‘UNPLANNED VACCINATION CAN PROMOTE MUTANT COVID STRAINS’

A group of public health experts, including doctors from AIIMS and members from the national taskforce on Covid-19, have said that mass, indiscriminate and incomplete vaccination can trigger emergence of mutant strains and recommended that there is no need to inoculate those who had documented coronavirus infection.

In their latest report, the experts said vaccinating the vulnerable and those at risk, instead of mass population-wide inoculation including children, should be the aim at present.

"The present situation of the pandemic in the country demands that we should be guided by the logistics and epidemiological data to prioritise vaccination rather than opening vaccination for all age groups at this stage.

"Opening all fronts simultaneously will drain human and other resources and would be spreading it too thin to make an impact at the population level," the experts said in the report which has been submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Mass, indiscriminate, and incomplete vaccination can also trigger emergence of mutant strains. Given the rapid transmission of infection in various parts of the country, it is unlikely that mass vaccination of all adults will catch up with the pace of natural infection among our young population," they said in the report.

Evidence-based flexibility in vaccine schedules may need to be considered for areas or populations experiencing surge on account for specific variants; for example, a reduced interval for the second dose of Covishiled for areas with surge due to the delta variant.

"Vaccine is a strong and powerful weapon against the novel coronavirus. And like all strong weapons it should neither be withheld nor used indiscriminately; but should be employed strategically to derive maximum benefit in a cost-effective way," they said.

While it makes perfect sense to vaccinate all adults, the reality is that the country is in the midst of an ongoing pandemic with limited availability of vaccines, the report said. In this scenario the focus should be to reduce deaths, majority of which are among older age groups and those with co-morbidities or obesity. Vaccinating young adults, given the present constraints, will not be cost-effective, they stated.

The report suggested implementing repeated local level serosurveys in real time at the end of the second wave to map the vulnerability at district level to guide vaccination strategy.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 11,19,928

New Cases in last 24 hours: 91,512

Recovered in last 24 hours: 1,33,669

Change in no. of Active cases in last 24 hours: -45,559

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 3,402 (3,63,097)

Daily Tests (Wednesday): 20,04,690

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 4.7%

Percentage of Population Vaccinated (At Least One Dose / Two Doses): 14.7% / 3.5%

Most Affected States:

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

1          Karnataka         2,10,652           /           11,042  /           194

2          Tamil Nadu       1,88,664           /           16,813  /           358

3          Maharashtra     1,60,693           /           12,207  /           1,915

4          Kerala              1,35,296           /           14,424  /           194

5          Andhra Pradesh            99,057  /           8,110    /           67

6          Odisha             61,034  /           6,097    /           44

7          Assam              47,081  /           3,756    /           51

8          Telangana        23,561  /           1,798    /           14

9          Jammu and Kashmir     18,581  /           1,117    /           25

10        Chhattisgarh     17,275  /           1,034    /           14

11        Punjab              16,244  /           1,311    /           74

12        West Bengal     14,719  /           5,274    /           87

13        Gujarat             13,683  /           NA       /           NA

14        Uttar Pradesh   12,243  /           596       /           81

15        Rajasthan         10,079  /           538       /           23

16        Manipur            9,359    /           730       /           10

17        Bihar                6,895    /           551       /           23

18        Puducherry       6,705    /           507       /           9

19        Uttarakhand      6,641    /           388       /           29

20        Haryana           6,365    /           539       /           32

21        Himachal Pradesh         6,336    /           533       /           17

22        Madhya Pradesh           6,325    /           420       /           34

23        Tripura             6,095    /           658       /           14

24        Goa                  5,605    /           413       /           14

25        Meghalaya        5,015    /           603       /           10

26        Jharkhand        4,514    /           293       /           5

27        Delhi                4,212    /           305       /           44

28        Sikkim              4,040    /           287       /           3

29        Nagaland          3,877    /           113       /           6

30        Mizoram           3,431    /           337       /           3

31        Arunachal Pradesh        3,209    /           245       /           5

32        Lakshadweep    721       /           71        /           NIL

33        Chandigarh       581       /           66        /           2

AMID UP RUMBLINGS, YOGI ADITYANATH IN DELHI TO MEET AMIT SHAH, PM MODI

Amid reports of dissent in state BJP and speculations of a rejig of the Cabinet to balance crucial caste equations in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday met Home Minister Amit Shah for what he called a “courtesy call” for ‘marg-darshan’ (guidance) of the senior party leader.

