Inside a Covid isolation centre set up at a banquet hall, in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)Delhi news highlights: Delhi on Thursday reported record 28,867 fresh Covid cases and 31 deaths. The positivity rate in the city stands at 29.21 per cent. On Wednesday, the city had detected 27,561 cases of coronavirus at a positivity rate of 26.22 per cent.
Earlier today, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the hospital admission rate for Covid-19 has stabilised, which indicates coronavirus cases may go down soon. He also added that the national capital is expected to see around 27,500 COVID-19 cases today. “We have got deaths audited & they are mostly among those with comorbidities,” he said.
In other news, the city was enveloped in dense fog on Thursday morning, while the minimum temperature dipped to 5.8 degrees Celsius. Dense fog was observed at Palam from 4.30 am onwards, with visibility at 50 to 100 metres, according to the India Meteorological Department. At Safdarjung, dense fog with a visibility of around 100 metres was observed from 7 am onwards. The air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi. It is likely to deteriorate to ‘very poor’ over the next two days, according to the forecast.
A complaint had been filed by Nisar Ahmad, who alleged that his house was vandalised and ransacked during the riots in 2020.
Delhi reported 28,867 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, pushing past the peak of 28,395 cases reported on April 20, 2021, during the Delta variant-driven wave. The surge is the worst that the national capital has seen. With a high number of infections being reported despite fewer tests, the positivity rate–the proportion of samples that return positive–shot up to 29.2 per cent.
The capital also reported 31 deaths, fewer than the toll of 40 from the previous day. There have been 164 Covid-19 deaths in Delhi in January. There were only nine deaths reported in December, seven in November, four in October, and five in September. More details here.
Delhi on Thursday reported record 28,867 fresh Covid cases and 31 deaths. The positivity rate in the city stands at 29.21 per cent. On Wednesday, the city had detected 27,561 cases of coronavirus at a positivity rate of 26.22 per cent.
The Delhi High Court Thursday pulled up the Delhi Government for “inaction and lethargy” in making operational a COVID care centre at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus even though space has been earmarked for it.
Justice Rekha Palli said it is the inaction on the part of Delhi government which has led to the centre not being operational till date and the court was unable to appreciate the inaction and lethargy on the part of the authorities.
“Despite repeated orders passed by this court, it appears that the direction for setting up a COVID centre in JNU campus have not been followed in true letter and spirit. While the respondent no. 1 (JNU) had already earmarked a space inside the Sabarmati dormitory for setting up the centre, it is the inaction on the part of Delhi government which has led to the centre not being operational till date,” the court said. (PTI)
Maharashtra's former Home Minister Anil Vasantrao Deshmukh on Thursday withdrew from Delhi High Court the petition challenging a trial court order by which the CBI was directed to investigate the NCP leader in connection with the leak of sensitive and confidential information related to a corruption case.
"What is wrong in the order," asked Justice Subramonium Prasad.
Deshmukh's counsel argued that the trial court order gives an impression that it is a mandate to the investigation agency to implicate him.
However, the court didn't agree with submission and said that the trial court judge in the impugned order has only given reasons for further investigation.
"It's needles to state that a specialised agency like CBI does not get carried away by the observations made by the magistrate at the time of ordering further investigation. It's obvious and need not to be stated that CBI would act independently," observed Justice Prasad.
Following the courts observations, Deshmukh's counsel submitted that he is not pressing the petition at this stage.
In the past four days, a total of 97 Covid deaths have been recorded in the city, including 40 on Wednesday alone.
According to data, of the 97 people who died after testing positive, 37 were between 41 and 60 years of age; 27 were between 61 and 80 years; eight were above the age of 80. Of the remaining 25, 7 were minors and 18 were between 19 and 40 years of age.
According to sources, the Delhi government’s health department has formed a team to look into vaccinations status, comorbid conditions, and status of these patients at the time of admission. Read more
A Delhi court has handed life imprisonment to a man who was convicted of burning an autorickshaw driver alive inside his house over a monetary dispute in the Nand Nagri area in 2015.
Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Bedi also imposed a fine of Rs 7,000 on the convict Rohit Kumar and awarded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the deceased.
As per court records, the deceased, Vijay Arora (50), an autorickshaw driver, had lent Rs 70,000 to the convict and had been asking him to return the loan. On August 3, 2015, the accused visited Arora late in the night at his home in the Nand Nagari area. Read more
Delhi reported 40 deaths due to Covid on Wednesday, pushing January’s toll past 100. The cases shot up to 27,561 on Wednesday, inching close to a peak of 28,395 cases during the delta variant-driven wave of infections in April-May last year.
