Heena Sharma Blog

  India logged 43,509 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,15,28,114, while the active cases registered an increase for the second consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll climbed to 4,22,662 with 640 fresh fatalities. The active cases have increased to 4,03,840 and comprise 1.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.38 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. An increase of 4,404 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.38 per cent, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,07,01,612, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated. Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 45.07 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive. Read More

  EU privacy watchdog EDPB on Wednesday gave the Irish data protection agency a month to issue a long-delayed decision on compliance by Facebook's WhatsApp after its peers objected to its draft finding. The agency, which leads oversight of Facebook because the company's European headquarters are based in Ireland, has been investigating WhatsApp to see if it complies with transparency obligations specified by EU privacy rules known as GDPR. It sought feedback from its peers in December but was unable to find a consensus regarding its draft decision. The other national watchdogs objected to the type of infringements identified by the Irish, whether the specific data in question was personal data and the appropriateness of the proposed sanctions. The Irish agency said it would not follow the objections and referred them to the EDPB, which on Wednesday adopted a decision addressing the merits of the disagreements but did not provide details. Read More

  WhatsApp is making it easier for users to stay on top of their most important chats, and to help deprioritise other messages that can get in the way. Starting Tuesday, it is rolling out new settings for archived chats which will give users more control over their inbox and more ways to organise the Archived Chats folder. "We have heard that users want their archived messages to stay tucked away in the Archived Chats folder, instead of moving back into your main chat list when a new message arrives. The new Archived Chats settings mean that any message thread that is archived will now stay in the Archived Chats folder, even if a new message is sent to that thread," the company said. Now, these chats will stay tucked away permanently, unless users choose to manually unarchive the conversation. Read More

  Chinese smartphone brand POCO is gearing up to launch its POCO X3 GT smartphone globally on July 28, Wednesday. In terms of specifications, the new X series smartphone will have 67W fast-charging capability, a MediaTek Dimensity 1100 chipset, 5,000mAh battery and 64MP triple-rear camera. With a price tag of around Rs 27,000, the POCO X3 GT will be available in three different colours; black, blue and white. Poco X3 GT is likely to arrive in international markets after its official launch in Malaysia. The connectivity features include dual-band Wi-Fi, 5G and 4G LTE, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC, and USB Type-C port for charging and data sync. The handset will come with 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage and 6/8GB dual-channel UFS 3.1 RAM. According to media reports, POCO X3 GT features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, JBL-powered dual stereo speakers, 6.6-inch IPS LCD screen with Full HD+ resolution with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. Read More

  Bombay High Court will be hearing Shilpa Shetty's husband and businessman Raj Kundra's plea challenging police custody and seeking bail on Tuesday in connection with pornography racket . His police custody in the case ends today. Kundra, 45, was arrested by the police on July 19 along with 11 other people on charges related to the alleged creation of pornographic films. Meanwhile, Crime Branch has appointed a financial auditor to probe the money trail of Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty and their alleged involvement in the pornography racket case. "In the investigation, the Crime Branch has found transactions worth crores were done from the joint account of Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra. The Crime Branch suspects that the earnings from 'Hotshots' and 'Bolly Fame' app used to come into this account," said the sources. They added that police is also probing whether money earned from the apps was being invested in bitcoins. Earlier on Sunday, polic

  Samsung on Tuesday announced that the upcoming Galaxy Z family will include the first-ever S (Stylus) Pen, a USP of its Note series. "Galaxy Z family will share some foldable surprises -- including the first-ever S Pen designed specifically for foldable phones," said Dr TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. The company will hold its next Galaxy Unpacked event on August 11, where the South Korean tech giant is likely to showcase new foldable devices, Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. "We are also working with Google to enrich our foldable ecosystems with popular apps and services. For our third generation of Galaxy Z phones, we have lined up even more partner apps that make the most of the versatile fold-out format," Koh announced. "From hands-free optimised video calling with Google Duo and watching videos in Flex mode on YouTube to multitasking in Microsoft Teams, our foldable ecosystem will offer a we

  Four natural sites and three cultural sites were added to the Unesco World Heritage List . The natural sites added on Monday are the four islands with rich biodiversity in Japan; a coastal area of geo-diversity and bio-diversity in South Korea; part of the mountain ridge running down the Malay Peninsula in Thailand; and a corridor along the eastern coast of the Black Sea in Georgia, reports Xinhua news agency. The three cultural sites are the Dutch Water Defence Lines; the Arslantepe Mound archaeological tell in Turkey; and the Colonies of Benevolence in Belgium and the Netherlands. The World Heritage Committee of the Paris-based Unesco made the announcement during its 44th session held online and chaired from Fuzhou, China. The four islands on a chain in the southwest of Japan, encompassing 42,698 hectares of sub-tropical rainforests, are entirely uninhabited by humans and have high bio-diversity value with a very high percentage of endemic species, many of them globally thr

