Month: December 2021

A total of 6,358 new COVID-19 cases were reported in India in the last 24 hours, taking the active caseload in the country to 75,456, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

According to the Health Ministry, 653 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in the country so far.
Out of this, Maharashtra topped the list with 167 cases followed by Delhi with 165 cases, Kerala with 57 cases and Telangana has confirmed 55 cases.

The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases and is currently at 0.22 per cent, which is the lowest since March 2020.

With the recovery of 6,450 patients in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic has increased to 3,42,43,945.

The current recovery rate at 98.40 per cent which is the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.

The weekly positivity rate is at 0.64 per cent remains less than 1 per cent for the last 44 days now, while, the daily positivity rate reported being 0.61 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 2 per cent for the last 85 days.

The country also reported 293 new fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,80,290.

India has so far conducted over 67.41 crore cumulative tests.

The country has so far administered 142.47 crore vaccine doses under Nationwide Vaccination Drive.

With the administration of 72,87,547 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage stood at 1,42,46,81,736 crore. (ANI)

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday announced the approval of two new indigenously developed vaccines and one anti-viral drug for the treatment of the adult patients of COVID-19 having a “high risk of progression of the disease”.

Taking to Twitter, Mandaviya said in a series of tweets, “Congratulations India Further strengthening the fight against COVID-19, CDSCO, @MoHFW_INDIA has given 3 approvals in a single day for: – CORBEVAX vaccine – COVOVAX vaccine – Anti-viral drug Molnupiravir For restricted use in an emergency situation.”
Further elaborating on CORBEVAX vaccine, the Minister said that it is the first indigenously developed RBD protein sub-unit vaccine against COVID-19.

“CORBEVAX vaccine is India’s 1st indigenously developed RBD protein sub-unit vaccine against #COVID19, Made by Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E. It’s a hat-trick! It’s now 3rd vaccine developed in India!” the Minister tweeted.

“The Nanoparticle Vaccine, COVOVAX, will be manufactured by Pune-based firm Serum Institute of India,” Mandaviya further added in the tweet.

The Minister informed that the antiviral drug, Molnupiravir will be used for emergency situation for the treatment of adult patients with COVID-19 and who have a high risk of progression of the disease.

“Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug, will now be manufactured in the country by 13 companies for restricted use under emergency situation for treatment of adult patients with COVID-19 and who have a high risk of progression of the disease,” he tweeted.

The Minister said that all these approvals will further strengthen the global fight against the pandemic adding that India’s Pharma Industries are asset for the entire world.

“PM @NarendraModi Ji has led the battle against #COVID19 from the front. All these approvals will further strengthen the global fight against the pandemic. Our Pharma Industries are asset for the entire world,” he tweeted.

Earlier, India had developed Covaxin, the first indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine which was developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) National Institute of Virology. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India has emerged as the second biggest startup hub in the world, and this has been achieved majorly with the help of students from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Addressing the 54th convocation ceremony of IIT Kanpur, the Prime Minister said, “In this 75th year of independence, we have over 75 unicorns, over 50,000 start-ups. Of these, 10,000 have come only in the last 6 months. India has emerged to be the second biggest startup hub in the world, and this feat has been achieved majorly with the help of students from IITs.”
PM Modi said IIT Kanpur’s contribution in developing 5G technology has been recognised globally.

The Prime Minister said when India will celebrate its 100th year of independence, it will include the contribution of all the students who are present here today.

“In the last 7 years, several programmes have been introduced by the Centre to aid students. The youth is being readied to face bigger challenges more efficiently with the help of National Education Policy,” said PM Modi.

He further said that everyone should strive religiously for achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat.

“We should have achieved a lot of things by the time India completed 25 years of independence. But unfortunately, we could not do much. But now, we do not have even two minutes to waste. We must strive religiously for a self-reliant nation,” he added.

He further said that if we are not self-reliant, then how will India succeed and scale ultimate heights? And this can be done only by the youth of this country.

“This century is completely technology-driven. Students have invested the most important years of their lives in learning about technology. And this will make it impossible for any other force to stop you from excelling,” said the Prime Minister.

At the convocation, all the students were issued digital degrees through an in-house blockchain-driven technology developed at the Institute under the National Blockchain Project.

