Pune, April 11 (PTI): Police have arrested a man from Pune city of Maharashtra for allegedly illegally selling Remdesivir injection, considered a key medicine in the treatment of COVID-19, a senior official said on Sunday. The police had received complaints that the accused was illegally selling the anti-viral drug in Dattanagar area of the city, following which a crime branch official approached him as a customer and nabbed him, he said. The bottle was medicine was also recovere

NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 (IANS): Amid rising cases of Covid-19, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has asked the government to reconsider decision on conducting CBSE board exams, and advised it to consult all stakeholders before taking a decision. Rahul Gandhi in a tweet, said, "In the light of the devastating Corona second wave, conducting #CBSE exams must be reconsidered. All stakeholders must be consulted before making sweeping decisions." "On how many counts does GOI intend

NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 (IANS): With Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching a four-day countrywide "Tika Utsav" (inoculation festival) from Sunday, Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram criticised him for terming it a festival, while seeking more approved vaccines be allowed and reiterating the demand of universal vaccination. "What does one say when the government wants to call the vaccination drive an 'utsav'? By no stretch of imagination can

New Delhi, April 11 (PTI): The active COVID-19 cases in India breached the 11 lakh-mark for the first time after a record high of 1.52 lakh new infections while a massive vaccination push, dubbed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the beginning of another major war against coronavirus, was launched on Sunday in a bid to abate the surge. The active caseload till now was at its lowest at 1,35,926 on February 12 and at its highest at 10,17,754 on September 18, 2020. Amid an unpreced

New Delhi, April 11 (PTI): Central teams have reported non-adherence of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour in almost all of the 50 most-affected districts in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, the Union health ministry said, advising the states to more strictly enforce norms to prevent spread of the coronavirus. On the basis of feedback from the teams, the ministry has written to the states highlighting the areas of concern, including sub-optimal containment operations and contact tr

NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 (IANS): In wake of the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, India on Sunday prohibited the exports of remdesivir injections and active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) till the situation improves. The decision was taken considering a sudden spike in demand for remdesivir, which is used in treatment of Covid-19 patients, a Health and Family Welfare Ministry statement said. Noting India has 11.08 lakh active Covid cases as on Sunday amid an increasing trend, the Mini

NEW DELHI, APRIL 11 (IANS): With India taking 85 days to administer 10 crore (100 mn) Covid vaccine doses, a rough calculation shows that all eligible Indians can expect to be fully inoculated in over three years as per the current pace. Cumulatively, 10,15,95,147 vaccine doses have been administered through 15,17,963 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 a.m. on Sunday, the Health and Family Welfare Ministry said. India achieved the landmark after the beginning of Covid

Patna, April 11 (IANS): Urmila Devi, the 70-year-old mother of a senior Bihar police official Ashwani Kumar, who was allegedly lynched by a mob in West Bengal, died of shock in Purnea district on Sunday. Police said that the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kishanganj police station Kumar led a police team to Pantapara village near Panjipara under Goalpokhar police station area at Islampur district of West Bengal early on Saturday morning when a mob attacked them. Kumar,50, died on

MOGA, April 11 (IANS): Kartar Kaur, a 105-year-old woman from this Punjab town, received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday, along with her 80-year-old son and family members. Seeking to dispel fears, she advised all eligible to get the jab and follow the health protocols to contain the virus. Though Kartar Kaur belongs to Bhinder Khurd village in Moga district, she is currently staying with her son Harpinder Singh here. She, along with her family, got vaccinated

Kolkata, April 10 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned Bankura Superintendent of Police Koteswara Rao N on April 12 for questioning in connection with alleged illegal coal smuggling case, sources said on Saturday. A CBI source related to the probe told IANS, "We have summoned Rao for questioning in connection with the case on April 12. He has been asked to appear before the agency at our office in Salt Lake area in Kolkata." The CBI, earlier in

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS): India and China have agreed to resolve the outstanding issues aimed at disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, thereby paving the way for complete de-escalation, the Indian government said on Saturday. "The two sides agreed on the need to resolve the outstanding issues in an expeditious manner in accordance with the existing agreements and protocols," a government statement said. Talks between Indian and Chines

Mumbai, April 10 (PTI): Two Russian nationals were arrested for allegedly performing stunts at the Bandra-Worli Sea Link here, police said on Saturday. The incident took place on Wednesday evening and the Russian nationals were identified as Maksim Shcherbakov (24) and Vasili Kolesenikov (30), an official said. The duo had reached the sea link in a taxi from Bandra. After walking for some distance on the bridge, Maksim started climbing the puller of the sea link by holding the high-

Cooch Behar (WB), Apr 10 (PTI): A first-time voter was allegedly shot dead on Saturday in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, where 15.85 per cent polling was recorded till 9 am in the fourth phase of assembly elections amid sporadic incidents of violence, officials said. Voting is underway with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols in 44 constituencies, including nine seats in Howrah, 11 in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar, nine in Cooch Behar and 10 in Hooghly, they said.

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS): Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday expressed deep concern over the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic hitting India and said that virus attacks the poorest and disadvantaged the hardest. He also reiterated his demand for the basic income support by the Central government. He made the remarks here during a meeting of Congress ruled states and party's ministers from alliance states to review the efforts to fight Covid-19 including avail

Kishanganj, April 10 (IANS): Kishanganj police station in-charge in Bihar, Ashwini Kumar, was killed on Saturday morning by a mob in West Bengal when a police team reached there to arrest the accused in a theft case in Pantapara village, near Goalpokhar police station area bordering Bihar's Kishanganj district. A police official said SHO Ashwini Kumar had arrived at a village near Dheksara to arrest the accused in the police investigation in a bike theft incident near the Sadar

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) India has reported 1,45,384 new Covid-19 cases and 794 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Saturday. India is now the fourth-worst Covid-hit country worldwide after the number of active cases rose to 10,46,631. The death toll stood at 1,68,436 the Health Ministry said. A total of 77,567 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries to 1,19,90,859 with a recovery rate of 90.80 per cent. The Health Minist

Kolkata, April 10 (IANS) A political controversy erupted in West Bengal during the fourth phase of the elections when BJP's IT cell released an audio tape of Trinamool' election strategist Prashant Kishor where he was heard saying a 'ClubHouse' chat that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hugely popular in West Bengal and this is one of the factors that will decide which party sweeps the state. BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Bane

New Delhi, April 10 (PTI): Four persons were killed as Central Industrial Security Force personnel allegedly opened fire after coming under attack from locals, who 'attempted to snatch their rifles', in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district on Saturday, police said. The incident took place in Sitalkuchi area when voting was underway, a senior police officer said. "As per preliminary reports, four persons were killed as CISF personnel opened fire after coming under a

Chennai, April 9 (MExN): Saveetha Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) today announced their collaboration with Smile Train, an organisation providing free treatment for those with cleft lip and palate. Announcing the collaboration on Friday, Saveetha Rajesh, Director, SMCH said that the partnership aims to create more awareness and eliminate myths surrounding clefts so that parents of children with clefts are well informed and bring forward children for treatment at an early stage.

New Delhi, April 9 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said persons above 18 years of age are free to choose their religion as it refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to the Centre and states to control black magic and religious conversion. A bench of Justices RF Nariman, B R Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy told senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayana, appearing for petitioner advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, What kind of writ petition is this under Article 32. We will impose a heavy cost