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Live news updates: India reported 271,202 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, its highest daily count in eight months, taking its total tally to 37.12 million, the health ministry said on Sunday. Deaths from the disease rose by 314 to 486,066..

The positivity rate—the percentage of tests that turn out to be Covid positive--was lower at 16.28 per cent from 16.66 per cent Saturday. The country has 7,743 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, with infections increasing by 28.17 per cent since Saturday.

Virat Kohli shocked the Indian cricket world on Saturday by abruptly resigning as the national side's test captain, after leading the team to memorable overseas victories in his seven years in charge.

The 33-year-old, considered one of the best batsmen of his era, took to Twitter to announce his decision a day after India's 2-1 series defeat in South Africa.

A ban on political rallies and roadshows in five states holding assembly elections will continue until January 22 due to the coronavirus, said the Election Commission on Saturday. Political parties may hold indoor meetings of 300 persons or 50 per cent of the capacity of a hall.

10:20 PM

Delhi adds 18,286 Covid cases, 28 deaths; positivity rate drops to 27.87%

Delhi on Sunday reported 18,286 COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 27.87 per cent from 30.64 per cent a day ago, according to health department data.

 

On Saturday, Delhi reported 20,718 cases and 30 deaths. The city saw 24,383 cases and 34 fatalities on Friday.

 

Only 65,621 tests were conducted on Saturday as compared to 67,624 on Friday and 79,578 on Thursday.

 

Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain sought to allay concerns over "fewer" Covid tests being conducted in the national capital, saying the diagnostic tests being conducted in the city is three times the number recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

9:51 PM

Bihar logs 5,410 new Covid cases, 9 more deaths

COVID-19 claimed nine more lives in Bihar while the tally rose by 5,410, causing the active caseload to reach 35,508, the health department said on Sunday.

 

The state had on Saturday reported 6,325 new coronavirus cases.

 

The tally on Sunday increased to 7,87,127, while the death toll now is 12,136. Two deaths each were reported from Patna, Bhagalpur and Vaishali districts while Araria, Aurangabad and Muzaffarpur accounted for one fatality each. The severity of the current surge can be gauged from the fact that active caseload has shot up by more than 350 times in the last three weeks.

9:09 PM

41,327 new cases and 29 deaths reported in Maharashtra today

Maharashtra on Sunday recorded 41,327 fresh COVID-19 cases, including eight new Omicron infections, and 29 fatalities, the state health department said.

 

The state had recorded 42,462 cases on Saturday.

 

The health bulletin said that 40,386 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, raising the number of recoveries in Maharashtra to 68,00,900.

 

The recovery rate in the state stands at 94.3 per cent.

8:52 PM

JD(U) to fight UP polls independently after no response from BJP on alliance

The JD(U) will fight the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls on its own after the BJP, its ally in Bihar, did not reciprocate its offer of a tie-up, party spokesperson K C Tyagi said on Sunday, asserting it will contest on the plank of "Bihar model" of empowerment of the deprived sections of society.

 

Tyagi said JD(U) leader and Union minister R C P Singh, who was deputed by the party to hold alliance talks with the BJP, reached out to senior BJP leaders Amit Shah and Dharmendra Pradhan besides its president J P Nadda but in vain.

 

The JD(U) will hold a meeting in Lucknow on January 18 to decide on the number of seats it will contest, Tyagi said. The party will run its campaign in the state around its Bihar model, he said, claiming that no government has done as much work for women and poor and backward sections of society as carried out by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led dispensation.

 

JD(U) leader Kumar himself hails from a backward caste, while the two deputy chief ministers in Bihar are also from backward communities, with one of them being a woman, Tyagi said. Both deputy chief ministers in the state are from the BJP.

8:46 PM

41,327 new cases and 29 deaths reported in Maharashtra today

8:45 PM

Madhya Pradesh logs 6,380 new Covid cases, two fatalities

The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh rose to 8,30,923 on Sunday after the addition of 6,380 new cases, while the death toll increased by two to 10,545, a health department official said.

 

The positivity rate stood at 7.7 per cent against 6.6 per cent recorded on Saturday, when the state had recorded 5,315 infections, he said.

 

Madhya Pradesh's recovery count stood at 7,90,269 after 1,785 people were discharged from hospitals during the day, leaving the state with 30,109 active cases, the official said.

8:35 PM

MeitY invites applications under C2S programme from academia, startups

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to transform India into the next semiconductor hub, the Ministry of Electronics and Information (MeitY) has sought applications from 100 academia, R and D organisations, start-ups and MSMEs under its Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme.

 

According to the Ministry of Electronics and IT, the C2S programme aims to train 85,000 high-quality and qualified engineers in the area of Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and Embedded System Design as well as result in the development of 175 ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), Working Prototypes of 20 System on Chips (SoC) and IP Core repository over a period of 5 years.