This comes after a slight plateauing in cases seen over the last two days when there were fewer tests conducted. Read more
Noida- Pankhuri Pathak
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Muradnagar- Bijendra Yadav
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Of the 4,626 beds readied at Covid care centres in the city, 12.75% are occupied. A total of 590 patients are admitted at these makeshift care facilities, up from 324 a week ago, on January 4. Eight such centres have been readied so far.
At the Commonwealth Games Village Covid care centre in East Delhi, for instance, 84 patients were admitted as of Tuesday. Most people admitted there are mildly symptomatic, with fever and severe body ache. “In this wave we are not seeing much oxygen needs except 2-3 patients that have associated comorbidities,” said Dr Prakerti Kashyap, who is part of Doctors For You, the NGO running the centre. Read more
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain Thursday said that hospital admission rate for Covid-19 has stabilised, which indicates coronavirus cases may go down soon. He also added that the national capital is expected to see around 27,500 COVID-19 cases today. "We have got deaths audited & they are mostly among those with comorbidities," he added. ---PTI
Hospitalisations with Covid have either stagnated, or in some cases started going down, even as Delhi continues to report over 20,000 cases of the infection each day, according to doctors. As per the government’s daily health bulletin, the number of hospitalisations has increased from under a 1,000 to 2,363 in seven days, yet the hospitals have started seeing a changing trend.
At Delhi government’s largest hospital, Lok Nayak, new admissions dropped to 20 in the last 24 hours as compared to 35 to 40 patients they were seeing each day earlier. Read more
Delhi was enveloped in dense fog on Thursday morning, while the minimum temperature dipped to 5.8 degrees Celsius.
Dense fog was observed at Palam from 4.30 am onwards, with visibility at 50 to 100 metres, according to the India Meteorological Department. At Safdarjung, dense fog with a visibility of around 100 metres was observed from 7 am onwards. The air quality is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category, according to the Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi. It is likely to deteriorate to ‘very poor’ over the next two days, according to the forecast.
Delhi on Thursday reported three more cases of the Omicron variant, taking the total number of cases of the new variant in the city to 549. For the past few days, Delhi had been witnessing zero Omicron cases.
Delhi on Wednesday reported 40 Covid-19 deaths, pushing January’s death toll to 100. At least 27,561 fresh cases were detected in the past 24 hours, the second-highest daily number since the pandemic began. The positivity rate was recorded at 26.22 percent.
A civil defence volunteer has alleged she was sexually harassed by a deputy division warden at the sub-divisional magistrate’s office in East Delhi. Police said a case has been registered and an internal enquiry by the department is also being conducted to look into allegations that he sexually harassed, threatened and abused the volunteer.
According to police, the civil defence volunteer, who is in her 20s and was deployed at the SDM’s office, came to the police station with an NGO counsellor on Sunday. Read more
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a petition seeking to declare talaq al-sunnah, a type of divorce in Islamic jurisprudence, as unconstitutional and discriminatory, after the Centre submitted that the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 — which criminalises instant triple talaq — does not render the other forms of talaq illegal.
Issuing notice to the Centre, the division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh asked the authorities to file a response within eight weeks and listed it for hearing on May 2.
Delhi on Wednesday reported 27,561 new cases of Covid-19 and 40 deaths. The positivity rate in the city stands at 26.22 per cent. On Tuesday, the city had recorded 21,259 Covid-19 cases and 23 deaths.
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The Directorate of Education (DoE) on Wednesday directed its officials to take various measures to ramp up COVID-19 vaccination of children in the age group of 15-
17.
"All DDE (Districts) and DDE (Zones) will visit vaccination centres under their jurisdiction and check the vaccination procedures on a daily basis. Further, they will visit schools to check the record that is being maintained with the principals wherein the students are informed about vaccination schedule,” the DoE said in an official order.
“The officer will also randomly call the students and parents to find out whether they were informed about vaccination and whether they have been vaccinated or not. The heads of schools will also have to increase mobilisation efforts to ensure more than 80 pc children in each school turn up for vaccination,” it added. (PTI)
Even as Delhi has been reporting nearly 20,000 fresh cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) every day, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said that the number of hospitalisations has stagnated and there could be a downturn soon. He said that the restrictions could soon be eased if cases take a downward turn.
