Archives for March 2021

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government on Wednesday said that as part of the measures to control the spread of coronavirus, it has decided to increase the number of daily testing and vaccination besides putting special focus on contact tracing and increasing the number of micro containment areas wherever necessary.

This was decided at a core committee meeting held to review the pandemic situation in the state on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

It was held hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted a video conference meeting with the chief ministers on the issue.

During the meeting, it was decided to assign the responsibility of four metros in the state – Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot – to senior officers to offer guidance to the local bodies.

Rupani said that the number of COVID-19 tests will be increased and the vaccine doses will be given to three lakh beneficiaries everyday as against one-and-a-half lakh presently by increasing the number of centres and extending the timing till 9 pm, a release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said.

“Special focus will be given to contact tracing and increasing the number of containment zones wherever necessary,” it said.

Rupani also instructed the Home Department to strictly implement the rules of mandatory face masks and social distancing.

“In view of the increasing cases of coronavirus transmission in four metros in the state, the responsibility of these cities has been handed over to four senior officers on an urgent basis to offer guidance to the local bodies to control the infection and take treatment measures,” it said.

The responsibility of Ahmedabad has been assigned the Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Gupta, vadodara to Education Secretary Vinod Rao, Rajkot to Industry Commissioner Rahul Gupta, and Surat to GIDC Managing Director N Thennarasan.

Amid the spike in COVID-19 cases, the Ahmedabad civic body has decided to shut its city bus service- AMTS and BRTS – from Thursday, said its PRO.

Gujarat Wednesday reported 1,122 new COVID-19 cases, out of which the four districts of Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and vadodara alone accounted for 850 cases.

The Ahmedabad civic body on Wednesday announced the closure of the city zoo, lakefront and all public gardens here in view of the rising COVID-19 cases.

On Tuesday, the city recorded 241 new cases of coronavirus, a sharp increase from 40 cases reported a month back on February 16.

The COVID-19 tally in the city has gone up to 60,992, as per official figures.

“It has been decided to close all the gardens, Kankaria Lakefront, zoo, etc from March 18 till further orders in view of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said in a release.

The Gujarat government on Tuesday increased the night curfew timings in Ahmedabad and three other major cities — Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot — by two hours.

The curfew will now remain in force from 10 pm to 6 am, instead of the previous timings of 12 am to 6 am, till March 31.

As of Tuesday, there were 60 ‘micro-containment’ areas (where a number of COVID-19 cases have been found) in the city, the civic body said.

Ahmedabad has so far reported 2,269 deaths due to COVID-19, while 58,043 have recovered from the disease.

The COVID-19 recovery rate in the city stood at 95.3 per cent, as per the civic body.

Meanwhile, the Surat Municipal Corporation on Wednesday issued a notification making seven-day home quarantine mandatory for people travelling to the city from outside Gujarat.

The notification, issued under provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act, said if a person shows any symptom of the viral infection while in quarantine, he should immediately get tested.

“People coming to Surat city from outside Gujarat will have to undergo mandatory seven-day home quarantine and remain in isolation to prevent others at home from getting infected,” the notification said.

Those violating the order will face action under Indian Penal Code Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act and the Disaster Management Act, it stated.

The civic body on Tuesday said people working in textile and diamond industries here are required to get themselves tested for the viral infection once a week.

In daily tests, majority of those found infected are associated with the textile business, it had said, adding that testing has been intensified in crowded places, including diamond and textile units and educational institutions.

On Tuesday, Surat reported 263 cases, the highest in the state, raising the infection count in the city to 42,979, according to the civic body.

The city’s recovery rate stands at 95.22 per cent, with a total of 40,924 patients discharged so far, as per official data.

In addition to the night curfew to be imposed after 10 pm, it has been decided to close restaurants, bars, discos, pubs and gyms at 10 pm throughout the state.

GANGTOK: Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Wednesday announced that night curfew will be imposed in the state from tonight in the wake of a spurt in COVID-19 cases.

In addition to the night curfew to be imposed after 10 pm, it has been decided to close restaurants, bars, discos, pubs and gyms at 10 pm throughout the state, Tamang said in a social media post.

Vehicles too will be barred from plying in the state after 10.30 pm, Tamang said.

The chief minister also appealed to the people of Sikkim to regularly wear masks and continue to follow social distancing norms as per COVID-19 protocol.

He issued the instructions in the social media soon after attending the video conference OF Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the chief ministers to review the situation arising out of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases across the country.

NOIDA: Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar on Tuesday invoked section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) till April 30, prohibiting unauthorised protests and warning of action against people not following COVID-19 protocols like social distancing and wearing face masks at public places, according to an order.

The restrictions have been imposed in view of the upcoming festivals such as Holi, Shab-e-Baraat, Good Friday, Navratri, Ambedkar Jayanti, Ram Navami, Mahavir Jayanti, Hanuman Jayanti etc. amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it stated.

“During these occasions, the chances of anti-social elements attempting to disrupt law and order cannot be ruled out,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ashutosh Dwivedi said in the order.

