NEW DELHI: Highlighting that the nation is close to administering a billion Covid vaccine doses, the Centre has urged states and Union Territories to focus on increasing the coverage of the second dose in light of adequate availability of shots.

The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive has exceeded 99 crore.

The countrywide COVID-19 vaccination programme was launched on January 16 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Union government has also sought from the states suggestions in formulating new guidelines for international travel.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan reviewed the progress of vaccination with Health Secretaries and mission directors of national health missions in states and UTs, through a video conference on Monday, according to a ministry statement.

Bhushan highlighted that the nation is close to administering a billion doses and congratulated the states and UTs for their effort to vaccinate all citizens.

It was highlighted that a sizeable number of beneficiaries have not received their second dose of the Covid vaccine.

The states and UTs were urged to focus on the second vaccination dose, the statement said.

At the virtual conference, it was pointed out that many states have adequate doses to vaccinate those people who are awaiting their second jab.

The Government of India is in a position to provide additional vaccine doses to the states and UTs so that they can complete the task, it said.

They were also exhorted to accelerate the vaccination drive.

The states and Union Territories were advised to identify and prioritize districts having low coverage for focused action and explore requirements for mobilization efforts, addressing local challenges, need for additional Covid Vaccination Centres and improving access in rural areas, the statement said.

The Health Ministry has issued standard operating procedures over the last one year for international travel.

It is reviewing the guidelines in consultation with all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bureau of Immigration, Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of External Affairs.

The states and UTs were also requested to share their suggestion or feedback, the statement said.

CHENNAI: As many as five athletes in the Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru were down with dengue over the last 10 days to two weeks. It is understood that at least four are junior hockey players, all of whom are in the core probables for the junior World Cup, to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 24.

Dengue tests were ordered for athletes after they complained of ‘fever and general tiredness’, according to an SAI source. Apart from the five positive cases, other tests returned negative.

“All of them have recovered now,” the source said.

“We took one athlete to a hospital as a precautionary measure but all of them are back and feeling fine now. There are no problems.” The mosquito-borne illness has been on the rise in the city and the SAI officials have never undertaken measures to keep it in check inside the premises.

To ensure there isn’t an outbreak, the authorities are fumigating twice every day. “We are fumigating the place twice every day. Apart from that, there are mosquito repellents available.” In 2020, men’s senior team goalkeeper, Suraj Karkera, had to be admitted to a city hospital after testing positive for dengue. Karkera was also staying inside the same campus when he contracted the illness. 

AHMEDABAD: A special court here on Monday granted the National Investigation Agency (NIA) 10-day remand of three persons initially arrested in a case related to seizure of 2,988 kg of heroin at Gujarat’s Mundra Port last month.

The court of special judge P C Joshi remanded the accused, M Sudhakaran and Durga Vaishali – who allegedly ran Vijayawada-registered M/S Aashi Trading Company that had imported a consignment of ‘talc stones’ (which turned out to be drug) – and Rajkumar P, to 10-day NIA custody as sought by the central agency.

The accused, also booked under anti-terror act UAPA, were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) before the case was transferred earlier this month to the NIA.

The case relates to the seizure of heroin, disguised as consignment of semi-processed talc stones originating from Afghanistan, which had arrived at the Mundra Port from the Bandar Abbas Port in Iran.

The three accused were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, and the matter was being heard by a special NDPS court at Bhuj in Kutch district.

Soon after the case was handed over to the anti-terror agency by the Union Home Ministry, the probe agency moved an application in the Bhuj court, requesting custody of the three accused and transfer of documents to the NIA special court, which has its jurisdiction in Ahmedabad, special public prosecutor, NIA, Amit Nair said.

The accused have now also been booked the under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The trio was produced before the court, which granted their custody to the NIA after its submissions, Nair said.

On September 13, the DRI had detained two containers that had arrived at the Mundra Port from Kandahar in Afghanistan via the Bandar Abbas Port.

The declaration accompanying the containers claimed they had “semi-processed talc stones”.

However, on September 17 and 19, it was established that the two containers in fact contained heroin which was concealed in “the lower layers” of “jumbo bags” topped with talc stones.

