Page 26 - Coronavirus

Demand for champagne softens after post-Covid boom years, says LVMH

"2023 is a bit more complicated, because this effect of Covid is fading out, and there's a lot of inflation in all countries," Schaus said. "So we see that we are going back to normal

World disappointed by United Nations now looks elsewhere for answers

With dozens of world leaders descending upon New York for the United Nations General Assembly's annual gathering, global problems are showing up fast and thick at the world body's door

Try extending benefits of Covid schemes to all orphans: SC to govt

An orphan is an orphan, irrespective of how the death of his or her parents happened, the Supreme Court has said, asking the Centre if there are ways the benefits of schemes, including PM Cares fund, which were meant for children orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic, can be extended to all orphans. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra on Friday asked Additional Solicitor General Vikramjeet Banerjee, appearing for Centre, to seek instructions in the matter. "You have rightly brought out a policy for orphans, whose parents died due to the COVID pandemic. An orphan is an orphan, irrespective of whether the parents died in an accident or illness. By bringing these schemes, you are attending to the condition and not the parentage. "You seek an instruction on whether benefits of schemes including PM Cares fund meant for children orphaned during the COVID-19 pandemic can be extended to other orphaned children," the bench told Banerjee. The ASG

Delhi Metro crosses pre-coronavirus passenger journeys from March-August

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) witnessed the highest growth in June at 114.3%

Australia's highest court finds Qantas illegally fired 1,700 ground staff

Qantas Airways lost its challenge to a court ruling on Wednesday that the Australian flag carrier had illegally fired 1,700 baggage handlers, cleaners and other ground staff at the height of pandemic travel disruptions. Seven High Court judges unanimously rejected Qantas' appeal against a Federal Court full-bench decision. That court upheld a Federal Court judge's ruling that the sacking of Qantas staff at 10 Australian airports in 2020 was illegal. The ruling is another major blow for the airline which Australia's consumer watchdog is suing for more than 250 million Australian dollars ($160 million) for allegedly selling thousands of tickets mid-2022 for flights that already been canceled. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission initiated the Federal Court lawsuit two weeks ago for what it considers Australia's most serious-ever breach of consumer law. That prompted Qantas former chief executive Alan Joyce to retire last week two months ahead of schedule. The Transport ...

New supply of retail space in shopping malls to rise 43% by 2027: JLL India

New supply of retail real estate space is expected to rise 43 per cent across seven major cities by 2027 as developers are expanding their business amid strong revival post COVID pandemic, according to JLL India. Real estate consultant JLL India on Monday released its report 'India Retail: Evolving to a new dawn' that highlighted the operational retail real estate space in shopping malls stood at 89 million square feet. The operational retail stock as of H1 2023 in the top seven cities (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, and Hyderabad) stands at 89 million square feet as of June-end this year. Out of the total retail stocks in malls, Delhi NCR has the maximum 28 million square feet, followed by Mumbai with 17 million square feet and Bengaluru 14 million square feet. "The physical retail space segment has an expected supply pipeline of over 38 million sq ft of retail developments between H2 2023 and 2027, across the top seven cities," JLL said. Out of the 38 mill

Covid body bags purchase scam: Ex-Mumbai mayor Pednekar appears before EOW

Former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar appeared before the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing on Monday in connection with an alleged scam in the purchase of body bags for COVID-19 victims, a police official said. On September 6, the Bombay High Court granted interim protection from arrest for four weeks to Pednekar, noting the case probe was on and at this stage custodial interrogation was not warranted. The court also directed Pednekar to cooperate with the probe in the case and appear before the city police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on September 11, 13 and 16 for questioning. On Monday, Pednekar reached the EOW office here at around 11 am to face an inquiry into the case, the official said. Pednekar approached the HC after a sessions court rejected her pre-arrest bail plea, saying she was accused of an economic offence involving a huge amount of public money. The EOW had registered a case against Pednekar and two senior officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

Implementation of technology changed dynamics of healthcare delivery: Min

Speaking on National Digital Health Mission, mansukh Mandaviya said that the government is opening the Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA)

Updated Covid-19 shots are coming soon, to be part of trio of vaccines

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are coming soon, just in time to pair them with flu shots. And this fall, the first vaccines for another scary virus called RSV are rolling out to older adults and pregnant women. Doctors hope enough people get vaccinated to help avert another tripledemic like last year when hospitals were overwhelmed with an early flu season, an onslaught of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, and yet another winter coronavirus surge. COVID-19 hospitalizations have been steadily increasing since late summer, although not nearly as much as this time last year, and RSV already is on the rise in parts of the Southeast. Approval of updated COVID-19 shots is expected within days. They are among the tools the new director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says will help put the US in our strongest position yet to avoid another chaotic respiratory season. There will be a lot of virus this winter. That's why we want to get ahead of it, CDC chief Dr. Mandy Cohen .

