Asia
House arrest for 2 Bengal Ministers in cash-for-favours scam
A higher court in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Friday placed under house arrest two senior ministers in the West Bengal government and two other politicians apprehended by the country's top federal probe agency in connection with a cash-for-favours scam.
The High Court in Kolkata gave the order, denying bail to the four politicians -- serving ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and former ministers Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee -- lodged in a jail after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier this week for their alleged role in the Narada tapes scandal.
The four politicians were, in fact, sent to jail on Monday after the High Court, in a late-night order, stayed their bail granted by a special CBI court.
"The division bench of the High Court, led by the acting chief justice, ordered the house arrest of the four politicians, after there was a difference of opinion between the two judges on the bench. The other judge on the bench was in favour of granting the accused interim bail," lawyer Sushanto Roy told UNB over the phone from Kolkata.
On Monday, high drama unfolded in Kolkata as Mamata staged a five-hour dharna outside the office of the federal probe agency in protest against the "illegal" arrest of her two senior ministers in the Narada tapes scandal case. She had told the media that the state assembly speaker didn't give his mandatory consent to the arrest of the two Ministers.
While Firhad and Subrata are Urban Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers, respectively, Madan is a legislator of Mamata's ruling Trinamool Congress party. Sovan, on the other hand, is Kolkata's former Mayor. He left the Trinamool in 2019 to join India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, but quit the outfit before the assembly polls.
The two serving and two former Ministers were arrested barely 10 days after Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar approved the CBI's plea to prosecute the four accused in the Narada tapes scandal.
The Governor then claimed that his approval "is more than enough" for the arrest of the accused as he had presided over their swearing-in ceremony. "Governor accorded sanction for prosecution... being the appointing authority of ministers @MamataOfficial under article 164 and thus competent authority," he tweeted on May 9.
The Narada scandal was a sting operation carried out by a journalist that caught on tape several ministers and senior officials of the erstwhile Mamata government accepting cash bribes in exchange for doling out unofficial favours to a private firm looking to set up business in Bengal.
Earlier this month, Mamata scripted history by single handedly pulling off an astounding victory in the assembly election. She not only defied anti-incumbency and staved off a huge challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP, but also decimated the Left Front. However, the 66-year-old lost her own seat in Nandigram.
Bengal witnessed the most high-profile contest in India's recently held state elections. While Mamata harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP asked people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after 50 years of Communist and Trinamool Congress rule.
US civil rights leader urges Biden To give 60 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to India
The whole world today is praying for India and its people, America's top civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson said on Wednesday, exuding confidence that the country of Mahatma Gandhi will win the battle against this pandemic.
Chicago-based Civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson was in the city here to urge the Biden administration to give 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines to India., reports Hindustan Times.
At a news conference here, the top American civil rights leader said that he has taken up the issue with both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Karris.
"The whole world today prays for India," he said, expressing his solidarity with the people of India.
The conference was addressed by several Indian American community leaders. In his remarks, Rev Jackson called for raising more funds for people of India and other countries being impacted by Covid-19.
"We should ask for more vaccination for the world. We need respirators, medicines and vaccines right now," he said.
Eminent Indian-American community leader Dr Bharat Barai thanked Rev Jackson for his initiative. "Vaccination is the right thing to do and is the most important thing to do. This will not only save lives, but also prevent the economy from collapsing," he said.
Sunil Singh, chairman, National Council of Asian Indian Associations, said India is in dire need of vaccines now. "We need vaccines now or never. India handled the first Covid attack last year very well. It has helped 80 countries across the world," he said.
"Now India is in need, and the entire world has come forward to help India. We need more vaccines, and we need them now. Please help us now," he said, adding that the community organizations in the Washington DC area have sent 130 oxygen concentrators.
Entrepreneur Ravi Pulli, founder of US-India Solidarity Council, urged the Biden administration to provide more help to India as he appreciated the American support so far.
