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Over 39,000 fresh Covid cases in India, death toll at 26,816

Representational Image

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in India today rose to over 10.7 lakh with 39,000 fresh cases reported in the past 24 hours. At least 543 people have died due to the virus since yesterday, taking the death toll to 26,816.

With this, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country have gone up to 10,77,618. At present, there are 3,73,379 active cases, while around 6.7 lakh patients have recovered.

Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state as the tally of Covid cases crossed the three-lakh mark today with Mumbai reporting over 1 lakh cases alone.

In Delhi, the AIIMS Ethics Committee has given its nod for a human clinical trial of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin. The hospital is likely to begin the exercise from tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said that with the spike in cases, the country now shows community transmission and the situation looks bad.

Over 14 million people have been infected with the virus globally, while 6,02,656 have died.

In another development, South Africa now ranks fifth in the world as per the caseload as Africa witnesses a surge in positive cases. South Africa has reported 13,285 new confirmed cases as the tally reaches 3,50,879. With this the country leaves behing Peru and makes up roughly half the cases in Africa.

The US, Brazil, India, and Russia are top four countries with the most number of cases.

-ARK

Covid-19: Positive cases in J&K cross 13,000-mark with 441 fresh cases

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir today recorded 441 new cases, including 55 travelers, taking the total number of positive cases to over 13,000 in the Union Territory.

With 441 new cases, the tally of positive cases in J&K reached 13,198 including 10,511 from Kashmir and 2,687 from Jammu.

Among 441 new cases, 398 belong to Kashmir division while 43 are from Jammu division, officials said. The total number of positive cases in Kashmir division has reached 10,511 including 5,456 recoveries and 218 deaths while the total number of positive cases in Jammu division have reached 2,687 including 1,709 recoveries and 18 deaths.

The total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir stands at 5,797 including 4,837 from Kashmir division and 960 from Jammu division.

With 607 more recoveries, the tally of total recoveries in the UT has reached 7,165 which is 54.28 percent of the total cases.

Cases tested positive in J&K include 124 from Srinagar, 25 from Kulgam, 63 from Baramulla, 27 from Shopian, 47 from Anantnag, 02 from Kupwara, 48 from Pulwama, 41 from Budgam, 05 from Bandipora and 16 from Ganderbal in Kashmir division while as 43 from Jammu division include 15 from Jammu, 02 from Udhampur, 03 from Kuthua, 06 from Rajouri, 12 from Samba, 04 from Doda and 01 from Reasi.

Officials added that out of 1,055 samples tested 79 including 1-year-old baby from Saloora, Ganderbal and three from Sonawari camp Bandipora were tested positive.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir today reported five deaths including one each from Kulgam, Anantnag, Pulwama, Budgam and Bandipora.

As per the official figures, 1,982 positive cases including 59 deaths and 570 recoveries are from Srinagar, 1,527 including 48 deaths and 848 recoveries are from Baramulla, 1,140 including 791 recoveries and 24 deaths are from Kulgam, 1,082 including 18 deaths and 791 recoveries are from Shopian, 1,032 including 18 deaths and 679 recoveries are from Anantnag, 833 including 533 recoveries and 13 deaths are from Kupwara, 842 including 463 recoveries and 11 deaths are from Pulwama, 749 including 388 recoveries and 18 deaths are from Budgam, 428 including 329 recoveries and 05 deaths are from Bandipora, 267 including 111 recoveries and 04 death are from are from Ganderbal.

In Jammu division, 584 including 394 recoveries and 11 deaths are from Jammu district, 352 including 239 recoveries and 01 death are from Kathua, 339 including 109 recoveries and 01 death are from Rajouri, 324 including 291 recoveries and 01 death is from Udhampur, 318 including 223 recoveries are from Ramban, 328 including 174 recoveries and 01 death are from Samba, 158 including 02 death and 82 recoveries are from Samba, 158 including 82 recoveries and 02 deaths are from Doda, 152 including 124  recoveries and 01 death is from Poonch and 68 including 28 recoveries are from Kishtwar and 64 including 45 recoveries are from Reasi.

