Articles by News Desk

Spike in COVID cases On Thursday, 506 COVID-positive cases were reported, compared to Wednesday’s 376. Alarmed by the 34% rise, BBMP officials resolved to scale up surveillance besides intense testing and tracking in containment areas. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said that as per reports, infection was spreading through gatherings like weddings. Marshals have been told to be vigilant. A major chunk of newly infected people were found to have a recent connection with a physical market. Six clusters were discovered at CV Raman Nagar ward, where many had a history of movement to local markets. Meanwhile, BBMP started its…

Restrictions relaxed for Mumbai Maharashtra's government approved easing of curbs in 25 of 36 districts on July 29th. This includes reopening malls and multiplexes at 50% capacity, extending hours for restaurants and shops till 8 PM. Non-essential shops and dining out will now be allowed till 4 PM on Saturdays. The government will also relax the limit for gatherings at social and cultural events. All restrictions will continue to apply on Sundays until further notice. While malls and cinemas will be able to recover financial losses, no decision has been taken on allowing non-essential Mumbaikars on local trains to commute…

COVID: Cases surge marginally, Airport introduces rapid testing On July 30th, Chennai recorded 181 new COVID cases. While the trend was downwards, it has seen a marginal spike over the past two days. On the same day, the city reported one death and 151 discharges and 1,479 persons are under treatment.  As the lockdown norms are relaxed to a great extent in the state, the Chennai airport will conduct Rapid PCR tests for outbound international travellers at the airport and the results will be declared in 13 minutes. The registration process could take up to 30 minutes.  Source: The New…

For the fourth year in a row, air quality across Chennai City has been consistently poor, said researchers at Healthy Energy Initiative (India). On average, 24-hour samples collected from 20 locations across Chennai City in February-March 2021 exceeded the Indian 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5 of 60 µg/m3 by 1.1 to 3.8 times. This study analysed the 24-hr air samples heavy metals in addition to for PM2.5. Locations sampled for the study included neighbourhoods that are industrial, commercial and residential in nature. The results of the study indicate that there is a need for the Chennai Corporation…

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…