  India on Monday recorded 39,361 cases of Covid-19 and 416 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data showed. The country now has 4,11,189 active cases and has witnessed a total of 4,20,967 deaths so far. According to the government, a total of 35,968 people were discharged from hospitals and health centres in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cured to 3,05,79,106 till date as the virus continued to infect less than one lakh people over the last 48 days. According to the health ministry data, a total of 43,51,96,001 Covid vaccine doses have been administered in India so far, including 18,99,874 in the last 24 hours. The total number of samples tested so far has reached 45,62,89,567 as on July 24, including 17,18,756 samples tested on Saturday. Read More

  Chinese smartphone maker OPPO has been consistent in upgrading its Reno line of smartphones, but the changes that successive editions have brought are mostly incremental. Take for example the recently launched Reno6 Pro 5G . A successor to the Reno 5 Pro 5G (review), this smartphone brings a slightly more powerful processor (MediaTek Dimensity 1200) and OPPO’s new camera-centric innovations. Priced at Rs 39,990, the Reno6 Pro 5G is about Rs 13,000 more expensive than the Realme X7 Max (review), the only other MediaTek Dimensity 1200 system-on-chip-powered smartphone currently available in India. So, should you pay for the Reno6 Pro 5G more than you would pay for its peers in the same league just for its camera innovations? Or is there more to it that makes it a worthy package? Let us find out: Design OPPO keeps experimenting with the back cover design in its Reno smartphones. There is some of that here, too. Though the smartphone looks similar to its predecessor, it has a flas

  American information technology company Hewlett-Packard on Monday launched in India the Victus 16 range of gaming laptop. Powered by AMD Ryzen and Intel Core processors, the Victus 16 laptops boast high resolution screen of fast refresh rate, enhanced thermal control features, and HP’s proprietary OMEN Gaming Hub. The Victus by HP E series laptops, powered by AMD Ryzen processor, will be available on Amazon at a price starting at Rs 64,999. The Victus by HP D series laptops, powered by 11th Gen Intel processor, is priced Rs 74,999 onwards. It will be available on Reliance digital store in coming weeks. “We are on the cusp of a major gaming boom in India based on the rising popularity of gaming witnessed in the last few years. For youngsters in India, gaming is increasingly becoming a passion point like music or any other sport. In fact, HP India’s recent Gaming Landscape Report 2021 suggests that over 90 per cent respondents agree that gaming is a viable career option. Believing

  The benefits of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine far outweigh its potential risks amid an ongoing review of reports of a rare neurological disorder, according to an advisory panel to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday. There have been 8.1 cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome per 1 million doses, which is higher than expected in the general population and close to eight times the rate seen in Pfizer's and Moderna's shots, according to data presented at a meeting of CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Thursday. Guillain-Barre is a neurological disorder in which the body's immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The data came after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new warning on July 12 for the Johnson & Johnson shot after preliminary reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome in some recipien

  An Australian state government on Friday declared an emergency due to a COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney. The New South Wales state government reported one fatality and 136 new infections in the latest 24-hour period, the biggest daily tally of new cases since the outbreak began in mid June. State Premier Gladys Berejiklian called on the federal government to provide more vaccines for the worst-effected suburbs in Sydney's west and south. Sydney has been locked down for a month. The delta variant cluster has spread from Sydney to Victoria and South Australia states which are also locked down. Half Australia's population of 26 million is currently locked down. Only 15% of adult Australians are fully vaccinated. While there are ample supplies of locally-manufactured AstraZeneca, many are concerned about the slight risk of blood clots associated with that vaccine and a demanding Pfizer, the only alternative registered in Australia. Read More

  With a single-day ris e of 35,342 cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,12,93,062 on Friday, while 483 more fatalities pushed the death toll due to the viral disease to 4,19,470, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active cases has declined to 4,05,513, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the total caseload and the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 per cent, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed. A decline of 3,881 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 16,68,561 tests to detect the infection were carried out on Thursday, taking the total number of such tests conducted so far in the country to 45,29,39,545, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.12 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for 32 consecutive days, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.14 per cent. Read More