As per the daily information bulletin, 3,26,536 peeople in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while 38,750 persons have been kept under home quarantine besides that 5,797 people are in hospital isolation, meanwhile, 13 people are under hospital quarantine.

According to the bulletin, 2,38,260 persons have completed surveillance period and 43,480 people are under home surveillance.

-CHK

Arunachal Pradesh to get 100% tap connections by 2023 under Jal Jeevan Mission

New Delhi (NVI): Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to provide 100 percent tap water connections to all the households in the state by 2023 under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the flagship programme of the Central Government, which aims to provide safe drinking water to all, according to the Jal Shakti Ministry.

In hilly areas, it is a huge burden on the women of the household to go and fetch water from a distance, which takes heavy toll on their body. To reduce their drudgery, this mission has come as a boon and aims to provide potable water to every rural household in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis.

The Government of India has approved Rs 255 crore for Arunachal Pradesh under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in 2020-21.

Even though water availability in Arunachal Pradesh is not an issue, it is challenges faced in the implementation due to the tough mountainous terrain, sparsely located habitations and the harsh climatic conditions. However, the state government has charted a plan to cover all villages/ habitations so as potable water reaches every rural household.

Being a hilly state, gravity-based water supply system is used in Arunachal Pradesh, which means the force of gravity is used to move the water downhill from a source to the village. An intake structure is built to collect the water from surface sources, which is then conveyed to the village through a pipe system.

The implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission in these tough terrains and high altitude is a challenging task. Impediments increase with the harsh climatic conditions and poor connectivity.

Jal Jeevan Mission was announced in August last year and is a centrally-sponsored project which aims to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024.

It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to bring improvements in the lives of people of the country, especially the rural people.

-CHK

India lodges protest with Pak over cross-LoC killing in J&K

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): India today lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over killing of three members of a family in cross-LoC shelling in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir yesterday by summoning Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistan High Commission to the External Affairs Ministry.

The acting envoy of Pakistan was “summoned today and a strong protest lodged on the death of three innocent civilians, including a child (and injury to another child), in an unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistani forces in the night of 17 July 2020 in Krishna Ghati Sector in Jammu and Kashmir. The deceased persons belonged to a single family,” External Affairs Ministry said in a statement tonight.

“India condemns, in the strongest terms, the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians by Pakistan forces,” it added.

This year alone, 21 Indians have been killed and 94 injured in over 2711 unprovoked ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces, it noted.

“India also protested Pakistan’s continued support to cross border terrorist infiltration into India, including supporting cover fire provided by Pakistani forces,” the statement said.

Pakistan was called upon to adhere to the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding for maintaining peace and tranquility along the Line of Control and the International Boundary, it said.

Taiwan’s LED lighting industry flourishes making it the 3rd largest supplier globally  

New Delhi (NVI): Taiwan has become the third largest supplier of LED lighting in the world, with LED as its cornerstone since the past ten years.

Taiwan’s lighting industry has gone through the traditional industry process and in order to break new ground and demonstrate their competitiveness, Taiwanese LED companies have invested in developing special lighting, fused with the international green energy trend to create a new market based on innovative design, a statement released by the Taiwan Excellence stated.

Notably, there has been tremendous transformation in the global LED component industry in recent years. The size of the LED lighting market will reach 56.6 billion USD in 2023, with a compound annual growth of 9 percent from 2018 to 2023 and 3 percent from 2018 to 2021, according to the estimates of LED Inside.

Taiwan lighting companies have entered the international market with unique designs and professional green energy lighting technology, successfully illuminating our new world.

Furthermore, based on the four comprehensive criteria, R&D, Design, Quality and Marketing, the outstanding LED products with the most innovative value will be annually selected for the Taiwan Excellence Awards by TAITRA.

In the race for the Excellence Award is Taiwan’s one of the leading LED manufacturing companies, Rooster Lighting, which has been an exemplar of the “Made in Taiwan” policy ever since its establishment in 1989. In order to move with the times, Rooster Lighting applies multimedia and light carving technology to create a brand-new visual experience that features the interaction of light, shadow and space.

