More than 15 lakh people are quarantined in Mumbai after contact-tracing thus far since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the town civic body said. Out of those, 5.34 lakh people were identified as high-risk contacts, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. So far, 13.28 lakh people have completed their 14-day quarantine. As of now, 2.46 lakh people are under home quarantine and 14,288 under institutional quarantine, the BMC said on its website. Out of 14,288 people under institutional quarantine, 11,409 are lodged at 328 CCC-1 (COVID care centre) facilities, which have a collective capacity of over 50,000 beds, while…
Author: Our Correspondent
The prisons authority told the Delhi supreme court Tuesday that jail inmates within the capital can now consult their private or legal aid lawyers via video conference. The facility was earlier available just for consulting legal aid lawyers, but by a circular issued on Monday, July 6, all inmates altogether the jails can now use it to even consult their private lawyers, the prisons authority informed a bench of judge D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan. Taking note of the submission made by Delhi government additional standing counsel Satyakam, appearing for the prisons authority, the bench said it had…
Three private security force personnel were injured in an encounter with militants in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday, police said. A police official said that a militant was believed to possess been killed during the encounter as he was shot at when he tried to leap from a house. However, the body of the militant is yet to be retrieved. On a tip about presence of militants in Goosu village of Pulwama, security forces launched a cordon and search operation, the official said. He said the search operation became an encounter after militants opened fire towards security…
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has secured a second term in office following a resounding victory in the Japanese capital’s gubernatorial election, the media reported on Monday. The 67-year-old incumbent, who entered the race with overwhelming support from both ruling and opposition parties, was pitted against a slew of lesser-known candidates in a campaign overshadowed by the unnerving presence of a pandemic, The Japan Times reported. In the election held on Sunday, Koike, who was first elected governor in 2016 following a landslide victory, received 3,661,371 votes, far more than her next closest challenger, Kenji Utsunomiya, a lawyer and former head…
The iconic Louvre museum in Paris reopened on Monday after its closure nearly four months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. Masks are compulsory, a one-way system is in place and numbers of visitors will be controlled, reports the BBC. There will also be a spaced queue to view Leonardo Da Vinci”s famous Mona Lisa painting. Some 10 million people come to what is thought to be the world”s most visited museum each year, the majority from abroad. But with tourism crippled by the ongoing pandemic and the European Union only opening its external borders for 15 nations so far,…
Launching another scathing attack on China, US President Donald Trump on Monday blamed China for causing “great damage” to the United States and across the globe due to the coronavirus crisis. “China has caused great damage to the United States and the rest of the world!” Trump tweeted, in an oblique reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the second ‘Salute to America’ on America’s 244th Independence Day, Trump had also said that the country was doing great until it got hit by a virus that came from China. “The power of tariffs being imposed on foreign lands that took advantage…
An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia’s western Central Java province on Tuesday morning, the meteorology and geophysics agency said. It, however, did not issue a warning for tsunami. The quake struck at 5.54 a.m. with the epicentre at 53 km northwest Jepara of the province and a depth of 578 km under the sea bed, Xinhua reported. Indonesia has been frequently jolted by earthquakes as it lies on a vulnerable quake-hit zone called “the Pacific Ring of Fire”.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), also known as Tibetan government-in-exile, on Monday announced to dedicate this year as ”Year of Gratitude” to mark the 85th their birthday of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, revered as a ”living god”. Virtual teachings, it said, offer solace, hope, and blessing for thousands around the globe. “We urge Tibetans and our friends around the globe to initiate and take part in activities in their capacities to create awareness about the life and four commitments of His Holiness,” the CTA led by Lobsang Sangay said in a…
The ruling BJP, bombarded with questions from Rahul Gandhi on the China crisis, hit back today with a dig at his reported absence from meetings of the Standing Committee on Defence, a cross-party panel of MPs. BJP chief JP Nadda, in tweets, said the Congress MP “does not attend a single meeting” of the panel but continued to question the armed forces. “Rahul Gandhi does not attend a single meeting of Standing Committee on Defence. But sadly, he continues to demoralise the nation, question the valour of our armed forces and do everything that a responsible opposition leader should not…
BJP chief JP Nadda invoked Shyama Prasad Mookerjee on his birth anniversary today to call for a change in government in Bengal — the home state of the late Jan Sangh leader — clearly setting sights on the state elections of 2021. “We have to remove the current government lock, stock and barrel and replace it with a BJP government,” Mr Nadda said at a virtual rally in Bengal, his first. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to address a virtual rally on July 21, a red-letter day on the Trinamool Congress calendar. Ms Banerjee had dismissed virtual rallies as…