1.8% OF INDIA AFFECTED BY COVID, 98% STILL VULNERABLE: GOVT

India's reproduction value (R) for COVID-19, which shows how fast the infection is spreading, is below one now which means that the pandemic is shrinking, the government said on Tuesday even as it cautioned that 98 per cent of the population is still vulnerable.

"Comprehensive efforts at containment and testing are resulting in stabilisation. We still have a few states which continue to be cause of concern... there is a mixed picture but overall there is stabilisation and what we know from scientific analysis is the reproduction number is below 1 now which means the pandemic is shrinking," ITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said.

He said this has happened because there is a huge containment effort in addition to managing the cases in home settings and hospitals. "We are hoping and keeping the case fatality rate reasonably under control. We have to be very mindful that when we are achieving declining positivity rate it is because of the results of what we are doing and that doing cannot be slackened. We cannot again let this go out of hand," he said.

Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary at the Health Ministry, said 1.8 per cent of the total population in India has been affected by COVID so far which means 98 per cent of the population is still susceptible or vulnerable to the infection. "Despite the high number of cases reported so far, we have been able to contain the spread to under 2 per cent of the population due to continued efforts by the medical fraternity, states and districts," he said. "This should also make us wary of protecting the still vulnerable/susceptible 98 per cent population. We cannot let our guards down, hence continued focus on containment is critical," Agarwal said.

Giving figures from around the world, he said 10.1 per cent of the population in the US has been infected so far, 7.3 per cent in Brazil, 9 per cent in France and 7.4 per cent in Italy.

About black fungus, Paul said till now the number is not that high but it cannot be taken for granted. “There are a large number of cases through which we have learnt that when a combination of diabetes, an uncontrolled one, particularly in COVID and steroid use comes up then likelihood of this disease becomes a possibility. So whoever has diabetes should try to keep it in control," he said. He stressed on rational use of medication. "We reiterate that proper use of steroids has to be done and we must not take it lightly," he said.

Giving statistics, Agarwal said a continuous decline in active cases has been noted in the last 15 days. "Since May 11, daily recoveries in the country have outnumbered daily cases. India has witnessed a consistent upward trend in weekly tests since mid-February with average daily tests more than 2.5 times in last 14 weeks. After a consistent increase in case positivity for 13 weeks, a decline in case positivity since the last week has been reported," he added.

Agarwal said a decreasing trend in positivity rate has been observed in 26 states and UTs.

Maharashtra, UP, Delhi, Bihar, MP and Chhattisgarh are among eight states showing a decline in COVID-19 cases and decline in positivity.

Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram showing rise in COVID-19 cases and rise in positivity, he said.

He further said that eight states have more than 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases, 22 states have more than 15 per cent case positivity.

He said there are 199 districts showing a continued decline in cases and positivity since the last two weeks.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 32,21,781

New Cases in last 24 hours: 2,67,112

Recovered in last 24 hours: 3,89,700

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -1,27,113

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 4,525 (2,83,276)

Daily Tests: 18,69,223

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 14.1%

Most Affected States:

