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Dense fog engulfs Delhi, parts of north India: IMD

Delhi shivers at 1.1 degrees on New Year's Day
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The national capital and large parts of north India observed dense fog today morning, the IMD Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

According to IMD’s weather bulletin, this dense fog has created very low visibility in various parts of north India.

The Met department in this regard took to Twitter and said, “Dense to very dense fog observed over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Moderate to Dense fog over Delhi, north West Rajasthan, north West Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Assam & Meghalaya at 5:30 am of January 18.”

“Visibility at 5:30 am today (in meter) in Chandigarh, Bareilly & Gorakhpur stands at 25, Amritsar, Ambala, Ganganagar, Gwalior, Baharaich, Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Guwahati, Agartala and Silchar stands at 50 and Patiala, Hisar, Agra and Lucknow – 200 each. Delhi-Safdarjung and Palam stands at 500,” it said in another tweet.

The Met department further said that, due to dense fog and very low visibility in most of the cities of north India many trains and flights are either being rescheduled or being cancelled.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in Delhi rose to 9 degrees Celsius this morning, two notches above the normal.

In addition, IMD said that the rise in minimum temperature was witnessed due to partly cloudy weather and prevailing easterly winds. The maximum temperature is expected to settle around 17 degrees Celsius.

Apart from this, there was a slight improvement in the national capital’s air quality which reminded in ‘very poor’ category today, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) stated.

“Delhi’s air quality index (AQI) was 381 at around 10 am,” it added.

-RJV

Delhi schools reopen today for classes 10, 12

schools shut
Representational/file photo

New Delhi (NVI): Schools in Delhi reopened today for Classes 10th and 12th, after a gap of almost ten months.

Delhi government took the decision to allow the CBSE board exam candidates to prepare for the upcoming practical exams and complete internal assignments.

The schools have been allowed to reopen with COVID-19 protocol in place. Students have to carry written permission from their parents to attend school.

Furthermore, schools have been asked to ensure sanitisation of classrooms, laboratories and other common areas and keep a stock of face masks and sanitisers for students.

Sanitiser dispensers are to be installed at the entrance of each laboratory. Meanwhile, the students will take the practical sessions in smaller batches.

According to the guidelines, schools that are out of the containment zone areas will only be allowed to open.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia took to Twitter on the morning of reopening day and said he is glad that the schools are opening in Delhi today.

“Best wishes to the students of class 10 & 12th who are going to visit their school today after 10 months… (though it’s only for limited purpose and with covid protocols..) But still… I am glad that schools are opening in Delhi today,” Sisodia said in a tweet.

The move to reopen schools in Delhi comes as the positivity rate in the national capital continues to hover below 1 per cent and the authorities declaring control over the disease outbreak by strict testing and isolating method.

The Centre had, in Unlock 5 guidelines, allowed schools to reopen from October 15. However, the decision was left to states/union territories to decide as to when they would resume physical classes.

-CHK

Brazil approves two Covid-19 vaccines for emergency use

Brazil vaccine
Monica Calazans, first covid-19 vaccine recipient of Brazil.

New Delhi (NVI): Amid a devastating resurgence of the coronavirus in parts of Brazil, health officials have granted authorisation to two covid vaccines for emergency use.

Brazilian regulatory agency Anvisa approved vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca for emergency use in Brazil, which has recorded more than 209,000 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus since the start of the crisis.

Anvisa’s board of directors voted unanimously to approve both the vaccines after almost five hours of deliberations, doses of which will be distributed among all 27 states.

Shortly after Anvisa’s board gave emergency approval, Monica Calazans, a 54-year-old nurse in Sao Paulo, became the first person to be inoculated in Brazil, receiving the Chinese vaccine known as CoronaVac.

Coronavac, developed by Chinese company Sinovac, is now authorized for use of 6 million imported doses.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which showed 70.4 per cent average efficacy in preliminary Phase III trials, has also been approved for use of 2 million doses, which will be imported from Serum Institute of India (SII).

Last week, Brazil made a diplomatic push to guarantee an Indian-made shipment of 2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to avoid export restrictions that could delay immunizations.

Brazil has recorded more than 8.45 million cases of COVID-19 to date, according to Johns Hopkins University, the third-highest tally in the world after the United States and India.

