New Delhi [India], April 22 (ANI): With COVID cases rising in the national capital, the Delhi government on Friday issued new Standard Operating Procedure for schools.

New Delhi Apr 20 PTI Delhi logged 1009 fresh Covid cases on Wednesday a 60 per cent jump from a day ago with the city government making the wearing of masks in public places mandatory again and announcing a Rs 500 fine on violatorsThis was the maximum number of cases recorded in Delhi since February 10 when 1104 infections were reportedA total of 17701 tests were conducted a day ago and 57 per cent of them were positive One person died due to the infection in a day the latest health bulletin saidOn Tuesday Delhi had reported 632 cases with a positivity rate of 442 per cent A day before the city reported 501 cases with a positivity rate of 772 per cent With the capital seeing a spurt in infections the number of active cases has increased to 2641 from 601 on April 11 However the hospitalisation rate has so far been low accounting for less than three per cent of the total active casesThere are 54 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Delhi at present 1578 are recuperating in home isolation Of the 9737 beds available for Covid patients in hospitals just 91 are occupiedGiven the spike in cases the Delhi government on Wednesday made the wearing of masks mandatory in public places and announced a fine of Rs 500 on violatorsIt had lifted the fine for not wearing a mask on April12 because of the decline in casesOfficials said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority has also decided not to shut schools and will come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with expertsDelhi has also started genome sequencing of samples of all Covid infected people in the capital to ascertain if a new variant such as the XE has spread in the city PTI GVS NSD NSD

New Delhi Apr 20 PTINinety-seven percent of the samples taken from those who died of Covid in Delhi from January to March had the Omicron variant of coronavirus according to government dataGenome sequencing of 578 samples collected from the deceased showed 560 of them had the Omicron variantThe remaining 18 three percent had other variants of COVID-19 including Delta which fuelled the ferocious second wave of infections in April and May last year and sub lineagesOverall the Omicron variant was found in all the 504 samples analysed at genome sequencing laboratories in the capital in MarchThe third wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant saw lesser hospitalisations and severe cases in the national capital and government data showed the virus isnt the primary reason in most fatalitiesA maximum of 2784 1796 percent of the 15505 COVID-19 beds in hospitals were occupied on January 17 During the second wave 20117 92 per cent of the 21839 beds were occupied on May 6Delhi is once again seeing a spurt in the number of infections with experts attributing it to a large number of people not following Covid-appropriate behaviour including the mask mandate In view of the spike in cases the Delhi government on Wednesday made wearing of masks mandatory in public places and imposed a fine of Rs 500 on violatorsOfficials said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in its meeting also decided not to shut schools but chose to come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with expertsDelhi has also started genome sequencing of samples of all Covid infected people in the capital to ascertain if a new variant such as the XE variant has spread in the city PTI GVS TDS TDS

New Delhi Apr 20 PTI In view of spike in coronavirus cases in the city the Delhi government on Wednesday made wearing of mask mandatory in public places and imposed a fine of Rs 500 on violators Officials said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA in its meeting also decided not to shut schools but chose to come up with a separate Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with experts The government is expected to issue an official order regarding the mandatory use of masks soon Sources said authorities have been asked to keep a close watch on social gatherings and ramp up testing in the national capital They said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is closely monitoring the situation and instructions have been issued to officials for taking steps to check the spread of the virus and preparations for treatment of Covid patients In the DDMA meeting emphasis was laid on vaccination of eligible groups as it will help keep in check the impact of the pandemic officials saidSeveral participants asserted that there was no need to panic since the number of hospitalisations was low despite a rise in new Covid cases they said It was highlighted that the trends of hospitalisation needed to be closely monitored for the next fortnight as well as conducting genome sequencing of all positive samples put through RTPCR testIt was also decided to raise the number of tests being done with the focus on people with symptoms they said According to official figures there are 9735 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and just 80 082 per cent of them are occupied On Tuesday Delhi recorded a nearly 26 per cent jump in fresh COVID-19 cases The health department said 632 fresh cases were reported on Tuesday and the positivity rate was 442 per cent The city had on Monday recorded 501 cases and zero death while the positivity rate stood at 772 per cent The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Delhi had touched the record high of 28867 on January 13 this year during the third wave of the pandemic The city had recorded a positivity rate of 306 per cent on January 14 the highest during the third wave of the pandemic which was largely driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus PTI VIT BUN RHL

New Delhi Apr 20 PTI In view of a spurt in coronavirus cases in the city the Delhi government on Wednesday made wearing of masks mandatory in public places and imposed a fine of Rs 500 on violators Officials said the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in its meeting also decided not to shut schools but chose to come up with a a separate Standard Operating Procedure in consultation with experts The government is expected to issue an official order regarding the mandatory use of masks soon Sources said authorities have been asked to keep a close watch on social gatherings and ramp up testing in the national capital They said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is closely monitoring the situation On Tuesday Delhi recorded a nearly 26 per cent jump in fresh COVID-19 cases The health department said 632 fresh cases were reported on Wednesday and the positivity rate was 442 per cent The city had on Monday recorded 501 cases and zero death while the positivity rate stood at 772 per cent PTI VIT BUN VIT CJ CJ

New Delhi Mar 29 PTI The government on Tuesday said only authorised law enforcement agencies in the country are empowered to tap telephones or intercept and monitor any electronically transmitted informationUnion Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra said this in response to a question on whether national or international agencies are authorised to monitor and decrypt any digital information including Whatsapp conversationsOnly authorised law enforcement agencies in the country are empowered to intercept monitor or decrypt or cause to be intercepted or monitored or decrypted any information generated transmitted received or stored in any computer resource as per legal provisions of section 69 of the Information Technology Act 2000 he said replying to a written questionThe minister said safeguards and review mechanism for telephone tapping have also been prescribed in the Information Technology Procedure and Safeguards for Interception Monitoring and Decryption of Information Rules 2009 and the Standard Operating Procedure issued for the purpose PTI ACB ACB TDS TDS

New Delhi [India], March 23 (ANI): A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on home quarantine for international arrivals was withdrawn from the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. It sought direction to the Government of India to reconsider its guidelines for international arrivals, whereby all of them are mandated to undergo home quarantine for seven days on arrival in India.

New Delhi [India], January 27 (ANI): A Public Interest Litigation has been moved in Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Government of India to reconsider its guidelines for international arrivals, whereby all of them are mandated to undergo home quarantine for seven days on arrival in India.

Mumbai Nov 25 PTI The Maharashtra cabinet on Thursday decided to reopen schools for students of Classes 1 to 4 in rural areas and Classes 1 to 7 in urban areas from December 1 In-person classes at primary schools in the state have remained closed since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 After discussing the issue with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray the cabinet and the pediatric task force we have decided to reopen schools for Classes 1 to 4 in rural areas and Classes 1 to 7 in urban areas from December 1 School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said in a statement We are committed to safe resumption of schools In the next six days the emphasis will be on acclimatizing schools parents and children towards a safe transition to physical classes as classrooms have been shut for nearly two years We will be holding consultations with school management committees and parents she added She will also hold deliberations with the pediatric task force on the need to update Standard Operating Procedure for reopening schools for these children some of whom will be attending physical classes for the first time Gaikwad saidThe task force was appointed earlier this year when experts feared that children might be affected by a possible third wave The education minister thanked schools especially teachers for ensuring a safe environment for classes that have resumed so far Schools reopened for Classes 5 to 12 in rural areas on October 4 while those in urban areas resumed for Classes 8 to 12 Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 960 new COVID-19 cases and 41 fatalities that raised the tally of infections to 6632257 and death toll to 140807 PTI MR ARU KRK KRK