HEALTH MINISTER’S COVID BRIEFING

As many as 5,424 cases of mucormycosis or black fungus have been reported from 18 states, with a majority of them in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.

“Nine lakh vials of Amphotericin-B are being imported by the central government for the treatment of Black Fungus. Of this, 50,000 vials have been received and around three lakh vials will be available in the next seven days," he said.

Speaking at the 27th group of ministers meeting on COVID-19, he said that Gujarat reported 2,165 cases, Maharashtra 1,188, Uttar Pradesh 663, Madhya Pradesh 590, Haryana 339 and Andhra Pradesh 248 cases.

"Out of these 5,424 cases of mucormycosis, we have seen that 4, 556 cases have a history of COVID-19 infection, while 875 cases are amongst non-COVID patients. Diabetes was present in 55 percent of the patients.

"We have been warning, issuing advisories and, through our experts, it has been communicated that indiscriminate use of steroids must be avoided and diabetes must be treated thoroughly as best as possible," he said.

On Genome sequencing, Vardhan informed that 25,739 samples have been sequenced and variant B.1.617 has been found in 5,261 samples, which is almost 65 percent of the samples, "making it one of the most common mutations to be detected till now".

Giving a snapshot of India's efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, Vardan said for the 11th day in succession, the recoveries are more than new cases in the country.

He cautioned on the high number of fatalities occurring.

On vaccines and clinical intervention, Vardhan observed, “We have already given 19.6 crore doses to our countrymen. Over 60 lakh doses are still with the states and further 21 lakh doses are in the pipeline.”

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 25,81,741

New Cases in last 24 hours: 1,95,724

Recovered in last 24 hours: 3,26,841

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -1,34,615

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 3,498 (3,07,249)

Daily Tests: 19,28,127

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 11.5%

Most Affected States:

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

1          Karnataka                     4,40,435           /           25,311  /           529

2          Maharashtra     3,27,580           /           22,122  /           592

3          Tamil Nadu       3,01,580           /           34,867  /           404

4          Kerala              2,59,175           /           17,821  /           196

5          Andhra Pradesh            2,03,762           /           12,994  /           96

6          West Bengal     1,28,585           /           17,883  /           153

7          Rajasthan                     99,875  /           4,414    /           103

8          Odisha             99,648  /           11,059  /           32

9          Uttar Pradesh   76,703  /           3,894    /           153

10        Gujarat             68,971  /           3,187    /           45

11        Chhattisgarh     61,162  /           4,162    /           59

12        Punjab              54,996  /           4,481    /           187

13        Madhya Pradesh           53,653  /           2,936    /           60

14        Assam              52,649  /           6,221    /           84

15        Uttarakhand      49,579  /           2,071    /           122

16        JnK                  45,630  /           2,237    /           45

17        Telangana                    38,818  /           3,043    /           21

18        Haryana                       38,119  /           3,757    /           95

19        Bihar                37,942  /           2,844    /           93

20        Delhi                24,578  /           1,550    /           207

21        Himachal Pradesh         24,181  /           1,949    /           61

22        Jharkhand        17,569  /           1,394    /           33

23        Goa                  16,278  /           1,401    /           38

24        Puducherry       15,835  /           922       /           23

25        Tripura             7,998    /           426       /           2

26        Meghalaya        7,788    /           811       /           26

27        Manipur                        6,444    /           538       /           17

28        Nagaland                      4,726    /           191       /           Nil

29        Chandigarh       4,428    /           245       /           7

30        Sikkim              3,192    /           101       /           8

31        Arunachal Pradesh        3,127    /           480       /           4

MODERNA AND PFIZER ORDER BOOKS ARE FULL

The Union government is in direct talks with global vaccine manufacturers to facilitate regulatory clearance and procurement of doses, the health ministry said on Monday. This follows the stand taken by foreign vaccine makers such as Moderna and Pfizer that they would only deal with the Centre and not individual states.

“We are coordinating at the central level with vaccine makers. The order books of both Pfizer and Moderna are full most of the time. Depending on the surplus available with them, they will get back to the government of India,” Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry, said during a press conference on Covid-19 situation.

CENTRE ALLOWS WALK-INS FOR 18+ AT GOVT VACCINE CENTRES

More than three weeks after it rolled out vaccination for the 18-44 age group, where slots could be booked only through online appointment on Co-WIN, the Centre on Monday enabled on-site registration and appointment for this age group at government-run Covid-19 vaccination centres (CVCs).