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

1          Karnataka                     5,75,028           /           30,309  /           525

2          Maharashtra     4,19,727           /           28,438  /           1,291

3          Kerala              3,47,627           /           31,337  /           97

4          Tamil Nadu       2,42,929           /           33,059  /           364

5          Andhra Pradesh            2,11,501           /           21,320  /           99

6          Rajasthan                     1,59,455           /           8,398    /           146

7          Uttar Pradesh   1,36,342           /           8,673    /           255

8          West Bengal     1,31,793           /           19,428  /           145

9          Gujarat             96,443  /           6,447    /           67

10        Odisha             94,297  /           10,321  /           22

11        Chhattisgarh     90,382  /           6,477    /           153

12        Madhya Pradesh           82,967  /           5,412    /           70

13        Uttarakhand      76,232  /           4,785    /           98

14        Haryana                       75,914  /           7,774    /           124

15        Punjab              72,277  /           7,066    /           231

16        Bihar                64,698  /           6,286    /           111

17        JnK                  50,925  /           3,967    /           71

18        Delhi                50,863  /           4,482    /           265

19        Telangana                    48,110  /           3,982    /           27

20        Assam              46,393  /           5,835    /           73

21        Himachal Pradesh         34,888  /           2,892    /           78

22        Jharkhand        31,528  /           2,925    /           62

23        Goa                  23,946  /           1,358    /           45

24        Puducherry       17,477  /           1,797    /           33

25        Chandigarh       7,035    /           526       /           6

26        Manipur                        6,605    /           624       /           20

27        Tripura             5,404    /           746       /           4

28        Meghalaya        5,332    /           906       /           19

29        Nagaland                      4,407    /           365       /           12

30        Sikkim              3,052    /           209       /           2

INDIA IN A BALANCING ACT IN ISRAEL, PALESTINE CONFLICT

On Monday, India’s permanent representative to the United Nations, T S Tirumurti, made a carefully crafted statement at the UN Security Council “open debate” on the escalating Israel-Palestine violence, striving to maintain balance between India’s historic ties with Palestine and its blossoming relations with Israel.

The statement, the first India has made on the issue, appears to implicitly hold Israel responsible for triggering the current cycle of violence by locating its beginnings in East Jerusalem rather than from Gaza. The request that both sides refrain from “attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhoods” seems to be a message to Israel about its settler policy.

The balancing was evident in the pointed condemnation of the “indiscriminate rocket firings from Gaza” on civilian targets in Israel, but not of the Israeli strikes inside Gaza; the customary omission since 2017 of any reference to East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state; and the hyphenation of “Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount”, equating claims of both Israel and Palestine.

India’s policy on the longest running conflict in the world has gone from being unequivocally pro-Palestine for the first four decades, to a tense balancing act with its three-decade-old friendly ties with Israel. In recent years, India’s position has also been perceived as pro-Israel.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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WORLD POWERS CALL FOR TRUCE AS ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT RAGES

Israel bombarded Gaza with airstrikes and Palestinian militants resumed cross-border rocket fire on Tuesday after a brief overnight lull during which the UN sent a small fuel convoy into the enclave, where it says 52,000 people are now displaced. Israeli leaders said they were pressing on with an offensive to destroy the capabilities of the armed factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad, amid calls by the US and other world powers for an end to the conflict.

European Union foreign ministers called on Tuesday for a ceasefire and boosted humanitarian aid for Gaza, but failed to reach the unanimity that might give the EU leverage in peacemaking. Hungary, Israel’s closest ally in the bloc, declined to join the other 26 foreign ministers in calling for a truce on their video call. Nevertheless, the other ministers vowed that the EU would try to relaunch the peace process along with the US, Russia and the UN. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the west Asian quartet of mediators, comprising the EU, Russia, the US and the UN, was the right forum to push for a resumption of the peace process. “We must find a path to dialogue.”

ASTRA VAX FOLLOWED BY PFIZER DOSE IS SAFE AND EFFECTIVE: SPANISH STUDY

A Spanish study on mixing Covid-19 vaccines has found that giving a dose of Pfizer’s drug to people who already received a first shot of AstraZeneca vaccine is highly safe and effective, preliminary results showed on Tuesday. The Combivacs study, run by Spain’s state-backed Carlos III Health Institute, found the presence of IgG antibodies in the bloodstream was between 30 and 40 times higher in people who got the follow-up Pfizer shot than in a control group who only received one AstraZeneca dose. Meanwhile, the presence of neutralising antibodies rose sevenfold after a Pfizer dose, significantly more than the doubling effect observed after a second AstraZeneca shot.

Around 670 volunteers between the ages of 18-59 who had already received a first dose of AstraZeneca’s vaccine participated in the study, with some 450 given a Pfizer dose. Just 1.7% of the participants reported severe side effects, which were limited to headaches, muscle pain and general malaise, said Dr Magdalena Campins, one of the study’s leaders. “These are not symptoms that can be considered serious,” she said.

