Delta threat to China: Lockdowns, restrictions, travel ban are
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Travel agents and hotels are refunding tickets as the Chinese
Ministry of Tourism has asked agencies not to organise tours in
view of the outbreak of Delta variant of covid. Officials warn that
the infections may continue to spread to more regions in the
summer holidays. Hunan, Guangdong and Yunnan are gearing up
to fight a likely Delta outbreak. Lockdown has been clamped on
Jiangsu's provincial Capital and travel hub Nanjing from where
the Delta found its way in. Zhangjiajie is shut.
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BEIJING, Aug 3: There are clusters of covid infections being reported from
many parts of China and it is feared that a nationwide outbreak of Delta variant
is imminent. On Monday 76 new coronavirus cases were reported, the highest daily
rise since January.
Lockdown has been clamped on Nanjing, Jiangsu's provincial Capital. Millions
of people are being tested in the province. The transmission in the province
began at the airport. China has a zero-risk approach to the virus in contrast
to the violent vaccine resistance in the US where it has become a partisan issue
between the Republicans, who oppose restrictions in the name of freedom, and
the Democrats.
Currently China has three high-risk areas and 70 medium-risk areas across seven
provinces. Travel restrictions are being imposed in 29 provinces, especially
there is the summer holidays. School students have been specifically restrained.
According to one report, Delta outbreak is likley to cut summer tourism revenue
by over 50% across China. A large number of tour groups are cancelling programmes.
All tourist destinations in Zhangjiajie, in Central China's Hunan Province,
have been shut. Nanjing infections are feared to have spread to Zhangjiajie.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has asked travel agencies not to organise
tours to high-risk areas. Alibaba is refunding tickets. So also severral hotels.
"Of the 40 domestic cases, 39 were from Jiangsu province and one from Liaoning,"
a National Health Commission official said in a statement Monday. He said there
had been no new deaths. Another official said, the outbreak caused by the Delta
variant may continue to spread to more regions.
Shao Yiming, an immunologist of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention, said, "All existing prevention measures are well conducted in practice
and China's vaccination speed is globally leading, leaving no real condition
for large-scale outbreaks."
Beijing is also keeping a watch in the border provinces in view of the fast
spreading Delta variants. Yunnan in the southwest is seeing a spike in infections
due to a highly infected neighbouring Myanmar. So also Guangdong is preparing
to quarantine international travellers coming in. Zhangjiajie in Central China's
Hunan Province has become vulnerable.
In fact, the coronavirus infection first erupted in the world in the Chinese
city of Wuhan in December, 2019 but the Government's prompt and efficient handling
of the situation stopped the transmission and almost banished the virus from
their soil. Casualties so far is 4,848 while the global death toll is 4,224,492.
Covid claimed 424,773 lives in India till date.
Coronavirus Cases Worldwide:-
WORLD: Total Deaths: 4,224,492; Total Cases: 198,336,258
US: Total Deaths: 610,467; Deaths per 100,000 People: 186.6; Total Cases:
34,842,702 BRAZIL: Total Deaths: 556,834; Deaths per 100,000 People:
265.8; Total Cases: 19,938,358
INDIA: Total Deaths: 424,773; Deaths per 100,000 People: 31.4; Total
Cases: 31,695,958
UK: Total Deaths: 129,719; Deaths per 100,000 People: 193.2; Total Cases:
5,880,667
CHINA: Total Deaths: 4,848; Deaths per 100,000 People: 0.3; Total Cases:
105,149
(The 100 millionth covid case worldwide was recorded at the end of January.)
Vaccination Status Worldwide:-
WORLD: Doses per 100 people: 53.6; Total doses: 4,177,097,771
CHINA: 115.8 - 1,675,759,221
INDIA: 34.2 - 472,223,639
US: 103.6 - 346,456,669
BRAZIL: 67.0 - 142,488,679
GERMANY: 109.9 - 92,054,374
UK: 127.5 - 85,196,986
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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Neighbours Calling
Bhutan
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Visit Indian Travel Sites
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Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Gujarat
Puducherry
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