GOVT PANEL OKAYS 2 VACCINES, COVID PILL

An expert panel of the country's central drug authority has recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Serum Institute of India's COVID-19 vaccine Covovax and Biological E's vaccine Corbevax with certain conditions.

The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Monday also recommended granting permission to manufacture and market anti-Covid pill Molnupiravir for restricted emergency use for treatment of adult patients with SpO2 93% and who have high risk of progression of the disease, including hospitalisation or death, subject to certain conditions.

All the recommendations have been sent to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for final approval.

RENEWAL OF THE FCRA REGISTRATION DECLINED, MOTHER TERESA'S CHARITY REQUESTED BANK ACCOUNT FREEZE

The Mother Teresa-founded Missionaries of Charity's application for renewal of a licence to receive foreign contributions was turned down by the Union Home Ministry on Christmas Day citing 'some adverse inputs.’

Announcing the decision in a statement on Monday, the ministry of home affairs made it clear that it did not freeze any account of the Missionaries of Charity, but was informed by State Bank of India that the organisation itself had sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts.

The decision of not renewing the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act registration of the organisation led to a political slugfest between the Opposition and the ruling BJP, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress leaders terming the move 'shocking' and 'disgusting.'

The Missionaries of Charity issued a brief statement in Kolkata, saying it had asked its centres not to operate any foreign currency account till the issue of renewal of the organisation's FCRA registration was resolved. We would like to clarify that the FCRA registration of the Missionaries of Charity has been neither suspended nor cancelled. There is no freeze order by the MHA on any of our bank accounts. We have been informed that our FCRA renewal has not been approved," said the statement.

Banerjee was the first to come out in support of the Missionaries of Charity claiming that the Centre's move to freeze all their accounts had left '22,000 patients and employees' of the organisation 'without food and medicines.'

The ruling BJP hit out at Banerjee for being 'poorly informed.' "Poorly informed Mamata Banerjee gets it wrong, like always. This is what happens when you have an eye on Goa polls and religious polarisation and not governance is the only calling card. The Trinamool Congress' Bengal model of appeasement has limited appeal, won't work in rest of India," Amit Malviya, BJP's co-incharge of West Bengal, said in a tweet.

He also shared a statement on Twitter issued by the Missionaries of Charity, clarifying that the Home Ministry had not ordered freezing of its accounts.

PM UNVEILS SLEW OF HYDEL PROJECTS IN HIMACHAL

Taking a dig at the Congress for indulging in vote bank politics and self-promotion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the BJP believed in the ideology of ensuring development of the country and welfare of the poor and downtrodden.

Addressing a rally in Mandi, to mark the completion of four years of the BJP government in Himachal, Modi said the endeavour of the double-engine regimes —- at the Centre and state —-was to ensure “sabka saath, sabka vikas”. “While the BJP firmly believes in the ideology of ‘sabka vikas’, the other parties are guided by the principle of ‘apna vikas’,” he said in an oblique reference to the Congress.

The PM inaugurated the 111-MW Sawra Kuddu hydel project and laid the foundation stones of Renuka (40 MW), Luhri Stage-I (210 MW) and Dhaulasidh (66 MW) hydel projects. The four projects are worth Rs 11,581 crore.

MUMBAI DAILY COVID CASES UP OVER 6 TIMES SINCE DEC 1

Daily Covid-19 cases in Mumbai have shot up by 642 per cent since 1 December and the fear of Omicron spreading has prompted civic authorities to submit samples from all positive cases till 31 December for genome sequencing.

On 1 December, Mumbai registered 109 cases, with a positivity rate of 0.3 per cent, whereas on 27 December, 809 cases were registered at a positivity rate of 1.8 per cent — a six-fold increase.

Owing to this, the BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal held a meeting Monday to discuss the city’s preparedness for tackling the rising infections. The BMC has decided to keep ready hospital beds, Covid care centres, including those for children, and ward-wise war rooms in anticipation of a further rise in cases. “As you know this is the holiday season. The Christmas break is going on and the diaspora living outside the country is visiting Mumbai in large numbers. Foreign travel has increased, and the wedding season is also going on,” Dr Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, told reporters after the meeting. “Till 31 December, we have decided to do genome sequencing of all positive cases to check whether it is Omicron or a Delta derivative or the Delta variant. Last time when we did genome sequencing, we found that Delta cases are mostly dominant,” Kakani said.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST 28/Dec

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Monday 6,358

Active Cases 75,456 (-385)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 4,80,290 (80)

Total Vaccination: 142.46 Crores (+72,87,547)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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OXFORD VAX BEHIND FEWER COVID DEATHS IN BRITAIN, CLAIMS EXPERT

Britain’s early deployment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to protect against Covid may be responsible for the country’s lower death rates compared to other European countries, a UK vaccine expert has said.

