LIVE: Delhi logs 180 fresh Covid cases in a day, highest since June 16

Delhi has witnessed an uptick in Covid-19 infections in the last few days. Stay tuned for LIVE updates

11:27 AM

COVAX allocates additional Covid jabs to N Korea

The COVAX Facility, a global vaccine distribution platform, has assigned 1.29 million doses of additional Covid-19 jabs to North Korea, a UN agency announced on Friday.

 

According to the Unicef's Covid-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard, the addition increases the number of vaccines allocated to North Korea to 8.12 million doses, reports Yonhap News Agency.

 

The number is up from the previously known 6.83 million, including 4.7 million doses of COVAX allocated to the North last month.

11:14 AM

Brighter days await renewable energy space; investments likely to cross $15 billion in 2022

After witnessing cloudy skies this year, the country's renewable energy sector is expected to boom with a likely investment of over USD 15 billion in 2022 as the government focuses on electric vehicles, green hydrogen, manufacturing of solar equipment as well as achieving the ambitious 175 GW renewable capacity target.

 

India, which has an installed renewable energy generation capacity of a little over 150 GW, aims to reach 175 GW in 2022. Out of the total mix, 100 GW would be from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power projects.

 

"In 2022, we expect the investment in renewable energy to cross at least USD 15 billion," Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh told PTI.

11:13 AM

China Punishes Local Officials as Covid Still Spreads in Xi’an

China punished local officials in the western city of Xi’an for failing to curb an outbreak that led to the biggest lockdown since Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan and continues to spread after more than two weeks. 

 

There were 49 reported Covid infections in Xi’an on Friday, down from more than 60 a day earlier when the city of 13 million locked down and officials instituted a third round of mass testing.

 

11:01 AM

Congress to elect new President in 2022, chorus grows for Rahul

The Congress is going to elect a new president in 2022 and the schedule for the next election is out. The Congress election committee is preparing for polls from the block level to the party president and the elections for the working committee, the CWC, which is the highest decision making body of the party.

The Congress leaders are saying that Rahul Gandhi will be the next president of the party as the leaders are unanimous on the name. In the last working committee meeting all the leaders were unanimous on his name while some were quiet but did not oppose his candidature.

10:52 AM

United and Delta Cancel Around 200 Christmas Eve Flights

United Airlines Holdings Inc. is canceling over 100 flights on Friday, the day before Christmas, while Delta Air Lines Inc. has cut about 90. 

 

United said in an email Thursday that a jump in omicron Covid-19 cases is affecting the availability of flight crews and ground personnel. Delta said its cancellations were due to a combination of reasons, including but not limited to potential inclement weather in some places and the impact of omicron. 

 

10:31 AM

Diesel, petrol prices unchanged since Nov 3

Oil marketing companies have kept the prices of diesel and petrol unchanged across major Indian cities since November 3, when the Centre and some states reduced duties on them.

Accordingly, diesel and petrol prices in Delhi stood at Rs 86.67 per litre and Rs 95.41 per litre on Friday, respectively.

In the financial capital Mumbai, the rates were unchanged at Rs 94.14 and Rs 109.98 respectively.

10:30 AM

16 dead in Bangladesh ferry blaze

At least 16 people were killed and some 200 others injured on Friday after a fire ripped through a passenger ferry in Bangladesh, according to officials.

The accident took place aboard the Barguna-bound MV Abhijan-10 on the Sugandha River in Jhalakathi, reports the Dhaka Tribune.

According to the police and fire personnel, the blaze broke out at around 3 a.m. when the ferry reached the Dapdapia area.

10:29 AM

Omicron threat: Google, Intel not to attend 'CES 2022' in-person

Google and Intel have joined the growing list of tech companies who have decided not to attend the 'CES 2022' in-person in Las Vegas, as Omicron cases have continued to surge.

While Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the governing body on CES, plans to go ahead with the show, several tech companies like Lenovo, T-Mobile, AT&T, Meta, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok, Pinterest, Alphabet-owned Waymo, along with several media outlets, will not attend the consumer electronics show.

10:28 AM

Omicron likely to be dominant strain globally in 2022: Singapore experts

The new and highly transmissible Omicron variant of the deadly coronavirus has increased immune escape compared with the Delta variant and appears likely to become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain globally in 2022, according to Singapore-based experts.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the world to pull together to end the COVID-19 pandemic next year.

"2022 must be the year we end the pandemic," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva on Monday.

10:20 AM

India records 6,650 new coronavirus cases, Omicron tally rises to 358

India recorded 122 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in a span of 24 hours, the highest so far, pushing its tally in the country to 358, 114 of which have recovered or migrated, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The 358 Omicron Covid variant cases have been detected across 17 states and union territories so far, it showed.

Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of 88 cases of the Omicron variant, followed by Delhi with 67, Telangana 38, Tamil Nadu 34, Karnataka 31 and Gujarat 30.

The ministry data updated at 8 am also showed that India recorded 6,650 new coronavirus infections, taking its tally of cases to 3,47,72,626, while the count of active cases has declined to 77,516.

9:56 AM

Rajiv Gandhi assassination case: Nalini Sriharan to be released today

Nalini Sriharan, one of the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, will be released on one-month parole on Friday after completing surety formalities, said Nalini's advocate Radhakrishnan.

 

Speaking to ANI, Radhakrishnan said, "Nalini, who was granted by the state government on Thursday, will be released on Friday after completing surety formalities."

 

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday had informed the Madras High Court that Nalini was granted a month's parole by the government after repeated requests from her ailing mother Padma.

9:34 AM

3rd Covid wave to peak in Feb: IIT-K researchers

Researchers at IIT Kanpur (IIT-K) have predicted that a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, which may be triggered by the new Omicron variant, may peak in India by February 3, 2022.

A report, published in the online preprint health server MedRxiv, said: "Following the trends around the world, this project report forecasts India's third wave may start around mid-December and peak in the beginning of February."

The team used a statistical tool called the Gaussian Mixture model to predict the third wave.

The research report used the data of the first and second waves in India, and the current rise in cases triggered by Omicron in various countries, to predict a possible third wave in the country.

9:00 AM

Delhi air quality deteriorates, slips to 'severe' category

The air quality in the national capital has further deteriorated on Friday and has slipped to the 'severe' category, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

 

The overall Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi stands at 425.

 

Meanwhile, the air quality of the NCR region like Noida and Gurugram remains in the 'critical' and in 'very poor' category respectively.

 

The AQI in Noida stands at 570, while the Gurugram's AQI is at 375.

 

8:49 AM

Polling begins for 35-seat Municipal Corporation Chandigarh

Polling for the 35 seats of the BJP-ruled Municipal Corporation Chandigarh began on Friday amid tight security and will continue till 5 p.m., election officials said here.

 

The ballots will be counted on December 27.

 

Electors could be seen reaching polling stations even before voting started at 7.30 a.m.

 

"There has been no report of any delay in starting the poll process," an electoral officer told IANS.

8:48 AM

COVAX targets 70 pc COVID-19 immunization coverage by mid-2022

Amid possible need for variant-specific vaccines, changes to vaccination policies, country preference for some products over others, the programmatic complexity of managing multiple products, and the need for better intelligence on country-level planning and execution, COVAX on Thursday set a target to achieve 70 per cent COVID-19 immunization coverage by mid-2022.

 

The Independent Allocation of Vaccines Group (IAVG) of COVAX has issued a set of recommendations to make the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines more equitable and more effective, read the statement of IAVG.

 

The group was established a year ago, to validate and assess vaccine allocations recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi's Joint Allocation Taskforce (JAT) of COVAX. Since then, much has changed.