The Prime Minister also launched the blockchain-based digital degrees. These digital degrees can be verified globally and are unforgeable.

Later in the day, Prime Minister will visit inaugurate the completed section of the Kanpur Metro Rail Project at around 1.30 pm. (ANI)

The Centre on Monday advised the five poll-bound states of Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to ramp up the COVID testing and vaccination drive for the eligible population and asked them to draw up district-wise weekly vaccination implementation plans.

According to a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry, the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan held a high-level meeting with the poll-bound states to review the public health response measures for containment and management of COVID-19, and the vaccination status in these states.
During the meeting, the states were advised to speedily ramp up the COVID-19 vaccination of all eligible population for the first dose and ensure that those who were due for the second dose are administered the second dose.

The poll-bound states were also advised to exponentially increase the testing to ensure that the COVID infected cases are identified promptly for timely initiation of public health response measures, and to ensure that there is no sudden upsurge in numbers due to low testing.

“District-wise weekly vaccination implementation plans are required to be drawn up for this purpose. The state authorities were also asked to review the implementation status on a daily basis,” the ministry said.

“While Uttarakhand and Goa have reported vaccination coverage for the first and second doses higher than the national average, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur have COVID-19 vaccination coverage numbers below the national average. Total of 142.38 crore vaccination doses have been administered as on date, of which more than 83.80 crore vaccine doses are for the first dose and more than 58.58 crore are second doses of COVID-19 vaccine,” it stated.

“The state authorities were strongly advised to ensure that recommended COVID Appropriate Behavior is strictly followed and adequate measures are undertaken for their effective enforcement,” it added.

Meanwhile, India has logged 6,531 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Monday.

The tally of cases of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19 in the country has risen to 578. (ANI)

An earthquake of 4.8-magnitude on the Richter Scale hit Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar on Monday, informed the National Center for Seismology (NCS).

“Earthquake of Magnitude:4.8, Occurred on 27-12-2021, 19:07:29 IST, Lat: 35.26 & Long: 74.80, Depth: 212 Km, Location: 130km N of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India,” tweeted NCS.
More details are awaited. (ANI)

The Fifth Generation or 5G telecom services are set to be rolled out in selected cities in India in 2022. The cities which are set to get the 5G telecom services in 2022 include Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhinagar.

Leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, have established 5G trials sites in these cities. “These Metros and big cities would be the first places for launch of 5G services in the country, next year,” the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on Monday.
The fifth-generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks. While 4G was a great leap forward, allowing people to stream music and video on the go, 5G is designed to connect many more types of devices than smartphones and offers far higher speed and capacity.

Apart from the leading telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers, the government is also involved actively to facilitate the rollout of 5G services. The Department of Telecom has roped in leading research institutions for development and testing of 5G technology.

Eight agencies – Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT) – are involved in the research project called ‘Indigenous 5G Test bed project’.

The Indigenous 5G Test bed project started in 2018 and is set to be completed by December 31, 2021. The project has been funded by the Department of Telecom. The department has spent Rs224 crore on this project.

“Costing Rs 224 crore, the project is likely to be completed by December 31, 2021, paving the way for end-to-end testing of 5G User Equipments (UEs) and network equipment by 5G stakeholders developing 5G products/services/usecases, including indigenous start-ups, SMEs, Academia and Industry in the country,” the Department of Telecom said.

The indigenous 5G test bed, a visionary technology development project initiated in telecom space, will enable development, testing and proliferation of 5G technology system components, cross-sectoral use cases, besides setting up the foundation for the development of “6G Technology landscape” in the country, it added.

Earlier this month, Telecom Secretary K Rajaraman expressed hope that 5G test bed would be rolled out in early January. “We hope to roll out this 5G test bed in early January which will enable SMEs and other parts of industries to come and test their solution on a working platform,” Rajaraman said at India Mobile Congress on December 9.

Test bed refers to creating a specific environment for testing the products or services. It includes hardware, software, operating system, and network configuration.

As the testing is in the final stage, allocation of the spectrum would be critical in deciding the fate of the commercial launch of 5G in the country. The Department of Telecom has allocated spectrum to Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and MTNL for 5G trials. Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung and Mavenir also engaged in the trials.

