LIVE: Mumbai sees over 3,600 new Covid cases in a day; over 1,300 in Delhi

Mumbai posts 46% jump in daily cases; Delhi passes 1,000-mark after 7 months

10:57 AM

Delhi set to ring in New Year in chilly weather; cold wave to severe cold wave likely till Jan 3

A cold wave swept Delhi on Thursday as people in the city gear up to ring in a chilly New Year with the weather department predicting similar conditions till January 3.

The minimum temperature at the Safdarjung Observatory, considered the official marker for the national capital, dropped sharply to 3.4 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal. On Wednesday it was 8.4 degrees Celsius.

The automatic weather stations at Delhi's Ayanagar and Narela on Thursday recorded a minimum temperature of 3.8 degrees Celsius and 3.2 degrees Celsius, respectively.

10:44 AM

Pramila Jayapal slams Elon Musk for bragging about paying tax

After Pramila Jayapal, the first Indian-American woman to serve in the US House of Representatives, took on Elon Musk for not paying enough taxes and bragging about it, while Republican Senator Ted Cruz has also criticised the Tesla CEO for "looting" the country.

In a tweet, Jayapal said: "Elon Musk made $36 billion in one day, but wants to brag about paying an $11 billion tax bill. Oh yeah, he also added more than $270 billion in wealth just since the pandemic started.

"Time for the rich to pay their fair share."

Reacting to her tweet, Cruz said late on Wednesday: "Got it. You don't like @elonmusk, Who else do you want to loot?"

10:34 AM

Delhi reports maximum cases of Omicron, country's tally rises to 961

India saw the highest single day rise of 180 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the total tally of such infections in the country to 961, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The 961 cases have been detected across 22 states and UTs so far, and 320 people have recovered or migrated.

Delhi recorded the maximum number of 263 cases followed by Maharashtra at 252, Gujarat 97, Rajasthan 69, Kerala 65 and Telangana 62.

The daily rise in COVID-19 cases crossed 13,000 mark after around 49 days taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,48,22,040, while the active cases increased to 82,402, according to the data updated at 8 am.

10:05 AM

Omicron threat: Covid's global surge raises testing, quarantine alarm

Global Covid-19 infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, the data showed on Wednesday, as the new Omicron variant raced out of control, keeping workers at home and overwhelming testing centres.

 

Almost 900,000 cases were detected on average each day around the world between December 22-28, and the tally held over one million for the second day, with myriad countries posting new all-time highs over the past 24 hours, including the United States, Australia and many European nations.

10:05 AM

US Presidential medical adviser Fauci says Omicron cases likely to peak by end of January

Cases involving the coronavirus Omicron variant will likely peak by the end of January, presidential medical adviser Anthony Fauci said.

 

"I would imagine, given the size of our country and the diversity of vaccination versus no vaccination, that it likely will be more than a couple of weeks, probably by the end of January, I would think," Fauci told CNBC said on Wednesday in response to a question about when the coronavirus cases will peak in the United States.

10:00 AM

Omicron will soon replace Delta as dominant global variant: Experts

Experts in Singapore, which is seeing a surge in Omicron cases, have warned that the new and supposedly more contagious variant is likely to replace Delta over the coming weeks as the dominant global variant, with the virus being fitter and having a reproductive advantage.

While Delta is still the most common variant in all continents except Africa, Omicron is spreading very quickly, said Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, executive director of the state-owned Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Bioinformatics Institute here.

Of the genome submissions sent to the Munich-headquartered Gisaid, a data science initiative that provides the shared genome platform for Covid, the Omicron strain has comprised between 7 per cent and 27 per cent of new submissions over the past month, up until Tuesday. The figures refer to all continents except Africa.

9:59 AM

Mizoram logs 202 fresh COVID-19 cases, one more fatality

Mizoram's COVID-19 count rose to 1,41,157 on Thursday with 202 fresh cases, while one more fatality pushed the death toll to 542, a health department official said.

