NEWS

Even as Mumbai has been reporting a decline in the number of coronavirus infections, the BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron variant has now emerged as the dominant strain of the Covid-19 in the city. In the last 24 hours, at least 237 samples were studied and a majority of them were found to be affected by Omicron's BA.2 subvariant. The Delta variant has now been pushed out of the city.

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the Omicron, a variant of concern, was currently the dominant one circulating globally. The BA.2 subvariant is a sublineage of the heavily mutated Omicron variant and is believed to be more transmissible than the original strain. The WHO in an official statement said, "Initial data suggest that BA.2 appears inherently more transmissible than BA.1, which currently remains the most common Omicron sublineage reported." (sic)

In response to the fire at Ukraine`s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said on Friday that the Department of Energy has "activated its Nuclear Incident Response Team" and is monitoring the situation.

In a series of tweets, Granholm said, "I just spoke with Ukraine`s energy minister about the situation at the Zaphorizhizia nuclear plant. Russian military operations near the plant are reckless and must cease."

She added that the Department of Energy "has activated its Nuclear Incident Response Team and is monitoring events in consultation with Department of Defense, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the White House. We have seen no elevated radiation readings near the facility".

Mamata Banerjee's chartered flight hit turbulent air pockets minutes before landing at the Kolkata airport, sources told India Today TV. She was returning from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi after campaigning for the Samajwadi Party.

No one has been injured in the incident. The pilot managed to safely land the craft, the sources added.

Mamata Banerjee was greeted with black flags and protesters shouting "go back" and "Jai Shree Ram" slogans on her way to Varanasi's Dashashwamedh Ghat for the 'Ganga Aarti'. In videos, shared multiple times on social media, the protesters are heard chanting "Modi, Modi".

Stay in your bunkers, make WhatsApp groups to coordinate, conserve food and water, and learn a few sentences in Russian. These are among the points that the Defence Ministry has listed out in its advisory for Indian nationals stuck in war-torn Ukraine who are hoping to find ways to be evacuated to safety.

The advisory mentioned that there are “potentially dangerous/ difficult situations to be expected”, including aerial raids, attacks by drones and aircraft, missile attacks, artillery shelling, gunfire, bomb explosions, falling debris and collapse of buildings. The Indian nationals stuck there, most of whom are medical students, might have already experienced these situations while trying to leave the country, it said.