Adityanath is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, incidentally the first time in person since political turmoil hit the state BJP along with the second wave of the Covid-19.

There have been reports of “differences” between Adityanath and Modi over the induction of former Gujarat-cadre IAS officer Arvind Kumar Sharma in the UP Cabinet.

Adityanath’s two-day visit also follows the high-profile entry of Congress’ Brahmin’ face in UP, Jitin Prasada, into the saffron party. Many in the state BJP have been openly critical of Adityanath over “mishandling” of the second wave of the Covid pandemic and have also voiced concern to the top leadership over the impact people’s anger may have on polls next year.

Apart from accusations of “mismanagement” and the anti-incumbency factor, Yogi Adityanath is also facing allegations of “favouring” the Thakur community at the cost of Brahmins.

COMPLETE DISENGAGEMENT MUST FOR PEACE AT LAC: INDIA

India on Thursday once again called for completion of the disengagement process at the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh to pave the way for both the Indian and Chinese troops to consider de-escalation and ensure full restoration of peace and tranquillity in border areas.

At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, referring to the last rounds of military and diplomatic talks, said both sides agreed on the need to resolve the outstanding issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols.

"We have repeatedly stressed that completion of disengagement in other areas would pave the way for the two sides to consider de-escalation of forces and ensure full restoration of peace and tranquillity and enable progress in bilateral relations," he said.

Bagchi was replying to a question on the status of the talks between the two sides on the border standoff.

India and China are locked in a military standoff at multiple friction points in eastern Ladakh since early May last year. However, the two sides completed the withdrawal of troops and weapons from the North and South banks of Pangong lake in February following a series of military and diplomatic talks.

The two sides are now engaged in talks to extend the disengagement process to the remaining friction points. There was no visible forward movement in disengagement of troops at the remaining friction points as the Chinese side did not show flexibility in their approach towards this end at the 11th round of military talks.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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EU, UK LEADERS JOIN CALLS FOR FULL PROBE INTO COVID ORIGINS

Leaders of European Union on Thursday joined the calls for a full investigation into the origins of Covid-19, with the European Council president declaring “support for all the efforts in order to get transparency and to know the truth.” “The world has the right to know exactly what happened in order to be able to learn the lessons,” Charles Michel said. He made the comments during a conference preceding G7 summit, which starts on Friday.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, highlighted that “investigators need complete access to information and to sites” to “develop the right tools to make sure this will never happen again.” In Britain’s parliament, UK health minister Matt Hancock said there needs to be a fully independent probe that is allowed to take place without interference in China. “P- art of the reforms that we need is to make sure we can properly find answers.”

PAK CLERIC THREATENS NOBEL LAUREATE MALALA YOUSAFZAI, ARRESTED

A Muslim cleric in northwest Pakistan has been arrested under the anti-terrorism act for threatening Malala Yousafzai and instigating people to attack the Nobel Laureate for her recent comments on marriage, police said.

According to the FIR, a video went viral on social media showing Mufti Sardar instigating people at a gathering in Peshawar to take the law into their own hands and attack Malala. He was armed when the incident took place, the report said. “When Malala comes to Pakistan, I will be the first to attempt a suicide attack on her,” the FIR quoted him as saying

In an interview to the Vogue magazine in its latest edition, 23-year-old Malala, an Oxford graduate and a Pakistani activist for girls education who miraculously survived a bullet to the head from the militant Taliban in October 2012, revealed that she is not sure if she will ever marry. “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership? she said.