In its most recent update, the Union Health Ministry placed the total number of Covid-19 cases in India at 2,54,96,330 and the death toll at 2,83,248. The ministry said there are 32,26,719 active cases, while 2,19,86,363 people have so far recovered from the infection.
Army Develops System To Convert Liquid Oxygen Into Low Pressure Oxygen Gas
The Indian Army said today it has found a solution for efficient conversion of liquid oxygen to low pressure oxygen gas that can be given to COVID-19 patients at their hospital beds.
"Over seven days, the team of Army engineers in-direct consultation and material support from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Defence Research and Development Organisation put together a working solution using vaporisers, pressure relief valves and liquid oxygen cylinders," the Army's statement said, reports NDTV.
"Since oxygen was transported in liquid form in cryogenic tanks, quick conversion of liquid oxygen to oxygen gas and ensuring availability at the patients' bed was a critical challenge faced by all hospitals managing COVID patients," the statement said.
The engineers' team used a self pressuring liquid oxygen cylinder of small capacity (250 litres) and processed it through a especially designed vaporiser and directly usable outlet pressure (4 Bar) with leak-proof pipeline and pressure valves, it mentioned.
India has been badly hit by the second wave of coronavirus infections and hospitals in several states are reeling under shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.
Also read: India to begin clinical trials for Covd-19 vaccine in children
The engineers' team was led under Major General Sanjay Rihani. A prototype with two liquid cylinders capable of feeding oxygen gas for 40 beds for a period of two to three days was made functional at base hospital in Delhi.
"The team has also tested a mobile version to cater for typical shifting requirements in hospitals," the statement noted.
"The system is economically viable and is safe to operate since it obviates high gas pressure in the pipeline or cylinders and does not require any power supply to operate. The system is capable of replication in a quick time frame," it added.
India saw a record 4,529 fatalities due to coronavirus in a single day pushing the COVID-19 death count to 2,83,248, while 2.67 lakh fresh cases were recorded, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated today. With a total of 2,67,334 fresh infections, India's total tally of cases climbed to 2,54,96,330 today.
Cash-for-favours scam: Two top Bengal Ministers to stay in jail
The High Court in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Wednesday refused to grant interim bail to two high-ranking ministers in the West Bengal government and two other politicians arrested by the country's top federal probe agency in connection with a high-profile cash-for-favours scam.
The four politicians -- serving ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and former ministers Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee -- were sent to jail on Monday after the High Court, in a late-night order, stayed their bail granted by a special court. They were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for their alleged role in the Narada tapes scandal.
In a related development, the federal probe agency has made Bengal's firebrand woman Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her law minister Moloy Ghatak and her ruling Trinamool Congress party's parliamentarian Kalyan Banerjee in the Narada bribery case and sought the transfer of the hearing to another state.
"A bench of the High Court, led by the acting chief justice, has turned down the bail pleas of all the four politicians as well as the prayer of the federal investigators seeking the remand of the accused for custodial interrogation. The court will hear the case again on Thursday," lawyer Sushanto Roy told UNB over the phone from Kolkata.
On Monday, high drama unfolded in Kolkata as Mamata staged a five-hour dharna outside the office of the federal probe agency in protest against the "illegal" arrest of her two senior ministers in the Narada tapes scandal case. She had told the media that the state assembly speaker didn't give his mandatory consent to the arrest of the two Ministers.
While Firhad and Subrata are Urban Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers, respectively, Madan is a legislator of Mamata's ruling Trinamool Congress party. Sovan, on the other hand, is Kolkata's former Mayor. He left the Trinamool in 2019 to join India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, but quit the outfit before the assembly polls.
The two serving and two former Ministers were arrested barely 10 days after Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar approved the CBI's plea to prosecute the four accused in the Narada tapes scandal.
The Governor then claimed that his approval "is more than enough" for the arrest of the accused as he had presided over their swearing-in ceremony. "Governor accorded sanction for prosecution... being the appointing authority of ministers @MamataOfficial under article 164 and thus competent authority," he tweeted on May 9.
