WEEKLY COVID CASES FALL FOR FIRST TIME IN 2ND WAVE

For the first time during the course of the second Covid wave, India logged fall in cases in the week ended Sunday as the infection eased in many parts of the country. On Sunday, daily cases reported in the country fell below the 3 lakh mark for the first time since April 20, as 2,82,086 new infections were detected in the last 24 hours

However, fatalities continued to rise with the week's toll crossing 28,000, the highest in seven days anywhere in the world for the second week running. The fatalities are expected to peak about 2 weeks after the peak in infections.

India reported just over 24 lakh fresh cases during the week, a drop of 16% over the previous week’s count of 27.4 lakh. The May 10-16 case count was the lowest in three weeks, pointing to a sharp fall in daily numbers after peaking in the previous week.

The Centre on Sunday issued new guidelines for Covid-19 containment in peri-urban and rural areas across India by strengthening primary healthcare infrastructure at all levels and by enabling communities. The Centre advised planning a minimum 30-bedded Covid care centre in each one of such areas for asymptomatic cases with co-morbidities or mild cases where home isolation is not feasible.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 35,12,660

New Cases in last 24 hours: 2,81,808

Recovered in last 24 hours: 3,78,571

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -1,00,855

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 4,092 (2,74,411)

Daily Tests: 18,32,950

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 17.0%

Most Affected States:

(S. No. / State / No. of Active Cases / New Cases in last 24 Hrs / Deaths in Last 24 Hrs)

1          Karnataka         6,00,147           /           31,531  /           403

2          Maharashtra     4,68,109           /           34,389  /           974

3          Kerala              4,40,649           /           29,704  /           89

4          Tamil Nadu       2,19,342           /           33,181  /           311

5          Andhra Pradesh            2,10,436           /           24,171  /           101

6          Rajasthan                     1,94,382           /           10,290  /           156

7          Uttar Pradesh   1,63,003           /           10,505  /           308

8          West Bengal     1,31,805           /           19,117  /           147

9          Gujarat             1,04,908           /           8,210    /           82

10        Chhattisgarh     1,03,593           /           4,888    /           144

11        Odisha             95,326  /           11,732  /           19

12        Madhya Pradesh           94,652  /           7,106    /           79

13        Haryana                       90,066  /           9,115    /           139

14        Uttarakhand      78,802  /           4,047    /           188

15        Punjab              75,478  /           6,950    /           202

16        Bihar                75,089  /           6,894    /           89

17        Delhi                62,783  /           6,456    /           262

18        JnK                  51,623  /           4,141    /           59

19        Telangana                    50,969  /           3,816    /           27

20        Assam              43,377  /           3,650    /           56

21        Himachal Pradesh         36,909  /           2,378    /           70

22        Jharkhand        36,540  /           2,321    /           48

23        Goa                  28,252  /           1,314    /           43

24        Puducherry       17,666  /           1,961    /           32

25        Chandigarh       7,644    /           664       /           10

26        Manipur                        6,477    /           677       /           16

27        Tripura             4,898    /           761       /           2

28        Meghalaya        4,534    /           569       /           19

29        Nagaland                      4,100    /           241       /           13

30        Sikkim              3,098    /           340       /           2

IMMEDIATE DE-ESCALATION NEED OF THE HOUR: INDIA ON ISRAEL AND GAZA VIOLENCE

Amid escalating tensions between Gaza and Israel, India on Sunday urged “both sides” to show extreme restraint and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, underlining that “immediate de-escalation” is the need of the hour.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said the continuing violence, which began in East Jerusalem a week back, is now threatening to spiral out of control. “The events of the last several days have resulted in a sharp deterioration of the security situation.”

Tirumurti reiterated India’s strong support to the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-State solution, while also stressing India’s strong condemnation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement and destruction.