“There are 20,000 cases being recorded for some days now, the positivity as also remained close to 25%. The hospital admissions are also not going up, they have plateaued. This is a good sign. Yesterday, only 2,209 beds were occupied and 12,400 beds were free. Nearly six times the beds are vacant and the occupancy is less than 15%. This is when we have just released 15,000 beds; we have preparation for 37,000 beds,” said Jain.
He added, “It seems like the cases will start going down soon. The restrictions will be eased when the cases start going down.” More details here.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has extended the cashless treatment facility for Covid-19 treatment for all its contractual and regular muster roll (RMR) employees, and their family members, for three more months (till March 31) or till the number of cases comes down.
The cashless facility was first introduced in 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic.
As per this facility, the NDMC contractual and RMR employees and their family members can avail Covid-19 treatment in any empanelled hospital by showing the certificates issued to them by the welfare department of the civic body and the expenditure would be reimbursed.
“The cashless medical facility only for Covid-19 treatment, in all empanelled hospitals for all contractual and RMR employees and their families, is extended further from January to March 31 or till the pandemic Covid-19 is declared over by the government authorities, whichever is earlier,” said the NDMC in a circular.
JNU to implement Common University Entrance Test from the next academic year (2022-23). The decision has been passed in an Academic Council meeting held today, the Director of Admissions said.
Currently, JNU holds its own entrance examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The Noida police have arrested eight cyber fraudsters for allegedly duping nearly 300 people across the country of crores of rupees by offering counterfeit insurance policies.
The police have recovered Rs 47.5 lakh, a Harley Davidson motorcycle and 85 Aadhaar cards from the accused.
The main accused Neeraj, the police said, is an MBA graduate who was pursuing a Rs 35-lakh per annum job in a Mumbai-based organisation. Another accused Umarpal is an MCA graduate from a Meerut university, added the police. Read more
If Covid cases come down in 2-3 days, restrictions will be lifted. Delhi likely to see around 25,000 cases today, says Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
Delhi Police arrested gangster Rakesh Tajpuria from Narela after a brief encounter on Tuesday night in connection with the Rohini courtroom shootout. The Special Cell said Tajpuria, who had been absconding for months, had provided the weapons that were used by assailants to gun down gangster Jitender Gogi inside Delhi’s Rohini court.
Gangster Gogi was shot dead on September 24 by two assailants from the Tillu gang while being produced at the Rohini court for a hearing. The two assailants, Jagdeep Singh alias Jagga and Rahul, were gunned down by the police. Read more
No fresh Omicron cases were reported in Delhi on Wednesday, keeping the total number of detected cases so far at 546, which is the third-highest tally in the country after Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Maharashtra has reported 1,281 of the 4,868 Omicron cases in the country so far, as per the data shared by the union health ministry.
Even though fewer Omicron cases are being reported from the national capital, there has been a surge in overall Covid cases with nearly 20,000 cases recorded for four days now. There has also been an increase in the number of hospitalisations and deaths.
From businessmen to IT firm employees to a filmmaker – help poured in from across the country for the family of Zomato delivery executive Salil Tripathi (36), who was run over, allegedly by a policeman’s vehicle, while at work.
On Saturday night, Tripathi was waiting to deliver a food order when a speeding SUV rammed into his bike, killing him at the spot. Read more
Delhi on Tuesday reported 21,259 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day infections recorded since May. At least 23 deaths were recorded, highest fatalities since June 16. The positivity rate climbed to 25.65 per cent. The cumulative numbers of infections now stand at 15,90,155 and the death toll at 25,200.
Indicating that the current Covid wave is milder and fewer patients are requiring hospitalisation, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said that of the 136 Covid patients currently at Lok Nayak Hospital, just six came in for treatment of the virus, while the rest were hospitalised for other diseases but also tested positive for Covid, he said.
Kejriwal also said there will be no lockdown in the national capital and all restrictions will be gradually lifted as and when the cases and fatality rate decrease. Read more
Nearly two years after the death of 23-year-old Faizan, who was seen in a video lying injured on the ground as security personnel forced him to sing Vande Mataram and the national anthem during the 2020 Delhi riots, the police on Tuesday informed the Delhi High Court that they have identified and questioned a head constable in the case.
The single-judge bench of Justice Mukta Gupta, however, questioned the delay in probing the case, and asked: “It has been two years, you have been able to just identify some person?” While adjourning the case for hearing on February 22, the court also sought a detailed status report on the investigation and directed the DCP and investigating officer to remain present on that day. Read more
The national capital recorded a minimum temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius, a notch below the normal, while the air quality was in the 'poor' category on Tuesday, officials said.
