Omicron covid, the double whammy, is here! Two cases confirmed
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Omicron covid has come to India. The first two cases were confirmed in Bengaluru
after genome sequencing tests on Thursday. Twelve suspect cases have been admitted
to the LNJP hospital in New Delhi and two in Tamil Nadu hospitals. Meanwhile,
Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal lamented, “It’s sad that we did not stop flights
from the affected countries” when Omicron started spreading, despite his plea.
Although the South African variant is highly transmissible, reaching 29 countries
in less than a fortnight, and vaccination offers no resistance to its penetration
as most cases are vaccine breakthroughs, there were no cases of severe illness
or death so far.
However, if the transmission continues at this speed, the first casualty will be the healthcare community as it is a vaccine breakthrough infection and these medical staff
are working in a virus-saturated environment. With what result? The healthcare
system will collapse as there won't be trained staff available, with grave consequences!
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NEW DELHI, Dec 3: India's first two Omicron covid cases were reported from
Bengaluru on Thursday while twelve suspects have been admitted to the LNJP hospital
in New Delhi, eight of them on Thursday and four on Friday. In Tamil Nadu, two
foreign travellers have been hospitalised with unconfirmed Omicron.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “It’s sad that we did not stop flights
from affected countries” despite his pleas to Prime Minister Narendra Modi when
more such cases were being reported from several countries.
One of the Omicron cases detected in Bengaluru was a South African national
(66) who had arrived at the airport a few days ago and the other a private doctor
(46) working in the city who had no previous travel history. Both were fully
vaccinated long before they contracted the infection. Both are male. No severe
symptoms were reported by them. The South African national returned home on
November 27.
Five contacts of the doctor have also tested positive for covid and been quarantined
in a Government hospital in Bengaluru. Their samples have also now been sent
for genome sequencing. None of the 264 contacts of the South African national
has tested positive for covid.
Meanwhile, ten South Africans who had arrived in Bengaluru between November
12 and 22 are untraceable even as the health authorities want them to be tested
in view of the finding of the new covid variant.
A passenger arriving from Singapore at the Tiruchirappalli International Airport
and another from the UK landing in Chennai were found covid positive and admitted
to hospitals. The samples have been sent for genome sequencing to Chennai and
Bengaluru.
The fast-spreading Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in South
Africa last month and has been spreading very fast inside the country and outside
through travel. Apart from the two cases detected in India, 373 cases of the
Omicron variant have been detected in 29 countries. They include Germany, Israel,
Belgium, UK, US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Lanka, Malaysia, Botswana, Canada, Scotland,
Netherlands. Mostly, travellers from South Africa carried it to other countries.
Appealing to the people not to panic, the Union Health Ministry has asked the
countrymen to strictly follow the covid appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated.
It said the proposal to provide booster vaccination is under consideration.
However, the Centre prefers to complete the process of immunising all the citizens
with the two-dose vaccination first before launching a booster dose.
"While, there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work
on Omicron, some of the mutations reported on spike gene may decrease the efficacy
of existing vaccines," the Ministry said. It said the severity of the disease
is anticipated to be low because of vaccination, although its transmissibility
is very high.
Lanka reported its first case on Friday. The person, who arrived from an African
country, is currently in quarantine along with his family members, officials
said. Malaysia also said on Friday it has detected its first case in a foreign
student who returned after visiting her family in South Africa. Singapore said
two travellers from South Africa tested "preliminarily positive" for Omicron.
Israel and other countries are reporting more and more infections.
Biden not for “shutdowns and lockdowns"
Likewise, the US had its first case on Thursday. On Friday New York State confirmed
five cases of Omicron, Governor Kathy Hochul said. Colorado also reported a
case on Friday .Reacting to the discovery, President Joe Biden said there is
no immediate need for any lockdown or other restrictions and appealed to people
to complete the vaccination process at the earliest. He asked those who are
fully vaccinated to go for the booster dose. Appealing for bipartisan support
to his efforts, Biden said he is not for “shutdowns and lockdowns."
In India, in the context of the fast spreading Omicron, and the admissions
of 12 suspects in the LNJP hospital in the Capital, the Delhi Chief Minister tweeted on Friday, “It’s sad that we did not stop flights from affected
countries.”
After the variant was detected in South Africa, followed by countries in Europe,
the Chief Minister had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on two occasions to
stop flights from countries where the variant was detected, it is reported.
In his letter sent to the Prime Minister on Sunday, Kejriwal had written, “Our
country has fought a tough fight against corona for the last one and a half
years. With great difficulty and due to selfless service of millions of our
covid warriors, our country has recovered from corona. We should do everything
possible to prevent the new variant of concern, recently recognised by WHO,
from entering India. A number of countries, including the European Union, have
suspended travel to the affected regions. I urge you to stop flights from these
regions with immediate effect. Any delay in this regard may prove harmful, if
any affected person enters India.”
OMICRON FACTS: The first case was discovered on November 18 in Pretoria.
Laboratory studies identified it as a new variant on November 25. Panic reactions
like travel bans followed worldwide. Yet, clinically, so far it is seen like
a mild infection. There has not been any case of severe illness or death reported
so far from anywhere. However, its transmissibility is quite high. Vaccine has no effect. Most cases were vaccine breakthroughs. It has spread all over the world in less than a fortnight.
(Also See: Ministry's
Q&A)
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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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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
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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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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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