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After days of spurt, J&K records all-time low of 61 new Covid cases

Over 3,200 cops COVID positive in J&K and 15 succumbed to virus
File photo

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): After showing continuous spike for over the past one week, the Covid-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory (UT) today dropped to, an all-time low as only 61 cases including 27 travelers tested positive for the deadly virus.

The total number of positive cases, however, jumped to 4346. Today’s lowest figure comes after days of spurt in Covid positive cases which had added to the fear among the locals across the Valley. On Sunday, J&K recorded the highest number of positive cases at 620 in 24 hours, triggering a fresh wave of fear and panic among the people across the UT.

Officials said that among 61 new cases, 28 were tested positive at SKIMS, 5 at CD hospital, 11 at JVC Bemina, 3 at Army’s Command Hospital, Udhampur and rest at other hospitals.

Among 61 new cases, 44 belong to Kashmir division while 17 are from Jammu division, officials said, adding that the total number of positive cases in Kashmir has reached 3407 including 1265 recoveries and 43 deaths while the total number of positive cases in Jammu has reached to 939 including 241 recoveries and 5 deaths.

The officials said that the total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir is 2792 including 2099 from Kashmir and 693 from Jammu while the total number of recoveries has reached 1506 including 1265 in Kashmir and 241 from Jammu.

Cases that tested positive today in J&K include 4 from Anantnag, 2 from Kulgam, 13 from Srinagar, 9 from Budgam, 7 from Kupwara, 5 from Baramulla and 1 each from Bandipora, Pulwama, Shopian and Ganderbal in Kashmir while 17 from Jammu include 4 each from district Jammu and Kishtiwar, 3 each from Kuthua and Reasi, 2 from Ramban and 1 from Udhampur.

As per official figures, 583 positive cases include 6 deaths and 155 recoveries from Kulgam, 487 including 9 deaths and 121 recoveries from Baramulla, 479 including 12 deaths and 146 recoveries from Srinagar, 462 including 255 recoveries and 5 deaths from Anantnag, 403 including 133 recoveries and 4 deaths from Shopian, 357 including 198 recoveries and 3 deaths from Kupwara, 225 including 136 recoveries and 1 death from Bandipora, 209 including 78 recoveries and 2 deaths from Budgam, 189 including 17 recoveries and 1 death from Pulwama and 58 including 26 recoveries are from Ganderbal.

In Jammu, 238 including 90 recoveries and 3 deaths are from Jammu district, 170 including 22 recoveries are from Ramban, 131 including 34 recoveries and 1 death is from Udhampur, 121 including 45 recoveries are from Kathua, 73 including 5 recoveries from Poonch, 63 including 23 recoveries from Samba, 57 including and 13 recoveries are from Rajouri, 42 including 1 death is from Doda, 23 including 3 recoveries are from Reasi and 21 including 4 recoveries are from Kishtwar.

As per the daily information bulletin, 2,19,178 persons in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while 41,154 persons have been kept under home quarantine. Apart from that, 2792 persons are in hospital isolation while 33 persons are under hospital quarantine. According to the bulletin, 1,19,312 persons have completed surveillance period and 55,839 persons are under home surveillance.

So far, results of 245,816 samples are available out of which 231,470 stand negative while 4346 have been tested positive. Among positive cases, 2792 are active and 1506 persons have recovered while 48 persons have died.

J&K Govt helps farmers in transporting cherry to markets amid lockdown

Srinagar (NVI): Amid the Covid-19 lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, the UT government today said that a “mechanism has been worked out” for the speedy transportation of horticultural produce, especially the bumper cherry crop in the Valley this year.

This was stated by the Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, KK Sharma, in Srinagar today. Sharma said that seasonal fruit cherry will be transported by way of various interventions from farms to markets.

“Government is fully abreast with the situation that has arisen out of COVID 19 pandemic due to which the cherry growers and processing unit holders are facing problems. Necessary steps are being taken for ensuring the transportation of Cherry crop to other parts of the country where they are marketed,” Sharma said while interacting with the farmers involved in Cherry produce in Kashmir.

Sharma asked Director, Horticulture Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmed to provide all the necessary help to the unit holders with regard to the movement passes and other related things. “With regard to the provision of subsidy on transportation of cherry to different terminal markets it would be taken up with the concerned,” the LG’s advisor said and nominated Deputy Director Horticulture as a Nodal officer for liaisoning with the cherry processing unit holders and taking necessary steps for addressing their grievances.

Speaking on the occasion, Director Horticulture informed the Advisor that 215 tons of cherry has already been exported to different markets of the country and around 1000 boxes have been airlifted to Mumbai till date. He also said that 2000 tons of raw cherry was exported to different mandies (markets) of the country last year. Besides, 6000 tons are set to be transported.