Besides the trio, five more persons have been arrested by the DRI in connection with the single largest heroin haul in India so far.

The value of the seized drug was estimated to be nearly Rs 21,000 crore.

NEW DELHI:  With the Uttar Pradesh polls around the corner, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is all set to shift base permanently to Lucknow till elections are held for sending a message that the Congress is serious about its revival plans and looking to connect with people on the ground.   

The general secretary in charge for UP, who seemingly succeeded in making a public opinion after the noises she made regarding Lakhimpur Kheri, is looking to engage with people at block and zila panchayat levels in constituencies where the party has performed well earlier.

“She will soon shift her base permanently to UP and will stay put till elections to overlook election campaign, candidate selection, possible alliances and strategy,” said a senior leader. Earlier, several leaders, including those from the opposition, had criticised Priyanka for running the show from Delhi, saying it reflected how much the Congress was serious about the welfare of UP. 

On Sunday, Congress senior leader P L Punia said that she will be the face of the party’s election campaign in UP. The Congress’ biggest challenge is lack of support base and almost no organisation in several parts of the states. Sources said that the party is looking to contest about 80-100 seats. There were around 40 seats where it came second and seven were won in 2017, they added. 

“On these seats, the party is looking to repeat the candidates and declare the names early. While on other 40 seats, we are looking for strong candidates who can take on the BJP and have some support base also. Priyanka’s strategy will be to focus on these seats and reach out to people to strengthen the party while taking up key issues at the state level,” said a senior UP Congress leader.

Following the positive public opinion after the Lakhimpur Kheri episode, the party is looking to engage with people on the ground. On Saturday, the CWC meeting applauded Priyanka’s stand. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi advised party leaders, workers not delay in reaching out to the affected people.

MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Monday said it can understand the use of central agencies for targeting leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, but claimed the “harassment” of their family members shows the “inhuman face of the BJP”.

People normally say they have lost faith in a government.

But in Maharashtra, it is the opposite.

The BJP has become a “butt of jokes” in the state, an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said.

“The BJP uses the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, I-T (Income Tax department) and the NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) for its own agenda. Thackeray exposed these attacks being made through the ED and CBI the attacks are like using Shikhandi as a shield,” it said.

Bhishma, the patriarch of the Kauravas and Pandavas in the epic ‘Mahabharata’, was eliminated with the help of Shikhandi.

The Shiv Sena further hit out at the BJP and the Centre, claiming they don’t face questions and “finish” those who question them.

“The BJP and its government at the Centre do not believe in democracy, Constitution, law and order. They don’t accept chief ministers of opposition parties. This new phenomenon in politics speaks volumes (about the mindset). Such things come to their mind only due to smoking up of low quality weed,” the edit said.

After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the Sena parted ways with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.

The Shiv Sena subsequently tied-up with the NCP and Congress to form MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray.

The Marathi daily said NCP president Sharad Pawar had clarified the circumstances under which Shiv Sena head Uddhav Thackeray became the chief minister.

Targeting former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, the Sena said by attacking Thackeray on becoming the CM of the state, they were only venting out their frustration.

In his annual Dussehra rally last week, Thackeray launched a scathing attack against the BJP, saying hunger for power was like “drug addiction”, and challenged it to topple his coalition government, which will soon complete two years.

The editorial in the Marathi publication said the BJP should show the guts to accept the challenge thrown by Thackeray.

“Attacks on the Maha Vikas Aghadi government leaders can be well-understood. But, the harassment of their family members shows the inhuman face of the BJP,” the editorial claimed.

After Thackeray’s Dussehra rally last week, Fadnavis had hit back, claiming the Shiv Sena-led MVA government was the most corrupt in the history of the state with extortion being its “only agenda”.

“This is a government formed through dishonesty and I feel that respected Uddhavji should now accept that he had ambitions of becoming a chief minister which he fulfilled. In politics, having ambitions is not wrong. But if you wanted to keep the word, you could have made senior Sena leaders Diwakar Raote, Subhash Desai or Eknath Shinde a CM,” Fadnavis had said.