Times Top10: Will Covid be back?

• The next 40 days are going to be crucial as India may see a surge in Covid-19 cases, government sources told news agency PTI on Wednesday, citing the pattern of previous outbreaks.

Previous trends

• “Previously, it has been noticed that a new wave of Covid-19 hits India around 30-35 days after it hits East Asia…. This has been a trend,” an official said.
• The Health Ministry sources, however, said the severity of the infection seems to be less this time. Even if there is a wave, deaths and hospitalisation will be very low, they told PTI.

Dominant variant

• The latest spike in cases is being driven by Omicron sub-variant BF.7.
• Transmissibility of this subvariant is very high and an infected individual can further infect 16 persons.

Preparedness is key

• Amid a spike in Covid-19 cases in several countries, the government has sounded an alert and asked states and Union Territories to prepare for any eventuality.
• PM Narendra Modi and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya have held meetings to assess the country’s preparedness to deal with a fresh surge in cases.

Negative RT-PCR reports for arrivals

• The government is likely to make it mandatory for passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore to have negative RT-PCR reports from next week, government sources told PTI on Wednesday.
• The sources said 39 international passengers were found positive for COVID-19 out of the 6,000 tested on arrival in the last two days.

A security breach

• The Congress on Wednesday wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah alleging significant security breaches in its premier leader Rahul Gandhi’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
• Congress general secretary KC Venugopal wrote that Rahul’s security was compromised on multiple occasions on December 24, when the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Delhi. Venugopal alleged the Delhi Police “completely failed in controlling the surging crowd and maintaining a perimeter around Rahul Gandhi, who is assigned Z+ security”.
• “The situation was so severe that Congress workers and the Bharat Yatris walking along with Rahul Gandhi had to form a perimeter.”

Two assassinations

• "The Congress party's two Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives for the unity and integrity of the country.”
• “The Congress's entire state leadership of Chhattisgarh was wiped out in a Naxal attack in Jiramghati on 25th May 2013."

Sensitive phase ahead

• Bharat Jodo Yatra is slated to enter the sensitive state of Punjab and J&K in the next phase from January 3, 2023.
• “We are now entering Punjab and Jammu, Kashmir. These are sensitive areas,” Congress’s Pawan Khera said, “This is a party which lost two prime ministers. We all are very concerned over Rahul Gandhi's security.”
• The Congress also referred to another alleged security breach in BJP-ruled Haryana’s Sohna on December 23, claiming that unauthorised police personnel had entered their yatra. Earlier, it claimed that the Intelligence Bureau was targeting people meeting Rahul Gandhi.

Meanwhile

• Do you know who Rahul Gandhi wants to marry? He told a YouTube channel, “I would prefer a woman... [who has got] a mix between my mother's and grandmother's qualities…”

• The Uzbekistan health ministry has linked the death of 18 children in the country with a cough syrup produced by an Indian pharmaceutical company.

18 children dead

• “Tablets and syrup Doc-1 Max manufactured by the Indian company ‘Marion Biotech Pvt. Ltd’ in our country were registered in 2012 and went on sale in the same year,” said the Uzbekistan health ministry in a statement issued on Tuesday, adding that 18 out of 21 children with acute respiratory disease have died as a result of taking Doc-1 Max syrup till date.
• It further said: “The results of the study of the Doc-1 Max syrup: there are signs of a crime, all responsible employees were fired, the materials were transferred to law enforcement agencies.”

What went wrong

• “It was found that the deceased children, before admission to hospital treatment, took this drug at home for 2-7 days 3-4 times a day, 2.5-5 ml, which exceeds the standard dose of the drug for children. All children were given the drug without a doctor's prescription. Since the main component of the drug is paracetamol, Doc-1 Max syrup was incorrectly used by parents as an anti-cold remedy on their own or on the recommendation of pharmacy sellers. And this was the reason for the deterioration of the condition of patients,” as per the statement.