Rooster Lighting’s designs are full of the emotional energy and spirit unique to Taiwan. Moreover, the beauty of Taiwan’s cities and the local culture integration are perfectly showcased through their lighting design.

Their LED lights are powered completely by solar energy, and the floor tile coating is also made of 100 percent recyclable glass. It marks Rooster Lightning’s first time to join the Taiwan Excellence Awards.

Xu Jin-hao, the Vice President of Rooster Lighting, said, “Lighting itself is actually an energy-consuming industry. We hope that we can transform the traditional industry through such products and develop the products towards smart and green energy.”

In addition to this, Epoch Chemtronics Corp from Hsinchu, has long been making industrious and enterprising efforts in the LED application industry.

Currently, Epoch Chemtronics Corp is one of the top three suppliers of LED backlight modules in Taiwan.

The company’s services in the international market have a sterling reputation. For example, the supermarkets in Frankfurt Airport, Germany, the post offices in Belgium, and the commercial buildings in Dubai are all currently using the customized lighting planning services provided by Epoch Chemtronics Corp.

-CHK

Spain orders culling of at least 1 lakh minks after many test coronavirus positive

New Delhi (NVI): Spanish authorities have ordered the culling of almost 1,00,000 mink following an outbreak at a farm, where the animals are bred for fur, after a number of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The outbreak in north-easter Spain’s Aragón province was discovered after a farm employee’s wife contracted the virus in May.

Her husband and six other farm workers have since tested positive for the disease.

The Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Environment of Spain’s Aragon region said in a statement that it had ordered the slaughter of 92,700 mink after seven workers on the farm tested positive for Covid-19 and the animals were found to be infected with the coronavirus, according to media reports.

The mink, bred for their prized fur, were isolated and monitored closely after the workers became infected.

As a precaution the department shut down the farm, in Teruel, on May 22, for monitoring before conducting a number of tests at random, which initially returned a negative result. However, subsequent tests, the most recent of which was July 7, confirmed 78 out of 90 animals tested – infected with the coronavirus.

Notably, it has been known for a while that mink can catch the infection. And the conditions in a mink farm are such that the disease can spread quickly from one animal to another.

This is however, not the first mink farm to face a coronavirus outbreak. In May, Dutch authorities introduced mandatory testing in mink farms in the Netherlands after they said they believed a mink might have passed on the COVID-19 virus to a human. This lead to the culling of up to one million mink in two dozen farms in the country, according to a report by CNN.

Along with Madrid and Catalonia, Aragón is one of the coronavirus hotspots in Spain, where more than 2,50,000 infections and 28,000 deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic.

-CHK

Buddha statue smashed to pieces in Pakistan

A Screengrab from video, which has gone viral on social media, showed locals smashing the Buddha statue

New Delhi (NVI): Reflecting Talibani mentality, extremists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan smashed into pieces a Buddha statue, which was believed to be centuries old and was unearthed during a construction activity.

The incident occurred in Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to local media reports.

In a video which recorded the smashing of the statue with a sledge hammer, a Maulvi is heard telling others that the statue must be broken, failing which they would burn in hell.

The area is a tourist destination for people from Sri Lanka, Korea and Japan since it was a part of the Gandhara civilisation, one of the earliest urban settlements documented in the history of the sub-continent, the Express Tribune newspaper of Pakistan reported.

It was excavated in 1836 for the first time. Moreover, archaeologists have excavated hundreds of relics made of clay, stucco and terracotta in the area.

The Mardan district authorities have taken notice of the incident and are looking into the matter, the Express Tribune reported.

Director Archeology Abdul Samad said the area was traced and those involved in vandalism will be held accountable. “We have located the area and we will soon have those involved arrested,” he said.

This is not the first time that such historic treasures and symbols of religions other than Islam have been destroyed or attacked in Pakistan.