The Narada scandal was a sting operation carried out by a journalist that caught on tape several ministers and senior officials of the erstwhile Mamata government accepting cash bribes in exchange for doling out unofficial favours to a private firm looking to set up business in Bengal.
Earlier this month, Mamata scripted history by single handedly pulling off an astounding victory in the assembly election. She not only defied anti-incumbency and staved off a huge challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP, but also decimated the Left Front. However, the 66-year-old lost her own seat in Nandigram.
Bengal witnessed the most high-profile contest in India's recently held state elections. While Mamata harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP asked people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after 50 years of Communist and Trinamool Congress rule.
India to begin clinical trials for Covd-19 vaccine in children
Dhaka, May 19 (UNB)-Bharat Biotech is set to begin the phase II and III clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin in children in the age group of 2 to 18 years in the next 10-12 days, reports The Economics Times citing VK Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog on Tuesday.
"Covaxin has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), for Phase II/III clinical trials in the age group of 2 to 18 years. I have been told that trials will begin in the next 10-12 days," Paul said during a press conference.
Covaxin received the DCGI nod to conduct clinical trials in children on May 11.The Niti Ayog official further stated that the anti-COVID drug '2DG' developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been granted permission for emergency use by the DCGI.
He also mentioned that the anti-COVID drug will be examined by the COVID-19 National Task Force for adding it to the treatment protocol.
"We will examine the drug in COVID-19 National Task Force for adding it to the treatment protocol. DCGI has granted permission for emergency use," said Paul.
Hours after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated that the new COVID variant detected in Singapore is "deadly for children" and may bring in third wave of the disease in the country, Paul reassured that children will not get serious COVID-19 infection, adding that the situation is being closely monitored and reports referring to the variant are being examined.
"We are examining the report you are referring to about a particular variant. Regarding COVID-19 among children, it is being reassured that they do not get serious infection. We are keeping an eye on this," he said.
Amid concerns of a third wave of COVID-19 in the country, which according to many health experts is likely to target children, the Delhi Chief Minister requested the Central government to immediately suspend air services with Singapore and to work out vaccination options for children on priority.
END/UNB/
India’s Covid-19 hot spots on recovery road
Dhaka, May 19 (UNB)-The punishing second wave of the coronavirus disease is receding in 19 Indian states and Union territories, some of which were its early epicentres, although some new hot spots have emerged in the south and the North-East where infections continue to surge,a Hindustan Times analysis show that some of India’s Covid-19 hot spots are on recovery road:
According to HT’s report, seven out of every 10 Indians live in the regions seeing an improvement. Among the 19 are Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, some of which were ravaged by the second wave with the health care systems of most being overwhelmed by a rush of hospitalisations.
This trend comes as a glimmer of hope even as the Covid-19 toll continue to rise to grim new records. Daily deaths from the disease have remained above the 4,000 mark in the last four days despite a drop in new cases over the past week. To be sure, any drop in case trajectory generally take 14 days to reflect on daily deaths as studies have shown that the median time between someone testing positive for Covid-19 and dying from it is around 13.8 days.
The average weekly positivity rate – proportion of samples tested that return positive for Covid-19 – has gone down in states and UTs that are home to 69% of the country’s population, while 15 states and UTs, home to the remaining 31%, have seen an increase between May 7 and May 17, data shows.
Experts said that this drop in positivity rate is largely due to the application of non-pharmaceutical interventions like lockdowns, and that while cases are declining in most regions, actions taken to control the spread of the disease cannot be weakened just yet.
Areas in the country’s south and North-East, which fared relatively better than the rest of the country during the worst of the second wave though April, are now seeing positivity rate climb the most. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, along with north-eastern states such as Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh, feature among the regions that have seen positivity rate rise the most between May 7 and 17.
The analysis took the positivity rate data from the first week of May (week ending May 7) as the base for comparison as it was perhaps India’s worst week in terms of cases – the seven-day averages of positivity rate and daily infections both peaked around this time in the country. At the government’s Covid briefing on Tuesday, health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said that daily cases have been declining since May 7.
