Coronavirus vaccines likely to arrive early next week in Delhi

Amid the preparations, the coronavirus vaccines are likely to arrive in Delhi by early next week. An elaborate arrangement has been made to execute robust vaccination drive in the national capital.

Delhi government is creating a massive storage facility at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH). The government has already informed the police ahead of the arrival of the vaccines.

As per an official, RGSSH can store around 50,000 vaccines in a temperature-controlled environment. He said, “We are making necessary preparations ahead of the vaccine's arrival in the city. 621 cold chain facilities have been set up.”

The vaccines are expected to arrive in the national capital by Tuesday. The vaccines will be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius. The official said that one vial of the vaccine contains about 4.6 ml capacity and it has on average 8-10 doses.

The drug regulator of India has approved two vaccines so far. They have approved Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for emergency use in the city.

As per information, a total of 1,000 vaccination centres will be set up in the city. After registration for the vaccine, people would get an intimation SMS carrying details of location of the centre and the date of vaccination. 

Petrol price surges to all-time high in Delhi

The petrol price reached an all-time high in Delhi after an increase of 23 paise on Thursday. The current petrol price is Rs 84.20 per litre.

There was also a hike in diesel price by 26 paise. The diesel price has now increased to Rs 74.38 per litre. 

The all-time high of petrol price at Rs 84 per litre was witnessed on October 4, 2018. The all-time high price of diesel was Rs 81.94 on July 30, 2020.

On Wednesday, the petrol and diesel prices were hiked in Delhi after almost a month. There was a hike of 26 and 25 paise per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel respectively.

Prior to that, the petrol and diesel prices were increased for the last time on December 7 in the national capital. A litre of petrol and diesel cost Rs 83.71 and Rs 73.87 respectively.

654 new coronavirus cases in Delhi; positivity rate 0.88 pc

Delhi on Wednesday reported 654 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,28,352. The number of new cases reported came out of 74,650 tests conducted on the previous day.

Of which, 39,623 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 35,027 were rapid antigen tests. The positivity rate was 0.88 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate declined to 6.92 per cent.

16 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,625. 12 deaths were recorded on Tuesday, 12 on Monday, 14 on Sunday, 14 on Saturday and 21 on Friday. Delhi Hospitals

719 patients recovered from the deadly disease, taking the total recovery figure to 6,13,246 in the national capital. The recovery rate was 97.59 per cent.

The recoveries outnumbered the new cases on Wednesday. Active cases declined by 81 in the last 24 hours. Delhi has now 4,481 active cases.

Out of the total 14,076 beds in coronavirus hospitals, 12,371 are vacant. A total of 2,067 patients are in home isolation.

Delhi govt finding ways to reopen schools, says Manish Sisodia

 

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said that the government is brainstorming on ways to reopen schools in Delhi. The schools have been closed since March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In a press conference, Sisodia said that reopening of schools will depend on the availability of vaccines for the general public.

“We are finding ways to reopen the schools in the national capital especially for the board classes as the exam dates have already been announced,” he said.

“It will all depend on how early the frontline workers are vaccinated and the availability of Covid-19 vaccines for the general public,” he added.

The Deputy CM also announced that the government is organising an international education conference from January 11 to 17. There will be a discussion about how the education sector should be in the post Covid world, he said. 

Delhi reports 442 new coronavirus cases; positivity rate dips to 0.55 pc

 

Delhi on Tuesday reported 442 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,27,698. The number of new cases reported came out of 79,777 tests conducted on the previous day.

Of which, 41,633 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 38,144 were rapid antigen tests. The positivity rate was 0.55 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate declined to 6.97 per cent.

12 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,609. 12 deaths were recorded on Monday, 14 on Sunday, 14 on Saturday, 21 on Friday and 13 on Thursday.

557 patients recovered from the deadly disease, taking the total recovery figure to 6,12,527 in the national capital. The recovery rate was 97.58 per cent.

The recoveries outnumbered the new cases on Tuesday. Active cases declined by 127 in the last 24 hours. Delhi has now 4,562 active cases.

Out of the total 13,954 beds in coronavirus hospitals, 12,184 are vacant. A total of 2,285 patients are in home isolation.

Fuel prices hiked in Delhi; petrol close to all-time high

For the first time in almost a month, the petrol and diesel prices were hiked on Wednesday in Delhi. There has been a hike of 26 and 25 paise per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel respectively.

The prices of a litre of petrol and diesel have increased to Rs 83.97 and Rs 74.12 in the national capital. The petrol price is close to all-time high of Rs 84 per litre.

The all-time high of Rs 84 per litre was witnessed on October 4, 2018 whereas the all-time high price of diesel was Rs 81.94 on July 30, 2020.

On December 7, the petrol and diesel prices were increased for the last time in the national capital. A litre of petrol and diesel cost Rs 83.71 and Rs 73.87 respectively. 

The petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 30 and 25 paise per litre respectively from December 6. The prices were unchanged from December 8 onwards.

Roads in bad shape near signals in Dwarka

Roads in Dwarka are in bad shape these days. The situation is even worse at signals. During the rains, the condition of the roads have gone from bad to worse. 

