The drills are being held on Monday and Tuesday across the country.

India’s active case count is relatively low but experts are urging caution to stop further spread of the disease.

The country saw a deadly second wave in 2021 and the government came under criticism as many hospitals ran out of oxygen and critical care beds.

India recorded close to 6,000 new cases on Sunday, government data shows. The active case count was 35,000.

The surge is largely driven by XBB.1.16, which is an omicron subvariant. The WHO has said it was watching the subvariant and the spread in India.

Experts say it’s not known to be lethal.

“It’s been in circulation for a few months. We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations, but that’s why we have these systems in place,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, recently said.

Many cities in India have seen a sharp rise in cases in recent weeks, but the surge has not led to an increase in hospital admissions.

Both public and private hospitals are participating in the mock drills, which are being supervised by India’s health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and other state health ministers.

In an online meeting held on 7 April, Mr Mandaviya had also asked health officials to identify emergency hotspots by tracking cases related to respiratory illnesses and he also advised them to increase testing and vaccination for Covid-19.

He also stressed the need for increasing awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour like wearing masks in public places.

Meanwhile, some states have made it mandatory to wear masks in public and are urging citizens to follow Covid-19 safety protocols.

India was on alert in December as well due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in neighbouring China, and had stepped up surveillance.

Source – BBC

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The woman could be seen sitting next to her spouse and shooting four shots into the air in a social media video.

The woman, who has been missing since the event, has been the subject of a case, according to the local police.

Celebration Video from #Hathras, #UttarPradesh.

Bride firing gun in own wedding.#India #GunControlNow pic.twitter.com/7UFMj2THOF

— Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) April 9, 2023

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Tourists opting for the seven nights/eight days package will be able to board and deboard the train from Akola – Badnera – Dhamangaon – Wardha – Nagpur – Betul – Itarasi. The package will cover Bodhgaya (Gaya) – Sarnath (Varanasi) – Lumbini (Nautanwa) – Kushinagar (Gorakhpur).

A standard class ticket would set one back Rs 7,560 per person, while the comfort class would cost Rs 9,240 per person. While the booking is free for children below 5 years, children above 5 years will be charged as per the adult fare.

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Castro said on her Twitter account that she instructed Honduran Foreign Affairs Minister Eduardo Reina to start negotiations with China and that her intention is “expand frontiers freely in concert with the nations of the world.”

Castro said during her presidential campaign in 2021 that she would look for ties with China if elected, but once in power, her government backtracked on those comments. In January 2022, the foreign affairs minister told The Associated Press that Honduras would continue strengthening ties with Taiwan and that establishing a diplomatic relationship with China was not a priority for Castro.

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The removal of this last cross-border control measure imposed to guard against COVID-19 comes after authorities last month declared victory over a recent surge in the virus.

The boost to the tourism sector should help rekindle a $17 trillion economy that last year suffered one of its slowest rates of growth in nearly half a century.

Areas in China that required no visas prior to the pandemic will revert to visa-free entry, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. This will include the southern tourist island of Hainan and cruise ships passing through Shanghai port.

Visa-free entry to the southern manufacturing hub of Guangdong for foreigners from Hong Kong and Macau will also be resumed.

The ministry also said foreigners holding visas issued before March 28, 2020 that are still within their validity dates will also be able to enter China.

“Resuming applications for all types of visas removes another significant barrier in the resumption of normal travel between the UK and China,” Tom Simpson, managing director, China-Britain Business Council, told Reuters.

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The Indian government has opposed recognising same-sex marriages and has urged the country’s top court to reject challenges to the current legal framework lodged by LGBT couples.

India’s Ministry of Law says that, while there may be various forms of relationships in society, the legal recognition of marriage is for heterosexual relationships and the state has a legitimate interest in maintaining this, according to the filing seen by Reuters, which has not been made public.

“Living together as partners and having sexual relationship by same-sex individuals … is not comparable with the Indian family unit concept of a husband, a wife and children,” the ministry argued.

The court cannot be asked “to change the entire legislative policy of the country deeply embedded in religious and societal norms”, it said.

“As petitioners, we have received wide support from people from all walks of life and it does not seem to me that most Indians feel injured by the thought of some loving families getting legal rights,” one of the litigants in the current case, businessman Uday Raj Anand, told Reuters after the government filed the reply in court.

In a historic verdict in 2018, India’s top court decriminalised homosexuality by scrapping a colonial-era ban on gay sex.

The current case is being seen as a further important development for LGBT rights in the country.

At least 15 pleas, some by gay couples, have been filed in recent months, asking the court to recognise same-sex marriages, setting the stage for this legal face-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

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Muhyiddin, 75, pleaded innocent to four charges of abusing his power to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($51.4 million) bribes for his party and two charges of money laundering involving 195 million ringgit ($43 million). His party said he is expected to face an additional charge on Monday.

Muhyiddin vowed to clear his name, slamming the charges as an “evil slander” to embarrass him and crush his Islamic-dominated opposition ahead of state elections. He denied abusing his power to award contracts to selected ethnic Malay contractors in return for bribes, and to approve an appeal by a business tycoon on the cancellation of his tax exemption.

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The endorsement of Xi’s appointment by the ceremonial National People’s Congress was a foregone conclusion for a leader who has sidelined potential rivals and filled the top ranks of the ruling Communist Party with his supporters since taking power in 2012.

The vote for Xi was 2,952 to 0 by the NPC, members of which are appointed by the ruling party.

Xi, 69, had himself named to a third five-year term as party general secretary in October, breaking with a tradition under which Chinese leaders handed over power once a decade. A two-term limit on the figurehead presidency was deleted from the Chinese constitution earlier, prompting suggestions he might stay in power for life.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Indian host Narendra Modi handed caps emblazoned national emblems to rival captains Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma. They clasped their hands and raised them to the delight of thousands of cricket fans.

The two prime ministers were cheered by cricket fans as they went around the stadium named after Modi and later sat down to watch the start of the game.

Modi and Albanese also saw a photo exhibition highlighting their countries’ cricketing ties. The India-Australia cricket rivalry is considered one of the most intense in the world, comparable to the Ashes test series played between England and Australia.

Albanese arrived Wednesday in Ahmedabad, a key city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, at the start of his four-day visit to India. He paid tributes to Mohandas Gandhi, India’s independence leader, during a visit to the Sabarmati Ashram, which was one of Gandhi’s abodes in India. Albanese later attended a cultural event related to the Hindu Holi festival at the state governor’s residence.

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The bombing, the latest in a string of attacks on security forces, took place near the Sibbi district, targeting a vehicle of Balochistan Constabulary, a paramilitary force, Farah Azeem, a spokeswoman for the Balochistan government, told Anadolu.

The suspected bomber rammed his motorbike into a truck carrying paramilitary troops, who were deputed for the security of a traditional annual festival, commonly known as ” Sibi Mela”, which culminated on Sunday, Azeem said.

The paramilitary troops were deputed for the security of a traditional annual festival, commonly known as ” Sibi Mela”, which culminated on Sunday, she added.

The death toll is expected to rise as several injured are stated to be in critical condition, she said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is currently in Qatar, condemned the bombing, directing the security agencies to use all possible means to bring the culprits to justice.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but ethnic Baloch separatists and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a conglomerate of several militant groups in Pakistan, have long been targeting the security forces in the region.

The province is also a key route of the $64-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, which aims to connect China’s strategically important northwestern Xinxiang province to Balochistan’s Gawadar port through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines for cargo, oil, and gas transportation.

Source: Anadolu Agency

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