All positivity rate figures mentioned here are seven-day averages as it evens out inaccuracies in testing over weekends.
A rising positivity rate in a region indicates that the virus is spreading fast within the community. As a rule of thumb, tracking a region’s positivity rate serves as a good barometer for whether cases are going to increase or decrease in the coming days: a rising positivity rate generally means cases will rise in the immediate future, while a dropping positivity rate tends to precede a drop in new infections.
Importantly, this trend has sustained without daily tests going down in the majority of the country. In fact, the number of daily tests in the country have increased 5% between May 7 and May 17 – on average, a total of 1,813,242 samples were tested every day in the country in the past week, against 1,724,665 on May 7.
Regions with best improvement
Delhi saw India’s biggest change in average positivity rate in the past 10 days – there was a 14.3 percentage point drop between May 7 and May 17 (from 27.4% to 13.1%). It was followed by Chhattisgarh, where the positivity rate dropped 13.2 percentage points, from 25.4% to 12.2% in the same time period, and Haryana, where it dropped 10.4 percentage points.
Goa features in the fourth spot in terms of most improved positivity rate (drop of 9.8 percentage points), but despite the drop, the state still has the highest positivity rate in the country. In the past week, more than a third (36.5%) of all samples tested in the state have returned positive for Covid-19. The coastal state has been in the news over the past two weeks due to severe shortage of hospital beds and medical oxygen resulting in dozens of deaths. But a drop in positivity rate offers the region some much-needed light at the end of the tunnel.
Other regions that have seen significant improvements in positivity rate are Jharkhand (a fall of 8percentage points, from 15% to 7.0%), Bihar (down 7.5 percentage points, from 14.8% to 7.2%), Madhya Pradesh ( 19.3% to 12%), Maharashtra (down 6 percentage points from 21.7% to 15.6%) and Uttar Pradesh (down 6 points, from 11.9% to 5.9%). Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are four of India’s five most populous states – together housing more than 40% of the country’s population.
This phenomenon is clearly reflected in the drastic reduction on the load on India’s health care system in these regions. Pleas for help on social media for life-saving resources like hospital beds, medicines, oxygen, even ambulances had become commonplace towards the peak of the outbreak in regions such as Delhi, Maharashtra and UP. Over the past 10 days, the shortage of supply in these regions have dropped.
Nagaland, meanwhile, is the only north-eastern state where positivity rate is dropping (down 0.9 percentage points, from 21.7% on May 7 to 20.8% on May 17).
States and UTs with rising transmission
A majority of India’s south and the northeast, meanwhile, is at the other end of the spectrum. In Meghalaya, the positivity rate rose from 11.1% to 17.7% between May 7 and May 17 – a rise of 6.7 percentage points, the highest in India. It was followed by Andhra Pradesh, where positivity rate jumped from 18.7% to 24.4% (up 5.8 percentage points), and Tamil Nadu (from 15.2% to 19.8%, up 4.7 percentage points). Manipur (14.2% to 18.3%) and Karnataka (28.4% to 32.4%) both saw positivity rate go up 4.1 percentage points. Sikkim and Karnataka registered the second and third highest positivity rate in the past week – 32.6% and 32.4% respectively. Sikkim has seen the sixth highest rise in positivity rate in the past 10 days – of 3.4 percentage points.
Other states with high positivity rate (and rising) are Kerala (up 0.4 percentage points to 26.9%) and Odisha (up 0.4% to 20.9%).
One state and two UTs – Mizoram, Lakshadweep and Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli – were excluded from the analysis due to unavailability of consistent testing data.
During health ministry’s weekly Covid-19 briefing on Tuesday, Niti Aayog member (health) VK Paul said, “We have to be very mindful that when we are achieving declining positivity rate it is because of the results of what we are doing and that cannot be slackened. We cannot again let this go out of hand again.”
