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Venice gondolas are reducing capacity due to ‘overweight’ tourists

New Delhi (NVI): Even as pandemic has placed a heavy burden on Venice tourism industry, a new restriction has been placed where Venice’s gondola tours are reducing capacity on their boats because of too many overweight tourists, La Repubblica reported.

The new restriction will see the maximum capacity on the city’s famous gondolas reduced from six passengers to five.

However, social distancing did not prompt this change, but it is the expanding average weight of tourists huddling to the destination.

Andrea Balbi, the president of Venice’s Gondola Association said, “Over the last 10 years or so, tourists weigh more — and rather than having them step on a scale before they get on, we are limiting the number.”

The change applies to Venice’s quintessential slim boats that slither along the small canals. The maximum occupancy in the larger “da parada” gondolas, which serve mostly as taxis across the Grand Canal, has also been reduced, from 14 to 12, he added.

Balbi further said that heavier loads often mean the gondolas take on water, making it harder for gondoliers to navigate canal traffic.

Raoul Roveratto, president of the association of substitute gondoliers told Repubblica daily that, “From some countries, it’s like bombs loading on and when (the boat) is fully loaded, the hull sinks and water enters. Going forward with over half a ton of meat on board is dangerous,” he added.

Meanwhile, Venice currently licensed 433 gondoliers and 180 substitutes, but it has recently cut the number of gondolas in service because of the pandemic and the steep decline in tourists, according to media reports.

Italy’s coronavirus lockdown was so noteworthy that the city’s canal water became visibly clearer, due to the massive reduction in traffic.

Earlier this month, the European Union (EU) agreed to a set of recommendations that will allow travelers from outside the bloc to visit again.

However, the country is temporarily returning to normality and Venice is moving towards welcoming back tourists.

-RJV

DRDO sets up COVID-19 testing facility in Leh

New Delhi (NVI): DRDO has established a COVID-19 testing facility at the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) in Leh to augment the existing capacity for identification of coronavirus cases in the union territory of Ladakh, according to an official statement by Defence Ministry.

The testing facility will help in keeping a close watch at the infected persons. The facility meets the safety standards and guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The facility, inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, RK Mathur, is capable of screening 50 samples per day. The facility can also be utilized for training manpower for COVID testing and will be of great help to address future bio-threats and carrying out R&D activities pertinent to agro-animals diseases.

In his address, LG RK Mathur lauded the efforts of DRDO in fighting Covid-19 pandemic and thanked Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D & Chairman DRDO for making this facility available at DIHAR. He expressed hope that the facility will help in the treatment of infected persons.

The Lieutenant Governor was briefed about the bio-safety aspect of the testing facility and precautionary measures to minimize cross-contamination and safety of researcher, health professionals and the environment.

Dr OP Chaurasia Director DIHAR, Brig JB Singh Commandant, Dr Padma Gurmet Director NRISR, Leh, Dr Mutup Dorjey CMO along with his team of doctors from SNM Hospital, Leh and other senior army officials and DRDO scientists were also present on the occasion.

-CHK

J&K: Keralite among 7 more Covid-19 deaths, toll reaches 284

Representational image

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir today recorded seven more deaths due to Covid-19 including a resident from Kerala, taking the death toll due to the deadly virus in the UT to 284.

Officials said that seven patients who died include a 57-year-old male from Firdous Abad in Batamallo, Srinagar, a 55-year-old male from Nawakadal, a 52-year-old woman from Zonimar, a 46-year old woman from Gazriyal in Kupwara, a 60-year-old non-local resident, a 70-year-old lady from Uri in Baramulla and a 40-year-old from Chinkral Mohalla, Habba Kadal in Srinagar.

An official at SKIMS Soura hospital said that a man from Firdousabad, Srinagar was admitted on July 10 and a man from Nawakadal was admitted on July 13 with underlying ailments, both of whom died at SKIMS this morning. He said that a woman from Zonimar area of Srinagar, who was admitted on July 22, while another woman from Gazriyal, Kupwara district who was admitted on July 20 also succumbed to the virus.

He further added that a 60-year-old man from Kerala also died at SKIMS. He was tested positive for Covid-19.

