South Indian actor Kasthuri Shankar was spotted eating during a debate hosted by TV anchor Arnab Goswami on Sunday.
After the clip was widely circulated on social media, the actor clarified, “I spent 60 minutes watching Arnab in hyper mode, He wasn’t gonna let me talk anyway, so I left and grabbed lunch. but forgot to sign off Skype. Apologies to everyone for the mess up! No offence or disrespect intended!”
With inputs from Scroll.in
Srinagar: Stating that there is not much evidence that community transmission is happening at National level, AIIMS Delhi Director Randeep Guleria Monday said that India is on fast track mode to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS), AIIMS Delhi Director Randeep Guleria informed that the Human trials for the indigenously developed COVAXIN have begun at the premier medical Institute.
“After the registration procedure and blood sample tests of the health volunteers, the vaccine will be administered to 100 healthy individuals in the first phase. In the second phase 750 people will be recruited between 12 to 65 years of age for the human trials.
He said, the medical institute has received an overwhelming response in terms of volunteer registration for the trials,” he said.
Terming development of an indigenous vaccine as a great achievement, he informed the media that India’s mass production capacity of drugs and vaccines will also help in meeting the demands during its production stage.
Replying to a question on Community Transmission, Dr. Guleria said, there is not much evidence that community transmission is happening at National level.
He however did not rule out the possibility of local level transmission in hotspots witnessing a huge spike in the number of cases.
Dr. Guleria asserted that certain areas in the country, including the National Capital appeared to have reached their peak and are now showing a significant decline in number of cases.
He emphasized on continued aggressive action towards containment of infection in hotspots.
The AIIMS Director stressed on the need for enhanced door to door testing and isolation measures.
Dr. Guleria said that the measures adopted by the government for testing, tracing and treating COVID-19 patients have helped contain the fatality rates in the country as one of the lowest in the world.(KINS)
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday mounted a fresh attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and accused the ruling part of ‘institutionalising’ lies by manipulating the data on novel coronavirus-related deaths, the Gross Domestic Product, the stand-off with China and asserted that ‘India will have to pay the price’.
“The BJP has institutionalised lies — [on] COVID-19 by restricting testing and misreporting deaths; [on] GDP by using a new calculation method; and [on] Chinese aggression by frightening the media. The illusion will break soon and India will pay the price,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted and tagged a report of The Washington Post that claimed India’s COVID-19 death figures were either ‘misreported or missed’.
Mr. Gandhi’s latest offensive came barely a few hours after he had compared the government of India’s handling of the Chinese face-off to Neville Chamberlain, former British PM ill-famed for his appeasement of Nazi Germany.
And a day before, he had claimed that India would cross the two million-mark in COVID-19 cases by August 10 if the Union government did not take concrete measures to tackle the pandemic.
With inputs from The Hindu
A man was injured after Nepal police shot at three Indian men near India-Nepal border in Bihar’s Kishanganj on Sunday, according to ANI.
The injured has been shifted to a hospital and a probe is underway, superintendent of police, Kishanganj, was quoted as saying.
More details are awaited.
A similar incident was reported earlier in June when an Indian was killed while four others were injured after Nepalese police allegedly fired indiscriminately on them at the border near Sitamarhi district in Bihar, officials said.
The June 12 firing had taken place after a clash between the Indians and personnel of Nepalese police at the Lalbandi-Janki Nagar border in Pipra Parsain panchayat under Sonebarsha police station of the district, sources said.
Locals said the men were working in an agricultural field when the altercation between the cops of both sides took place, following which four of them received bullet injuries while Vikesh Kumar Rai, 25, died on the spot.
Nepal shares a 1,850-kilometre open border with India and people travel across it for work and to visit family. It had closed its international borders on March 22 amid the coronavirus pandemic.
With inputs from Hindustan Times
Heavy early morning showers left one dead and several areas in the Capital waterlogged on Sunday. The area under the Minto Bridge, that is infamous for flooding every time the city receives heavy rain, saw a DTC bus getting stranded as well.
A 56-year-old man drowned while trying to manoeuvre his tempo through the waterlogged underpass at Minto Road on Sunday morning, said a senior police officer.
The officer said that Kundan Kumar, a native of Uttarakhand, used to drive a tempo and ferry goods from railway station to other places. On Sunday morning when he was crossing the underpass towards Connaught Place, his tempo got stuck on waterlogged underpass. He tried to manoeuvre his vehicle through the underpass, but, apparently, could not succeed.
“It appears that he died of drowning. No external injury marks on his person. Inquest proceedings under Section 174 of Cr. PC are under way. He is survived by wife and two daughters,” added the officer.
The MeT Department that had forecast rain for Sunday said that the city received 74.8 mm rainfall till 8.30 a.m. on Sunday. Lodhi Road, Palam and Ayanagar weather stations recorded 86 mm, 81.2 mm, 16.9 mm and 12.2 mm rainfall, respectively. This is the heaviest rainfall of the season, it added. The forecast shows that more rain is expected over the next few days
The Delhi Traffic Police since morning has been posting updates on its Twitter account asking people to avoid areas where there is heavy water-logging. It said that traffic jams had been reported from Azadpur to Mukarba Chowk, Yashwant Place to Ashoka Road, at Ring Road, Bhairon Road, and near Mundka metro station due to heavy waterlogging.