Enforced disappearances: Baloch people’s unending wait for loved ones

(Pic: voicepk.net)

New Delhi (NVI): Almost every household in Balochistan lives in fear of their men being abducted, says Haseeba Qambrani, who hails from this province of Pakistan which has been facing oppression at the hands of state authorities.

Haseeba was one of the thousands of people from Balochistan who held a protest in Quetta against enforced disappearances and killings by Pakistan state-supported gangs.

One of her brothers was killed after abduction, while two other brothers are still missing after ‘disappearing’ in February. Disappearance is a euphemism for abductions carried out by the Pakistani intelligence people and the gangs supported by them.

Many a time the kidnapped people are found in deformed state, sometimes even years after their abduction. Some are not even that lucky as their loved ones are never found. The people keep pleading with the government to help recover their sons, brothers, husbands and friends but without any success.

“We don’t celebrate anything. We just mourn…. My grief is there for all to see,” Haseeba wept as she participated in the protest and spoke to Voicepk.net.

Haseeba spoke about how her family first found the deformed body of one of her brothers before two more brothers Hizbullah and Hassan Qambrani disappeared on February 14.

She said the youth of Balochistan have ended up becoming targets of a witch hunt.

Zakir Baloch is another youth who went missing 11 years and his mother and sister continue to make tireless efforts to find him. They not only marched across Pakistan but also took the case up to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the National Commission for Missing Persons along with the cases of other missing persons from Balochistan.

“Today we have all gathered with the families of missing persons including that of Zakir Majeed Baloch, the Vice Chairman of the Baloch Students Organization, who was abducted from Parangabad, Mastung,” said Mahrang Baloch, whose father Abdul Ghaffar was also abducted and later killed.

Mahrang according to Voicepk.net, said that apart from the Interior Minister of that time, then President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari had also assured them of Zakir’s recovery and had said that enforced disappearances were against the Constitution of Pakistan.

“Zakir Baloch’s mother still cries everyday and we don’t understand where to go and what to do anymore. My mother cries too…as for father he has stopped saying anything. But I protest and I not just Haseeba anymore, I am Farzana, I am Mahrang, I am Bramsh and I am Balochistan. Our brothers are either made addicts or abducted,” Haseeba said.

Prominent Baloch leader Nasrullah Baloch said if any missing person had committed a crime, they should be produced before courts and tried there but they should be released immediately if they are not guilty.

“The issue should be resolved according to the law and if anyone has died in custody then their families must be informed now,” said Baloch.

According to Amnesty International, enforced disappearances have been taking place for a long time and despite the pledges of successive governments to criminalize the practice, there has been slow movement on legislation while people continue to be forcibly picked up and made to disappear with impunity.

The Amnesty International says the “Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) has more than 2,178 cases unresolved as of now. As per the Commission’s recent monthly report, 48 cases disposed of in the month of January 2019, included 46 traced persons out of which 29 were returned home, 10 were traced to internment centers, five are in jails on terrorism charges and two were described as “dead bodies”.

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance has more than 700 cases pending from Pakistan. The number of cases of victims of enforced disappearance recorded by victim groups is much higher.

Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is rare: WHO

New Delhi (NVI): The World Health Organisation has said that the spread of coronavirus through people without symptoms or asymptomatic cases is very rare, despite several reports claiming that the virus is spreading rapidly even in the absence of signs for Covid-19 infection.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s official epidemiologist said at a press briefing in Geneva yesterday that experts still believe such spread of the disease is very rare and it would be premature to arrive on any conclusion.

“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” said Van Kerkhove.

She also acknowledged that many countries are reporting cases where the virus is spreading from people who are asymptomatic. She said that many of these cases were identified through contact tracing of known patients and the lack of onward transmission by asymptomatic individuals was based on data from countries carrying out detailed contact tracing.

She said WHO was reviewing such data to be sure as “much of that has been published in the literature yet,”

However, prominent health and medical experts took the WHO’s announcement with a pinch of salt, underscoring how the scientific community is still far from consensus over how the novel coronavirus operates.

Kejriwal tests negative for corona

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had complained of fever and throat pain on Sunday, has tested negative for novel coronavirus, his party said today.

The Delhi CM had undergone a test for Covid-19 earlier in the day, the reports for which came negative. Kejriwal had gone into self-isolation yesterday after complaining of uneasiness.

The 51-year-old APP leader hasn’t met anyone since Sunday afternoon and has isolated himself at his official residence in Delhi.

Kejriwal was also not able to attend the special all-party meeting called by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to review Covid-19 situation in the national capital at 3 PM today, owing to his ill health.

