New Delhi: The national capital on Sunday reported 22,751 fresh Covid-19 cases — the highest in the last eight months, after recording 25,219 cases in May 1, officials said.

The new cases have pushed the infection tally to 15,49,730 in the national capital.

Besides, a total of 17 Covid deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll at 25,160. This is the highest Covid-related death since June 16 when 25 deaths were reported in a day.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 infection in the city has climbed to 23.53 per cent, highest in the last eight months.

According to the Delhi Health Department, the city had recorded 24.51 per cent positivity rate on May 7.

The number of active Covid cases have jumped to 60,733 — the highest since May 16.

According to the Health Department, Delhi had recorded the highest 62,783 active Covid cases on May 16.

With a 95.45 per cent Covid recovery rate, the active Covid cases rate in Delhi has gone up to 3.91 per cent while the death rate stands at 1.62 per cent.

With 10,179 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the total number of recoveries has gone to 14,63,837.

A total of 35,714 Covid patients are being treated in home isolation at present.

The number of Covid containment zones has risen to 11,487.

Meanwhile, a total of 96,678 new tests — 79,954 RT-PCR and 16,724 Rapid Antigen — were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 3,34,83,752.

Out of 1,19,334 vaccines administered in the last 24 hours, 77,807 were first doses and 41,527 second doses.

The total number of cumulative beneficiaries vaccinated so far stands at 2,74,97,042 according to the health bulletin. (IANS)

New Delhi: Amid the continuous upsurge of Covid-19, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday cautioned that the city government will not have to impose the lockdown if everyone wears masks.

“We don’t want to impose lockdown on the city. We will not have to until everyone wear masks,” he said during his digital address.

“The lockdown will affect the livelihood badly,” Kejriwal added.

The statement has come a day before the meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority scheduled for Monday. Sources suggest that the government could further intensify the restrictions put in place to stop the infection spread.

The Minister also said Delhi is likely to report around 22,000 new Covid infections today.

However, he also appealed to the people to not panic and strictly follow the Covid Appropriate Behaviour.

“Yesterday more than 20,000 cases, today around 22,000 cases will be logged in the evening’s health bulletin. The increasing cases are concerning but there is no need to be scared,” Kejriwal said.

Kejriwal further said the analysis of the current Covid-19 situation compared to the second wave state that the hospitalization and deaths are less this time.

“On May 7, 2021, we recorded over 20,000 cases and all the beds were occupied in Delhi. There were 341 deaths as well. However, yesterday we reported a similar number of infections but only 1,500 beds are occupied and around seven deaths were reported,” he added.

Earlier today, the Delhi CM had announced on Twitter that his isolation period is over and he is “back to the public service.”

“I also got infected. I had a fever for about two days but after that I was fine. I stayed in home isolation for about 7-8 days but kept an eye on the situation in Delhi over the phone,” he said.

On January 4, Kejriwal said that he tested positive for Covid-19 and had ‘mild’ symptoms.

Subsequently, the CM home isolated himself and asked his close contacts to get a check-up. (UNI)

London: Covid should be treated as an endemic virus similar to flu, and mass vaccination must end after the booster campaign, the former chairman of the UK’s vaccine taskforce has said.

According to Dr Clive Dix, there is a need to protect the vulnerable and not all must be vaccinated. Dix called for a major rethink of the UK’s Covid strategy, the Guardian reported.

“We need to analyse whether we use the current booster campaign to ensure the vulnerable are protected, if this is seen to be necessary. Mass population-based vaccination in the UK should now end,” he was quoted as saying.

He said ministers should urgently back research into Covid immunity beyond antibodies to include B-cells and T-cells (white blood cells). This could help create vaccines for vulnerable people specific to Covid variants, he said, adding: “We now need to manage disease, not virus spread. So stopping progression to severe disease in vulnerable groups is the future objective.”

His intervention comes as it was revealed that more than 150,000 people across the UK have now died from Covid. Official figures published on Saturday recorded a further 313 deaths, the highest daily number since February last year when the last peak was receding. It takes the total recorded deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test to 150,057, the report said.

“Coronavirus has taken a terrible toll on our country and today the number of deaths recorded has reached 150,000,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet.

“Each and every one of those is a profound loss to the families, friends and communities affected and my thoughts and condolences are with them. Our way out of this pandemic is for everyone to get their booster or their first or second dose if they haven’t yet,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dix’s remarks on ending mass-vaccination come as the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) ruled that fourth doses were not currently needed because most older people who had received boosters were still well-protected against Omicron, three months after the booster campaign began.

The UK Health Security Agency said protection for over-65s was about 90 per cent, three months after a booster jab. The JCVI’s deputy chair, Professor Anthony Harnden, said the committee was monitoring the impact of Omicron on older and vulnerable people on a weekly basis. (IANS)

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged an FIR against the Rama Krishna Knitters Private Limited (RKKPL), for allegedly cheating a consortium of four banks to the tune of Rs 161.91 crore.

The products of RKKPL were popular on international market and it had been enjoying the status of an “export trading house” as recognised by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

Two persons — Shallu Gupta and Narinder Chugh have been named as an accused in the FIR.

According to the information, the federal probe agency received a complaint in this respect from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) that the firm had cheated the consortium of banks after availing loan facility of Rs 161.91 crore.

The alleged loan fraud was committed by the firm during the period of August 2010 and March 2016.

Rama Krishna Knitters firm was incorporated in 2007. The company had units in Ludhiana and Preet Vihar. The firm’s main work was manufacturing knitted ready-made garments.

It had a production capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 pieces each day.

RKKPL had been exporting goods from the US, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Tajikistan and some other countries.

The FIR lodged by the CBI reads that the firm’s status was later upgraded to export trading house.

The director of the company approached the PNB with a request of loan.

They told the bank that they wanted to expand their business, and hence needed loan.

Later on, the loan was sanctioned to the firm by a consortium of banks. In 2014, the managing director of the firm passed away. Later, a new Managing Director was appointed. The consortium of banks agreed for restructuring the credit facilities.

But the firm and the newly appointed managing director violated the terms of the loan.

Finally, in 2016, the banks declared the account of the firm as NPA. The banks found various financial irregularities in financial transactions.

A forensic analysis revealed several financial irregularities. The firm had allegedly transferred huge amount to several accounts for non business purpose. All these transactions were made before 2013.

The banks were shocked to find out during the financial analysis of the account that the firm received around Rs 38.71 crore from various persons, but they did not buy anything from the firm.

This was basically done to inflate the outstanding receivable position to ensure higher cash withdraw facility.

Now, after lodging a case, the CBI has formed a team of officials to look into the matter. (IANS)