The Gambia scare continues

• This comes two months after the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a global alert for four cough syrups made by Haryana-based Maiden pharmaceuticals. Authorities in The Gambia had linked those cough syrups with deaths of 66 children, most of them due to acute kidney failure.
• However, the Drugs Controller General of India on December 13 wrote to WHO, saying that it had drawn a premature link between the deaths of the children and the cough syrups, adding that samples of the syrups were tested in a government laboratory and found to be complying with specifications.
• Last week, a parliamentary report submitted by The Gambia’s government confirmed that Maiden’s syrups were linked with acute kidney failure in children, following which The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, along with state authorities, has started joint inspections of drug manufacturing units across the country, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.

‘Ready for 2036’

• India will bid for hosting the Olympic Games in 2036. A roadmap will be presented before the full members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during the IOC session in Mumbai in September 2023, Union sports minister Anurag Thakur told TOI in an exclusive interview.
• Asked if India was ready to host the Olympics in 2036, Thakur said: “Yes, India is ready to positively bid for it. There is no reason for us to say ‘No’.”
• “If India is putting in so much effort to promote sports, I can assure you that we will not only host the Olympics, we will host it in a big way. This is the right time to host the Games. If India is making news in every sector from manufacturing to services, then why not in sports? India is looking very seriously at bidding for the 2036 Olympics.”

Bet’s on Ahmedabad

• Thakur said the government will back the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) bid for hosting the Games and that Gujarat’s Ahmedabad will likely be the ‘host city’ with world-class sporting infrastructure available there.
• He said that with India having previously hosted the 1982 Asian Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games, the next logical pit stop was the Summer Olympics.
• “Gujarat has several times expressed interest in hosting the Olympics. They have the infrastructure — from hotels, hostels, airports and sports complexes. They are serious about the bid. It’s also part of the state government’s manifesto to host the Olympics in Gujarat.”

A G20 echo

• “If India can host the G20 presidency in such a big way, I am sure the government will be able to pitch in to host the Olympics in the country along with the IOA. We all know that the slots are booked till 2032. But 2036 onwards, we have hopes and I am sure India will fully prepare and bid for the Olympics,” Thakur said. More here

Hero’s reception

• Former Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh, an NCP leader, got a hero’s welcome on Wednesday after he was released from Mumbai's Arthur Road jail, where he had been lodged for a year in multiple cases.
• He travelled in an open jeep, with his supporters and NCP leaders accompanying him, to the Siddhivinayak Temple before heading to his Worli home. Party supremo Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule accompanied Deshmukh.

The case

• The 72-year-old is accused in a corruption case probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and another relating to money laundering probed by the Enforcement Directorate.
• Deshmukh allegedly asked the police to illegally collect Rs 100 crore from Mumbai’s pubs and orchestra bars every month as protection money.
• Deshmukh was first arrested in November 2021 by the ED and later by the CBI.

The bail order

• On December 12, the Bombay High Court granted Deshmukh bail in the corruption case but deferred its implementation by 10 days on the CBI’s request for moving the Supreme Court. The bail was again deferred till December 27.
• The HC had granted Deshmukh bail earlier in a money laundering case.
• In its bail order, the HC said nothing indicated money was collected from Mumbai’s 1,700-plus bars on the instructions of Deshmukh, except approver and co-accused Sachin Waze’s statement.

What Deshmukh said

• “I was kept in jail for more than a year at the behest of Sachin Waze, who himself is in jail in two cases and suspended earlier,” Deshmukh said, “I was put in jail for no crime. But finally, I got justice from the court. I have faith in the new administration of the country. I trust in the Constitution of India.” More here

On the day when…

• Maharashtra got on Wednesday a new Lokayukta law that brings CM under the ambit of anti-graft ombudsman.
• Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare-led panel had helped draft the bill when Devendra Fadnavis was the CM.

• Four armed men travelling in a truck to Kashmir, after allegedly infiltrating from Pakistan, were killed in a “chance encounter” with security forces in Jammu on Wednesday morning, reported news agency PTI.
• The news agency further cited a police officer terming it as a “major success” ahead of Republic Day.
• However, security agencies are yet to identify the four killed and their group associations, reported PTI.