-CHK

India logs 13,788 new COVID-19 cases; 145 deaths

COVID-19

New Delhi (NVI): The coronavirus cases in India saw a single-day rise of 13,788 fresh cases, taking the total number to 10,571,773, Union Health Ministry confirmed.

The death toll due to the virus rose to 1,52,419, with 145 new fatalities being reported during the same period.

Currently, a total of 10,211,342 million patients have recovered across the country, while the active cases dropped to 2.08 lakh mark and stands at 2,08,012.

In worst-affected Maharashtra, the COVID-19 cases increased to 19,90,759 followed by Karnataka with 9,31,997 and Andhra Pradesh with 8,85,985 positive cases.

The other worst hit states are Tamil Nadu (8,30,772), Kerala (8,47,848), Delhi (6,32,429) and Uttar Pradesh (5,96,528).

Meanwhile, over 2.24 lakh people have been given COVID-19 vaccine in the last two days in India and 447 adverse events, including three requiring hospitalisation, have been reported, the Centre said.

-CHK

Coronavirus cases surge past 95 mn globally; US tally nears 24 mn

Coronavirus cases

New Delhi (NVI): More than 95 million people around the world have been confirmed to have the coronavirus, while the death toll has crossed 2,030,515 according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. Over 52.2 million patients have recovered from the deadly disease globally.

The number of coronavirus infections in the US have surpassed 23.9 million, while the number of fatalities caused due to the deadly contagion have exceeded 3,97,000 in the country.

Brazil’s coronavirus cases have crossed the 8.4 million-mark and stands at 8,488,099 while the number of deaths have surged past 2,09,000.

In another development, health regulator of Brazil has approved the urgent use of coronavirus vaccines made by Sinovac and AstraZeneca, enabling Latin America’s largest nation to begin an immunisation program.

Meanwhile, Mexico reported 11,170 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 463 more fatalities on Sunday, according to the Health Ministry, bringing its total to 1,641,428 infections and 140,704 deaths.

China reported more than 100 new Covid-19 cases for the sixth consecutive day, with rising infections in the northeast fuelling concerns of another national wave ahead of a major holiday season.

In addition to this, South Africa has delayed reopening its schools amid a rapid resurgence of Covid-19 driven by a more infectious variant of the virus.

There have been a further 38,598 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in the UK, according to government data. This is lower compared to 54,940 infections registered last Sunday and is the lowest number since December 27.

-CHK

Russian oppn leader detained as he returns to Moscow after being poisoned

Russian oppn leader detained

New Delhi (NVI): Five months after he was poisoned with nerve agent Novichok, Russian opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny was detained by police at a Moscow airport today as he returned home, foreign media reports said.

Navalny, who is a fierce critic of Putin, was accompanied by his wife and was detained by Russian police at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, said a CNN report.

The Russian opposition leader returned to Moscow after a five-month stay with his wife in Germany where he was recovering from the poisoning. The couple landed at Sheremetyevo airport around 8 pm (local time).

The CNN report said that Navalny was confident on his return to Russia. “Everyone is asking me if I’m scared. I am not afraid,” he told CNN. “I feel completely fine walking towards the border control. I know that I will leave and go home because I’m right and all the criminal cases against me are fabricated,” he said.

Last month, Navalny was placed on Russia’s federal wanted list for violating terms of probation related to a years-old fraud case. However, the Russian opposition leader has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

Navalny has been a vocal critic of the Russian government under Putin.

A joint investigation by CNN and the group Bellingcat has implicated the Russian Security Service (FSB) in Navalny’s August poisoning. The investigation report claims that an elite unit at the agency followed Navalny’s team throughout a trip to Siberia, when Navalny fell ill from exposure to military-grade Novichok.

The FSB unit included chemical weapons experts, who had followed Navalny on more than 30 trips to and from Moscow since 2017.

On the other hand, the Russian government has denied involvement in Navalny’s poisoning. Russian President Vladimir Putin had himself said in December that if Russian security services had wanted to kill Navalny, they “would have finished” the job.

However, several Western officials and Navalny himself have openly blamed the Kremlin, reports CNN.

-ARK

Power Ministry says examining revision of 10 kW net metering cap

net metering cap
Representative pic of a solar plant

New Delhi (NVI): The Ministry of Power has said that it is ready to examine representations made by the solar industry seeking revision of consumer rules to allow net metering for all solar rooftops projects.

In a tweet, the Ministry of Power said that it received representations on the issue, “which are being examined and based on this a call will be taken for balancing the interest of all stakeholders.”