Spain embarked on the study to determine how best to proceed after limiting AstraZeneca's shot to people aged over 60 due to concerns about blood clotting in younger people.

THE REST

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CYCLONE TAUKTAE TEARS UP GUJARAT COAST; 13 DEAD, 16,000 HOUSES DAMAGED

As many as 13 people were killed in Gujarat as cyclone Tauktae pummelled parts of the state and left behind a trail of destruction along the coast, uprooting electric poles, trees and damaging thousands of houses and roads, officials said on Tuesday.

In what was one of the worst cyclones faced by the state, Tauktae triggered heavy rains in many parts along its way from the Saurashtra coast to North Gujarat with as many as 46 talukas receiving over 100 mm of downpour, while 12 of them recorded 150 mm to 175 mm of rains.

Tauktae, characterised as an extremely severe cyclonic storm on Monday, has now weakened into a "cyclonic storm" and will gradually become a "deep depression" as it moves northwards, the IMD said.

Over 16,000 houses were damaged, more than 40,000 trees and over 70,000 electric poles uprooted, while 5,951 villages faced total power blackout due to the cyclonic storm in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.

Many areas of Ahmedabad city were inundated with knee-deep water following incessant downpour since afternoon as cyclone Tauktae passed northward along the district’s periphery.

614 RESCUED; 93 ONGC OFF-SHORE OP STAFF MISSING

In one of the biggest off-shore search and rescue operations mounted by the Coast Guard and Navy, 637 men have been rescued from their vessels that went adrift in gale-force winds and high waves in the Arabian Sea during Monday’s Cyclone Tauktae, but the search is still on for at least 80 more men who are missing, officials said.

In all, one oil rig and four vessels servicing ONGC’s off-shore operations were caught in the cyclone as it barrelled its way past Mumbai on Tuesday.

The men who were stranded on the oil rig and in the four vessels — three of them barges — are maintenance staff working on ONGC off-shore sites, hired by contractors and sub-contractors for the oil PSU’s rigs and platforms in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast.

Barge P305, which later sank, sent distress signals on Monday after it got caught in high-speed winds of 150-180 km per hour and waves as high as 6-8 metres. It served as living quarters for the men working on the rig. Many of them are said to have jumped into the sea with life jackets on. Some of the survivors were winched up by naval helicopters on Tuesday. Of the men rescued, 180 were from this barge but 93 remain missing from this vessel.

B Kumar of AFCONS, the company that has been working with ONGC to revamp its unmanned offshore platforms in the Arabian Sea, said he would not comment on casualties as he hopes “positively for survivors”.

All 137 men on a second barge, Gal Constructor, which ran aground near Palghar, have been rescued.

A third barge, SS03, is still adrift but the 202 men on board are reported to be safe, Navy and Coast Guard officials said. A tug boat has been sent to tow her to safety.

All 101 workers on Sagar Bhushan, the oil rig, have been rescued. Caught in the winds and buffeted by the waves on Monday, the rig had lost its anchors and started drifting north.

Rescue operations are also on for a multi-purpose vessel servicing ONGC called Great Ship Aditi.

Ten ships of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard took part in the operations that began Monday afternoon. Two aircrafts, four helicopters joined the search as the weather cleared on Tuesday.

BJP RELEASES A ‘CONG TOOLKIT’, CONG CALLS IT A FAKE

The BJP and Congress entered into a war of words, with the former levelling charge that the latter conspired to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country by projecting inept handling of the pandemic.

Several BJP leaders, including president JP Nadda and Union Minister Smirti Irani, took to social media platforms lambasting the Congress for allegedly circulating a toolkit among its activists and friends with resource material and stratagem to spoil Modi’s image.

In accordance with the agenda of the toolkit, the Congress has instructed its social media volunteers to call the new mutant strain of Covid-19 the “Modi strain” or the “India strain”, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed in a tweet.

The Congress hit right back saying the BJP was resorting to its usual subterfuge to deflect nation’s attention from bona fide criticism of Modi on his handling of the pandemic.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said the BJP was dropping red herrings, while he dissociated his party from the toolkit, copies of which were circulated by the BJP.