In September 2021, the Department of Telecom (DoT) sent a reference to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), seeking recommendations for the auction of spectrum identified for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)/ 5G with regard to a reserve price, band plan, block size, the quantum of spectrum to be auctioned and conditions of auctions in 526-698 MHZ,700 MHZ, 800 MHZ, 900 MHZ, 1800 MHZ, 2100 MHZ, 2300 MHZ, 2500 MHZ, 3300-3670 MHZ, and 24.25-28.5 GHZ bands for 5G public as well as private 5G networks, for meeting the spectrum requirements of captive 5G applications of the industry (Industry 4.0).

“Process of assignment of frequencies to TSPs would be initiated at the earliest possible,” DoT said.

5G mainly works in 3 bands, low, mid, and high-frequency spectrum. In the low band spectrum, the speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second). The mid-band spectrum, on the other hand, offers higher speeds compared to the low band but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals. Internet speed in the high-band spectrum goes up to 20 Gbps (giga bits per second). The highest internet speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.

While 4G networks are mostly designed for phones, 5G networks is designed for much more flexible use, replacing the need for many special-purpose networks. They can even function as many separate networks – all at the same time. (ANI)

The national capital on Monday reported 331 new cases of COVID-19, which is the highest single-day spike since the last six months.

On June 6, the capital city reported 331 COVID-19 cases.
Moreover, the positivity rate in the city moved up to 0.68 per cent which is the highest since the last six months. On June 2, the positivity rate was 0.78 per cent.

The total cases in Delhi increased to 14,43,683 with a cumulative positivity rate of 4.45 per cent. Active cases are 1,289 in the city.

The total discharges from this virus stood at 14,17,288 including 144 fresh discharges.

However, the city reported one new fatality from this virus thereby increasing the death toll to 25106. Moreover, the case fatality rate is at 1.74 per cent.

Further, 32,116 beneficiaries were vaccinated in the last 24 hours. With this, the cumulative COVID-19 vaccinations administered in the city are 2,55,89,731.

Moreover, to prevent the spread of the virus, there are as many as 310 total Containment Zones as on date.

As Delhi continues to witness a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, a night curfew has been imposed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led government in the national capital from Monday.

The curfew will be imposed from 11 pm to 5 am. (ANI)

As Omicron cases continue to rise across the country, Karnataka has imposed a night curfew in the state.

“Night curfew has been imposed in the state in the interest of public health,” Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said while speaking to media persons on Monday.
He said, “Solatium is being paid to BPL families of those who lost their lives due to COVID-19 in all districts and taluks. A programme in this regard is being held in Bengaluru as well.”

Reacting to displeasure among the business community against the night curfew he said, “the measure has been taken in the interest of public health. People would have to strictly follow COVID-19 norms at tourist spots.”

On December 2, Karnataka reported the country’s first Omicron case in Bengaluru.

Further, India has logged 6,531 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Monday. As per the Health Ministry, the country’s active caseload stands at 75,841. “Active cases constitute 0.22 per cent of the country’s total positive cases, which is lowest since March 2020,” said the Ministry. Meanwhile, the tally of cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus in the country has risen to 578.

The Chief Minister said that the BJP State Executive Committee meeting, which is to be held in Hubballi, would discuss issues related to party organisation and other developments. The meeting, which is held once every two months, would take important decisions, he said.

Replying to a question about much-expected cabinet expansion, Bommai said that it is an internal matter of the party and the party high command would take a call on that. “There is good coordination between the party and the administration. The government will come up with more good programmes in the days ahead and seek a public mandate in 2023 on the basis of its good work for the people,” he said. (ANI)

Post ’83’ success, actor Ranveer Singh and his ladylove Deepika Padukone have headed for a vacation to celebrate the New Year.

On Monday morning, the couple was spotted at the Mumbai airport as they left the city for their annual holiday. For the airport look, the two made an impressive style statement and slayed in different shades of brown and complemented each other well.
Deepika looked fashionable in a white top and muted brown pants. She completed her look with a pair of solid olive green boots and threw on a sling bag on her shoulder. Ranveer donned a tan brown leather jacket, chunky sunglasses and a black embellished hat.

As per reports, Deepika and Ranveer have jetted off to the Maldives.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Ranveer’s ’83’ was released a few days ago, while Deepika is waiting for the release of ‘Gehraiyaan’. (ANI)