“Immediate de-escalation is the need of the hour, so as to arrest any further slide towards the brink. We urge both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood,” he said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES ON GAZA CONTINUE; OIC LEADERS HOLD EMERGENCY MEET

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 26 people on Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory’s Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

Israel has stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire. A US diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the UN Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The turmoil has also spilled over elsewhere, fueling protests in the occupied West Bank and stoking violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

At least 181 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza while eight Israelis have been killed.

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation held an emergency virtual meeting Sunday over the situation in Gaza, calling for an end to Israel’s military attacks on the Gaza Strip. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan urged the international community to work on ending Israel’s military operations against Gaza and to allow aid to reach the coastal region.

Speaking from Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki blasted Israel, calling it an “apartheid state” that is practising “crimes and brutality against our people in Gaza.”

The UN Security Council held an open meeting on the situation in the Middle East on Sunday, during which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres termed the tensions as the “most serious escalation” in Gaza and Israel in years.

THE REST

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CYCLONE TAUKTAE INTENSIFIES, 6 DEAD IN 2 STATES

Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat on Sunday, leaving four people dead in Karnataka and two in Goa, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.

According to IMD, Tauktae which has taken the form of a 'very severe cyclonic storm' is likely to intensify further during the next 24 hours and reach the Gujarat coast on Monday evening.

An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the state.

Maharashtra too was bracing for impact as the Met department predicted heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in north Konkan, Mumbai, Thane and Palghar and extremely heavy rainfall in Raigad on Monday.

UP CM UPBEAT ABOUT COVID MANAGEMENT

The pandemic situation in Uttar Pradesh is not alarming or out of control, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday. UP is even prepared for a third wave of Covid-19, if it comes, Adityanath said.

Extra test kits and medical kits, and surveillance teams trained in Covid management have been despatched to villages to check the spread of the pandemic in rural areas, the Chief Minister said.

“We are hiding nothing. Everything is transparent… Every detail of testing, recoveries and deaths are uploaded on the (government’s Covid) portal,” Adityanath told a group of reporters in Noida.

“Concerns had been expressed that given the population of Uttar Pradesh, things would spin out of control. But the situation is not out of control,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that UP, which has fought Japanese encephalitis for years, has set up infrastructure that is capable of facing a “third wave” as well.

The UP government has come under criticism, including from within the BJP, over its handling of the Covid situation. The Chief Minister denied that people were dying without proper treatment in the state. “There could be some exceptions. But Uttar Pradesh does not have a situation like that. Such a situation may be there in some other states,” he said.

On the bodies found floating in the Ganga in some parts of the state, Adityanath said there were instances in which people, in an attempt to avoid crowded cremation grounds or burial grounds, dumped bodies into the river. “We have alerted panchayats and urban local bodies to see that no bodies are dumped in rivers. We have asked them to persuade people to not do this,” he said.

‘WE PUT UP POSTERS CRITICAL OF PM MODI, ARREST OUR MLAs IF YOU WANT’: AAP

The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday said it was them who had put up posters criticising PM Modi of exporting Covid-19 vaccines and the police should arrest the party’s leaders and MLAs instead of harassing people who were simply pasting them across the city.

AAP leader Durgesh Pathak said, “Ye posters Aam Aadmi Party ne lagvaye hain, ye poster maine lagvaye hain (these posters have been put up by AAP, they have been put up by me).”

The posters read: “Modi ji hamare bachon ki vaccine videsh kyon bhej diya (Why did you send our children’s vaccines abroad?)”.

So far, at least 25 people have been arrested by Delhi Police regarding the matter. Most of those arrested are daily wage workers or rickshaw drivers. Police had earlier said that they were probing the role of Kalyanpuri AAP councillor Dhirendra Kumar in commissioning these posters.

“Today, when people are asking why crores of vaccines were exported to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Iraq, Modiji’s Delhi police is filing FIRs and putting our workers in jail. Every morning, 500-550 workers are called to the police station and made to sit in thanas till night. What is their fault? Is it because they questioned Modiji? They asked him why he sent vaccines meant for our children to other countries,” Pathak added.

