Articles by News Desk

Fourth serosurvey: 67% developed antibodies to COVID-19 As per the fourth serosurvey results shared by ICMR, 67.6% of the population above six years were found to have antibodies to COVID-19. Which still leaves one-third of the population vulnerable to COVID-19. The health ministry has stressed that the results, though encouraging, should not lead to complacency and COVID Appropriate Behavior shall be followed at all times. The survey also revealed that 85% of health workers have been vaccinated. The survey covered 28,975 respondents from the general population and 7,252 healthcare workers. It was conducted across 70 districts in June-July and included…

Commercial Street makeover As part of the Smart City project, BBMP has carried out a major exercise in improving the look and feel of Commercial Street. The road is designed to be pedestrian-friendly, though cyclists were miffed at a 'No cycling' board. Bengaluru Smart City Ltd has plans for a multi-level parking facility nearby. Newly renovated Commercial Street. Pic: Dy CM - CN Ashwathnarayan/ Twitter The main carriageway has grey and yellow cobblestones and tall wrought iron lamp posts add to the look. Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa inspected the completed work, with his colleagues and pointed out it was the…

Rivers breach banks Several rivers that run through the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have breached their banks due to extreme heavy rains. Areas in and around Kalyan, Badlapur, Ambernath, Ulhasnagar, and Bhiwandi are majorly flooded with immense risk to daily life and people. Around 5000 people from these areas were evacuated to safety sites in schools and community halls. Jagbudi and Kodvali rivers in Ratnagiri also crossed their assigned danger marks which led to heavy flooding of the Mumbai-Pune expressway. Low-lying areas like Vasai, Virar, and Nalasopara were ill-equipped to deal with subsequent waterlogging. Fire officials moved residents in informal housing…

Chennai fully vaccinates 15% of eligible population As on July 20th, data shows that Chennai has the highest percentage of vaccinated population in comparison with metro cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Hyderabad. While the eligible population of the city is 59.45 lakh, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has fully vaccinated 15% of it (9.11 lakh). The corporation credits the multipronged initiatives taken by them to reach the number. While people from the tele-counselling centres gave a reminder for people who were due for the second dose, the fever survey workers went door-to-door to reach the vulnerable population. The civic…

International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), has released two reports on baseline studies of solid and plastic waste in Haridwar and Rishikesh. Both of these are Ganga cities, and understanding their waste generation and management practices are significant for Ganga rejuvenation. At the same time, the Delhi-based environmental organization, has come out with an India-specific methodology for developing solid and plastic waste inventory for Indian cities. Presenting the city reports, Chandra Bhushan, CEO of iFOREST said “One of the major challenges we faced was absence of any specific methodology to develop an inventory. This study provided us an…

60% decline in COVID vaccine supply As per the Center’s CoWIN portal, there has been a 60% decline in the supply of COVID vaccines in July. Several states have complained about shortage in vaccine availability. From June 21st to 27th, 4 crore vaccine doses were administered countrywide. However, the number dropped to 2.3 crore during July 5-11. As per various estimates, if all Indian adults are to be vaccinated by year-end, 86 lakh doses will need to be administered each day. But in the past week, the number came down to 30 to 40 lakh doses a day. At the…

City prepares for the third wave With the third wave of the pandemic being predicted, the civic body has set a target to vaccinate 8 lakh persons with comorbidities.  After holding a meeting with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the civic body has decided to focus on vulnerable population with comorbidities and tuberculosis patients and pregnant mothers. The corporation has collected data about vulnerable residents and would help them get all assistance at the divisional level.  In view of the third wave, the civic body also plans to start increasing ICU beds and other infrastructure. Additionally, in a…

Permanent road closure in south Mumbai The traffic police has announced to "All vehicular traffic plying from Eastern Freeway's down ramp and MbPT Road via Wadala going towards P D'Mello Road as well as all vehicular traffic plying from Wadi Bunder Junction, P D'Mello Road, going towards Wadala via MbPT Road under the Freeway at Orange Gate Junction is permanently closed". The closure comes as a consequence of construction and development that Mumbai Port is undertaking on Marina Bay. In the notification issued on July 8, Pravinkumar Padwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said that to prevent any danger, acting…

BBMP to reduce govt-quota COVID beds BBMP has decided to reduce the number of government-quota COVID beds to about 1,800, due to the decrease in demand. Some of the CCCs (COVID Care Centres) have been closed. However, the civic body is keeping the city's health infrastructure ready for a possible third wave, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said. According to BBMP's data, of the 6,446 government quota beds available, over 6,000 were unoccupied as of Thursday. However, the COVID second wave is not over yet, according to sources from the Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee. According to them, the next six…

Centre warns tourist cities In the light of the expected third wave of COVID-19, health experts have raised red flags over images images of tourists, flouting all COVID Appropriate Behaviour norms, flocking to Manali and Kempty Falls in Mussoorie. Himachal and Uttarakhand relaxed curbs on movement resulting in cities like Shimla, Mussoorie, Nainital and Haridwar witnessing a surge in tourist influx from nearby states. "Infection has always spread faster in crowded areas," said Dr. V.K. Paul, member, Niti Aayog and the COVID-19 Task Force. "Tourism should be there, but if we are irresponsible and don't follow COVID-appropriate behavior, the virus…