The New Delhi Traders’ Association hit out at the New Delhi Municipal Corporation for failing to upgrade drainage and prepare for pumping excess water at areas around Minto Road. The association shared videos of water entering shops in the outer circle of Connaught Place and flooding at the veranda of the iconic Regal Cinema building as well.
With inputs from The Hindu
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh has advocated the use of “cow-urine” to boost immunity in the fight against COVID-19. A video has surfaced on social media where Mr. Ghosh, while emphasising the importance of home remedies, is seen saying that people need to consume cow urine to stay healthy. The BJP leader made these remarks during a meeting in Durgapur on Thursday.
“If I speak about cows, many feel uncomfortable. Donkeys will never understand the worth of a cow. This is India, the land of Lord Krishna and here we worship cows. We will have cow urine to stay healthy. Those who consume alcohol, how will you understand the worth of a cow,” Mr. Ghosh is heard saying in the video.
The State BJP chief also spoke about long queues outside liquor shops in the State when the lockdown restrictions were eased.
This is not the first time that the Bengal BJP president has made a controversial statement on cows. In November 2019, Mr. Ghosh said cow’s milk contains gold, a statement that sparked widespread criticism in social and political circles. Earlier this year in May, Mr. Ghosh said there was no harm in drinking cow urine and said he consumed cow urine.
Mr Ghosh has come in for criticism from leaders of his own party in Bengal, who described the remarks as “unscientific”.
The West Bengal government has registered complaints against members of right wing groups who were distributing “cow urine”. Action was also taken against a civic police volunteer who was seen consuming cow urine in public.
With inputs from The Hindu
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been admitted to Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital after experiencing mild fever, said a source. Her husband Abhishek Bachchan and father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan are already admitted in the same hispital after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Earlier on July 11, Amitabh Bachchan, 77, was admitted to the hospital after he said that he has tested positive for the coronavirus infection. Taking to Twitter, Bachchan said he has been admitted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai.
“I have tested Covid positive, shifted to hospital, the hospital is informing authorities.
Family and staff undergone tests, results awaited,” he said in a tweet. “All that have been in close proximity to me in the last 10 days are requested to please get themselves tested!”
Later, his son Abhishek Bachchan also tested positive. Amitabh’s granddaughter Aaradhya was also tested positive. However, Aishwarya and Aaradhya were put into home-quarantine after testing Covid-19 positive.
PTI
Nagpur: A woman constable attached to the Nagpur police was quarantined for suspected COVID-19 infection with a married man whom she was in relationship with, after she wrongly told the authorities that he was her husband, an official said on Thursday.
The woman constable, who is unmarried, was to be moved to a quarantine centre after one of her colleagues recently tested COVID-19 positive, the official said.
“However, she told the authorities that her husband, who later turned out to be her boyfriend working with the postal department, should also be quarantined along with her. Accordingly, they were together kept at the quarantine facility in the Police Training Centre (PTC),” he said.
However, that man’s real wife, who had no idea about his admission to the quarantine centre, was worried as he had not returned home for three days, the official said.
She later somehow got to know about her husband’s affair and came to the quarantine centre, but denied entry by the guards, the official said.
Thereafter, she lodged a complaint with Bajaj Nagar police against her husband, and met Commissioner of Police Dr Bhushankumar Upadhyay in that connection, after which he ordered an inquiry into the matter.
According to police sources, the woman constable and the man had met during a government project in October last year and got into a relationship.
DCP Zone II Vivek Masal, who is conducting the probe, said that the man was later shifted to another quarantine centre.
PTI
COVID-19 cases in India crossed the 30,000 mark in a single day for the first time pushing its tally to 9,68,876 on Thursday, while the death toll climbed to 24,915 with 606 people succumbing to the disease, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The number of recoveries stands at 6,12,814, while there are 3,31,146 active cases of coronavirus infection presently in the country.
“Thus, around 63.25 per cent of patients have recovered so far,” an official said.
PTI
BCCI president and former India skipper Sourav Ganguly has gone into home quarantine after his elder brother Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for COVID-19.
Mr. Snehasish Ganguly is joint secretary Cricket Association of Bengal. “These are tough times. He has admitted himself yesterday at a city hospital. Other than having mild temperature, he is alright at the moment. Wish him a speedy recovery,” a statement from CAB read. CAB chief Avishek Dalmiya has also gone into home quarantine.
It is learnt that Mr. Snehasish Ganguly and Mr. Dalmiya met some senior police officials at the Eden Gardens last week to discuss the possibility of converting it into a COVID centre.
Mr. Snehasish Ganguly has been living with Mr. Sourav Ganguly since June 20 after the former’s family, barring him, was diagnosed with COVID-19.