  The prevalence of the highly-transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 among specimens sequenced over the past four weeks exceeded 75 per cent in many countries worldwide, including India, China, Russia, Israel and the UK, the WHO has said. In the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published July 20, the World Health Organization said that despite efforts to extend vaccination coverage, many countries across all six WHO regions continue to experience surges in coronavirus cases. Over the past week, the highest numbers of new cases were reported from Indonesia (350,273 new cases; a 44 per cent increase), the UK (296,447 new cases; 41 per cent increase), Brazil (287,610 new cases; 14 per cent decrease), India (268,843 new cases; 8 per cent decrease) and the US (216,433 new cases; 68 per cent increase). The update noted that as of July 20, a total of over 2.4 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences have been submitted to GISAID, the global science initiative and primary source that provi

  More than 3.20 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are currently available with states, union territories and private hospitals for inoculation, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. States and union territories have so far received a total of 43,79,78,900 vaccine doses through all channels and a further 7,00,000 doses are in the pipeline, it said. The total consumption, including wastage, so far is 40,59,77,410 doses, the ministry said, citing data available at 8 AM on Thursday. More than 3.20 crore -- 3,20,01,490 -- balance and unutilised doses are still available with states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the ministry said. The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace of vaccination and expanding its scope, it said. Read More

  India recorded a single day rise of 3,998 coronavirus fatalities with Maharashtra carrying out its 14th Covid data reconciliation exercise, pushing the country's death toll to 4,18,480 while 42,015 new infections were reported, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 3,12,16,337. The ministry said that Maharashtra has carried out its 14th reconciliation exercise of Covid data in the state. As a result, the state's positive case tally has increased by 2,479 while the death tally has increased by 3,509. The active cases have increased to 4,07,170 and comprise 1.30 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 per cent,the data updated at 8 am showed. An increase of 1,040 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. As many as 18,52,140 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative test

  Verizon Communications will make Google's Messages the default messaging app on all Android devices it sells starting next year, the U.S. wireless carrier said on Tuesday. With that move, Verizon would join peers AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US Inc in propping up competition to Apple Inc's iMessage service. Alphabet Inc-owned Google's Messages comes with features similar to those in iMessage, using Rich Communication Services (RCS) technology to replace SMS-based texts. Apple's iMessage is limited to users who use the company's devices, and the iPhone maker has not yet indicated any plans to extend the feature to Android users. With RCS, users can send and receive high-quality photos and videos, chat over WiFi or cellular data and know when messages were read, among other features. Read More

  Apple Inc will release from next year only 5G-enabled iPhones and will revamp its budget handset after for the first time in two years, Nikkei reported https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Apple-to-go-all-in-on-5G-for-its-2022-iPhone-lineup on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. It will start selling a 5G version of iPhone SE in the first half of 2022, the report said, adding that the budget iPhone will be powered by its A15 processor and its 5G connectivity will be enabled by Qualcomm Inc's X60 modem chip. Apple will not introduce an updated version of its iPhone Mini next year, after it failed to become popular among consumers, the report said. Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment outside business hours. Read More

  The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 190.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.09 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.64 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 190,853,085, 4,095,437 and 3,646,500,394, respectively. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 34,129,516 and 609,233, respectively, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 31,144,229 cases. The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (19,391,845), France (5,931,923), Russia (5,908,691), Turkey (5,537,386), the UK (5,494,850), Argentina (4,769,142), Colombia (4,655,921), Italy (4,289,528), Spain (4,155,987), Germany (3,753

  India recorded 30,093 new coronavirus infections , the lowest in 125 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,11,74,322, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The death toll climbed to 4,14,482 with 374 daily fatalities, the lowest in 111 days, while the active cases have declined to 4,06,130, the lowest in 117 days. The active caseload comprises 1.30 per cent of the total infections and the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.37 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. A decrease of 15,535 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. As many as 17,92,336 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 44,73,41,133. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.68 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for 29 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.06 per cent.

