NEWS

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Saturday announced further relaxation in coronavirus-induced restrictions and allowed reopening of spas, theatres and cinema halls with 50 per cent occupancy in view of decline in Covid-19 cases in the national capital. Delhi metro has also been given permission to operate with 100 per cent seating capacity. The new guidelines will be effective from 5 am, July 26.

The city had witnessed an unprecedented surge of cases and deaths during the second wave of coronavirus in April and May. But now as the situation seems to have been improving over the past few weeks, the Arvind Kejriwal-led government is reopening Delhi in a phased manner.

A total of around Rs 9,725 crore has been spent so far on the Covid-19 vaccination programme including procurement of vaccines and operational cost for vaccination, the government informed the Parliament on Friday.

It also maintained that there has been no delay in procurement of jabs and that the target of delivering 135 crore doses between August and December is on track, junior health minister Bharti Pravin Pawar, said in response to a question from Rahul Gandhi and TMC’s Mala Roy.

“Between August 2021 to December 2021, a total of 135 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be available. There has been no delay in entering into purchase agreements with the domestic vaccine manufacturers. Advance payments have also been made to manufacturers for the supply orders placed with them,” Pawar said.

With the BJP Government not yielding to the demand for a discussion on the Pegasus spyware phone hacking scandal and the Opposition remaining firm on answers from it, Parliament remained stalled for the fourth day Friday. In the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress MP Santanu Sen who tore IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s statement Thursday was suspended for the remaining part of the session, leading to more uproar.

The Lok Sabha, too, could not transact any business. Barring a discussion on the Covid situation in the Rajya Sabha Tuesday, the first week of the Monsoon Session was a complete washout, primarily over the hacking revelations.

In the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion seeking the suspension of Sen “for his unruly behaviour unbecoming of a Member of Rajya Sabha... snatching a copy of the statement from the Minister... and tearing it".

Minister of state for health affairs, Bharati Pravin Pawar, gave the Rajya Sabha three different sets of numbers for the monthly output of Covaxin, and two for Covishield, on the same day in response to questions.

Two of these questions were asked by the same member. And the numbers cited by the minister don’t match what the government had earlier told the Supreme Court in affidavits.

On July 20, in response to a question from Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawar said the average monthly production capacity of Covishield by Serum Institute of India is 11 crore doses and of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech 2.5 crore doses.