NEWS

Bunkers built by suspected Mizo trespassers just across the inter-state boundary in Barak Valley’s Karimganj district and an allegedly massive mobilisation of state forces by Assam to counter the move kept the border pot boiling for the fourth successive day since the violence in Cachar last Monday.

Mizoram on Thursday dashed off its third missive to the Centre in two days, warning of a fresh border showdown after its neighbour Assam ramped up its posts in the vicinity of the disputed zone that is now under the CRPF’s watch.

A 61-year-old Delhi doctor is the first proven case to have suffered from three Covid infections — two of these SARS-CoV-2 bouts were caused by its Alpha and Delta variants 22 days apart.

“The second and third infections occurred after she took both her shots and had developed antibodies,” said Dr Jayanthi Shastri, head of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory in Mumbai’s Kasturba Hospital, the lead author of a study tracing the doctor’s Covid infections.

On July 27, a national daily reported about a Mumbai doctor who had tested RT-PCR positive three times and, like the Delhi doctor, twice after being fully vaccinated. However, as reinfections can only be established through whole genome sequencing and the Mumbai doctor’s samples are still under study, the unnamed Delhi doctor becomes the first proven case.

No Covid-19 death was reported in Rajasthan in the last 24 hours, while zero positive cases were recorded in 27 out of 33 Rajasthan districts. These districts include Sikar, Sirohi, Kota and Nagaur.

As per the data provided by the health department of the state government on Thursday, only 17 new Covid-19 cases were reported across Rajasthan, out of which three were registered in the state's capital Jaipur.

According to the latest data, total active cases in the state has dropped to 259 and as many as 26 people recovered from Covid-19 in the same period.

Stepping up the heat in Tripura ahead of the March 2023 assembly polls even as the BJP-led government there continues to detain 23 members of poll strategist Prashant Kishor’s organisation, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is expected to reach Agartala on Friday, reports Debashis Konar. A day earlier, TMC will be sending two of its senior MPs, Derek O’Brien and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, to the northeastern state.

Bengal ministers Moloy Ghatak and Bratya Basu, along with former MP Ritabrata Banerjee, reached Agartala on Wednesday and questioned the Tripura government for the continued detention of the 23 I-PAC members. Police have slapped cases under IPC and disaster act against the I-PAC members and they are not allowed to leave their hotel.