The maximum temperature was 18.3 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average, they said. Relative humidity at 5.30 pm was 78 per cent.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted foggy days through the week."There will be dense fog on January 12 and 13. The maximum and minimum temperatures on Wednesday is expected to hover around 19 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius respectively," it said.
According to Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) 24-hour AQI bulletin at 4 pm, Delhi's air quality was 224 which falls in the 'poor' category.Air quality in the neighbouring Noida (192), Faridabad (196), Ghaziabad (186) and Gurgaon (175) was in the moderate category. (PTI)
A total of 22,265 people, including 7,010 healthcare workers, got their "precautionary dose" of Covid-19 vaccine in the national capital on Tuesday, according to government data.
As many as 6,083 people aged above 60 and 9,172 frontline workers also got their third dose. On Monday, 18,795 people aged above 60, frontline workers and healthcare workers had taken their third dose.
People aged 60 or more, healthcare and frontline workers who took their second dose of vaccine nine months ago have become eligible for the third dose from Monday. The beneficiaries will receive a precautionary dose of the same vaccine they took 39 weeks ago. They will have to book a slot using their existing Cowin account.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on December 24 announced precautionary shots for vulnerable populations and those at higher risk of contracting Covid-19. On January 3, the Centre had already rolled out vaccinations for adolescents aged 15-17. (PTI)
A video has emerged purportedly showing a Delhi Police assistant sub-inspector thrashing a dog in Northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad on Monday. Police said the officer has been “sensitised”.
Several videos of the incident were posted on social media, purportedly showing a man in police uniform beating the dog with a wooden stick. The dog, which can be seen struggling to sit and walk, is currently undergoing treatment.
Police said ASI Ravinder (56) was on his bike patrolling the area when he reached a small locality at Jafrabad. Sanjay Sain, DCP (Northeast), said, “A street dog attacked ASO Ravinder and bit him on his leg. In self-defence, the ASI hit the dog with a danda unintentionally. ASI Ravinder was taken to JPC hospital.” Read More
The Academic Council (AC) of Jawaharlal Nehru University will Wednesday discuss the implementation of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) from the next academic session.
As of now, JNU holds its own entrance examination conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The additional agenda for the AC meeting to be held Wednesday reads: “To consider conducting/implementation of CUET from the Academic Session 2022-2023.” Read More
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said there will be no lockdown in the city and all Covid restrictions will be lifted gradually as cases decrease and the death rate comes down in the city.
“There is no plan to impose any lockdown in Delhi. We are imposing these restrictions out of compulsion as we have no choice but, believe me, this is being done only for your safety. If we will impose restrictions, the livelihood of people will be affected and if it’s not imposed then cases will increase and public will face problems. So keeping in mind both situations, we are… making a balance,” Kejriwal told media persons after reviewing the treatment facilities at LNJP Hospital. “I assure all these restrictions imposed will be gradually removed once cases come down.”
The chief minister said the third wave is mild compared to the second. “We are dealing with a very mild wave. The second wave witnessed in April last year was very dangerous and scary.” Read More
Delhi logged 21,259 new Covid-19 cases at a positivity of 25.65 per cent and 23 deaths.
Of the 136 Covid patients at the LNJP Hospital at present, 130 had come for treatment of other problems and tested positive at the time of admission, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday. After reviewing the situation at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, he said only six patients had come to the health facility for treatment of Covid, and added that the third wave of the pandemic is "very mild" as compared to the deadly wave in April last year.
"During the last wave, a large number of people had been hospitalised for treatment of Covid. This number is very low this time. Around 2,000 Covid patients are undergoing treatment at hospitals. I believe the number of people who have come for treatment of coronavirus only is very low," Kejriwal told reporters. "Though the number of cases has been rising, the number of hospitalisations has remained very low so far. The number of deaths is also less. But we are prepared for any eventuality," he said.
According to government data, 70 Covid patients died in the national capital in the first 10 days of January. It reported 17 fatalities each on Sunday and Monday. It recorded 54 fatalities in the last five months -- nine in December, seven in November, four in October, five in September and 29 in August. In July, the virus had claimed 76 lives in the capital. (PTI)
The prosecution on Tuesday opposed the bail plea of former JNU student Umar Khalid in a UAPA case connected to the northeast Delhi riots arguing that the ultimate idea of the riot conspiracy was to “overawe the Government and bring it to its knees.”