It has become difficult to commute at many stretches. One could see such damaged surfaces near Kairali Apartments, Batukji Apartments in Sector 3 at the signals of sector 3/13, at the master plan road 201 near the signals of sector 6/2. 

Not only this but at many other places such damaged surfaces can be seen.

Residents said that the concerned civic agency did not take the subject seriously and the condition of the roads is worsening day-by-day. 

They requested the civic agencies to repair such damaged surfaces for smooth and safe travel.

Delhi: Recent spells of rains make air cleanest since November

With recent spells of rains and improved wind speed, the air quality has improved drastically in the national capital. On Tuesday morning, the average hourly air quality index (AQI) was recorded at 148, in the ‘moderate’ category at 7 am.

On Monday, the AQI was recorded at 151, in the ‘moderate’ category. There was a considerable improvement in the AQI on Monday as compared to the last three days.

On January 1, the national capital’s AQI was at 441, in the ‘severe’ category; while it was 443 on January 2, also in ‘severe’ category; and it was 354 on January 3 in ‘very poor’ category.

The air is cleanest since November 27 when the AQI had touched 137. This was also first time since December 14 when city’s air was in ‘moderate’ category.

On Monday, the minimum temperature was recorded at 11.4 degrees Celsius which was four notches above normal and it was also the highest in last 22 days. The maximum temperature was 22.6 degrees Celsius, three notches above normal.

384 new coronavirus infections in Delhi; active cases drop blow 5,000 mark

Delhi on Monday reported 384 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,27,256. The number of new cases reported came out of 50,288 tests conducted on the previous day.

Of which, 30,296 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 19,992 were rapid antigen tests. The positivity rate was 0.76 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate declined to 7.03 per cent.

12 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,597. 14 deaths were recorded on Sunday, 14 on Saturday, 21 on Friday, 13 on Thursday and 21 on Wednesday.

727 patients recovered from the deadly disease, taking the total recovery figure to 6,11,970 in the national capital. The recovery rate was 97.56 per cent.

The recoveries outnumbered the new cases on Sunday. Active cases declined by 355 in the last 24 hours. Delhi has now 4,689 active cases.

Out of the total 14,013 beds in coronavirus hospitals, 12,208 are vacant. A total of 2,426 patients are in home isolation.

Tree collapse common during rains in Dwarka

With the rains these days, Dwarka is facing problem of tree collapse all over again. It happens whenever there is a rain in the sub-city. Moreover, the authority is quite slow in clearing the collapsed trees and they continue to be lying in the ground.

With this, commuters face a lot of problems while travelling on the roads. One such tree can be seen on the footpath near Batuk Ji Apartments and National Apartments in Sector 3. The tree is lying on the master plan road.

Residents of the area said that the tree must be transplanted and removed from the place so that the footpath can be made safe and free for pedestrians. There are many other such kind of trees lying on the ground in the sub-city. They must be taken into concern by the civic bodies to do the needful.

Noida social organisation appeals to FM to abolish GST on medical policies

A social organisation, Janshakti Seva Samiti, which has socially active residents of Noida as its members, has written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman demanding exemption of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from the medical policies.

President of the organisation, Narendra Chopda said that currently 18 per cent of GST is applicable on purchase of a medical policy. 

“It increases the cost of the premium for all the individuals who avail this service in this country,” he said. He appealed to the FM to abolish the provision of levying tax on medical policy in the letter.

He said that it will be a great relief for all those people who have been paying a high premium for availing the service.

PM Modi flags off first driverless train on Magenta Line of Delhi Metro

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday flagged off India’s first driverless train on the Magenta Line of the Delhi Metro. The fully automated driverless train will eliminate the possibility of human error, officials said.

The driverless train services will be available on Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line (Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden). As per the officials, the services will also be extended to Delhi Metro’s Pink Line by mid-2021. 

PM Modi flagged off the train in a virtual function. He said, “The inauguration of the first driverless train indicates how quickly India is moving towards smart systems.”

While recalling that the first metro was started by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2014, he said that the metro services will be extended to more than 25 cities in the country by 2025.

During the function, PM Modi also launched the National Common Mobility Card which is an inter-operable transport facility that allows users to pay for travel, toll duties, retail shopping, and withdraw money using one card.

The driverless train is equipped with high resolution cameras, real-time train monitoring equipment, remote handling emergency alarm and other high-level techniques.

The high resolution cameras have the capability to sense problems in the railway track. It also informs the control room about the problems in track. At present, it will be controlled by the command centre.

757 new coronavirus infections in Delhi; active cases drop to 6,713

Delhi on Sunday reported 757 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,22,851. The number of new cases reported came out of 75,210 tests conducted on the previous day.

Of which, 40,742 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 34,468 were rapid antigen tests. The positivity rate was 1.01 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate stands at 7.46 per cent.

16 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,453. 23 deaths were recorded on Saturday, 30 on Friday, 37 on Thursday, 18 on Wednesday and 25 on Tuesday.

939 patients recovered from the deadly disease, taking the total recovery figure to 6,05,685 in the national capital. The recovery rate was 97.24 per cent.

The recoveries outnumbered the new cases on Sunday. Active cases declined by 198 in the last 24 hours. Delhi has now 6,713 active cases.

Out of the total 18,774 beds in coronavirus hospitals, 16,246 are vacant.