‘COVID cases could surge from mid-January, peak in February’
The Hindu
Health official rules out lockdown, but advises people to vaccinate themselves and mask up
The upcoming year may not start on a good note as another surge in COVID-19 cases is anticipated by Health authorities. However, complete restriction on movement of people is unlikely .
“According to our estimates, cases in our State or country would increase from January 15, and might peak in February,” said Telangana’s Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao at a press conference here on Sunday.
Whenever a new variant spreads in India or other countries, analysis is taken up to draw an estimate of how fast the new variant would spread, when it can enter our State, its severity and other aspects. On multiple occasions, the senior health official said that Omicron spreads six times faster than Delta — which traumatised thousands of families in the second wave.
Supreme Court ruling on socialism, secularism
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.
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Norway parliament apologises to Sami and other minority groups for assimilation policies
Nearly 50% of Dakshina Kannada’s shoreline has been eroded, the highest among the three coastal districts of Karnataka, according to a study for the period 1990-2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR).
Sambhal mosque controversy
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