“In many states the pandemic curve is stabilising, as a result of comprehensive efforts at containment, at testing, restrictions, and all the other efforts that people of those states are carrying out -- the states such as Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and so on,” he said. He added that there were still a few states where there continues to be concern such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, among others. “It is a mixed picture but there is overall stabilisation, and what we know from scientific analysis that the reproduction number (R0) is overall below 1 now,” said Paul.
Experts, however, say it is too early to let the guard down. “While most governments were reluctant to enforce lockdowns, it appears those measures are now starting to yield results... It is not a good time to celebrate decrease in numbers as we are dealing with an infectious disease and it is way too early to say which direction the spread is going to take, especially since the disease has reached rural and tribal areas where health infrastructure is weak and it won’t be able to test each and every individual there,” said Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research.
END/UNB
Restrictions reimposed as virus resurges in much of Asia
Taxi drivers are starved for customers, weddings are suddenly canceled, schools are closed, and restaurant service is restricted across much of Asia as the coronavirus makes a resurgence in countries where it had seemed to be well under control.
Sparsely populated Mongolia has seen its death toll soar from 15 to 233, while Taiwan, considered a major success in battling the virus, has recorded more than 1,000 cases since last week and placed over 600,000 people in two-week medical isolation.
Hong Kong and Singapore have postponed a quarantine-free travel bubble for a second time after an outbreak in Singapore of uncertain origin. China, which has all but stamped out local infections, has seen new cases apparently linked to contact with people arriving from abroad.
The resurgence hasn’t come close to the carnage wrought in India and parts of Europe, but it is a keen reminder that the virus remains resilient, despite strict mask mandates, case tracing, mass testing and wider deployment of the newest weapon against it — vaccinations.
Read:COVID-19 cases rise to 25,228,996 in India, highest daily death toll recorded
That’s setting back efforts to get social and economic life back to normal, particularly in schools and sectors like the hospitality industry that are built on public contact.
In Taiwan, the surge is being driven by the more easily transmissible variant first identified in Britain, according to Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist and the island’s former vice president, who led the highly praised pandemic response last year.
Complicating matters are some senior citizens who frequent slightly racy “tea salons” in Taipei’s Wanhua neighborhood. They accounted for about 375 of the new cases as of Tuesday, Chen said. The tea shops are known for providing adult entertainment with singing and dancing.
“These seniors, when they go to these places, want to keep it veiled,” Chen said. “When we are conducting the investigation, they may not be honest.”
In Wanhua, normally a bustling area with food stalls, shops and entertainment venues, the Huaxi night market and historic Longshan Buddhist temple are closed.
Kao Yu-chieh, who runs a breakfast shop in the area, said business is down at least 50% since last week.
Cab driver Wang Hsian Jhong said he hasn’t had a customer in three days. “Everyone is affected. This is a Taiwan-wide problem. We have to get through it,” he said, puffing on a cigarette on a street in Wanhua.
Schools, gyms and pools are closed in Taipei, and gatherings of more than five people indoors and more than 10 people outdoors are banned. The island shut all schools starting Wednesday.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has sought to reassure a public that is reverting to panic-buying and shunning public places.
“We will continue to strengthen our medical capacity,” Tsai said, adding that vaccines are arriving from abroad.
Malaysia unexpectedly imposed a one-month lockdown through June 7, spooked by a sharp rise in cases, more-infectious variants and weak public compliance with health measures.
Read:Coronavirus: Taiwan has another jump, capital closing schools
It was the second nationwide lockdown in just over a year and came after the country’s cases shot up fourfold since January; it’s now more than 479,000 and 1,994 people have died, a sum also up by four times from January. Interstate travel and social activities are banned, schools are shut, and restaurants can provide only takeout service. The government has warned that hospitals have almost maxed out their capacity to take new coronavirus cases.
Singapore has imposed stringent social distancing measures until June 13, restricting public gatherings to two people and banning dine-in service at restaurants.
That came after the number of coronavirus infections of untraceable origin rose to 48 cases in the past week, from 10 cases the week before. Singapore had previously been held up as a role model after keeping the virus at bay for months.