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad made the argument before Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat.
The SPP said that the riots were “clearly a criminal conspiracy carried out in secrecy. There is a continuation after the crime and clear attempt to cover up.” Prasad told the court that “conspiracy has to be proved taking into account circumstantial evidence” and that the riots were not a “spontaneous burst of violence.” Read More
Nearly two years after the death of 23-year-old Faizan, who was seen in a video lying injured on the ground as security personnel forced him to sing Vande Mataram and the national anthem during the Delhi riots, the Delhi Police told the High Court that it has identified and questioned a head constable. However, the police told the court that Head Constable Ravinder has refused to admit to the alleged offence and also not disclosed the identity of other cops who were present at the spot.
Questioning the delay in probing the case, Justice Mukta Gupta asked, "Two years have passed, you have been able to just identify?" The court also asked whether CCTV footage of relevant period of Jyoti Nagar Police station was preserved.
The police submitted that the CCTV camera of the police station was not functional then.
The Delhi HC sought detailed status report on the investigation done so far from the DCP and asked him to remain present along with the concerned IO on the next date of hearing. The case will be next heard on February 22. (ENS)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday visited the LNJP hospital to review the Covid-19 management. "About 136 patients admitted are here, of which six came with positive and the remaining were tested positive incidentally. We are ready completely to fight corona..if there will be a requirement, 36000 beds and 11000 ICU/Oxygen beds will be provided," the CM said at the hospital.
The CM has appealed to the Centre to impose restrictions in the NCR region.
"During the DDMA meeting, we requested the central government to implement covid restrictions in NCR region. There will be no lockdown in Delhi. We also don't want impose restrictions in the city but it is done for the safety of public only. All these restrictions will be lifted as soon the cases reduce in Delhi," Kejriwal further added.
As Covid cases are rapidly rising across the national capital, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has set up an NDMC Staff Welfare Cell for providing treatment and all necessary assistance to Covid-positive officials and staff members.
Director of Welfare Department, Parag K Singh, has been appointed as the Nodal Officer of the cell which will have nine members. The cell was first set up in April last year during the second wave of the pandemic. Read more
Health services in all government hospitals across Haryana have been hit as doctors across the state went on mass leave Tuesday demanding a resolution to issues raised by them regarding the medical policy.
Creating a specialist cadre for doctors, stopping the direct recruitment of senior medical officers (SMOs) and amending the post-graduate policy are the three key demands of the doctors.
While emergency services continue to function, outpatient departments (OPDs) and the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive across all 22 districts are affected. Read more
The Delhi government will start online yoga classes for Covid-19 patients in isolation, from Wednesday. "The speed of spread of Covid cases in Delhi has slowed over the past few days. I hope this trend continues. We are starting a new programe for patients under home isolation,' Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday.
The CM added, "Yoga and pranayam help improve the body's immunity and strength. We are starting online classes for these people. Special instructors are being trained for Yoga asanas that will help Covid patients.'
"Patients under home isolation will be sent a link, they can register based on a time of their choosing. there will be 8 hour-long classes per day. people can choose as per their convenience. there will be only 15 people per class. in a day, 40,000 people can do Yoga," the CM added.
Of the 46 people who died of Covid-19 between January 5 and January 9, 25 were above the age of 60 years, 34 had co-morbid conditions, while 21 tested positive after being admitted to hospital for some other ailment.
Only 11 were vaccinated.
According to officials, among those who died were also people who had been injured in accidents, or children born with congenital issues, who happened to test positive for Covid as well. Read more
All private offices to be shut in Delhi, work from home mandatory. Exemption exists for a few sections. Here are the exemptions-
A total of 19,166 cases were recorded in the national capital on Monday as compared to 22,751 a day ago, primarily because the number of tests dipped from nearly 1 lakh to just over 76,000. Also on Monday, one in four persons tested in Delhi was found to be positive for Covid.
Delhi’s first CNG-based cremation centre for dogs and small animals being built in Dwarka Sector 29 would be operational by April.
Leader of house of South Delhi Municipal Corporation Inderjeet Sehrawat said that the cremation centre located in Dwarka Sector-29 will be a fully CNG-based crematorium as 2 CNG-based pyres will be installed in it. It will take a maximum of 30 minutes to burn dead small animals of upto 30 kilograms. Since, it will be a CNG-based crematorium, it will be an environment friendly, he said. Read more