Dr Clive Dix, former chairman of the UK’s Vaccine Task Force, told the Daily Telegraph that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – manufactured and administered in India as Covishield – may offer stronger long-term protection against severe Covid and death.

“If you look across Europe, with the rise in cases, there’s also a corresponding lagged rise in deaths, but not in the UK, and we have to understand that,” said Dr Dix. “I personally believe that’s because most of our vulnerable people were given the AstraZeneca vaccine,” he said.

According to Our World in Data, a website run by the University of Oxford, the UK has 1.7 daily deaths from Covid per million people. In comparison, the EU as a whole has almost four.

The key, Dix believes, is that although the RNA jabs such as Pfizer/BioNTech produce a more obvious and rapid jump in antibody levels in lab tests, other vaccines may be better at priming another part of the immune system called cellular immunity.

CHINA PLAYING WESTERN STATES AGAINST EACH OTHER: TRUDEAU

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said China has been “playing” Western states against each other and that democracies should present a “united front” in response. “There’s been a bit of competition amongst friends because we’re capitalist democracies trying to do well, especially given the extraordinary economic opportunity of the rise in the Chinese middle class,” Trudeau said in an interview with Global News that aired on Saturday. “We’ve been competing, and China has been from time to time very cleverly playing us off each other in an open-market, competitive way,” Trudeau said. “We need to do a better job of working together and standing strong so that China can’t play the angles and divide us one against the other.”

Trudeau’s comments come at a fraught time between the two governments. Earlier this month, Canada joined the US and other Western allies in announcing a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, citing human rights concerns. Canada is also considering banning Huawei from participating in the country’s 5G wireless network.”

China called on Canada to abandon what he said were wrong perceptions of the country to improve relations.

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AAP EMERGES AS BIGGEST PARTY IN CHANDIGARH CIVIC POLLS

It was a wave that no one saw coming. In a city like Chandigarh, which is administered by the Centre, and that has always either seen the BJP or the Congress in power, the Aam Aadmi Party gave the residents a third option. And people voted in droves for the newest entrant, with AAP winning 14 seats in the 35 seat House. While the BJP managed to win 12 seats, the Congress won 8 seats, while one seat went to the Akali Dal.

The AAP’s promises, and the party’s vow of replicating the Delhi model of governance in Chandigarh, is said to be one of the prime reasons that led to its victory. People in Chandigarh were upset with the hiked water tariff rates. One of the key promises of the AAP, on the other hand, was providing free 20,000 litres of water to every family every month in Chandigarh.

Not just were the residents upset over high bills of water, power and waste, the Chandigarh poor performance in the cleanliness survey was also one of the key reasons that led to the BJP’s fall. In 2016, Chandigarh was the second cleanest city in the country. In 2021, it dropped down to the 66th rank bringing disappointment for all.

Arvind Kejriwal claimed the party’s victory “is a sign of the ensuing change in Punjab”. Party leader Manish Sisodia too claimed that the people of Punjab “have decided to give a chance to Kejriwal this time”.

DELAY IN NEET PG COUNSELLING: STRIKING DOCTORS RUN INTO DELHI POLICE WALL

Resident doctors from Delhi’s major government hospitals, protesting repeated delays in NEET-PG counselling, Monday alleged that they were beaten, dragged and detained by the police during their march to the Supreme Court.

In response, Delhi Police registered an FIR under sections of rioting, causing obstruction in duty and damaging public property against the doctors. The FIR was lodged at IP Estate police station after a complaint was filed by a police personnel.

On the eleventh day of complete withdrawal from all routine and emergency services, the doctors decided to return their white coats to authorities as their demands were not being heard.

The delays in counselling have been due to a clutch of cases pending in the Supreme Court over the recently introduced quota for the economically weaker sections.

2 MORE BOOKED OVER HARIDWAR DHARMA SANSAD HATE SPEECHES

Two more persons have been booked in connection with hate speeches delivered against Muslims at a Dharma Sansad in Haridwar recently. The names of Swami Dharamdas and Sadhvi Annapurna were added on Saturday in the FIR lodged after available footage of the event was scanned, Haridwar Kotwali SHO Rakinder Singh said on Monday.

Initially, only Waseem Rizvi, who had assumed the name of Jitendra Narayan Singh Tyagi after converting from Islam to Hinduism, had been named in the FIR lodged on Thursday last week.

Extremely provocative speeches inciting violence against Muslims were allegedly made by participants at the event held at Ved Niketan Dham in Haridwar for three days from December 16 to 19.

It was organised by Yati Narasimhanand, the priest of Dasna temple in Ghaziabad.

Meanwhile, 75 lawyers and a former High Court judge have written to Supreme Court Chief Justice NV Ramana, requesting him to take suo motu notice of hate speeches. The letter, which has also been signed by former Patna HC judge Anjana Prakash, said the speeches “pose a grave threat not just to the unity and integrity of our country but also endanger the lives of millions of Muslim citizens.” “It is also pointed out that the speeches are a part of a series of similar speeches that we have come across in the past... Thus, urgent judicial intervention is required to prevent such events,” said the letter signed among others by Salman Khurshid, Dushyant Dave, Vrinda Grover and Meenakshi Arora.