India-China standoff: Disengagement starts

India-China face-off: Core issue is to 'strictly' follow bilateral border pacts, says MEA

New Delhi (NVI): After a month-long military standoff, the process of de-escalation between India and China has started along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh region.

Both sides have moved back their troops at several locations in Eastern Ladakh, according to sources.

The Chinese Army, which had kicked off the tensions by objecting to a road construction project of India, has moved its troops up to 2.5 kms in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and PP-15 areas. India too moved back some of its troops and vehicles in these areas.

The process of de-escalation comes three days after top military commanders of the two countries met at Chushul-Moldo area at LAC and agreed not to escalate tensions by abiding to the guidance provided by their leadership.

After the disengagement, the military commanders of the two countries are to hold further talks in the coming few days to discuss ways to avoid such confrontations in the future.

After the talks on June 6, India’s External Affairs Ministry said, “Both sides agreed to peacefully resolve the situation in the border areas in accordance with various bilateral agreements and keeping in view the agreement between the leaders that peace and tranquility in the India-China border regions is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations.”

It added, “Accordingly, the two sides will continue the military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation and to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas.”

China also has been talking about resolving the matter peacefully and not allow it to escalate.

The military stand-off in the Ladakh sector was triggered in early May after China objected to the construction of a road by India on its side of the LAC, claiming that it is their territory. After that, both sides mobilised thousands of troops, making it an eyeball-to-eyeball situation.

Earlier on June 5, senior officials of the foreign ministries of the two countries held talks and both sides agreed that they should handle the differences through “peaceful discussion”.

The talks were held via video conference between Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Indian External Affairs Ministry and Wu Jianghao, Director General in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The two sides reviewed the state of bilateral relations including the current developments, the External Affairs Ministry said, clearly referring to the LAC stand-off.

Bangladesh COVID-19 tally exceeds 71,000; 975 dead

(Image source: United News of Bangladesh)

New Delhi (NVI): Bangladesh today saw the highest number of single day new cases and deaths. A whopping 3,117 new cases were reported, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 71,675.

The country also recorded a total of 45 deaths due to the novel coronavirus during this period, raising the death tally to 975, according to United News of Bangladesh.

So far, a total of 15,336 people have recovered from the deadly contagion, after 777 more patients made recovery.

Against the total number of detected cases, the recovery rate is 21.4 per cent and the mortality rate is 1.36 per cent in the country.

Altogether 7,021 policemen have been infected with coronavirus across the country so far.

542 new COVID cases in Afghanistan; tally hits 21,459

New Delhi (NVI): The coronavirus cases in Afghanistan saw a rise of 542 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number to 21,459, according to Afghan media reports.

The death toll due to the virus rose to 384 with 15 new fatalities being reported in the last 24 hours.

Among the fresh cases reported, Kabul was at the top of the list with 213 new cases, followed by Herat with 142.

Other provinces reporting cases were Paktia (22), Nangarhar (92), Ghazni (36), Logar (4), Laghman (12), Kunduz (8), Kunar (1), Kapisa (5) and Panjshir (7).

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health said 2,651 people have recovered from the respiratory disease in Afghanistan.

So far, 49,530 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the country, as per media reports.

Meanwhile, the deputy public health minister Wahid Majroh said, “The number of infected people is more than what we announce. So far we have announced the number of positive cases that have been tested, but many people are not coming to health centers who have mild symptoms.”

“Those people who outside their homes must wear masks,” he added.

Massive fire at Assam oil well

New Delhi (NVI): A natural-gas producing well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district caught fire this afternoon. The oil well had been leaking for the last 14 days, according to media reports.

The blaze may also spread to adjoining areas, reports said, adding that the Assam Government has requested the Indian Air Force and Army to extinguish the fire.

Large plumes of smoke were seen emanating from the well, located at Baghjan. According to a senior OIL official, the fire broke out at 1.40 pm at the site. Three experts from Singapore have also reached the site to douse the fire, reports said.

The blowout was reported at the Baghjan well on May 27 while work was underway to produce gas from a new oil and gas-bearing reservoir at a depth of 3,729 meters.

Since the May 27 incident, around 2,000 people living near the site have been shifted to four relief camps.

 

Pak reports more than 100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day

COVID-19: Pakistan imposes mini-lockdown in Islamabad

New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan has now surpassed the 1 lakh mark in coronavirus cases after nearly 7,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 1,10,065 with at least 2,189 fatalities.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh province has reported 41,303 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 40,819 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 14,006 cases, Balochistan is at 6,788, Gilgit-Baltistan at 952, Islamabad at 5,785 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 412 cases so far, according to Geo News.

Ministry of National Health Services stated that 35,018 patients have fully recovered from the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb was tested positive a day after she confirmed that former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was tested positive.

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