Schools moved online after students in several institutions tested positive. Wedding receptions are no longer allowed, and funerals are capped at 20 people.
For wedding planner Michelle Lau, at least seven clients either canceled or postponed weddings meant to take place over the next month. Other couples have opted for a simple ceremony without a reception, she said.
Janey Chang, who runs two Latin dance studios in Singapore, says that the tougher restrictions have drastically reduced class size.
“We are taking on fewer students, but the costs such as rent remain the same,” Chang said. “Whether we can continue to operate is highly dependent on the number of coronavirus cases.”
Hong Kong has responded to fresh outbreaks by increasing the quarantine requirement from 14 to 21 days for unvaccinated travelers arriving from “high-risk” countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, and, farther afield, Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands and Kenya.
China has set up checkpoints at toll booths, airports and railway stations in Liaoning province, where new cases were reported this week. Travelers must have proof of a recent negative virus test, and mass testing was ordered in part of Yingkou, a port city with shipping connections to more than 40 countries.
Thailand reported 35 deaths, the highest since the outbreak started, on Tuesday, and an additional 29 on Wednesday. That brought its number of fatalities to 678, of which 584 have been reported in the latest wave. About three-quarters of Thailand’s more than 116,000 cases have been recorded since the beginning of April.
Thailand had about 7,100 cases in all of last year in what was regarded as a success story.
The resurgence has posed difficult choices for governments, particularly in poorer nations where lockdown restrictions can increase financial suffering for those already living on the edge of starvation.
Read:Indonesia suspends AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine batch after death
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte has eased a lockdown in the bustling capital and adjacent provinces to fight economic recession and hunger but has still barred public gatherings this month, when many Roman Catholic festivals are held.
COVID-19 infections started to spike in March to some of the worst levels in Asia, surging beyond 10,000 a day and prompting Duterte to impose the lockdown in and around Manila in April. The Philippines has reported more than 1.1 million infections with 19,372 deaths, though the surge has begun to ease.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the partial resumption of economic activities, increased noncompliance with restrictions and inadequate tracing of people exposed to the virus combined to spark the steep rise in infections.
Experts said the delivery of vaccines, however delayed and small in amount, also fostered false confidence the pandemic might be ending.
Indian navy searches for 78 missing from barge sunk by storm
Indian navy ships and helicopters searched in extreme weather and rough seas Wednesday for 78 people still missing from a barge that sank off Mumbai as a deadly cyclone blew ashore this week.
Navy Cdr. Alok Anand said 183 people were rescued within 24 hours by the three ships and helicopters engaged in the operation.
A survivor told the New Delhi Television news channel that he jumped into the sea with his life jacket and was later picked up by the navy.
In another operation, a navy helicopter rescued 35 crew members of another barge, GAL Constructor, which ran aground north of Mumbai, a government statement said.
Read:India scours sea after barge sinks, 2nd adrift after cyclone
Both barges were working for Oil and Natural Gas Corp., the largest crude oil and natural gas company in India.
The company said the barges were carrying personnel deployed for offshore drilling and their anchors gave away during the storm.
Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than two decades, packed sustained winds of up to 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour when it came ashore in Gujarat state late Monday. The storm left at least 25 dead in Gujarat and Maharashtra states.
The Hindu newspaper Wednesday tallied more than 16,000 houses damaged in Gujarat state and trees and power poles uprooted.
The cyclone has weakened into a depression centered over the south of Rajasthan state and adjoining Gujarat region, a statement by the Indian Meteorological Department said on Wednesday.
In Nepal, authorities on Tuesday asked mountaineers to descend from high altitudes because the storm system may bring severe weather.
Hundreds of climbers, guides and staff are on various mountains in Nepal, trying to climb the peaks this month when weather is usually most favorable in the high altitudes. Nepal has eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks, including Mount Everest.
Read:Powerful cyclone hits land in India amid deadly virus surge
The Department of Tourism in a statement Tuesday asked climbers and outfitting agencies to monitor the weather and stay safe.