The Congress counter-charged that the putative toolkit was “forged” by the BJP, and its leaders said a complaint has been lodged with the Delhi Police. BJP leaders Nadda, Irani, BL Santosh and Sambit Patra and other BJP functionaries have been named in it.

SINGAPORE REJECTS DELHI CM’S TWEET ON 'VERY DANGEROUS' COVID-19 STRAIN IN THE COUNTRY

Singapore has dismissed media reports quoting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that a "very dangerous" strain of the novel coronavirus was prevalent in the city state, saying there is no truth whatsoever in such assertions.

"The new form of coronavirus in Singapore is said to be very dangerous for children. It could reach Delhi in the form of a third wave. My appeal to the Central government: 1. Cancel all air services with Singapore with immediate effect 2. Work on vaccine alternatives for children on a priority basis," the Delhi CM had said in a tweet in Hindi.

Responding to Kejriwal's tweet, Singapore's health ministry said: "There is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports." "There is no Singapore variant. The strain that is prevalent in many of the COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is the B.1.617.2 variant, which originated in India," it said in a statement.

Responding to the chief minister's appeal, India's Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said only a few flights are being operated between the two countries under the government's Vande Bharat Mission to bring stranded Indians back, and added that "all precautions are being taken".

NEVER EXPORTED VACCINES AT COST OF PEOPLE IN INDIA: SERUM INSTITUTE

Serum Institute of India on Tuesday said it has never exported vaccines at the cost of the people in India and remains committed to support the vaccination drive in the country.

Giving the background on the decision to export vaccines, SII said, “In January 2021, we had a large stockpile of vaccine doses. Our vaccination drive had started successfully and the number of daily cases being recorded were at an all-time low.”

Around the same time, many other countries in the world were facing an acute crisis and were in desperate need of help. The Indian government extended support wherever possible during this period, it added.

“Today, it is this reciprocity, where India has helped other countries with the supply of HCQ and vaccine exports, that has in turn led to support from other countries,” SII said.

“SII has delivered more than 200 million doses, even though we received EUA (emergency use authorisation) two months after the US pharma companies,” it added. Serum continues to scale up manufacturing and prioritise India. It also hopes to start delivering to COVAX and other countries by end of this year, the statement said.

270 DOCTORS DIED OF COVID IN SECOND WAVE OF PANDEMIC: IMA

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday said 270 doctors across the country have succumbed to the coronavirus infection in the second wave of the pandemic so far.

The list of the deceased doctors includes former IMA president Dr K K Aggarwal, who succumbed to the deadly virus on Monday.

Bihar saw the maximum number of 78 deaths of medical practitioners, followed by Uttar Pradesh (37), Delhi (29) and Andhra Pradesh (22).

According to the IMA COVID-19 registry, 748 doctors succumbed to the disease in the first wave of the pandemic.

MURDER CASE: OLYMPIAN WRESTLER SUSHIL DENIED ANTICIPATORY BAIL

A Delhi Court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to absconding Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar in the murder case of a wrestler, saying that he is 'prima facie' the main conspirator and allegations against him are serious in nature.

Wrestler Sagar Rana died, while two of his friends Sonu and Amit Kumar got injured, after they were allegedly assaulted by Sushil Kumar and other wrestlers at Chhatrasal Stadium in Delhi on May 4.

Fearing arrest, Sushil Kumar moved the Rohini court in Delhi on May 17 seeking anticipatory bail, asserting that the investigation against him is biased and that no injuries are attributable to him. In the plea, the double Olympic medallist showed his willingness to join the investigation and provide a "true and correct picture of the incident" to help the investigating agency reach a logical conclusion.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life. - Lee Iacocca

OFF TRACK

Mrs. Smith found her husband hanging in his bedroom this morning.

There was a note on his bed which read, "I can't take the critism anymore."

Mrs. Smith quickly cut down the rope and managed to revive him.

As Mr. Smith lay in her arms and slowly opened his eyes, she said, "That's not how you spell criticism."