provide them with at least 50,000 doses to continue the ongoing vaccination drive in the state, however, it’s been two weeks and the vaccine hasn’t arrived in the state yet.

As per the data provided by Jharkhand Health Ministry on Thursday, 11 fresh cases of the coronavirus infection were reported in the state, taking the active caseload to 60, adding that two people successfully recovered from the viral diseased during the past 24 hours.

Gupta said that the majority of Covid-19 patients in the state experienced mild symptoms and were undergoing treatment while in isolation at their homes.

Owing to the rising cases in the country, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday chaired a high-level meeting with state health ministers and principal and additional chief secretaries, wherein he stressed on identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases.

He also highlighted ramping up testing and vaccination besides ensuring the readiness of hospital infrastructure.

The Jharkhand health minister said that Mandaviya told the states to conduct mock drills of infrastructure in hospitals and medical colleges on April 10 and 11 and review the health preparedness with district administrations on April 9.

Gupta also soughtMandaviya’s intervention for approval of four RT-PCR laboratories at Khunti, Lohardaga, Koderma and Pakur from Indian Council of Medical Research.

On Saturday, the active coronavirus cases in the country mounted to 31,194 as 6,155 new cases of the contagious virus were reported during the past 24 hours, as per the updated data provided by the Union Health Ministry’s website.

An unusual incident has come to light from Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district where a group of thieves returned the stolen money to the owner in a fear of being caught. The incident occurred in the Bilha area of the district.

The burglars stole Rs 95,000 from Shobharam Koshale’s house a few days back but returned the money the next day of the theft because they were scared of being arrested.

According to the reports, Koshale sold his village land to Rohit Yadav a few days ago and the land registry was done on March 27. After selling his village land, Kosharam received some of the proceeds in a cheque while the rest was paid in cash.

Of the total cash received, Koshale kept Rs 95,000 in the basement of his house. The next day, when he went to check his basement, the entire stack of money was missing following which he filed an FIR at the Bilha Police Station on April 1.

Soon after, the police began looking for the culprits. However, a bizarre incident happened during the investigations.

As the police started looking for the thieves, Koshale discovered the money kept in his home’s courtyard. Both Koshale and the police were taken aback by this as the full amount of Rs 95,000 was returned by the thieves to the owner.

After the incident, people kept wondering the reason behind them keeping the money back. Many assumed that the thieves left the money back in the house on purpose while others felt that they got scared of the consequences so they decided to leave the stack of money back at the house.

Meanwhile, the police are currently investigating the matter and are looking to nab the thieves as soon as possible.

Rajya Sabha MP and former IT Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday lashed out at the BJP-led Central government over the announcement of a fact-check provisions of the IT Amendment Rules announced by IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar recently.

Reacting to Chandrasekhar’s announcement that internet giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google risk losing safe harbour protection if they fail to remove content flagged by the government-notified fact-checker as false or misleading information, Sibal asked if the government will now decide what is fake news… “and yet Union Home Minister Amit Shah says democracy is not in danger.”

He said the PIB will now decide and flag what is fake or not and if internet platforms choose to ignore the recommended edits, they will lose their immunity from prosecution… “and Amit Shah ji says democracy is not in danger?”

Sibal was responding to Amit Shah’s remarks in Uttar Pradesh where the home minister launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the Gandhi scion’s recent comments on democracy during speeches in the UK.

Shah in a sharp retort to the former Wayanad MP’s comments said that democracy isn’t danger but the Gandhi family and its idea of dynasty politics is.

On Thursday, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said internet firms like Google, Facebook and Twitter may lose protection under safe harbour if they fail to remove content identified by the government-notified fact-checker as fake or misleading.

The minister, while releasing guidelines under the IT Rules 2021, announced that the IT ministry will notify an entity that will flag false information posted online pertaining to the government, adding that the work on fact check is still in progress.

Chandrasekhar, however, dismissed apprehensions and criticism of the rule change as “deliberate misinformation”, saying that the new rules do not mean sweeping or draconian powers.

He noted that IT Rules already have provisions from Oct 2022, which mandate Social Media intermediaries to not carry certain types of content if they are to have legal immunity under Sec79 of IT act.