Time and location

• Additional DGP (Jammu zone) Mukesh Singh said the gunfight took place around 7.30 am amid intense fog near Tawi Bridge in the Sidhra bypass area along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. He told reporters that bodies of “four terrorists have been recovered” from the truck.

What was recovered

• Seven AK assault rifles, one M4 rifle, three pistols and a large quantity of ammunition were recovered, Singh said.

How it happened

• “A suspicious movement of a truck, that was moving towards Kashmir, was observed. It was followed and stopped near Sidhra check point, but its driver escaped on the pretext of attending the call of nature,” said the ADGP, adding that efforts are on to nab the driver.
• Getting suspicious, Singh said, police started searching the truck but came under heavy fire from inside and an encounter ensued during which the truck caught fire.
• Other unidentified officials told PTI that the intense firing between the two sides lasted for over 45 minutes, during which several explosions apparently caused by hurling of grenades were heard.

Amid ongoing tensions

• Union home minister Amit Shah held a review meeting in connection with the incident.
• The incident comes at a time when the region is already shaken by multiple instances of targeted killings of civilians. The government has informed Parliament that as many as 118 civilians, including five Kashmiri Pandits and 16 other Hindus and Sikhs, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 till July 2022.

Fog to stay

• People in the northern parts of India will have to deal with the dense fog, currently impacting air, rail and road traffic, for a few more days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Wednesday, which incidentally witnessed reduced fog intensity.
• The cold to severe cold wave is expected to continue over Punjab, Haryana, north Rajasthan and Delhi.

100 flights disrupted

• Dense fog in North India caused massive flight disruptions, with as many as 100 flights having been disrupted in Delhi alone as the city continued to reel under severe cold conditions with a thick layer of fog over it.
• Even as the congestion at the airport in New Delhi was being tackled amid a busy year-end holiday season, the problems of air travellers increased once more with dense fog covering most parts of north India.
• “Due to bad weather [fog] for three days, over 100 flights are reported delayed from and to Delhi airport, some have also been diverted to the nearest airport,” ANI quoted a Delhi airport official as saying.

The problem area

• Another reason for the delay in flights is that some airlines have not deployed their CAT-III-compliant pilots yet.
• CAT-III Instrument Landing System (ILS) allows flights to land safely in low visibility, with a runway visual range (RVR) of up to 50m and a decision height of 15m.

An advice

• Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has advised passengers to check their flight status with the airline concerned as flight operations were only for CAT-III compliant ones.
• "While landing and take-offs are continuing at Delhi airport, flights that are not CAT-III compliant may get affected. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for the updated flight information," DIAL said.

Cold wave to resurge

• The IMD predicted the cold wave to abate over northwest India till Friday before resurging from December 31. More here

• The UN Security Council has voiced concerns over restrictions on women and girls’ education and work imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan, calling for a swift reversal of these policies which increasingly eroded respect for human rights, reported news agency PTI.
• Since seizing back control of the war-torn country in August last year, the Taliban have steadily restricted women’s rights – despite promising their rule this time would be softer than the regime seen in the 1990s. They have imposed a blanket ban on education of girls and women, and effectively banished women from public life in Afghanistan.

‘Deeply alarmed’

• India’s Ambassador to the UN and currently the UN Security Council President for the month of December, Ruchira Kamboj, issued a press statement on Tuesday on behalf of the 15-nation Council that said that its members are “deeply alarmed” by reports that the Taliban have suspended access to universities for women and girls.

‘Erosion of rights and freedoms’

• The Council reiterated its “deep concern” over the suspension of schools beyond the 6th grade, as well as its call for the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan. It “called on the Taliban to reopen schools and swiftly reverse these policies and practices, which represents an increasing erosion for the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

Impact on humanitarian operations

• The members are furthermore “profoundly concerned” by reports that the Taliban have banned female employees of NGOs and international organisations from going to work, which would have a “significant and immediate impact” on humanitarian operations in the country, including those of the UN and the delivery of aid and health work, the statement said.