Several MLAs and senior party leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, also tweeted regarding the issue on Sunday. “A government that was boasting about posters put up in foreign countries is now scared of posters put up in their land,” he said. Posters thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come up in Canada last month after the country received vaccines from India.

Congress leaders also slammed the police action against some people for putting up the posters. The opposition party said tough questions will be asked from the prime minister if people don’t get vaccines, medicines and oxygen. “Arrest me too,” said Gandhi in a tweet while sharing a picture of the poster “Modi ji, why did you send our children’s vaccines abroad”.

COVAXIN WORKS AGAINST ALL EMERGING VARIANTS: STUDY

A significant new research on the effectiveness of Covaxin has revealed that the two-dose India-made Covid vaccine works against all emerging variants.

Published today in Clinical Infectious Diseases, a peer reviewed journal, the study titled “Neutralisation of variant under investigation B.1.617 with sera of BBV152 vaccine” concluded that inoculation with Covaxin produced neutralising titres against all key emerging variants tested, including BI617 and B117 — first identified in India and the UK, respectively.

In India, the majority burden of cases in the second wave has been on account of the B1617 variant, first identified in December in Maharashtra.

The study, conducted by scientists of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), showed a modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 against the B1617 variant compared to vaccine variant D614G (the original Sars-CoV2 variant isolated in Wuhan, where Covid originated in December 2019).

The study revealed that “despite the mild reduction in neutralisation, the neutralising titre levels (concentration of neutralising antibodies against the virus) with B1617 remained above levels expected to be protective. No difference in neutralisation between B117 and vaccine strain D614G (the Wuhan strain) was observed”.

Suchitra Ella, managing director of Bharat Biotech, the makers of Covaxin, today hailed the development, saying, “Covaxin gets international recognition yet again by scientific research data demonstrating protection against the new variants. Another feather in its cap.”

The ICMR earlier showed that only two to four persons in every 10,000 inoculated with Covaxin and Covishield reported breakthrough infections.

UK’S CAIRN ENERGY IDENTIFIES $70 BN INDIAN ASSETS ABROAD TO RECOVER DUES

UK’s Cairn Energy has identified $70 billion of Indian assets overseas for potential seizure to collect $1.72 billion due from the government.

The assets identified range from Air India’s planes to vessels belonging to the Shipping Corporation of India, and properties owned by state-owned banks to oil and gas cargoes of PSUs.

Cairn has got an international arbitration award, which overturned levy of retrospective taxes and ordered New Delhi to return the value of shares it had sold, dividends seized and tax refunds withheld to recover such taxes, registered in the US, UK, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, Mauritius, Canada’s Quebec province, Japan and UAE.

Now, it has started moving courts to get a declaration that state-owned entities are alter egos of India and they should be held liable for discharge of the arbitration award in absence of the government making payments.

Cairn on May 14 filed a lawsuit in a New York court to get Air India recognised as the alter ego of India and that “it should be held jointly and severally responsible for India’s debts, including from any judgment resulting from recognition of the award”.

Once a court recognises Air India as the alter ego of the Indian government, Cairn can seek attachment or seizure of its assets in the US such as airplanes, immovable assets and bank accounts to recover the amount it was awarded by the arbitration tribunal.

NO PROOF OF FRAUD, SRINIVAS, GAMBHIR, OTHERS WERE ACTUALLY HELPING: DELHI POLICE TO HC

In a preliminary report on allegations of blackmarketing and illegal distribution of Covid-19 medicines against various politicians, including All India Youth Congress President Srinivas B V, the Delhi Police has told the Delhi High Court that the persons have been helping people voluntarily and without discrimination.

Besides Srinivas, police had questioned AAP MLA Dilip Pandey, BJP MP Gautam Gambhir and others.