An official from Baramulla district said that a 70-year-old female dialysis patient from Uri area of the district with a series of underlying medical conditions was critically ill. “Her dialysis was done at a private hospital in Srinagar and after dialysis, she was advised to go home and come after one week for another round of dialysis,” he said, adding that she was sampled because of comorbidity by CMO Srinagar and in the late hours yesterday, her result was positive. She died this morning and was laid to rest as per Covid-19 protocol.

Another 40-year-old resident of Chinkral Mohalla in Habba Kadal became the seventh victim of Covid. “He was admitted to SKIMS, Soura on July 18 and had underlying medical conditions. He was tested positive for the virus,” a doctor at SKIMS, said.

With Covid-19 claiming seven more lives in J&K, the death toll in the UT has reached 284, of which 264 were reported from Kashmir and 20 from Jammu.

-ARK

J&K BJP to celebrate 1 year of Article 370 abrogation

BJP
BJP flag

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir BJP will be celebrating the first anniversary of the revocation of Article 370 with a fortnight-long program starting August 5 and the day one will witness the unfurling of tricolor at all district headquarters in the UT, a senior party leader said today.

BJP General Secretary Ashok Koul said that a 15-day long program has been planned to celebrate one year of the historic decision.

On August 5 last year, the Central Government had announced the scrapping of Article 370 after which the erstwhile state of J&K was divided into two Union Territories (UTs)— J&K and Ladakh.

Koul said that as a BJP leader, he is quite satisfied with the outcome of last year’s August 5 announcement. He added that although Kashmir is peaceful than before, the development has not picked up the pace yet due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“See, Kashmir is today peaceful and that’s because of revocation of Article 370. On the development front, Covid-19 played a spoilsport. The way development should have taken place it hasn’t,” Koul told NVI.

He said security forces have been able to kill a record number of militants this year and protests at the encounter sites have also vanished. “Today, we see no clashes at the encounter sites as youth have realized the futility of protests,” he said.

Asked about the 15-day-long program commencing from August 5, Koul said day one will start with the unfurling of Tri-colour in all district, zonal, and tehsil party headquarters in J&K. “Municipal wards and head offices will also witness the hoisting of tricolor on August 5. There are a lot of programs on cards. We have kept a day to remember all police martyrs and all political workers killed so far in the past three decades including those killed recently,” Koul said.

BJP’s J&K spokesman Altaf Thakur said that the party has decided to celebrate the J&K’s complete integration with the Union of India. “Central ministers will address virtual rallies. They will also visit various districts of J&K and meet Refugees, Safai Karamcharis and poor people,” Thakur said.

He added that the schedule of the Union Ministers’ visit to J&K will be out soon.

-ARK

WHO launches Covid-19 Law Lab to provide legal support to manage pandemic

WHO

New Delhi (NVI): In order to help countries across the world establish and implement strong legal frameworks to manage the pandemic, the WHO has launched a new Covid-19 Law Lab to provide vital legal information and support for the global Covid response.

The COVID-19 Law Lab initiative gathers and shares legal documents from over 190 countries across the world to ensure that laws protect the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities and that they adhere to international human rights standards.

The new Lab (at www.COVIDLawLab.org) is a joint project of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.

According to WHO, well-designed laws can help build strong health systems; evaluate and approve safe and effective drugs and vaccines; and enforce actions to create healthier and safer public spaces and workplaces.

Critically, they are key to effective implementation of the WHO International Health Regulations: surveillance; infection prevention and control; management of travel and trade; and implementation of measures to maintain essential health services, the global health body said in a statement yesterday.

“Laws and policies that are grounded in science, evidence and human rights can enable people to access health services, protect themselves from COVID-19 and live free from stigma, discrimination and violence,” says Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “The COVID-19 Law Lab is an important tool for sharing good practices on laws and policies.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a vast increase in urgent legislative action to control and reduce the pandemic, says WHO.

“Strong legal frameworks are critical for national COVID-19 responses,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“Laws that impact health often fall outside the health sector. As health is global, legal frameworks should be aligned with international commitments to respond to current and emerging public health risks. A strong foundation of law for health is more important now than ever before,” he added.

