Civic

Chennai witnesses uptick in COVID cases, more beds arranged Chennai recorded 1,290 fresh COVID-19 cases on April 3rd. There were 730 recoveries, 7 deaths and 7,713 persons are currently undergoing treatment.  In the wake of increasing COVID infections, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has re-initiated containment measures in 378 streets. A street or house with three or more index cases, or with two or more affected families, are classified as containment zones. This time, the containment restriction is defined at the house-level unlike in the past, when it was imposed at the street-level.  So far, 4,163 houses have been identified…

My first memories of Hyderabad are the long evening walks watching the sunset along Necklace Road, as a young architecture student welcoming the millenium new year. Now twenty years later, the city has been my home for almost three years, and those memories remain preserved even as the city has grown rapidly, not just in size but aspirations too.  Hyderabad Metropolitan area has been consistently ranked as one of the most liveable cities in India with The Mercer Quality of Living Rating 2019 ranking Hyderabad and Pune as the top cities in India, making it one of the emerging investment…

Hardik Joshi, Unsplash,Com Fire results in the death of 11 COVID-19 patients On March 25th, a fire rapidly spread in Dreams Mall Sunrise Hospital resulting in the death of 11 COVID-19 patients. Relatives of the deceased ran around the city for almost 10 hours searching for their bodies. Dreams Mall had been declared fit for housing a make-shift COVID hospital days before an audit last May claimed that fire-fighting systems of the building are non-functional. Despite this audit, Mumbai’s Fire Brigade granted a fire safety compliance report for the mall on July 22, 2020. Draft rules published in 2009 would…

Cases surge; Govt imposes restrictions Over 470 children below 10 have been infected with COVID-19, since the beginning of this month. A total of 244 boys and 228 girls have been infected from March 1 to 26. The cases among children were limited to eight to nine daily during the early days of this month but they steadily rose to 46 on March 26. The cases are different from the trends seen last year, as the state reported most new cases among people aged 40 or less. Contrary to the advice from the Technical Advisory Committee, the government ruled out…

Vaccine for people above 45 from 1st April As the country faces the second wave of COVID-19 infection, the government has decided to boost the pace of vaccination in the country. The Central government has decided to widen the beneficiary base by allowing people above 45 years (with or without comorbidity) of age to take the COVID vaccine from 1st April onwards. Nationally, the vaccination drive was started on 16th January with healthcare and frontline workers. So far, more than 5.5 crore vaccination shots have been administered. In a separate development, the government has increased the time between the first and…

Postal ballot for absentee voters The Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced the absentee voting system for voters working in essential services, senior citizens above 80 and persons with disabilities. Voters can register their votes through postal ballots.  The Chennai district election office held a discussion with the representatives of political outfits explaining the procedure for absentee voters.  For opting this service, voters should have applied through the online window. The registration process has begun from March 26th. In this elaborate system, an appointment would be sought to take the voting machine to the residences of voters for them…

COVID-19 cases above 5000, highest ever Last Wednesday, Mumbai reported its highest-ever single-day spike with over 5,000 new cases for the first time since the pandemic's outbreak. The city's total tally increased to 3,74,611, according to Mint. The active containment zones in the city stand at 39 and a total of 432 buildings are sealed. The recovery rate of Mumbai city is 90% while the overall growth rate of Covid cases stands at 0.79%, the Livemint reported. In a random antigen test, seven hawkers at Dadar station were found to be positive in Mumbai, the Times of India reported. Source:…

NIMHANS finds 34 lineages of virus The genomic sequencing of 197 COVID-19 samples from foreign fliers showed up 34 different lineages of the original Sars-CoV-2. This is up from the seven found in May 2020, but a majority of viruses come from a lineage characterised by different mutations, which allow the virus to evade a response from the human immune system. At the same time, scientists found that there is no evidence to suggest that the much-feared UK variant of the virus was present in Karnataka until the arrival of foreign fliers in the third week of December. The finding…

New COVID-19 guidelines issued by UP government In the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, the UP government has issued fresh guidelines, under which district magistrates have to ensure testing of people coming from states with a high case load. As per new guidelines, people coming from areas where COVID cases are high should undergo Rapid Antigen Test; those coming from Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab will undergo RT-PCR tests if diagnosed with symptoms. The guidelines further stated that railway stations where long-distance trains are making a halt should have a 24-hour testing facility. Source: Hindustan Times 54% caseload in MP from…

Special events planned to target first-time voters A study conducted by the District Election Office has revealed that more than 48% of first-time voters in the 16 Assembly constituencies of Chennai district have not registered their names on the electoral rolls yet. Of 1,24,824 people belonging to 18-19 years of age, only 64,152 people have enrolled. Authorities from the office have begun visiting the households and have charted plans to boost the enrolment campaign. As part of the initiative, 34 activities are planned to be conducted with a special focus on first-time voters. Programmes such as the e-bike rally, events…