  The World Health Organisation , which is currently reviewing Bharat Biotech's application for an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin , has said it is assessing the data of the jab. In an update on its website, the WHO, which began rolling data on July 6, said the date for a decision on the jab is yet "to be confirmed". Rolling data allows the WHO to start its review right away, as information continues to come in, to accelerate the overall review process. Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, had recently said the EUL process is a step closer to the final decision on Covaxin's 'global acceptance' as the rolling data was slated to begin in July. She also, in a tweet, said the company was working closely with the WHO for inclusion of Covaxin in its EUL and approval is not expected to be a long drawn process as cell line and majority of Bharat Biotech's facilities have already been audited and approved by

  India's stand-in white-ball captain Shikhar Dhawan has completed 10,000 runs as an opener in international cricket. The left-handed batsman achieved the feat against Sri Lanka in the first ODI of the three-match series here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, and Rohit Sharma are the other four Indian batsman to have scored more than 10,000 runs as an opener in international cricket. In the first ODI against Sri Lanka, Dhawan also became the tenth Indian batsman to score 6000 runs in the 50-over format. Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni, Mohammed Azharuddin, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag are the other nine batsmen who have scored more than 6000 runs in the ODI format. Read More

  The Parliament is all set to witness a confrontation between the government and the Opposition over raging issues of the COVID-19 pandemic , farmers' protest, fuel prices hike and vaccination strategy as its monsoon session will start from today. The monsoon session will conclude on August 13. "The sixth session of the 17th Lok Sabha will commence on July 19. Subject to exigencies of government business, the session is likely to conclude on August 13," a Lok Sabha release said. Rajya Sabha press communique stated that President Ram Nath Kovind has summoned the House to meet on July 19 and the session will continue till August 13. This will be the first session of parliament since the results of assembly polls in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. Last year, the monsoon session began in September and the winter session was not held due to the COVID-19 situation. Read More

  More than 2.60 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories and private hospitals to be administered, the Union health ministry said on Monday. Over 42,15,43,730 vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far, through all sources. Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 39,55,31,378 doses (according to data available at 8 am on Monday). More than 2,60,12,352 balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the ministry said. The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21. Read More

  India saw a single day rise of 38,164 new coronavirus infections , while the death toll climbed to 4,14,108 with 499 fresh fatalities, the lowest in over three months, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The COVID-19 case tally has climbed to 3,11,44,229. The active cases have declined to 4,21,665 and comprise 1.35 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.32 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. A decrease of 995 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 14,63,593 tests were conducted on Sunday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 44,54,22,256, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.61 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for 28 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.08 per cent. Read More

  Slang Labs, the in-app voice assistant company that pioneered the concept of Voice Assistant as a Service (VAaaS), has raised an investment from the Google Assistant Investments programme, along with 100x Entrepreneurs, Velu Murugan, Thomas George and their existing investor Endiya Partners. With this development, Slang Labs becomes one of the first players in the In-App Voice Assistant space globally to be backed by Google. As technology grows more pervasive in people's daily lives due to the ongoing Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, in-app voice assistant is a promising touchpoint for e-commerce and other interactions online. Through this technology, consumers will be able to do online transactions in their apps through the power of their voice, and in their preferred language. “This investment by Google emphasises the importance of voice inside apps and highlights the most significant technology trend for this decade - Voice,” said Kumar Rangarajan, Slang Labs co-founder,

  The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday said that States and Union Territories have received more than 41.10 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses through all sources and over 52 lakh doses are in the pipeline. "More than 41.10 crores (41,10,38,530) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far, through all sources and a further 52,90,640 doses are in the pipeline," the ministry said. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 38,58,75,958 doses as per data available at 8 am today. The ministry further said that 2,51,62,572 balance and unutilized COVID vaccine doses are still available with the states, UTs and private hospitals to be administered. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, 2021. "The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccin

  Facebook Pay is arriving on other online shopping platforms , starting with e-commerce platform Shopify, that will help businesses ensure a seamless checkout experience for their customers on their own websites. Currently, the Facebook Pay system is available for users on its main platform, as well as on WhatsApp and Instagram. "Starting this August, businesses in the US who use participating platforms will have the ability to enable Facebook Pay as a payment option directly on their websites, giving their customers the ability to speed through checkout without having to re-enter their payment information," the company said in a statement on Thursday. "We're starting the rollout with Shopify merchants and expect to expand availability with more platforms and payment service providers over time," the social network added. People already use Facebook Pay to send money, shop, donate and more, across Facebook apps and services. Read More

  The COVID-19 curve in the US is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings. Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins University data. And all but two states Maine and South Dakota reported that case numbers have gone up over the past two weeks. It is certainly no coincidence that we are looking at exactly the time that we would expect cases to be occurring after the July Fourth weekend," said Dr Bill Powderly, co-director of the infectious-disease division at Washington University's School of Medicine in St Louis. At the same time, parts of the country are running up against deep vaccine resistance, while the highly contagious mutant version of the coronavirus that was first detected in India is accounting for an ev