Articles by News Desk

Delhi witnesses increase in COVID-19 cases, recovery rate reaches 90% On August 25 2020, Delhi registered 1544 new cases of COVID-19, the highest single-day spike in August. CM Arvind Kejriwal however has referred to this as marginal increase and has said that the situation is under control in the capital. The total deaths in the capital now stand at 4347 and recoveries at 1,48,897. Earlier, the highest single-day spike was 3947 cases reported on June 23rd. So far, the capital has tested 14.8 lakh samples. The CM has also asked for daily testing to be doubled to 40,000 tests per…

Gurugram flooded, netizens unhappy with state of affairs On August 19 2020, three hours of heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in Gurugram. The rainfall caused flash floods in the city and also disrupted electricity supply in many places. 2000 police personnel along with civic authorities were deployed to bring the situation back to normal. Narsinghpur, DLF Phase 3, Bheem Nagar, Model Town remained some of the worst affected areas in the city. The picture of a car submerged at Gold Course Road, one of the posh localities in the city, went viral on social media. However, netizens hailed the traffic officers…

COVID: Collector recovers from COVID, phase-II of vaccine trials to begin soon On August 20th, Chennai recorded 1,177 fresh COVID cases, 1,132 recoveries and 22 deaths. The total number of active cases stand at 12,287. Infographic representation of total number of COVID cases in Chennai as on August 21st. Graphic: GCC/Twitter Thirty-three officials from Chennai Collectorate including Collector R Seethalakshmi who were infected with COVID have reportedly recovered. To ensure the frontline workers remain safe, the civic body has begun testing all the workers. Samples from volunteers and frontline workers are part of the 13,000 tests carried out every day.…

A people's probe Civil society organisations have formed a 23-member fact-finding committee to probe the violence that broke out in D J Halli and K G Halli on the night of August 11. This will be the fourth fact-finding committee probing the violence after the ones formed by the ruling BJP, the Congress and Citizens for Democracy. The committee will meet families of those affected, residents, police officials, media persons who were attacked and others, to establish the sequence of events leading to the violence. It's terms of reference include establishing the role played by all parties concerned including Facebook,…

In a first of its kind for Bengaluru, the BBMP on August 15 launched a holistic Rabies Prevention and Control Programme, targeted at 'Independence from Rabies'. After Goa, Bengaluru is now the second to have a Rabies Helpline in the country. The helpline +91 6364893322 was inaugurated by Mayor Goutham Kumar and BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad. The pick-up vans were flagged off by BBMP’s Special Commissioner (Animal Husbandry and Solid Waste Management) Randeep Dev. The helpline is expected to reduce the burden on Animal Birth Control (ABC) centres that have been attending to dog bite complaints, and have been counselling…

Heavy rains wreak havoc in Jaipur, social media abuzz with clips In an unusual incident, the pink city of Jaipur got flooded due to heavy rains on August 14 2020. It also disrupted road and rail movement in the city. Horrifying clips of water entering low floor buses and shopping complexes made several rounds on social media. As per media reports, the rainfall started during the early hours and continued till 1:00 PM in the afternoon. In response, 13 civic defense teams and four teams of stated disaster relief were deployed for evacuation of people stuck in low lying areas…

COVID-19: Two-day quarantine for international travellers with negative certification; four symptoms to watch out for Chennai recorded 1,187 fresh COVID cases, 837 recoveries and 25 deaths on August 14th, according to the health bulletin. The number of recoveries crossed one lakh on August 14th in the city.  Infographic summary of COVID-19 cases in Chennai. Graphic: GCC/Twitter International travellers who hold a negative COVID test certificate will be subjected to two-day institutional quarantine upon arrival at Chennai. Whereas passengers without certification will be in seven-day quarantine and would be tested twice -- upon arrival and on the seventh day of quarantine…

Riots, curfew in East Bengaluru Violence broke out in DJ Halli and adjoining areas in east Bengaluru on Tuesday night after an inflammatory post about Islam on Facebook. Three were killed and three others injured in police firing. Rioting by as many as 2,000 on the streets was brought under control. Section 144 and curfew was imposed in DJ Halli, KG Halli and Kaval Byrasandra. The inflammatory Facebook post was put up by P Naveen, nephew of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. The police is interrogating Naveen. About 146 people, including a few local leaders of the SDPI (Social Democratic…

209 areas flood-prone: BBMP BBMP has identified 209 flood-prone areas in the city, of which 153 are sensitive and 56 hypersensitive. With the threat of flash floods in the city, the civic body has decided to instal sensors in more stormwater drains. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said 28 sensors had already been installed. The senors would beam warning messages once the water level rises. Since the breaching of stormwater drains is a major reason for floods in Bengaluru, early warnings are expected to help authorities take corrective measures and evacuate residents from flood-prone areas. Source: Deccan Herald COVID recovery…

Kozhikode Air Crash: Government announces compensation, safety experts slam DGCA The tragic air accident that claimed 18 lives, including the pilot and co-pilot, has reignited the debate over the safety of 'tabletop' airports, of which there are six in the country. Air safety experts have come down sharply against the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation), holding it accountable for the slipshod manner in which safety audits are done and their findings acted upon. Tabletop runways such as the one at Kozhikode are constructed on a hilly or an elevated terrain, and are known to be very tricky even for…