However, laws that are poorly designed, implemented, or enforced can harm marginalized populations, entrench stigma and discrimination, and hinder efforts to end the pandemic, says WHO.

“Harmful laws can exacerbate stigma and discrimination, infringe on people’s rights and undermine public health responses,” according to Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

“To ensure responses to the pandemic are effective, humane and sustainable, governments must use the law as a tool to uphold the human rights and dignity of people affected by COVID-19,” she added.

The COVID-19 Law Lab is a database of laws that countries have implemented in response to the pandemic. It includes state of emergency declarations, quarantine measures, disease surveillance, legal measures relating to mask-wearing, social distancing, and access to medication and vaccines. The database will continue to grow as more countries and themes are added.

It will also feature research on different legal frameworks for COVID-19. These analyses will focus on the human rights impacts of public health laws and help countries identify best practices to guide their immediate responses to COVID-19 and socioeconomic recovery efforts once the pandemic is under control.

It builds off the work of the UHC Legal Solutions Network, which was established to help countries achieve universal health coverage through the implementation of rights-based legal frameworks.

“We need to track and evaluate how laws and policies are being used during the Pandemic to understand what works,” said Dr. Matthew M. Kavanagh, faculty in Georgetown University’s Department of International Health.

Katie Gottschalk, Executive Director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center added, “We must learn lessons from the early stage of pandemic policies to implement the most effective laws going forward – the COVID-19 Law Lab allows us to do just that.”

-ARK

PM lays foundation stone for Manipur Water Supply project

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone for Manipur Water Supply project via video conferencing and said he is giving a “Raksha Bandhan gift” to women of Manipur.

“This project will give clean drinking water to Greater Imphal and 1,700 village in Manipur. It will provide a lifeline to these people,” PM Mod said. He added that it will help women in as many as one lakh families in the state.

The project is being undertaken under the centre’s Jal Jeevan Mission, under which funds were provided to the state to ensure freshwater household tap connections (FHTCs) in at least 1,185 habitations with 1,42,749 households.

The project is an important component of the efforts of the state government to achieve the goal of ‘Har Ghar Jal’ by 2024. The project outlay is about Rs 3,054 crore with a loan component funded by the New Development Bank.

Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh, Manipur Governor Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh also attended the event.

The PM said that the project has been designed with the help of local panchayats and people living here, which he said is a “fine example of decentralisation”.

“The Manipur Water Supply project will also generate employment for thousands of people,” PM Modi said. He also highlighted the fact that work to lay the pipelines was continuing even during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“The Northeast is battling twin challenges – Covid-19 and flood. Many people have to leave their homes due to the flood. I assure you that everyone is with you in this difficult time,” said the Prime Minister.

-CHK

MP: Complete 10-day lockdown in Bhopal from July 24 after Covid-19 cases spurt

File photo

New Delhi (NVI): The Madhya Pradesh government has announced a complete 10-day lockdown in Bhopal from 8pm on July 24. The lockdown will stay effective till August 3.

This lockdown comes after an unprecedented rise in cases in Bhopal in the past 10 days.

Earlier, in meetings organised by the district administration, it was decided that lockdown will be imposed only in containment zones in the city from July 22 to July 24.

However, yesterday evening, the state government announced a 10-day complete lockdown.

In a tweet, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated, “Looking at the position of Covid-19 cases in Bhopal and the safety of citizens, it has been decided to impose a lockdown from July 24 for 10 days. All essential supplies including milk, medicines and vegetables would be available.”

Meanwhile, the lockdown period would cover two important festivals celebrated in Bhopal — Eid-al-Adha on August 1 and Raksha Bandhan on August 3.

Bhopal recorded a total of 157 cases in a single day on Wednesday while the number of cases being reported on a single day in the city has gone up by three times after lockdown restrictions were relaxed from June 1.

The total number of cases in Bhopal have rose to 4,669 since March 20 when the first case was reported.

So far, Madhya Pradesh has recorded 24,842 coronavirus cases and 770 deaths due to the deadly contagion.

-RJV/CHK

State-wise details of Covid-19 cases in India

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The number of coronavirus cases in India crossed the 12 lakh-mark today after 45,720 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, the biggest single-day spike so far, taking the total number of cases to 12, 38,635, according to Union Health Ministry data.

