Heena Sharma Blog

  The Maharashtra government has made RT-PCR test mandatory for travellers from Kerala, which has been reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases , to check the spread of the viral infection in the western state, an official said on Thursday. Kerala's active cases touched 64,390 on Wednesday, the highest in the country. The southern state also reported 5,980 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, as per official figures. The decision of compulsory RT-PCR test for travellers from Kerala has come into effect from Wednesday, Maharashtra's secretary for relief and rehabilitation (additional charge), Anoop Kumar, told PTI. Kerala has been reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases and its active cases are as high as 64,000, he noted. "As a precautionary measure, the Maharashtra government has decided to make the RT-PCR test mandatory for travellers from Kerala," the official said. Read More

  After inoculation of health workers in Kerala for nearly a month, the focus of the coronavirus vaccination drive shifted on Thursday to frontline workers from the revenue, police, fire and local self-government departments. Kerala had opted for Oxford-AstraZeneca's ' Covishield ' vaccine. Speaking to the media soon after receiving the first dose of the vaccine, Kerala Police chief Loknath Behra said that he did so to instil confidence among the public about the vaccine's safety. "After taking the vaccine shot, I feel my confidence has gone up. Our force and the fire brigade officials will start lining up for immunisation as their nature of work demands it," said Behra. Thiruvananthapuram District Collector Navajoth Khosa said she too had taken the first dose of the vaccine along with Behra. "I had taken the pledge to take the vaccine dose. During the vaccination drive that began on January 16, around 42,000 healthcare workers were inoculate...

  The Centre on Thursday said bird flu has been confirmed only in Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh so far, but all states should be prepared for any eventuality. States have been told to ensure sufficient stock of PPE kits and accessories required for culling operations. They have also been asked to create awareness among public that it is safe to consume poultry products after following boiling/cooking procedures. The Secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying held a meeting with the states to understand the status of the outbreak of avian influenza (bird flu) and to suggest measures for control, containment and prevention of spread of the disease, an official statement said. An unusual mortality of poultry, crows, migratory birds has been reported from Kerala, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. "So far, the disease has been confirmed only from four states (Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Prad...

  Suspended IAS officer M Sivasankar, facing probe in the Kerala gold smuggling case , was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from a city hospital on Wednesday, soon after a court rejected his anticipatory bail petition in the matter. A team of ED officials reached the Ayurveda hospital here, where the former Principal Secretary to the Kerala Chief Minister was undergoing treatment and detained him. Sivasankar was later taken to Ernakulam by car. Earlier in the day, the Kerala High Court passed order on two separate anticipatory bail pleas filed by Sivasankar apprehending arrest by Customs investigating the smuggling angle and ED probing the money trail in the case, dismissing them. Read More

  People in areas like UP’s Sonbhadra district have been skipping meals to compensate for the extreme decline in incomes since the coronavirus pandemic hit. Many of them are availing loans just to be able to buy food. These families were among those surveyed to find out the impact of lockdowns and the relief, if any, they got from the government’s stimulus package. About 68 per cent of the respondents have reported a fall in their incomes. Economic distress, the report says, has become a reality across states and sectors. Farmers are complaining about low prices and markets being shut, while shipowners rue slowing businesses and daily wage earners say they haven’t had any income in months. About 20 per cent of the respondents said they had to resort to selling durables so they could afford food. By April-end, Kerala had only a couple of dozen active cases and barely 500 new cases since 30 January. The state had claimed to have flattened the curve even while the rest of the count...

The Kerala government on Monday revoked some relaxations it had provided under its revised guidelines for the lockdown. The move comes after the Centre chided it for diluting guidelines provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). In a letter to the state government on April 19, the Centre took objection to the move to allow the opening of certain activities prohibited by the MHA in its revised guidelines. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a press conference on Monday, said there was no tussle between the Centre and the State. Read More

India confirmed on Thursday its first patient of coronavirus infection , isolating a male patient in the southern state of Kerala. The patient studied in a university in Wuhan, the Chinese city from where the virus infection spread, and he "his stable at the moment and is being closely monitored," said a government press release. The total number of confirmed deaths from the coronavirus in China climbed to 170 as of late Wednesday and the number of infected patients soared to 7,711. Infections have been reported in at least 15 other countries with 104 confirmed cases. But no deaths have occurred outside China. Read More

Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja confirmed Tuesday that a 23-year-old college student admitted to a hospital in Kochi has been infected with the Nipah virus . The results of blood samples of the student, which were tested at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, have confirmed Nipah, she said. The result came this morning, she said. The student has been admitted to a private hospital. Earlier, blood samples examined at two virology institutes--Manipal Institute of Virology and Kerala Institute of Virology and Infectious Diseases--had indicated Nipah. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

Congress President Rahul Gandhi will formally dispatch the gathering's survey battle in Kerala on Thursday when he will address an enormous rally of specialists at Kozhikode on March 14. Gandhi will touch base here tonight after his projects in Nagercoil and Kanyakumari in neighboring Tamil Nadu . He has no official projects in the state Wednesday and in the wake of coming to here, would load up an uncommon trip to Kochi and go through the night at a visitor house in Thrissur, KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said. The Congress boss would go to a progression of projects on March 14, starting with the "anglers' parliament" at Triprayar in Thrissur. Afterward, he would travel to Kannur, where he would meet the group of killed Youth Congress pioneer Shuhaib at the air terminal there. He would leave for Kasargod and meet the groups of Kripesh and Sarathlal, the adolescent congress activists, who were supposedly slaughtered by the CPI(M) as of l...

At least 79 people have perished, 25 of them on Thursday, since August 8 in Kerala's heaviest rain in almost 94 years Current Affairs News : At least 79 people have perished, 25 of them on Thursday, since August 8 in Kerala's heaviest rain in almost 94 years. The heavy rain, gusty winds, and the deluge has already destroyed more than 20,000 houses. As a result, more than 150,000 people are lodged in relief across the state. Kochi metro services have stopped, Kochi Airport closed till Saturday, and train services suspended between Chalakkudy and Aluva. Almost 10,000 km long roads have damaged in the ongoing monsoon in Kerala, according to NDTV. The danger, just like the rain, isn't over. The IMD has issued red alerts in all districts for the next 24 hours. The weather department has warned of heavy rain accompanied with gusty winds with a speed up to 60 km per hour in all the 14 districts of the state, PTI reported. Power supply, communication systems and ...