 

This will be a step towards leapfrogging in the ESDM space by way of inculcating the culture of SoC/ System Level Design at the Bachelors, Masters and Research level and act as a catalyst for the growth of Start-ups involved in the fabless design, the release said.

8:26 PM

Andhra Pradesh logs 4,570 Covid cases

Andhra Pradesh on Sunday reported 4,570 new Covid-19 cases and one death. The daily Covid count dropped from Saturday due to fewer tests conducted but the positivity rate jumped to 15.22 per cent. The state had Saturday reported 4,955 cases but 35,673 samples were tested. During the last 24 hours that ended 10 a.m. Sunday, 30,022 samples were tested.

 

The positivity rate rose to 15.22 per cent from 13.89 per cent the previous day. This is the highest positivity rate in more than eight months. The active cases in the state also surged to 26,770.

8:13 PM

34,047 Covid cases, 13 deaths in Karnataka

Karnataka on Sunday added 34,047 fresh infections and 13 deaths to its COVID-19 tally, the Health Department said. The number of new cases so far is 32,20,087 and the death toll 38,431. A bulletin said 5,902 people were discharged and took the total number of recoveries to 29,83,645. Active cases stood at 1,97,982.

 

Bengaluru urban district saw most of the cases with 21,071 infections and five deaths. Other districts too saw fresh cases: 1,892 in Mysuru, 1,373 in Tumakuru, 1,171 in Hassan, 782 in Dakshina Kannada, 722 in Bengaluru Rural and 709 in Mandya.

8:08 PM

India hands over 1,000 houses to Indian-origin beneficiaries in Sri Lanka

India has handed over 1,000 houses built under the third phase of its housing project to Indian-origin beneficiaries, mostly Tamils, in Sri Lanka's plantation areas on the occasion of Pongal, Indian High Commission said on Sunday.

 

As many as 4,000 houses are being constructed with grant assistance from India in plantation areas, spread across seven districts of Sri Lanka, under the third phase for the estate workers in Sri Lanka, it said in a statement.

 

High Commissioner Gopal Baglay, Minister of Youth and Sports, Minister of Development Coordination and Monitoring and State Minister of Digital Technology and Enterprise Development Namal Rajapaksa and Minister of State for Estate Housing and Community Infrastructure Jeevan Thondaman jointly handed over the house keys on Saturday, it said.

8:05 PM

Terrorists lobbed a grenade on security forces in Saraf Kadal area of Old Srinagar

7:57 PM

UP Govt shuts educational institutions till January 23

As there is no let-up in COVID-19 cases in the country, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh Government on Sunday decided to extend the closure of all educational institutions, including schools and colleges, till January 23.

 

The classes can continue in online mode.

 

Earlier this month, the Chief Minister had held a review meeting on January 9 in which it was decided to suspend the physical classes in all the educational institutions till January 16 along with the imposition of night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am.

7:50 PM

Tamil Nadu Govt arranges 950 beds with oxygen support, says TM Anbarasan

For tackling rising Covid-19 cases, Tamil Nadu Minister TM Anbarasan on Sunday said that the Government has made an arrangement of 950 beds with the oxygen support where the preference will be given to the frontline workers for the treatment of the disease.

 

The arrangement has been made at the Chennai trade centre to accommodate COVID patients.

 

"An arrangement of 950 beds with oxygen support has been done in the Chennai trade centre to accommodate Covid19 patients. The front line workers are given first preference to be treated here," Anbarasan said.

 

Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Government on Sunday declared a holiday in schools for all classes till January 31.

7:44 PM

WEF's online Davos summit begins Monday; Modi, Jinping to deliver special addresses

With its high-profile annual meeting getting deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Economic Forum's five-day online Davos Agenda summit will begin on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled to deliver their special addresses on 'state of the world' on the first day itself.

 

The Forum has been hosting its annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort town of Davos for 50 years, but it could not take place in 2021 due to the pandemic and has been deferred till early summer for this year as well.

 

However, an online 'Davos Agenda' summit would be held for the second consecutive year on the dates originally scheduled for the physical annual meeting.

 

The week-long digital summit will begin with a special address by Jinping on Monday, followed by two virtual sessions -- the first on COVID-19 and the second on technology cooperation in the fourth industrial revolution.

 

Modi will deliver his special address on Monday evening, which would be followed by the address of United Nations' Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

7:29 PM

Kerala clocks 18,123 new coronavirus cases

The number of daily COVID-19 cases continued to rise unabated in Kerala with the state reporting 18,123 fresh infections on Sunday taking the total positives to 53,69,706. The toll in the state touched 50,832 with 158 related deaths, the health department said.

 

Among today's deaths, eight were recorded over the last few days and 150 designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.

 

"Currently there are 1,03,864 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only 4 per cent require hospitalisation," the state government said in a release.