New Delhi: India continues to register its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with 1,84,372 people testing positive in the last 24 hours, shooting the overall infection tally to 13,873,825, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said in its Wednesday update.

The death toll from the deadly infection mounted to 172,115 after 1,027 fatalities since Tuesday.

Meanwhile, 82,339 people were discharged from the hospitals, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,23,36,036. The current tally of active cases is 13,65,704. These figures make India the second worst-hit nation in terms of total Covid-19 cases and the third-worst hit country in terms of active cases.

On the vaccination front, more than 10 crore doses have been administered since January 16 as the government is looking forward to inviting foreign companies like Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson to India to bridge its widening vaccine deficiency. The plan is to increase the pace of vaccination with a bigger pool of vaccines.

“We hope and we invite the vaccine makers such as Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and others…to be ready to come to India as early as possible,” said VK Paul, chairman of the National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, PM Narendra Modi will interact today with Governors, LGs regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

New Delhi: The Central Government has approved an increase in production and supply and reduction in prices of anti-viral drug Remdesivir, being used in treating Covid-infected patients, an official release said here on Wednesday.

As per the release, Mansukh Mandaviya, Chemicals & Fertilisers minister has reviewed the availability of Remdesivir and in a meeting with all-existing manufacturers of the Remdesivir drug and other stakeholders, approval was given for seven additional sites for the production of 10 Lakh vials per month.

Currently, India is producing 38.80 lakh vials of Remdesivir every month through seven manufactures.

During the meeting, manufacturers of Remdesivir have volunteered to reduce the price of the drug to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week, the release said.

As the cases of Covid-19 are rising day-by-day, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have started reporting a shortage of Remdesivir.

In view of the scarcity, the Directorate of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued an order prohibiting the export of Remdesivir and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) required in its production until further notice.

Remdesivir, an injectable anti-viral, was manufactured in 2014 to treat Ebola. It has since been used to treat SARS and MERS.

In 2020, it was reintroduced for Covid treatment. As per the clinical experience, the drug works best in mildly ill patients, and in the early stages of hospitalisation.

Srinagar: Chairman District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Muhammad Aijaz Asad, who is also Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar Wednesday ordered immediate suspension of class work at Aakash Institute Rawalpora after nine of its students were tested positive for COVID-19.

The students were tested positive during a random sampling by the Medical team deputed by District Admin Srinagar. “A total of 182 samples of students of the institute were collected, nine among them tested positive,” the official handout said, adding that the Chairman DDMA Srinagar has ordered suspension of Class Work at the institute.

A team headed by Sub Divisional Magistrate Owais Ahmed sealed the premises of Akash institute for five days in the first instance to break the transmission chain.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Srinagar has asked the management of all the coaching institutes to ensure strict adherence to the COVID protocols and also go for testing of all the faculty and students—(KNO)

New York:  Some genetic material of the coronavirus can persist up to a month in dust in the rooms where Covid-19 patients were isolated, finds a study.

The study, published in the journal mSystems, did not evaluate whether the dust can transmit the virus to humans. But, it offers another option for monitoring Covid-19 outbreaks in specific buildings, including nursing homes, offices or schools.

Researchers from the Ohio State University in the US, worked with the crews responsible for cleaning the rooms at the university where students who tested positive for Covid-19 were isolated.

They also collected samples from two homes where people who tested positive for Covid-19 lived. They gathered vacuum bags of dust from the cleaning crews and from the homes. The researchers also tested swabs collected from surfaces in the rooms.

They found RNA — part of the genetic material inside a virus — in 97 per cent of the bulk dust samples and in 55 per cent of the surface swabs.

The samples were tested weekly. Even after four weeks, the virus’s RNA did not significantly decay in the vacuum bags. “We weren’t sure that the genetic material would survive – there are many different organisms in dust, and we weren’t sure we’d see any viral RNA at all,” said lead author Nicole Renninger, an engineering graduate at the varsity. “And we were surprised when we found that the actual RNA itself seems to be lasting a pretty long time,” Renninger said.

Municipalities and others have tested wastewater to evaluate the prevalence of Covid-19 in a given community. As gene copies and fragments of the virus live in human waste, testing wastewater can determine how widespread the virus might be even if people are asymptomatic.

Dust monitoring could offer similar understanding on a smaller scale — say, a specific nursing home, hospital or school, Renninger said.

Srinagar: With the number of COVID-19 cases rising unabated, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad on Wednesday called for strict implementation of Coronavirus protocols, besides strengthening of COVID-19 checkpoints, sample handling and managements with regard to quarantine of positive cases.

The Deputy Commissioner said this while convened a meeting with senior functionaries of Health Department to review the prevailing Covid-19 situation and controlling measures undertaken in Srinagar district. Mission Director NHM, Chowdhary Mohammad Yasin was also present on the occasion.