THE REST

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MOILY, SIBAL CALL FOR REFORMS WITHIN CONGRESS

A day after Jitin Prasada switched to BJP, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said the Congress needs to undergo a “major surgery” and not depend just on legacy. He said the top leadership must give primacy to ideological commitment and assign responsibility to leaders.

Alleging that Prasada had placed “personal ambition” over everything else, he said the Uttar Pradesh leader’s ideological commitment was suspect from the beginning and the party winning zero seats in West Bengal under his charge showed that he was incompetent. He also said the top leadership should make a proper assessment of leaders in the party, and asserted that “one cannot make people leaders when they do not deserve it”.

Moily, who had suggested after the 2019 polls debacle that Congress has to undergo a major surgery to be competitive, said the “surgery” was long delayed and it was “needed right now, there is no tomorrow”.

Congress functionary Kapil Sibal said the party should carry out reforms and changes, reiterating the view that was expressed by the group of 23 leaders in their controversial letter to the leadership last year. Sibal disapproved of Prasada’s decision to join BJP, calling it an ideological compromise.

On the possibility of him joining the BJP, Sibal said: “We’re true Congressmen, never in my life will I think of joining BJP, like over my dead body. It could be that if Congress leadership informs me to leave. I may think of leaving party on that basis but won’t join BJP,” Sibal said.

Sibal said if Prasada would have left the party unhappy over the response of the leadership on the concerns raised by the letter writers, that would have been his personal choice and he was entitled to leave, but wondered why he decided to join the BJP. “What is the rational basis for that except for ‘prasada (personal gain) politics… We see this happening around the country,” Sibal said.

AFTER UDDHAV MEETS MODI, RAUT SOFTENS STANCE AGAINST MODI

Days after the one-on-one meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said Modi is the top leader of the country and the BJP.

He made the statement in response to a question on whether he felt that Modi’s popularity is on a downslide as media reports suggested that RSS is contemplating to project state leaders as the face in the state elections. “I don’t want to comment on this…I don’t go by the media reports. There is no official statement about this… The BJP owes its success to Narendra Modi in the last seven years and currently he is the top leader of the country and his party,” Raut said.

The Shiv Sena’s stand has always been that a prime minister belongs to the entire country and not a particular party, he said, adding, “Hence the PM shouldn’t get involved in election campaigning as it puts pressure on the official machinery. To a question on Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil’s remarks that his party would make friendship with tiger (Shiv Sena’s symbol) if Modi wished, Raut said, No one can make friendship with a tiger. It is the tiger that decides whom he wants to be friends with.

DID NUSRAT JAHAN ‘LIE’ IN PARLIAMENT, ASKS BJP’S AMIT MALVIYA

A day after TMC MP Nusrat Jahan said that her relationship with her businessman husband Nikhil Jain was more of a “live-in” given that the marriage was not valid in India, BJP’s Amit Malviya wondered if the TMC MP “lied” on the floor of the Parliament regarding her marital status.

Amid speculations of their separation, the actor-politician on Wednesday said her relationship with Jain was more of a “live-in” since her marriage to Jain had taken place in Turkey and was not registered under the Special Marriage Act in India. “Since it was an interfaith marriage, it requires validation under the Special Marriage Act in India, which did not happen. As per law, it is not a marriage, but a relationship or a live-in relationship,” she claimed, also alleging that her belongings, like jewellery and other assets were “illegally held back” and her “funds mishandled” from various accounts without her knowledge.

“TMC MP Nusrat Jahan Ruhi Jain’s personal life, who she is married to or who she is living in with, should not be anyone’s concern. But she is an elected representative and is on record in the Parliament that she is married to Nikhil Jain. Did she lie on the floor of the House?” tweeted Malviya.

RAMDEV CHANGES HIS MIND, SAYS WILL TAKE COVID JAB

Yoga guru Ramdev, who had said he does not need the Covid vaccine as he has protection of yoga and ayurveda, on Thursday did a summersault, saying he will soon get the jab and described doctors as “God’s envoys on earth”.