'Post Covid global reconstruction chance to create sustainable societies'

As the African Union became a permanent member of the G20, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosaon Saturday said the "global reconstruction" post the Covid 19 pandemic has brought a unique opportunity to accelerate transition to low carbon, climate resilient, sustainable societies. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the South African President expressed delight over the African Union becoming a member of the G20. "Global reconstruction in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to accelerate the transition to low-carbon, climate resilient, sustainable societies. Developing economies are bearing the brunt of climate change, despite carrying the least responsibility for this crisis," Ramaphosaon said on Saturday. "As African and other developing economy countries, we face the task of meeting our climate commitments in the midst of significant developmental challenges like poverty, inequality and unemployment. "Climate change, environmental degradation, ...

Court scales back order on Biden admin contact with social media platforms

A federal appeals court Friday significantly whittled down a lower court's order curbing Biden administration communications with social media companies over controversial content about COVID-19 and other issues. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Friday said the White House, the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and the FBI cannot coerce social media platforms to take down posts the government doesn't like. But the court threw out broader language in an order that a Louisiana-based federal judge issued on July 4 that effectively blocked multiple government agencies from contacting platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to urge that content be taken down. Even the appeals court's softened order doesn't take effect immediately. The administration has 10 days to seek a Supreme Court review. Friday evening's ruling came in a lawsuit filed in northeast Louisiana that accused administration officials of coercing platforms to take down conte

Spain's Prez tests positive for Covid-19, to skip G20 Summit in New Delhi

Sánchez is the third world leader to have pulled out of the G20 Summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are the other two leaders who will not be visiting Delhi

Unprecedented failure of Modi govt not to come out with Census: Congress

The Congress slammed the Narendra Modi government on Friday for its failure to conduct the decadal Census due in 2021 and said as many as 14 crore Indians would be excluded from their food entitlements because of this. In a statement, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh dubbed the Modi government as "inept and incompetent", and said not conducting the Census is an unprecedented failure in the history of the country. Ramesh said even other developing countries in the G20 bloc, such as Indonesia, Brazil and South Africa, have conducted their Census despite COVID-19. The Congress demanded that the BJP-led Centre stop denying 14 crore Indians their basic rights under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and increase the beneficiary quota until the Census is carried out. It also sought the conduct of an updated national caste census and said efforts to oppose a state-level caste census should stop. "The start of the 18th G20 summit with India's rotational preside

A Covid uptick

No reason for panic, but caution required

India records 66 new Covid cases, active cases have declined to 491

India has logged 66 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have declined to 491, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll was recorded at 5,32,024, the data updated at 8 am stated. The country's Covid case tally is 4.49 crore (4,49,97,466). The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,44,64,951 and the national recovery rate stands at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry's website. The case fatality rate stands at 1.18 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far.

Returning to office is $1.3 trillion problem that only few have figured out

Asian nations did a better job keeping Covid-19 under wraps in the pandemic's first year, so people there didn't get as accustomed to working from home

Jill Biden tests positive for Covid, but Prez Biden's results negative

First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 Monday but is experiencing only mild symptoms, her spokeswoman said. President Joe Biden was tested for the virus following his wife's positive test, but his results were negative. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would continue testing regularly and would be monitored for symptoms. Jill Biden will remain at the couple's home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the time being, communications director Elizabeth Alexander said. The first lady had planned to start the new school year Tuesday at Northern Virginia Community College, where she teaches English and writing. Due to her condition, she was working with school officials to arrange substitute teachers for her classes, Alexander said. The first lady had travelled with her husband to Florida on Saturday to inspect the damage from Hurricane Idalia. President Biden then spent part of the Labor Day weekend at the Delaware beach house before traveling ..

India's Covid vax rate falls 75% since Apr as US, UK ready for another shot

In recent weeks, over 70 per cent of India's current vaccinations have been adminis­tered to people in the age group of 45-60 years

Our culture of service helping India gain prominence in post-Covid era: Min

India's culture of service is helping it gain prominence in the new world order created in the post-COVID era, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday, citing the supply of medicines and vaccines by the Centre during the pandemic. When international airlines were shut (during COVID outbreak), six to seven planes landed in India daily only to procure medicines. We did not just provide medicines but also made the whole world aware of our culture, Mandaviya said after inaugurating the Amrita Patel Centre of Public Health at Bhaikaka University at Karamsad in Anand district. Had India desired, the minister said, it could have then sold medicines to other countries at a much higher price. But India continued to supply medicines at pre-pandemic price levels, he said. When the world was stockpiling vaccines three to four times their requirement, India made vaccines to meet the domestic need and also supply to more than 100 countries at a lower rate under the Vaccine Maitri

Kashmir's post-pandemic popularity as travel destination on surge: HAI

Unveiling a "Vision 2047" document, the Hotel Association of India (HAI) presented a 25-year roadmap of the future of the hospitality and tourism industry in Kashmir and said its post-pandemic popularity as a travel destination has increased. "The report highlights the rising appeal of Kashmir as a travel destination, especially for adventure tourism, in the aftermath of the pandemic," HAI said in a statement here. This recognition of Kashmir's allure coincides with an increase in tourist numbers, which is bolstered by an increased support from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir administration, it said. Last year, approximately 18 million tourists visited J&K and G20 related events and this year's Miss World programme have positioned the UT as a prominent contender in event tourism, it said. "The recent G20 meeting hosted in the Union territory not only gave a boost to regional tourism but also showcased the area's potential as a destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, ...