An official spokesperson said that the meeting held threadbare deliberations on issues and measures undertaken to effectively contain and manage the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

He said during the meeting, the concerned officers of health department apprised the meeting about the zone and block wise situation of positive cases, contact tracing, home isolation and other measures being taken for containment of Covid-19 spread. ”They also flagged the issues about the requirement of kits, man power, lab technicians and funds. While status regarding overall sampling and testing being carried out at Airport, hotels and other places was also discussed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner stressed on intensive contact tracing of positive cases. He also emphasised on rigorous testing and vaccination drive to be conducted in all areas and pasting posters outside the houses of positive cases for information of public.

He called for strict implementation of COVID-19 protocols as per laid down SOPs, strengthening of COVID-19 checkpoints, sample handling, managements with regard to quarantine of positive cases.

The Deputy Commissioner called for doubling the efforts for controlling the spread of a new wave of the virus in the district. He asked for close coordination among line departments to keep close vigil and effective monitoring of travellers including tourists visiting Kashmir valley particularly at Airport and Lower Munda.

Mission Director NHM, Chowdhary Mohammad Yasin also suggested several preventive and precautionary measures to be taken for the management and containment of new covid-19 wave. He also assured that all possible support with regard to additional manpower etc would be made available to district administration.

Among others, the meeting was attended by BMO, Srinagar, Incharge Nodal Officer COVID-19, Srinagar, Incharge Nodal Officer Covid, Srinagar International Airport, ZMOs.

Srinagar: Amid forecast for “widespread light to moderate rain, snow or thundershowers” for next few days, night temperatures increased across Kashmir Valley, officials said on Wednesday.

A meteorological department official told GNS that the minimum temperature settled at 9.4°C against 8.6°C on the previous night in Srinagar. The temperature in the summer capital was 1.8°C above normal for this time of the season, he said.

Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir, recorded a low of 7.8°C against 5.8°C on the previous night, the official said.

Pahalgam recorded a minimum of 4.2°C against 2.1°C on the earlier night while the famous resort in south Kashmir received 1.4mm of rain overnight, he said.

Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a low of 7.5°C against previous night’s 5.2°C, the official said.

Kupwara recorded a low of 7.0°C against 6.5°C on the previous night, the official said.

Gulmarg, the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir, recorded a low of 2.5°C against minus 0.5°C on the previous night which was 1.5°C, the official said.

The weatherman has forecast “widespread and fairly widespread” light to moderate rain, snow and thundershowers from April 15 to 18. On April 19 and 20, the weatherman forecast isolated rains.

The weather office has also issued ‘yellow warning for “isolated thunder/lightning with gusty wind 30- 40-kmph” for both Jammu and Kashmir divisions from April 14 to 17. There are four types of colour codes signifying the level of caution: green which means no action, yellow—situation to be watched), amber –government agencies need to be prepared for severe weather and red –action needed by the agencies.   (GNS)

Srinagar: A 25-year-old youth was killed when lightning struck him inside his house in Ashmuqam area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday, officials said.

A police official told GNS at about 18:30 hours, lighting struck at the residential house of one Mohammad Shafi Wani at Thokerpora Siligam in Ashmuqam, resulting in on the spot death of his young son, Junaid Shafi Wani (25).

By: Jahangir Lolabi

Kupwara: A soldier was injured in a firing incident along the Line of Control in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district, sources said on Wednesday.

They said that army personnel manning “Anil Post” which is around 30-33 km from Kupwara observed some suspicious movement at around 10:30 p.m. last night and the sentry fired some shots.

One army personnel identified as Jasvir Singh (46) was injured and removed to 92 Base Hospital Srinagar for treatment, the sources told GNS. It was not however known if the soldier sustained the injuries due to fire by suspected infiltrators or due to mistaken firing.  (GNS)

Srinagar: A joint team od Army, BSF and J&K Police ‘foiled an infiltration and narco-smuggling bid’ in forward area of Tanghdar sector last night, official said.

An official statement issued to Global News Service (GNS) reads that ten kilograms of contraband with an estimated market value of Rs 50 crores was recovered.

A 10-kilogram of Heroin consignment was recovered from the same area a week ago in a joint operation, the official said.  “This time smugglers were spotted carrying the narcotics along the Line of Control.”

The operation to identify individuals of Karnah Tehsil involved in this activity was in progress in the meantime and there is high likelihood of arrests of certain kingpins in upcoming days, the statement reads further. (GNS)

By: Bhat Imran

Srinagar: A teenager student has been beaten to pulp by a teacher in Hope Classes private coaching center in Parraypora, a video of which surfaced on social media on Wednesday.

In a video that has gone viral on various social media platforms, a teacher was seen hitting hard on the students’ face with the teacher querying about some sort of permission.

In the video, the teacher while repeatedly slapping the student was asking the student why he didn’t seek permission.

Reportedly, the teacher is teaching chemistry in the institute.

Meanwhile, the media advisor of Hope Classes Coaching Institute Parraypora, Nayeem Ahmad said that the management was yet to seek explanation from the teacher.

“In the coaching institute, there is a good teacher-student relationship but I won’t say the beating of the student is justified as well. As of now we have not taken any action and have not sought any explanation so far,” he said.

Nayeem also said that the student that was slapped repeatedly is receiving coaching for competitive entrance exams.

Meanwhile, the Netizens have expressed anguish over the incident as have sought action against the teacher—(KNO)