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The world is at yet another crossroad in navigating through the pandemic with fresh concerns over the spike in Covid-19 cases in some parts of Asia and Europe.

Covid-19: Why Some Countries Like China are Reporting a Comeback and Where India Stands© Provided by News18 Covid-19: Why Some Countries Like China are Reporting a Comeback and Where India Stands

According to experts, the situation varies from place to place and country to country. The reasons for spike in cases are mostly the delayed arrival of Omicron, spread of Omicron’s sister variant BA.2 combined with the aggressive lifting of Covid restrictions, complacency and pandemic fatigue.

Russia on Tuesday slapped sanctions on US President Joe Biden, secretary of state Antony Blinken and a several other senior officials. Moscow said it had put the top officials on a "stop list" that barred their entry into Russia.

Among other officials named in the list of 13 were defence secretary Lloyd Austin, CIA chief William Burns, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and others. 

The move came in response to massive sanctions imposed by Washington on Russian officials, while the United Kingdom placed new penalties on more than 370 Russians and banned the export of luxury goods to the country.

India is working out a method to facilitate trade with Russia using local currencies, with a decision expected as early as next week.

The State Bank of India (SBI), in a report, said that countries proposing rupee-rouble or yuan-rouble trade to bypass Western economic sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine are an opportunity for the internationalisation of the Indian currency.

Internationalisation means a currency can be freely transacted by both resident and non-residents, and be used as a reserve currency for global trade.

As Russia and Ukraine conflict continues to escalate, the Kremlin said on Monday (March 14) that it may still opt to take control of large cities in Ukraine. 

News agencies have reported that the Russian military is advancing steadily towards several major urban hubs in its pro-Western neighbour. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, "Putin gave orders to hold back on any immediate assault on large cities because the civilian losses would be large." 

Closure of the roads in the cantonment areas in Secunderabad and Golconda in the city took a political turn with the ruling TRS and the BJP leaders indulging in a heated exchange of words. The fresh row erupted as municipal minister KT Rama Rao announced in the budget session of the Assembly that the government plans to cut power and water supply to the cantonment areas for not supporting development activities.

KT Rama Rao slammed the Centre and defence ministry and officials concerned for failing to open the roads closed despite repeated appeals during night hours causing a heavy traffic problem to people.