NEWS

As second wave of coronavirus continues to wreak havoc across the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh lost three of its MLAs to the pandemic within a week. BJP’s Kesar Singh from Nawabganj constituency in Bareilly succumbed to coronavirus after he breathed his last at a hospital in Noida on Wedensday. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also expressed grief over Singh’s death.

Singh had been unwell since last month and was initially admitted to Medical College at Bhojipura. He was discharged from there after recovering. However, his health deteriorated again, after which he had to be taken to the hospital again where he tested positive Covid-19. There hadn’t been any significant improvement even after getting plasma therapy.

Kerala on Tuesday reported another spike recording 32,819 virus cases, the highest ever since the outbreak began last year. The test positivity rate in the state stands at 23.24 per cent, said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Talking to newsmen in the state capital, the chief minister said mutant variants are behind the rapid spread of the virus and urged people not to lower guard at this critical juncture.

“In the last two weeks, there has been a 250 per cent hike in Covid-19 cases. Mutant variants of the virus are triggering such a spread. All hospitals have been asked to increase beds and ensure an uninterrupted supply of oxygen. The situation remains critical,” Vijayan said. He said some of the recent studies have shown an intense spread of mutant variants of the virus in the state.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday that the government has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers and 21 oxygen plants from France for Covid-19 patients amid shortage.

While addressing a press conference, CM Kejriwal said, "Delhi government has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok, they'll start arriving from tomorrow. We've requested Centre to allow use of Air Force planes for this. Talks are on, I'm very hopeful that talks will be successful. This will resolve the issue of transport."

Talking about the oxygen plants from France, CM Kejirwal said, "We are importing 21 ready-to-use Oxygen plants from France. They can be brought to use immediately. These will be installed at different hospitals and this will help us in resolving Oxygen crisis in those hospitals."

The Tripura government has increased transport tariff by up to 25% citing the hike in petrol and diesel prices during 2020-2021 financial year. The transport tariff was last hiked in July 2018.

“We have decided to increase transport fares with the rise of petrol and diesel prices by 30% and 32% (respectively). However, we are not going to hike fares for Air Conditioned buses,” said transport minister Pranajit Singha Roy.

After the revision, per kilometre fair for ordinary state transport buses has increased to 73 paise from 58 paise, similarly the fair for minibuses has increased to 90 paise from earlier 72 paise per kilometre.