However, with several states forced to shut down vaccination sites or operate a limited number of vaccination sites due to unavailability and shortage of vaccines, the Centre’s decision to allow walk-ins is likely to have limited impact.

So far, only vaccinations for those above 45 were allowed through walk-ins, with those in the 18-44 age group having to mandatorily register and book a slot through Co-WIN.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

REPORT: 3 WUHAN LAB STAFFERS HAD COVID-LIKE SYMPTOMS IN NOV 2019

A report that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China fell ill with symptoms “consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness” in fall 2019, and some backsliding on the origins of the coronavirus by infectious diseases guru Anthony Fauci, have returned the spotlight on Beijing and its possible culpability in letting loose a pandemic on the world. Also under scrutiny: top US scientific institutions and their role in funding and collaborating with Chinese entities that may have triggered the pandemic.

The report broadly hewed to the sketchy but unsubstantiated reports in the final days of the Trump White House when a state department fact sheet said “the US government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both Covid and common seasonal illnesses.”

The claim was largely trashed by the US scientific establishment that bought into a joint study into the origins of Covid-19 by WHO and China published at the end of March that said it was “extremely unlikely” that SARS-CoV-2 virus had escaped from a lab.

But increasingly, many scientists are starting to push back against the conclusion that ruled out a lab leak, given Beijing’s intransigence in not releasing lab records and allowing full-fledged, independent investigation into the matter. Even Fauci has reeled back from his dismissal of the lab-leak theory in recent days, saying he is “not convinced” that Covid-19 developed naturally and calling for an open investigation into its origins.

Beijing, meanwhile, continues to deny any responsibility for the pandemic, accusing the US of continuing to hype up the lab leak theory.

EU AGREES NEW BELARUS SANCTIONS AFTER PLANE ARREST

The EU has decided to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies after a flight was diverted to Minsk on Sunday and a dissident journalist arrested.

At a meeting in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 member states also told EU airlines not to fly over Belarus, and promised further economic sanctions.

Roman Protasevich, 26, was on a flight from Greece to Lithuania which was rerouted over a supposed bomb threat.

Western countries accused Belarus of "hijacking" the Ryanair plane.

A video has now emerged of Mr Protasevich that appears to have been recorded under duress since his detention at Minsk airport. In the clip, which was released late on Monday, the journalist said he was in good health and seemingly confessed to crimes he had been charged with by the Belarusian state.

But activists, including the country's main opposition leader, criticised the video and suggested Mr Protasevich was under pressure to admit wrongdoing.

THE REST

=========

‘YAAS’ INTENSIFIES, WILL LAND AS ‘VERY SEVERE CYCLONIC STORM’ ON MAY 26 NOON

The latest update from the IMD is that ‘Yaas’ will turn into a ‘Very Severe Cyclonic Storm’ today  and cross the north Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar islands around the noon of May 26.

Tidal waves of height 2-4 metres above astronomical tide are likely to inundate low lying coastal areas of Jhargram, South 24 Parganas, Medinipur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts around the time of landfall, the IMD said. The intensification and likely movement of the system is under continuous surveillance and concerned state governments are being informed regularly, it added.

DELHI POLICE AT TWITTER’S DOOR; OPPOSITION SLAMS ‘INTIMIDATION’

Days after Twitter flagged some posts by ruling party leaders alleging a Congress plot to malign the Prime Minister and the Central Government as “manipulated media”, a team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell Monday — working under the Union Home Ministry — knocked on the doors of Twitter India’s Delhi and Gurgaon offices to ostensibly serve the social media platform a notice.

This ratchets up the controversy over tweets by BJP leaders alleging a “Congress toolkit”, which the Congress has called fake.

A Delhi Police official said they had decided to issue a notice to Twitter after receiving complaints from Rohan Gupta, who heads the Congress’s social media department, and M V Rajeev Gowda, the party’s national spokesperson, over the BJP’s “toolkit” allegations.

However, hours after the Delhi Police action, the Congress hit out at the Government saying that “subjugation of free speech”, attempts to stifle “dissenting voices” and the bid to instil fear were continuing unabated.

Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal said the action was “a part of a routine process”. “This was necessitated as we wanted to ascertain who is the right person to serve a notice, as replies by Twitter India MD have been very ambiguous,” he said.

A senior officer from the Special Cell said the team had sent a notice to Twitter about the case but didn’t receive “an appropriate response”. “We want to know what information Twitter has about the toolkit and why they chose to give the ‘manipulated media’ label. Our team visited their Gurgaon office on Golf Course Road and Delhi office in Mehrauli to hand over the notice,” he said.

HC ASKS DRUG CONTROLLER TO INQUIRE INTO POLITICIANS BUYING COVID MEDICINES IN BULK

The Delhi High court Monday directed the drug controller to inquire into the issue of politicians buying Covid-19 drugs in bulk amid shortages.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said the Drug Controller shall examine how it is possible for someone to procure over 2,000 strips of a medicine, Fabiflu here, which is already in shortage and how the chemist was able to entertain such a prescription.

“Mr Gautam Gambhir must have done it with best of intentions. We are not doubting his intentions. He has been a national player of our country. Our question is whether it is a responsible behaviour when you the medicine is in short supply.

The high court was hearing a PIL seeking lodging of an FIR on the allegations that several politicians are able to procure in huge quantity and distribute Covid-19 medicines even as patients were running from pillar to post to get them.

AP COURT SENTENCES 11 NOTORIOUS HIGHWAY KILLERS TO DEATH

Ongole District Court in Andhra Pradesh sentenced a notorious highway serial killer Munna and ten other gang members to death on Monday.

The gang used to stop vehicles on the highway posing as police officers and then killed the occupants. The district court found 18 people guilty for being involved in four such cases during 2018. Eleven have been sentenced to death and remaining to life and shorter jail terms.

All the accused were found guilty of murdering seven persons in four cases in Ongole District. After killing lorry driver Ramasekhar and cleaner Perumal Subramani near Ulavapadu, the gang sold the 21.7 tons of iron in the lorry to a leading merchant in Guntur.

All accused gang members confessed to various acts of crime and after the trial, the court sentenced 11 people to death for murder and loot on the highway. The court had found all gang members guilty, but based on the charge sheet Munna and ten others were sentenced to death, life sentence has been given to four and seven years each to remaining.

COVAXIN MAY GET W.H.O. NOD SOON: BHARAT BIOTECH

Though no country has instituted a vaccine passport as yet, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday assured Bharat Biotech full support from the Indian diplomatic establishment in securing approvals of WHO and important countries as it might become a necessary travel document in future.

Bharat Biotech has already submitted 90 per cent of the documentation required for emergency use listing (EUL) to WHO and the remaining is expected to be submitted by next month.

There was a flutter after Bharat Biotech’s vaccine was not included in the WHO’s first list of vaccines for EUL. It is felt that these authorised vaccines will be mandatory in future for air travel between countries.

SMARTING UNDER STATEMENT WITHDRAWAL, RAMDEV POSES 25 QUESTIONS TO IMA

Having been forced to withdraw his statement questioning the efficacy of allopathy medicines, yoga guru Ramdev on Monday posed 25 questions to IMA. In an 'open letter' posted on his Twitter handle, he asked if allopathy offered permanent relief from hypertension (BP) and type-1 and 2 diabetes.

"Does the pharma industry have permanent treatment for thyroid, arthritis, colitis and asthma?" he asked.

Ramdev went on to ask if allopathy had medicines for fatty liver and liver cirrhosis. "Like you found a cure for TB and chicken pox, look for treatments for liver ailments. After All, allopathy is now 200 years old." He further asked what non-surgical cure does the pharma industry have for heart blockage. "What treatment is there for cholesterol." "Does the pharma industry have treatment for migraine?" he asked.

The yoga guru went on to list modern day ailments such as Parkinson's disease and wondered if allopathy had any painless cure to treat infertility as well as to reverse ageing and increase hemoglobin.

"Doctors should not fall ill at all if allopathy is all powerful and 'sarvagun sampanna' (having all good qualities)," he remarked.

SPICEJET CREW DEROSTERED AFTER VIDEO OF MID-AIR WEDDING GOES VIRAL, AIRLINE TO LODGE COMPLAINT

The SpiceJet crew has been pulled off the roster after a video of a mid-air wedding, in the presence of guests and relatives, inside a chartered flight wherein Covid-19 social distancing norms were violated, went viral on social media. While the crew of the SpiceJet flight has been derostered, the airline has been directed to lodge a complaint against those who did not follow the Covid-19 rules.