Recently, extremists forced halting of construction of a Hindu temple in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. Earlier, some Buddhist artefacts in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir were defaced.

The extremists in Pakistan get encouraged because of the patronage of the government and the all-powerful Pakistan Army and they openly display intolerance towards other religions.

There have been umpteen cases of young girls of Hindus and Christians being abducted and forcibly converted to Islam and coercively married to the abductors, who may even be of the age of the girl’s grandfather.

As a result of this kind of environment, religious minorities in Pakistan live a life of hell.

Bhubaneswar, Cuttack under lockdown till July 31 as COVID-19 cases spurt

Sudhanshu Sarangi

Subrat Kumar Sarangi

New Delhi (NVi): With a surge in COVID cases in Odisha’s twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the administration has enforced complete lockdown till July 31.

The Commissioner of Police, Sudhanshu Sarangi has issued fresh directives for the lockdown in the state. In addition to this, Sarangi said that lockdown 5.0 will be more stricter than the previous ones in view of the spike in coronavirus cases in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

Citizens cannot enter or leave the Twin City without obtaining permission from the police. Only people with medical urgency or any other emergency can enter or leave Cuttack, Bhubaneswar after obtaining vehicle passes, he added.

The Commissioner urged people to adhere to the guidelines and follow this lockdown policy till July 31 to combat the deadly virus.

He also urged senior citizens not to venture out of their houses and warned stringent action will be initiated if anyone found violating this rule.

During the lockdown, vegetable and grocery shops will be allowed to open from 6 am to 1 pm. While banks have been asked to operate with 25 per cent workforce.

Police further added that Biju Patnaik International Airport and railway station will continue to function during this lockdown.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government today warned strong action against hospitals and clinics reluctant in admitting patients from COVID hotspot districts.

Furthermore, Odisha Chief Secretary, Asit Tripathy, today tweeted that action will be initiated if any hospitals are found violating the policy framed by the government.

-RJV

Rajnath Singh visits forward post near LoC in Kupwara district of J&K

Rajnath Singh at a forward post in Kupwara district.

New Delhi (NVI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today visited a forward post near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district.

He was accompanied by chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat and army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.

Taking to twitter, Singh stated, “Visited a forward post near LoC in Kupwara District of Jammu-Kashmir today and interacted with the soldiers deployed there. We are extremely proud of these brave and courageous soldiers who are defending our country in every situation.”

He interacted with the soldiers at forward post and also chanted ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ with them.

Rajnath Singh also tweeted several photographs and a video interacting with the Indian Army soldiers.

Before that, he visited the holy cave of Amarnath temple and offered his prayers.

The Defence Minister’s trip to Amarnath comes on the second day of his visit to Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, to take stock of military preparedness in the region.

Taking to twitter, Rajnath Singh wrote, “Feeling extremely blessed after praying at Shri Amarnathji Holy Cave in Jammu and Kashmir.”

On the first day visit, the Minister reviewed the overall security scenario in Jammu and Kashmir region.

He also interacted with the troops in Lukung, Ladakh along with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane, yesterday.

In the talks between corps commanders of the Indian and Chinese armies, both sides discussed the roadmap for further reducing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

-RJV/CHK

Odisha: MCL to set up 70-bed COVID Hospital in Jharsuguda

Subrat Kumar Sarangi

Bhubaneswar (NVI): A 70-bed COVID Care Centre will be set up at Bandhabahal in Jharsuguda district, Odisha, by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), after it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jharsuguda District Administration today.

The MoU was signed by Keshav Rao, Director (Personnel), MCL, and  Saroj Kumar Samal, Collector, Jharsuguda, for setting-up of a dedicated COVID Care Centre to provide free-of-cost treatment to the infected people.

All the expenses like treatment, medicine, testing, food and accommodation will be borne by MCL, subsidiary of Coal India Limited, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The company is extending all out help to Odisha administration in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the company is also funding a 525-bed COVID Hospital at Bhubaneswar while another 150-bed COVID Hospital is functional at Mahanadi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Talcher, in Angul district.

-CHK

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