NEWS

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya hailed India’s vaccine drive after the country crossed the 95 crore-landmark on Sunday. “World’s largest successful vaccination drive in full swing! India completes administration of 95 crore #COVID19 vaccine doses. Marching rapidly towards administering 100 crore vaccine doses. Get vaccinated quickly and encourage your friends & family to do the same!” he said in a tweet. 

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 95 crore on Sunday.

The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from the novel coronavirus infection continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the Health ministry has underlined.

New Delhi: A day after the UK announced the lifting of its quarantine rule for Indian travellers, sources said that the Union Health Ministry will soon revise the guidelines for travellers coming to India from the United Kingdom. It is likely to relax quarantine rules for UK travellers, sources said.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday spoke to his British counterpart Liz Truss with a focus on issues relating to travel between the two countries. Asked about the vaccine certification row, Jaishankar said he was glad that the issue has been sorted out.

"To me, this was a problem which should not have arisen in the first place. So we did what we had to do," he said referring to India's reciprocal action.

New Delhi:  India is facing a severe shortage of coal as the shortage of it could leave thermal power plants without fuel. Supplies across the majority of coal-fired thermal power plants in India have dwindled to just days’ worth of stock.

It is unlikely how long the situation will last, but it is likely to affect other sectors including manufacturing, business at a time when the country enters into festive season.

India relies heavily on thermal power plants for its electricity needs and therefore coal remains as the major fuel behind India’s electricity supply. It is the second largest importer, consumer and producer of coal, and has the world’s fourth largest reserves. It mainly imports from Indonesia, Australia and South Africa.

New DelhiThe Narcotics Control Bureau is questioning the driver of Shah Rukh Khan‘s son Aryan who is currently lodged at Arthur Road Jail for his alleged involvement in the rave party that was busted on board the Cordelia cruise ship last week. The NCB sleuths are looking to establish the source of the drugs seized from the cruise ship, and how they were procured, sources said.

Aryan was sent to the Arthur Road prison on Friday after a court denied him bail. Along with him, five other men arrested in the case too were sent to the same jail, while two women accused including Munmun Dhamecha were sent to Byculla women’s prison.

Aryan was arrested by an undercover NCB team on Sunday following a raid on a Goa-bound cruise ship. On Thursday, the court had rejected the NCB’s request for further custody of Aryan and seven others and instead sent them in 14-day judicial custody. Incidentally, the court’s order rejecting bail to Aryan came on his mother Gauri Khan’s 51st birthday.