In 2014, snowstorms and avalanches triggered by a cyclone in India killed 43 people in Nepal’s mountains in the worst hiking disaster in the Himalayan nation.
The snowstorms were believed to be whipped by the tail end of a cyclone that hit the Indian coast a few days earlier.
The blizzards swept through the popular Annapurna trekking route and hikers were caught off-guard when the weather changed quickly.
India scours sea after barge sinks, 2nd adrift after cyclone
The Indian navy is working to rescue crew members from a sunken barge and a second cargo vessel that was adrift Tuesday off the coast of Mumbai after a deadly cyclone struck the western coast.
The navy said it had rescued 177 people of the total 400 on the two barges in the Arabia Sea. Three frontline warships, maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters were part of the rescue operations and were scouring the sea, the Navy said.
Both barges were working for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the largest crude oil and natural gas company in India.
Read:Powerful cyclone hits land in India amid deadly virus surge
Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than two decades, packed sustained winds of up to 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour when it came ashore in Gujarat state late Monday. Four people were killed in the state, raising the storm’s total to 16.
Residents emerged from relief shelters Tuesday to find debris strewn across roads, trees uprooted and electricity lines damaged.
In Maharashtra, six people were killed Monday but the state’s capital, Mumbai, was largely spared from any major damage even as heavy rains pounded the city’s coastline and high winds whipped its skyscrapers. Over the weekend, the cyclone had killed six people in Kerala, Karnataka and Goa states as it moved along the western coast.
The cyclone has weakened, but the India Meteorological Department forecast heavy rainfall for many parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra in the coming days.
Ahead of the cyclone, about 150,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas in Maharashtra and Gujarat states. S.N. Pradhan, director of India’s National Disaster Response Force, said social distancing norms were being followed in evacuation shelters and rescue teams were clearing debris from affected areas.
Read: Severe cyclone heading toward southern India; 6 dead
Both states, already among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, had scrambled disaster response teams, fearing the storm could endanger India’s fight against the coronavirus, with supply lines cut, roads destroyed and lockdown measures slowing relief work.
Tropical cyclones are less common in the Arabian Sea than on India’s east coast and usually form later in the year. But experts say changing climate patterns have caused them to become more intense, rather than more frequent.
In May 2020, nearly 100 people died after Cyclone Amphan, the most powerful storm to hit eastern India in more than a decade, ravaged the region.
COVID-19 cases rise to 25,228,996 in India, highest daily death toll recorded
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India Tuesday morning rose to 25,228,996 and the related death toll across the country stands at 278,719, India's federal health ministry said.
During the past 24 hours, 263,533 new cases and 4,329 related deaths were reported from across the country.
It is for the second time since April 21 that new COVID-19 cases reported on a daily basis have fallen below the 300,000 mark. However, the daily death toll is so far the highest.
According to ministry officials, 21,596,512 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.
Read:Glimmer of hope seen in India, but virus crisis not over yet
The number of active cases in the country right now is 3,353,765, the information released by the ministry further reads.
Meanwhile, a total of 318,292,881 samples have been tested up to Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research said on Tuesday. Out of these tests, 1,869,223 were conducted on Monday alone.
According to the ministry, over 184 million (184,453,149) people have been vaccinated across the country since the beginning of the vaccination drive on Jan. 16 this year.
On May 1, the third phase of COVID-19 vaccinations was started for people who are 18 years and above. However, the third phase of vaccination is yet to start in many places or is going on at a slower pace in wake of the severe shortage of vaccines.
Read: Hundreds of bodies found buried along Indian riverbanks
Reports pouring in from many states said people are being turned away at the centers because of the shortage of vaccines.
The COVID-19 cases continue to spike in the country every day, as the federal government has ruled out imposing a complete countrywide lockdown on the pattern of last year contain the worsening situation. However, many states have imposed night curfews, weekend lockdowns and complete lockdowns to break the spread of infection.