YK MYK LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS ARE STILL AT BIG RISK FROM THIRD COVID WAVE OPINION Rs. 5 RANCHI SUNDAY, 9 JANUARY, 2022 PG-12, YEAR—11, ISSUE—242 (RNI NO: JHAENG / 2012 / 44137) HOW CHOCOLATE FROM ASSAM REACHED MYANMAR MARKETS! NATION Morning India Voting in Punjab, Goa, U’khand on Feb 14, UP to go for 7-phase; Manipur for 2-phase poll NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday announced poll dates for five states with Uttar Pradesh going for seven-phase assembly election from February 10, Manipur to go for twophase election from February 27 and Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand to face elections on Februrary 14. The counting of votes in all states will take place on March 10. The poll dates were announced by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra at a press conference here. With the announcement of poll dates, the model code of conduct has come into force. The seven-phase election in Uttar Pradesh will be held on February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27 and March 3 and 7. "There is equitable distribution of seats for Uttar Pradesh in seven phases. Voting phases move West-toEast in terms of state's geographic spread," he said. Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will go for polls on February 14 along with second phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh. The polling in Manipur on February 27 and March 3 will coincide with the fifth and sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh election. Sushil Chandra also announced the COVID-19 norms concerning AT A GLANCE CM SOREN’S WIFE, KIDS FOUND COVID POSITIVE RANCHI: Jharkhand Chief Minister (CM) Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren, her two kids, her sister and a bodyguards have been found Covid positive. All of them were tested after emergence of mild symptoms. A team from district hospital had taken samples of 11 persons including that of CM out of which five have already been found positive. CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 35,368,372 TOTAL DEATHS: 483,463 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 304,031,568 TOTAL DEATHS: 5,499,418 RESULTS ON MARCH 10 A total of 690 Assembly constituencies in Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab will go to polls this time. CEC Sushil Chandra with Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar (L) and Anup Chandra Pandey (R) briefing media over Assembly polls scheduled for Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh, in New Delhi on Saturday. the elections. In the wake of the COVID-19 surge, the Election Commission of India on Saturday directed that no physical political rallies and roadshows will be allowed till January 15, however, further rallies and election campaign meetings will be allowed only in earmarked places and with prior permissions of district administration. In the revised guidelines the ECI said, "No roadshow, Pad-yatra, cycle, bike, vehicle rally and procession shall be allowed till 15 January 2022. The commission shall subsequently review the situation and issue further instructions accordingly. No roadshow, Pad-yatra, cycle, bike, vehicle rally and procession shall be allowed till 15 January 2022. The commission shall subsequently review the situation and issue further instructions accordingly. Further, rallies and meetings shall be allowed only in earmarked places and with prior permissions of district administration." MORE ON PG 7 ‘Covaxin booster dose trial shows long-term safety’ NEW DELHI: Hyderabadbased vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech said on Saturday that its trials for Covaxin booster dose have shown 'long-term safety with no serious adverse events'. Bharat Biotech said that 90 per cent of the recipients of the booster dose had a "detectable neutralising antibody response" against the wild-type strain, six months after the second Covid dose. "The analysis showed that six months after a two-dose BBV152 vaccination series, cell-mediated immunity and neutralising antibodies to both homologous (D614G) and heterologous strains (Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Delta plus) persisted above baseline, although the magnitude of the responses had declined," the vaccine manufacturer said in a statement. It added that the neutralising antibodies against homologous and heterologous SARS-CoV-2 variants increased 19 to 265-fold after a third vaccination. "Booster BBV152 vaccination is safe and may be necessary to ensure persistent immunity to prevent breakthrough infections," said the vaccine manufacturer. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director at Bharat Biotech, said, "These Further, rallies and meetings shall be allowed only in earmarked places and with prior permissions of district administration." The election commission further said that all the parties or candidates have to furnish an undertaking in the application and allocation of public spaces will be done using the Suvidha app. However, physical rallies during the campaign period, as and when permitted after the decision of the Commission shall be conducted subject to adherence to extant COVID-19 guidelines. CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC trial results provide a strong foundation towards our goal to provide Covaxin as a booster dose. Our goals of developing a global vaccine against Covid-19 have been achieved. Covaxin is now indicated for adults, children, 2-dose primary and booster doses. This enables the use of Covaxin as a universal vaccine." Based on emerging data, Bharat Biotech believes that a third dose may be beneficial to maintain the highest levels of protection, he added. Meanwhile, With the spike in COVID-19 cases, India is witnessing a third wave of the pandemic which is said to be driven by the Omicron variant and experts are continuously warning that it is highly contagious and