“Discoms financial health is very important for sustainability of the entire value chain of power sector, i.e. transmission, trading, generation and coal companies, the electrical equipment suppliers,” read the clarification tweeted by the ministry.

Based on the comments from consumers, industry and discoms, a balance view was taken and the net metering cap was

increased to 10kW against 5kW proposed earlier, the ministry said, adding that consultations were held with stakeholders prior to finalising the rules.

Pertinent to mention here that to generate solar power by installing solar panels on the rooftop of houses, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is implementing Grid-connected Rooftop Solar Scheme (Phase-II), under which it will provide 40 per cent subsidy for the first 3 kW and 20 per cent subsidy beyond 3 kW and upto 10 kW.

The scheme is being implemented in the states by local Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs), according to a statement released by MNRE.

-ARK

Two female judges killed in Kabul in terror attack

female judges killed in Kabul
(Pic courtesy: TOLO news)

New Delhi (NVI): Two women judges of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court were shot dead in Kabul today while two other persons were wounded as unidentified gunmen opened fire at a vehicle, reports TOLO news.

According to Afghan Presidential Palace, gunmen opened fire at a car in Kabul at around 8:30 am today, killing the two women judges and injuring the driver and another female, the Afghan news website reported.

So far, no terror group including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has condemned the attack on the female judges in Kabul, saying that “attacks by the Taliban and other terrorist groups against defenseless people are against Islamic teaching and against the spirit of peace.”

“Terror and crime and violence are not the solutions to the problem, and the current crisis and the war prolongs the country’s issues,” President Ghani was quoted as saying by in a statement by TOLO news.

“Two female judges were killed, and two others were wounded in the attack,” the statement said. The Taliban “must show their will for peace by accepting a permanent ceasefire,” Ghani said.

Meanwhile, the Kabul police is investigating the brazen attack. A security forces source told the local media that preliminary findings indicated that those wounded were a driver and a female employee of the Ministry of Education.

-ARK

Road safety month to open tmrw

Road safety month

New Delhi (NVI): To build awareness about road safety and reduce road accidents in India, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate National Road Safety Month tomorrow.

The inaugural function will be held at Vigyan Bhavan in Delhi. Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Gen (Retd) VK Singh and CEO, Niti AAYOG, Amitabh Kant will also participate.

Activities planned during the month include launch of a film on Road safety, flagging off of a National Championship Safe Speed Challenge from Wagah border to Kanyakumari, and giving away of awards for Road Safety, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways said in a statement.

State Governments, PSUs, and Insurance companies will also participate in awareness-creating activities, with seminars, walkathons, poster-making competitions etc, it said.

-ARK

India’s active Covid cases below 2% of total for first time

Covid cases
File photo

New Delhi (NVI): For the first time, active Covid-19 cases in India have dipped below 2 per cent of the total caseload. The share of active cases within the total positive cases has shrunk to 1.98 per cent now, according to the latest data available with the Health Ministry.

India continues on its steady trajectory of reporting a sustained downfall in the daily new cases and consequential decline in the active cases.

Apart from that, daily fatalities in the country are also registering a consistent decline. India has recorded less than 300 daily deaths for the last 23 days, as per the ministry.

Six states and UTs have reported 66.30% of the 181 case fatalities in the past 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported 52 deaths. Kerala saw a fatality count of 27 while West Bengal reported 15 new deaths.

In the last 24 hours, 15,144 daily cases have been recorded. The Active Caseload of the country has fallen to 2,08,826. The daily new cases have been below 20,000 for the past 10 days.

In the last 24 hours, 15,144 daily cases have been recorded. The Active Caseload of the country has fallen to 2,08,826. The daily new cases have been below 20,000 for the past 10 days.

17,170 new recoveries were registered during the last 24 hours.The share of recovered cases stands at 96.58%. The total recovered cases are 10,196,885. They exceed the active cases by 99,88,059 (48.83 times more).

80.53% of the new recovered cases are observed from 10 States/UTs.

Kerala has reported the highest number of recoveries with 5,011 newly recovered cases in a single day. 3,039 people recovered in Maharashtra in the past 24 hours followed by 930 inUttar Pradesh.

81% of the new cases are from 8 States and UTs.

Meanwhile, Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 5,960. It is followed by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu with 2,910 and 610 new cases, respectively.

-ARK

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