“The enquiry conducted so far has revealed that all the persons alleged to have been hoarding medicines etc, have been actually helping people in getting medical aid in the form of medicine, oxygen, plasma or hospital bed, the person enquired into have not charged any money for the help provided and thus no one has been defrauded. The distribution/help has been voluntary and without discrimination,” said the Crime Branch in a status report before the court.

Srinivas and the others were questioned by the Crime Branch after a petition before the court alleged that a “medical mafia-politician nexus” was indulging in illegal distribution of medicines.

17 OF 24 SMALL-CAP FUNDS DELIVER MORE THAN 100% RETURNS IN ONE YEAR

The rally in the Indian equity markets in the past year has propelled strong returns in small-cap funds. Of the 24 small-cap schemes, 17 have given returns of more than 100 per cent in one year.

The top performer in this pack is Quant Small Cap fund, which has given a return of 214 per cent, followed by Kotak Small Cap fund, which has delivered a 132.4 per cent return, shows the data from Value Research. All the returns are of direct plans.

Vinay Paharia, chief investment officer (CIO) at Union AMC, says: “Returns of small-cap funds look strong due to the low base of last year. If we look at the financial year 2020, all the segments of equity markets (large-caps, mid-caps and small-caps) were weak due to the sharp fall in March last year. The inherent nature of small-caps is that they are too volatile and give better returns compared to large-caps and mid-caps over a longer duration.”

Strong returns generated by small-cap funds have attracted investors attention and in the past two months, small-cap schemes have seen net inflows. According to the data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), small-cap funds had witnessed net inflows of Rs 336 crore and Rs 184 crore in March and April, respectively. Although the amount might not be significant, it indicated a change in the trend. Before that, in seven of the eight months, the category had seen outflows of about Rs 4,300 crore.

MICHAEL VAUGHAN HURLS SPOT-FIXING BARB ON SALMAN BUTT IN A WAR OF WORDS

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Sunday told New Zealand’s host broadcaster Spark Sport that had Black Caps captain Kane Williamson been an “Indian, he’d be the greatest player in the world”.

“But he’s not because you’re not allowed to say that Virat Kohli is not the greatest, because you’d get an absolute pelting on social media. So, you all say Virat is the best purely to get a few more clicks and likes, few more numbers following here. “Kane Williamson, across formats, is equally the best. I think the way he plays, the calm demeanour, his humbleness, the fact that he is silent about what he does,” Vaughan said.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, ex-Pakistan skipper Salman Butt, who was banned from cricket for 10 years for the spot-fixing scandal in 2010, which was later reduced to five years, slammed Vaughan for stirring up an unnecessary controversy by drawing comparisons between Kohli and Williamson.

“Kohli is from a country that has a huge population. So, he will have a bigger fanbase. Moreover, no other current batsman in the world has 70 international centuries. He has dominated the batting rankings for a long period because his performances have been outstanding. So, what is the need of this comparison,” Butt said.

Butt also made snide remarks over Vaughan’s batting record.

An irate Vaughan retorted that he wished Butt had such a clear mind when he was caught for spot-fixing in 2010 in a Test against England. “No idea what the headline is … but I seen what Salman has said about me … that’s fine and he is allowed his opinion but I wished he had such a clear thought of mind back in 2010 when he was match fixing!!!,” Vaughan tweeted.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this? - Henry David Thoreau

OFF TRACK

As a jet was flying over Arizona on a clear day, the co-pilot was providing his passengers with a running commentary about landmarks over the PA system.

“Coming up on the right, you can see the Meteor Crater, which is a major tourist attraction in northern Arizona. It was formed when a lump of nickel and iron, roughly 150 feet in diameter and weighing 300,000 tons, struck the earth 50,000 years ago at about 40,000 miles an hour, scattering white-hot debris for miles in every direction. The hole measures nearly a mile across and is 570 feet deep.”

The lady sitting by the window, exclaimed: “Wow, look! It just missed the highway!”