WORKPLACE VISITS HIT A RECORD HIGH, OMICRON CONCERNS NOTWITHSTANDING

The number of people going to work has hit the highest since early 2020, despite rising cases of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron.

Workplace visits tracked by search engine Google showed a 7.6 per cent increase over a baseline period before Covid-19 took hold in the early part of 2020. This is the highest reading for India since Google began to make mobility data available. It collates the information based on anonymised location data. It tracks movement during the pandemic to various categories of places across countries. Retail and recreation visits were also higher than seen in early 2020 though lower than the post-Covid peak of 3.6 per cent seen in November 2021.

Weekly power generation was at its highest since the middle of October this year. The power utilities across the country generated 3,797 million units of electricity on average per day during the week ended December 26, 2021, based on reporting day data, up 3.4 per cent from 3,673 MUs in the previous week. The power generation last week was 4 per cent higher than in the corresponding week in 2020 and 8.8 per cent higher than generation in the corresponding week in 2019 based on reporting day numbers.

MAJOR CITIES TO SEE 5G ROLLOUT IN 2022

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said on Monday that Gurugram, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhi Nagar would be among the first cities to get 5G services in 2022.

The three private telecom service providers, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and Vodafone Idea, have been working with telecom equipment makers such as Ericsson and Nokia, and conducting trials at test sites in these cities.

Although the government has said the auction of 5G spectrum would take place in March or April next year, some experts say it could be delayed by at least one quarter as telecom service providers are yet to complete their trials and test various aspects.

For users, one of the major changes will be in terms of rich experiences on their phones and other connected devices. For instance, users will be able to stream videos with multiple camera angles during sports matches or even play immersive video games using VR headsets or other accessories.

This next-generation telecom network will also enable a mesh of connected Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled devices and services with zero-fail rate, as in the case of connected cars.

AIR INDIA HANDOVER TO TATA GROUP DELAYED BY A MONTH TILL JAN

Tata Group's takeover of loss-making national carrier Air India is most likely delayed by a month till January as the completion of procedures taking longer than expected, an official said on Monday.

In October, the government accepted the highest bid made by a Tata Sons company for 100 per cent equity shares of Air India and Air India Express along with its 50 per cent stake in ground-handling company AISATS -- the first privatisation in 20 years.

At that time, the government had stated that it wanted to complete the transactions, which included Tatas paying Rs 2,700 crore in cash, by December end.

As per the conditions in SPA, all formalities of handover would have to be completed within 8 weeks, but this date can be mutually extended by the buyer and seller and is being done in this case.

RBL STOCK DIVES 18%, RBI ALLAYS FEARS ABOUT LENDER

Shares of RBL Bank closed 18% down on Monday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed an additional director on the board of the bank. The RBI’s move followed RBL Bank’s CEO Vishwavir Ahuja going on medical leave six months before his term ended.

RBL opened weak at Rs 155 on Monday after the weekend developments and hit the 20% lower curcuit of Rs 132, before recovering marginally and ending at Rs 141 — 18% lower than Friday’s close of Rs 173. This prompted the RBI to issue a statement seeking to quell speculation concerning the bank. “The bank is well capitalised and the financial position of the bank remains satisfactory. According to half-yearly audited results as of September 30, 2021, the bank has maintained a comfortable capital adequacy ratio of 16.3% and provision coverage ratio of 76.6%. The liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of the bank is 153% as of December 24, 2021, as against the regulatory requirement of 100%,” the RBI said in its statement.

AUS WIN MELBOURNE TEST BY AN INNINGS

Australia's pacemen crashed through England's top order with four wickets in a thrilling final hour on day two of the third Ashes Test on Monday to all but crush the tourists' hopes of keeping the series alive.

After Joe Root's bowlers rallied their team by dismissing Australia for 267, Mitchell Starc came within a whisker of a hat-trick and debutant Scott Boland grabbed another two wickets to leave England 31 for four at stumps, still trailing by 51 runs.

Captain Root was 12 not out, with Ben Stokes on two, the pair left to mount an improbable rescue mission at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Score at end of Day 2: England 185 & 31/4, Aus 267

AND AUS NEEDED JUST 16 OVERS ON DAY 3 TO WIN BY AN INNINGS

Final Scores: England 165 & 68; Aus 267

RAIN WASHES OUT PLAY ON DAY 2 AT CENTURION

No play was possible on the second day of the first Test between South Africa and India at Centurion Park on Monday as heavy rain meant frustration for both sides seeking to gain the upper hand in the three-match series.

Better weather is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, but India will have to quicken the pace of their innings if they are to drive home their advantage.

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