NEW DELHI, Mar 18: With 14 new cases, the number of coronavirus cases
has reached 151 in India with a death toll of four. Globally the number of deaths
rose to 8,724 and infected cases 2,12,616 with China accounting for a total
of 3,241 deaths and 81,102 cases, Italy 2,978 and 35,713, Iran 1,135 and 17,361,
Spain 623 and 13,910, France 148 and 7,661. China has by now eradicated the
virus.
In India, Bengal and Puducherry today reported their first cases. For the first
time the Army also reported a soldier testing positive in Leh. His father had
gone to Iran on pilgrimage and returned infected on February 27. Thereupon the
soldier was quarantined on March 7 and tested positive for coronavirus on March
17.
The count of positive cases for Delhi has reached 10, with two more patients'
tests confirming coronavirus (covid-19). One is a 23-year old woman and the
other a 38-year old woman. The former had visited London and the latter Saudi
Arabia, and returned about a week ago. Both are in Safdarjung Hospital in the
Capital.
Gurugram in the National Capital Region too reported two new cass, raising
Haryana's cases to three. The patients were a 44-year old man, who returned
from London on March 7, and his wife. The district administration closed all
malls and weekly markets as a step to contain spread of coronavirus.
In Noida, another satellite township of NCR, a 26-year old man was declared
infected. He had gone to Indonesia with his wife and came back on March 3. The
man started showing symptoms on March 8. Following this, the administration
has imposed prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 banning assembly of four
or mor people in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district. Disinfection operations have
started in public places.
A junior doctor at the King George's Medical College has tested positive for
coronavirus after coming into contact with two patients.
The Government disclosed today that 255 Indians in Iran were infected. The
Government had earlier evacuated over two hundred Indians from Iran who were
asymptomatic.
Across the country several States have declared lockdown, resulting in the
closure of schools, colleges, cinema halls, public events, malls, restaurants,
clubs etc Maharashtra with the maximum number of coronavirus cases in India,
is considering to stop public transport also.
The Centre and the States are pushing for more elaborate restrictions on movement
of people and shutdown of cities to prevent transmission.
As a result, there is a scramble at many places to hoard provisions although
the Government has assured the people that there are enough stocks of essential
items in the country and there is no need for panic-buying.
Meanwhile, a man who was quarantined in the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi after
he returned from Sydney in Australia reportedly jumped to his death from the
seventh floor.
The CBSE has postponed board exams for Class X and XII scheduled to be held
from March 19 to March 31. The new dates will be announced later. The JEE Mains
scheduled for April 5 has also been put off.
At the airports the screening for symptoms was continuing. Contact-tracing
and quarantining have been also intensified.
Across the world, the cases registered a steep rise. In Iran, 147 people died
today, pushing up the number of dead to 1,135. In the UK the patients number
reached 2,628. The British Government announced grants and loans to help people
and businesses tide over the calamity. Italy has become the new epicentre of
the virus now.
The South-east Asian region is recording a sudden spurt in the infections.
In Indonesia, the deaths have gone up from five to 19 and the confirmed infections
by 55 to 227. So also is Malaysia. There are 700 cases. The Philippines have
17 cases.
Betting through Dubai-based Mahadev Book in India is conducted through a countrywide network. Probes reveal that the online gambling is worth several millions and top politicians, officials and celebs have been beneficiaries.
TAILPIECE: Polling dates for some States are round the corner. Top
politicians have begun their acrimonious debate who looted more, even as
Mahadev is washing their dirty laundry in the open ghat. Come what may,
one needs to seize power to amass "thy wretched pelf!" One simple
question is, why else one should spend lakhs or crores to get elected! A
question every Indian should ask to oneself at least once a day!
His inaction amounts to defeating the rights of the people of the State to
welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills, the Kerala
Government's petition submitted, while the State of Tamil Nadu remarked
that its "Governor is acting as a political rival."
Tailpiece: Coming up back to back, the petitions in their totality seem to question the provision of Raj Bhavan, and not motives of a Governor as a
person.
Hundreds of cars piled up behind the wreckage of crashes occurring one
after other in backing up - continuous crashes to the rhythm of metallic
clanks and bangs back to back. According to reports, some ops required
'Jaws of Life' to pull apart the mangled cars to save lives inside.
The pilots struggled with Emerson to thwart a shut-off as he reached for
the T-handles (see pix). Later he admitted to police he had taken
psychedelic mushrooms and had a "nervous breakdown."
Doctors reasoned how the incidence of heart attacks is spiking over time and
advise the simple way to play safely is to take a break and rehydrate
yourself.
But how come ten people, including children, die of cardiac arrest at
Garba in 24 hours, and that at different places of Gujarat? Garba had been going on
for six days, and every year it is celebrated.
Shocking news from the UK: Leading grocers have started bribing policemen with free food and drinks to persuade them to take action against shoplifters.
Shoplifting has risen by about 27 per cent in 10 major cities across the UK
this year. The cost of retail crime last year was $2.15 billion. Besides, “We
are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying
stores," Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said. Data shows that the police failed to respond to 73 per cent of serious
retail crimes that included assault and abuse of workers, apart from
shoplifting.