The chartered flight left the Madurai airport and remained airborne for approximately two hours on Sunday morning before returning there. All the passengers had submitted their Covid negative RT-PCR report before boarding the flight to attend the mid-air wedding.

Images and videos of the mid-air wedding were circulated on social media on Monday. The images and videos purportedly show people standing extremely close to each other as the couple tied the knot.

SpiceJet has also issued a statement regarding the controversy. "A SpiceJet Boeing 737 was chartered by a travel agent in Madurai on May 23, 2021, for a group of passengers for a joy ride post their wedding. The client was clearly briefed on Covid guidelines to be followed and denied permission for any activity to be performed on board," SpiceJet said. SpiceJet further said the passengers did not follow the guidelines despite repeated requests and reminders by the crew.

SC ORDER ON PERSONAL GUARANTORS THORN IN THE SIDE OF BIZ FAMILIES

Business families that have undertaken estate planning over the past two-three years are a worried lot.

Following last week’s Supreme Court order on personal guarantors under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), emboldened lenders are expected to enhance scrutiny of any recent estate planning measures by debt-laden promoter groups, including those by personal guarantors, said legal experts.

Over the past few years, there have been increasing number of instances of business families taking steps to ring-fence personal assets from business risks. Legal experts pointed out that moving sizeable personal assets into family-controlled trusts — as part of the estate and succession planning measures — have been the most popular.

The SC judgment points out that under the Code, the personal guarantor’s liability is joint and co-extensive with the principal borrower, unless specifically stated otherwise in the guarantee documents.

Even after a company is taken over, sold or transferred to a new entity through the IBC process, the guarantor continues to be liable for the entire debt of the company, unless specifically discharged by the committee of creditors in the settlement scheme.

Any recent transfer of personal assets by promoter groups, or promoters who gave guarantee, could come under increased scrutiny for malfeasance, added legal experts.

WHATSAPP DEFIANT, WON’T WITHDRAW PRIVACY UPDATES

Under pressure from the government to withdraw its controversial privacy update in India, Facebook-owned instant messenger WhatsApp refused to comply, but issued a face saver, saying it will “not limit the functionality” of users at least till the country gets a data protection law.

The company has been under tremendous pressure from the government, fairplay regulator Competition Commission and the courts over its new privacy update which it implemented from May 15.

WhatsApp now says that if a user does not want to update to the new norms, the person’s app will not lose any functionality, though the user will surely be sent reminders to step up. “We will not limit the functionality of how WhatsApp works in the coming weeks… We will maintain this approach until at least the forthcoming personal data protection law comes into effect,” a company spokesperson said.

INDICATORS

Sensex 50,652 (+112), Nifty 15,198 (+23), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 78112.29

Nasdaq 13,661 (+190) Dow 34,394 (+186), S&P 4197 (+41)

US$-Rs. 72.84 GBP-Rs. 103.06, Euro-Rs. 88.89, UAE Dhm-Rs.19.82, Can$-Rs. 60.39, Aus$- Rs. 56.36

GBP 0.70 /US$, Euro 0.81 /US$, Jap.Yen 108.83 /US$, Aus$ 1.29 /US$, Sing 1.32 /US$, Bang Taka 83.38 /US$, Can$ 1.20 /US$, Mal Ring 4.14 /US$,

Pak Re 153.15 /US$, Phil Peso 48.01 /US$, Russian Rouble 73.54 /US$, NZ$ 1.39 /US$, Thai Baht 31.31 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.23 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 39,274

Dollar Index 89.75 Brent Crude 68.62  BDI 2,881

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,874 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,700 / 4,600, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 75,600

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The superior man...does not set his mind either for or against anything, he will pursue whatever is right  - Confucius

OFF TRACK

A lady lost her handbag in the bustle of shopping. It was found by Raju who dutifully returned to her.

Looking in her purse, she commented, "Hmmm.... That's funny and strange. When I lost my bag there was a 500 rupee note in it. Now there are ten 50 rupee notes."

Raju quickly replied, "That's right, madam. The last time I found a lady's purse, she didn't have any change for a reward."