Ramdev had earlier stirred a controversy with his comments on the efficacy of allopathic drugs against COVID-19, drawing the ire of the medical fraternity. Now, welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement about free vaccine to all from June 21, Ramdev described it as a “historic” step and appealed to all to get themselves vaccinated.

“Get both doses of the vaccine and the double protection of yoga and ayurveda. They will combine to give you such a robust shield of protection that not a single person will die from Covid,” he told reporters in Haridwar.

Ramdev also heaped praise on good allopathic doctors, describing them as “God’s envoys on earth”. On the ongoing confrontation with the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ramdev said he cannot have any animosity with any organisation. “When it comes to emergency treatment and surgery, allopathy is the best. There cannot be two opinions about it,” said the yoga guru who had caused so much anger among doctors by his recent remarks against allopathy.

‘IT RULES IMPOSE CHILLING EFFECT ON FREE SPEECH’: TM KRISHNA MOVES MADRAS HC

The Madras High Court has issued a notice to the Government of India in a plea filed by Carnatic musical vocalist and writer, TM Krishna, on the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

In a petition filed by the Internet Freedom Foundation on behalf of Krishna, the Ramon Magsaysay awardee writes that the rules, “offend my right as an artist and cultural commentator by both imposing a chilling effect on free speech, and by impinging on my right to privacy.”

“A reading of the Code of Ethics contained in the Impugned Rules makes it impossible to glean what will be considered by the Union government as acceptable speech in the online world. In any event, it is submitted that determining what is acceptable isn’t the sole prerogative of the government,” the petition states.

The IT Rules lays down provisions for self-regulation as well as oversight by the central government. Krishna argues that rules will “lead to a chilling of the creative process,” due to the “arbitrary ministerial supervision.”

Regarding Part 2 of the IT Rules, which deals with social media platforms or intermediaries, the petition says that it “vests private intermediaries with excessive power in shaping what speech is permitted and what speech is not.”

The Court has given the government three weeks to file a response.

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA TO MEET BARBORA KREJCIKOVA IN FINALS

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is almost 30, she’s ranked 32 and only a few months ago, she wondered if her tennis career had passed her by. Then, with help from her brother Aleksandr, who she recalled as her coach, she learned to embrace her journey.

Playing gritty tennis on court Philippe Chatrier, the Russian used her range effectively, shifting between solid and cutting to work her way into her maiden Grand Slam final on her 52nd attempt. Pavlyuchenkova, who had previously never made it past the quarterfinals of a major, moved into the French Open title round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek.

In the final, she will meet Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova who put out Greece’s 17th seed Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 after three hours and 18 minutes.

DHAWAN TO LEAD SECOND-STRING INDIA ON SRI LANKA TOUR

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan will lead a second-string India in their limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka next month with pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar named as his deputy. India will face the hosts in three ODIs (on July 13, 16 and 18), followed by three T20Is (July 21, 23, 25).

Squad: Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya.

INDICATORS

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GBP 0.70 /US$, Euro 0.82 /US$, Jap.Yen 109.49 /US$, Aus$ 1.29 /US$, Sing 1.32 /US$, Bang Taka 83.28 /US$, Can$ 1.21 /US$, Mal Ring 4.11 /US$,

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Bitcoin - USD 36,171

Dollar Index 90.01 Brent Crude 72.35  BDI 2,669

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,899 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,888 / 4,788, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 76,100

Note - ***The currency rates quoted above are only indicative. At best these can give trends of currency movements. The banks' buy/sell rates can be different from these.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

OFF TRACK

A man kept trying to get his mother to fly out for a visit. “No way am I getting on an airplane,” was the inevitable answer.

“Look, Mom, when it’s your time to go, it doesn’t matter if you’re on the ground or in the air.”

“I know,” said the mother. “I just don’t want to be that far off the ground when it’s the pilot’s time to go.”