Harris said hip-hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every
aspect of American popular culture.” “Hip-hop culture is American
culture,” she said in a talk at her official residence at the US Naval
Observatory in Washington, D.C.
The social media had mixed reaction. There was much appreciation that
she dances better than any VP in American history. But some called her
"moves" as “cringe” while others did not like her pink pants - "pink pants
don’t look good.” In fact, her ensembles have always been incongruous.
"Let’s see how the (Governor's) Vice-Chancellors are given salary."
Mamata's extreme statements will put the Marxist Government in Kerala,
which is also facing similar issues, to shame. Has she begun the
countdown for a war on the streets?
It's true Mamata has come to see a conspiracy to demolish the established systems across the country, but lacks the ability to foresee what exactly is being pushed.
Brandishing a sword, Mahant Paramhans told reporters on Tuesday he
himself will behead MK Stalin's son for his remarks against Sanatan
Dharma in case nobody came forward to accept his offer he made in his
video. Udhayanidhi reacted to the saint's Monday video, "I will speak
more. I am the grandson of the artist who put his head on the rail track for
Tamil Nadu."
Somanath elaborated, "I am an explorer. I explore the Moon. I explore the inner
space. So it's a part of the journey of my life to explore both science and
spirituality. So I visit many temples and I read many scriptures. So try to find the
meaning of our existence and our journey in this cosmos. So it's a part of the
culture that we are all built to explore, find out the inner self as well as outer
self. So for the outer, I do science, for the inner I come to temples." (See videos)
Rao the mathematical legend had fathered the path-breaking Rao-Blackwell
theorem, one of the most important theorems in mathematical statistics, at the
age of 25. That brought him global fame. He is also famous for his Cramér-Rao
Bound inequality theorem relating to quality of estimators in statistics which has
had a profound bearing on applications of modern economics and several other
diverse fields. Simply put, with the pioneering statistician computation became a
tool to analyse even socio-economic challenges of modern times.
The alleged incident has received such a flash publicity that a standardised
city's hugely middle class population will have second thoughts about eating
outside for some time. Now everything on the table looks suspicious!
“All subjects directly connected to the people should be shifted to the State List. Particularly the subject of education. Only if this is done can cruel exams like NEET be abolished,” Stalin said. Education was moved from the State List to the Concurrent List with the 42nd Constitution Amendment made by the Central Government in 1976.
Decentralisation has been at the core of Tamil politics since the times of CN Annadurai. Stalin indicated there will be political changes in the offing.
TAILPIECE: While the Centre and the States are at loggerheads, it takes a
different cognitive acumen to know that entrance tests are not the way for
students' admission to courses.
As recently as Tuesday Craig Robertson had posted on Facebook: "Perhaps
Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the
Marxist." Biden was scheduled to make his first visit to Utah as President
Wednesday afternoon.
Maruti is recalling 87,599 S-Presso and Eeco vehicles to inspect and possibly
replace parts in the steering system. All reputed companies around the
world do recall their products when a defect comes to light.
Meanwhile, a question arises why just in about a year so many accidents have
taken place involving Mercedes sent to India while the car has won safety awards
abroad? In most cases, the vehicle collided with divider, while manoeuvring a
turn. Was there a split second delay in the steering system coming to a grip
when at high speed? Did anybody in India bother to study a pattern in several
of these accidents that took place one after other?
Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry died when his Mercedes-Benz-SUV hit
a divider in Gujarat. Cricketer Rishabh Pant's Mercedes-Benz-SUV rammed a divider
in Uttarakhand and smashed. It went up in flames but he escaped with injuries.
Brother of PM Narendra Modi, Prahlad Modi's Mercedes-Benz-SUV met with a similar
accident in Mysuru. And many more.
Experts blame violation of the Visual Flying Rules (VFR) for most of the
chopper crashes in the mountains as the leading cause. VFR means fly only
visually - because of the lack of navigation aids in remote areas or unreliability
of GPS-like aids in hilly terrains or a remote manipulation of instruments
in cases of sabotage - as the topography plays havoc especially in the monsoon
(mid-June to September).
Even when VFR is followed, most crashes occur due to CFIT (Controlled Flight
into Terrain) - that is, everything else is OK but the aircraft collides with
hills or trees hidden by the clouds. This also occurs mostly in the monsoon.
On Tueday with Manang, the chopper was brand new, pilot was highly experienced.
But it hit an 'invisible' tree and then crashed against a hillside. This
CFIT occurred when the pilot tried to dodge patches of clouds even as he was
following the VFR.
Simply put, everyone knows flying in the hills during the monsoon is risky,
but the companies want to make more money in any which case. This type of
tragedy is very frequently invited in the Indian hill State of Uttarakhand
as well, where pilots are even made to fly without the mandatory rest.
Curfew was clamped on areas in Paris on Thursday lasting till Monday. The
police apprehend an escalation of volence in the coming days. There will be
"actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the State", they
said.
Under present law, the police have brute powers to deal with traffic violators.
Young Nahel was shot point-blank by a cop for purported traffic violation
and an anticipated crime.