Meanwhile, the death toll also crossed the 29,000-mark after record 1,129 new fatalities were reported in the country during the last 24 hours.

With 3,37,607 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state in the country, followed by Tamil Nadu with 1,86,492 cases and Delhi with 1,26,323 positive cases.

Total positive cases in States/UTs:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 221

Andhra Pradesh- 64,713

Arunachal Pradesh- 949

Assam- 26,772

Bihar- 30,369

Chandigarh- 793

Chhattisgarh- 5,968

Dadar Nagar Haveli & Diu – 705

Delhi- 1,26,323

Gujarat- 51,399

Goa- 4,176

Haryana– 28,186

Himachal Pradesh- 1,725

Jammu and Kashmir- 15,711

Jharkhand- 6,485

Karnataka- 75,833

Kerala- 15,032

Ladakh- 1,206

Madhya Pradesh- 24,842

Maharashtra- 3,37,607

Manipur- 2,060

Meghalaya- 514

Mizoram- 317

Nagaland- 1,084

Odisha- 19,835

Puducherry- 2,300

Punjab- 11,301

Rajasthan- 32,334

Sikkim- 438

Tamil Nadu- 1,86,492

Telangana- 49,259

Tripura- 3,449

Uttarakhand- 5,300

Uttar Pradesh- 55,588

West Bengal – 49,321

State/UT wise total death toll:

Andhra Pradesh- 823

Arunachal Pradesh- 3

Assam- 64

Bihar- 217

Chandigarh- 13

Chhattisgarh- 29

Delhi- 3,719

Goa- 28

Gujarat- 2,224

Haryana- 372

Himachal Pradesh- 11

Jammu and Kashmir- 273

Jharkhand- 64

Karnataka- 1,519

Kerala- 45

Ladakh- 2

Madhya Pradesh- 770

Maharashtra- 12,556

Meghalaya- 4

Odisha- 108

Puducherry- 31

Punjab- 269

Rajasthan- 583

Tamil Nadu- 3,144

Telangana- 438

Tripura- 9

Uttar Pradesh- 1,263

Uttarakhand- 57

West Bengal- 1,221

However, a total of 7,82,607 people have been cured or discharged. Total active cases stand at 4,26,167.

-CHK

MP minister tests positive for Covid-19

Arvind Singh Bhadoria

New Delhi (NVI): A cabinet minister of the Madhya Pradesh government Arvind Singh Bhadoria has tested positive for coronavirus.

The minister has been admitted to a Chirayu Hospital in Bhopal during the wee hours today.

He took part in state Cabinet meeting yesterday and also attended the last rites ceremony of Governor Lalji Tandon.

With this so far, four BJP MLAs and three Congress MLAs, including an ex-ministers have tested positive for COVID-19 in the state.

However, a 10-day total lockdown has been imposed in Bhopal, starting from tomorrow evening, in the wake of sudden spurt in coronavirus cases.

-RJV

Coronavirus cases surpass 15.2 million worldwide

Coronavirus cases

New Delhi (NVI): More than 15.2 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, nearly 8.5 million have recovered, and nearly 6,23,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In the US, the total number of coronavirus cases are nearing 4 million while the death toll has crossed 1,43,000 in the country.

In Brazil, the number of infections have surpassed 2.2 million while the number of fatalities have exceeded 82,000 in the country.

France has recorded 998 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The number of confirmed cases now stands at 1,78,336.

Germany’s coronavirus infections rose by 569 to 2,03,368, with the tally of deaths up by 6 to stand at 9,101.

Hong Kong reported a record 113 new cases on Wednesday, in a continuing third wave of Covid-19 infections, including a large proportion of which are unsourced.

Argentina saw another record daily increase of new coronavirus cases. The ministry reported 5,782 newly confirmed cases, topping Tuesday’s record of 5,344 new cases. Argentina’s total confirmed cases stands at 1,41,900.

Worrying trends of coronavirus infection are emerging in southern Europe and in the Balkan region, Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies programme, has said. “We’re not out of the woods just yet in the European environment. It requires sustained vigilance,” he added.

-CHK

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