During the period, people will have to follow the COVID-19 protocols at public places, according to the order.

Nobody would be allowed to roam around with sticks, rods or firearms at public places except for differently-abled and vision-impaired persons, it stated.

“Nobody will be allowed to hold protests, processions or hunger strikes without permission from the competent authority, nor will they encourage anyone else to do so,” the order stated.

“No firearms will be allowed inside any government or private office during the period.

People who have been provided with armed security personnel by the government will ensure that their gunners stay out of offices,” it added.

The police also reiterated the complete ban on celebratory firing at events such as weddings and consumption of liquor at public places during the period and cautioned people against selling, playing or displaying any audio or visual, which may create tension.

“Any violation of the restrictive orders under CrPC section 144 or any of its sub-sections mentioned would lead to prosecution of offenders under IPC section 188,” the order warned.

Pramesh Jain

Inter-state Mobile Snatching gang two members arrested by alert Halasuru Traffic Police :

Alert traffic police from Halasuru caught two persons while they were trying to escape after robbing a mobile phone near India Garage junction on Tuesday.

The duo was handed over to law and order counterparts for further interrogation.

Senior officer told reporters,The woman police sub-inspector Kavitha,along with two constables was on duty near India Garage junction around 7.15 pm.

Passers by at India Garage junction noticed a  muggers gang who were Robbing mobile phones  from innocent people the passer by immediately alerted Sub-inspector Kavitha that few muggers have come in an autorickshaw and are trying to rob mobile phones from public near ASC Centre College.

Smt.Kavitha and two constables immediately rushed to the spot and detained the duo,while another two muggers managed to escape along with the autorickshaw.

During questioning it was found that the gang used to come to the spot regularly and rob mobile phones from the public and escape.

During interrogation by the Halasuru police it was found that the duo are part of the inter-state gang hailing from Uttar Pradesh.They are involved in mobile robbery and theft cases.We have taken them into custody and are investigating further a detailed probe will ascertain their criminal background.

Finally Bengaluru Police Commissioner,Kamal Pant,Joint CP Traffic,Dr BR Ravikanthe Gowda,DCP,East,Dr SD Sharanappa,DCP Traffic East,M Narayan,ACP,Traffic East,MC Kavitha,PI,Ramesh has appreciated,PSISmt.Kavitha and two alert traffic constable of Halasuru traffic with their immediate and pro-active alertness has nabbed members of inter-state Mobile lifting gang for the exemplary work done by them a suitable reward will be given to the team he added.

NEW DELHI: Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a high number of daily COVID-19 cases, accounting for 71.10 per cent of the 28,903 new infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

It said 83.91 per cent of the new cases are from Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Maharashtra alone accounts for 61.8 per cent of the daily new cases with 17,864 cases.

It is followed by Kerala with 1,970 while Punjab reported 1,463 new cases, the ministry said.

Kerala is reporting a consistently declining trend over the last one month.

India’s total active caseload has reached 2.34 lakh (2,34,406) comprising 2.05 per cent of the total infections.

“Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab account for 76.4 per cent of India’s total active cases, with Maharashtra alone contributing nearly 60 per cent,” the ministry highlighted.

Over 3.5 crore (3,50,64,536) vaccine doses have been administered through 5,86,855 sessions, as per the provisional report till Wednesday 7 am, the ministry said.

These include 75,06,155 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have been given the 1st dose, 45,54,855 HCWs who have been administered the 2nd dose), 76,00,030 frontline workers (FLWs) who have taken the 1st dose) and16,47,644 FLWs who have been given the 2nd doses.

Besides, 21,66,408 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities  and1,15,89,444 individuals aged more than 60 years have been administered the 1st dose.

As on day-60 of the vaccination drive (16th March, 2021), more than 21lakh (21,17,104)vaccine doses were given.

Of these, 17,82,553 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 30,871 sessions for 1st dose and 3,34,551 HCWs and FLWs received the 2nd  dose of vaccine.

India’s cumulative recoveries surged to 1,10,45,284.

The ministry stated that 188 deaths were reported in a span of  24 hours.

Six states account for 86.7 per cent of the new deaths.

Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (87).

Punjab follows with 38 daily deaths.

Kerala reported 15 deaths.

Fifteen states and UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in a span of 24 hours.

These are Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Daman and Diu & Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Nagaland, Tripura, Ladakh, Manipur, Mizoram, Andman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.

JHALAWAR (Rajasthan): Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the case in which a minor girl in Rajasthan’s Jhalwar was allegedly gang-raped at separate places for over a week, police said on Tuesday.

Sharad Chaudhary, Superintendent of Police, Kota said, “A 15-year-old girl from Suket was taken to Jhalawar by two people where she was raped by a number of people for seven to eight days”.

“So far, 20 people including one history-sheeter have been arrested. All accused are from Jhalawar” the police official said.

He said that an identification parade of the accused will be done soon.

Further investigation is underway.