At least 38 children were among the newly infected people, he said.

The single-day positivity rate increased to 9.80 per cent from 6.70 per cent the previous day.

9:59 AM

Global Covid caseload tops 284.4 mn

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 284.4 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.42 million and vaccinations to over 9.07 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 284,471,377 and 5,421,557, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,071,229,297.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 53,659,688 and 822,892, according to the CSSE.

9:29 AM

Mumbai Police impose Section 144, New Year celebrations banned

In view of the rising COVID-19 cases, the Mumbai Police on Thursday has imposed Section 144 in the city starting from today till January 7.

As per the new COVID-19 restrictions, prohibition has been placed on New Year's celebrations, parties in any closed or open space including restaurants, hotels, bars, pubs, resorts and clubs from December 30 to January 7.

"The order shall come into the force, in the areas under the control of Commissioner of Police, Greater Mumbai from 00:00 Hrs of 30th December 2021 and will remain in force till 24:00 Hrs of 7th January 2022, unless withdrawn earlier," the order reads.

9:28 AM

Piyush Jain ready to pay penalty, wants his money back

Kanpur-based businessman Piyush Jain has asked the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) to return the huge stash of cash seized from his premises after deducting tax and penalty.

Jain was arrested on charges of tax evasion and is presently in 14-day judicial custody.

Special Public Prosecutor Amrish Tandon, who represents DGGI, informed a court on Wednesday that Piyush Jain has revealed that he evaded tax and owes a penalty amounting to Rs 52 crore.

The lawyer for Piyush Jain, however, asked the court to instruct DGGI to deduct the Rs 52 crore owed by the trader as a penalty and return the remaining amount.

9:27 AM

Govt declares entire Nagaland 'disturbed area' as demand for AFSPA withdrawal continues

The Centre on Thursday declared the entire Nagaland as a "disturbed area" for six more months with effect from December 30 under the AFSPA while terming the state's condition "disturbed and dangerous".

The move came days after the Union government constituted a high-level committee to examine the possibility of the withdrawal of the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act from Nagaland.

The AFSPA has been operational in Nagaland for decades.

9:02 AM

China reports 207 confirmed COVID-19 cases

Ahead of Beijing Winter Olympics, China on Wednesday recorded 207 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 156 linked to local transmissions and 51 from overseas, local media reported on Thursday.

The Chinese mainland reported 156 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, Xinhua reported citing the National Health Commission report.

The report said that of the new local cases, 155 were reported in Shaanxi, and one in Guangxi.

8:57 AM

Omicron will soon replace Delta as dominant global Covid variant: Experts

Experts in Singapore, where 170 new Omicron cases were reported on Wednesday, have warned that the new and supposedly more contagious variant is likely to replace Delta over the coming weeks to months.

While Delta is still the most common variant in all continents except Africa, Omicron is spreading very quickly, said Dr Sebastian Maurer-Stroh, executive director of the state-owned Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Bioinformatics Institute here.

Of the genome submissions sent to the Munich-headquartered Gisaid, a data science initiative that provides the shared genome platform for Covid, the Omicron strain has comprised between 7 per cent and 27 per cent of new submissions over the past month, up until Tuesday. The figures refer to all continents except Africa.

8:27 AM

Global coronavirus cases top 1 million, WHO warns of bumps

The number of Covid-19 cases topped one million globally for the third day in a row and was poised to set another record Wednesday, as the World Health Organization said to expect a “bumpy road” in the days ahead. 

 

8:22 AM

Congress to get its new president next September, says head of party's poll body

Clearing the air on the much-awaited question many ask, Congress' Central Election Authority president Madhusudan Mistry on Wednesday said the party would get its new national president by the end of September 2022.

 

The grand old party is presently headed by interim president Sonia Gandhi, who took over after her son and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi resigned from the post in July 2019 following the party's defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

 

"As per schedule decided by Congress Working Committee, the election process for the post of Congress president will be completed by September," Mistry told ANI.