cannot be taken lightly. SEE PAGE 5 INDIA REPORTS 1,41,986 NEW COVID-19 CASES, OMICRON TALLY REACHES 3,071 NEW DELHI: India reported 1,41,986 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the daily positivity rate in the country to 9.28 per cent, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. With this, the country's COVID-19 case tally has gone up to 3,53,68,372. According to Health Ministry, the country has so far reported 3,071 cases of Omicron of which 1,203 have been recovered. Maharashtra accounts for the highest number of Omicron cases (876), followed by Delhi (513) and Karnataka (333). The Ministry informed that India's active caseload presently is at 4,72,169. It accounts for 1.34 per cent of the country's total cases. The weekly positivity rate is at 5.66 per cent, while the daily positivity rate is at 9.28 per cent. With the recovery of 40,895 patients in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tally of COVID recovered patients, since the beginning of the pandemic, now stands at 3,44,12,740. MTMC GETS BACK FCRA LICENCE NEW DELHI: The Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity (MTMC) got back its Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA) licence again on Saturday. Missionaries of Charity is a Kolkata based organisation which operates orphanages and shelters for the poor, sick, and destitute in India, its FCRA licence was not renewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). On the occasion of Christmas, the MHA had refused to renew its FCRA licence. The MHA had reportedly found some adverse input following KEY HIGHLIGHTS which it didn't renew the licence. The move of the MHA had led to a nationwide controversy with Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemning the move. After losing its FCRA license the organisation was helpless to access foreign funds parked in over 250 accounts. To access the foreign funds of 250 accounts the organisation needed to revive its FCRA licence. As of now the Centre has not made any statements in this respect. According to sources, the MHA finally agreed to renew the licence after necessary documents were furnished with the concerned authorities. Soon after it was restored, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev tweeted: "Service to mankind is the greatest service". Derek O'Brien, another TMC MP took to twitter to criticise the Centre. "The FCRA registration for Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity is back. The 'adverse inputs' harassed so many and then disappeared in two weeks. The POWER OF LOVE is stronger than the power of 56 inch," read his tweets. He also shared a screen shot on the twitter regarding his tweet showing that licence was renewed. The first date of issuing of notification will start on January 14 in Uttar Pradesh. The date of polling for the first phase in the state is February 10. Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will be held in single phase on February 14. Issuing of notification will be on January 21. Manipur will go for polling in two phases. First phase on Feb 27 and second on Mar 3. The results of all seven states will be announced on March 10. A total of 18.34 crore electors will take part in this election. JHARKHAND HEALTH MINISTER AGAIN TESTS COVID POSITIVE RANCHI: Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta on Saturday tested positive for COVID19 for the second time, following which he went into home isolation. He had contracted the disease in August 2020 after a cabinet meeting, following which the council of ministers of Chief Minister Hemant Soren went into isolation. "I have once again tested positive for COVID-19 while discharging my duty. I was not feeling well for the past few days and got tested, the report of which returned positive. All those who have come in contact with me in the last few days must get tested. I have isolated myself at home," Gupta tweeted in Hindi. Gupta is now feeling well but he has isolated himself at his Jamshedpur residence, a statement issued by his camp office. State to witness inclement weather in coming days: IMD SANJAY SAHAY RANCHI: Jharkhand would begin feeling the impact of the western disturbance from Sunday as several districts including Garwah, Palamau Chatra, Latehar and Lohardaga would receive rainfall at isolated places. Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning is likely at isolated places of the state during the impact of the western disturbance. The weather department stated that on Monday most parts of the state barring the southern districts would witnessed scattered rainfall. The entire state would register fairly widespread rainfall on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Ranchi and its surrounding areas would witness cloudy sky accompanied with light to moderate rainfall and thundering for five days starting from Monday. During the impact of the western disturbance the daytime temperature is likely to remain below normal while the night temperature will be above normal. It may be stated here that the state capital on Saturday registered a maxi- THUNDERSTORM ACCOMPANIED WITH LIGHTNING IS LIKELY AT ISOLATED PLACES OF THE STATE DURING THE IMPACT OF THE WESTERN DISTURBANCE. THE WEATHER DEPARTMENT STATED THAT ON MONDAY MOST PARTS OF THE STATE BARRING THE SOUTHERN DISTRICTS WOULD WITNESSED SCATTERED RAINFALL. mum temperature of 26.6 degree centigrade and minimum of 11.4 degrees centigrade. The temperature of all major cities of the state remained above normal. The fortnight weather forecast stated that normal to appreciably below normal daytime temperatures, lying in the range of 22 to 28 degrees centigrade will be observed over most parts of the state. The minimum temperatures would be between 10 to 15 degrees centigrade. According to the weather department a western disturbance has formed an induced cyclonic circulation which is moving eastwards towards Jharkhand. CITY REPORTS ON PG 3