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Nearly 45,000 Indians in Ebola-hit countries, may bring virus home

August 7, 2014

New Delhi, Aug 7: A total of 44,700 Indians are living in different countries affected by Ebola, a deadly virus that has claimed 932 lives so far. Of this, 300 are CRPF personnel deployed in Liberia for UN peacekeeping operations. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said this on Wednesday in a written statement to Parliament.ebo

Vardhan said 500 Indians were in the Republic of Guinea, 3,000 in Liberia and 1,200 in Sierra Leone, from where the maximum cases have been reported. Nigeria has a much larger presence of nearly 40,000 Indian citizens. "If the situation worsens, there is a possibility of these people returning home," Vardhan said.

To prevent the disease from spreading to India, the government is taking several precautionary measures — like obtaining details of travellers originating from or transiting through affected countries and tracking them after their arrival, up to their final destination.

Health ministry sources said director general of health services (DGHS) Jagdish Prasad held two meetings on August 1 and 2 to review the situation. Advisories have been issued to the state disease surveillance units to be on alert.

On Tuesday, the health minister held another meeting that was attended by immigration, external affairs ministry, civil aviation, armed forces and World Health Organization (WHO) officials to assess the threat perception to India.

"With many of their personnel deployed in Ebola-hit countries, the armed forces would be suitably advising their staff for appropriate precautions. Soldiers returning to India on leave or otherwise would be tracked and monitored for symptoms," said a senior health ministry official. He said there was no confirmation of any Indian being infected with the virus yet. As a precaution, the government has asked people to defer non-essential travel to that region.

WHO has reported 1,603 cases and 887 deaths till August 4 in four countries — Guinea (485 and 358), Liberia (468 and 255), Sierra Leone (646 and 273) and Nigeria (4 and 1).

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Agencies
June 21,2020

New Delhi, June 21: Diesel prices rise to record high after 60 paise hike in rates, petrol up 35 paise; rates up by Rs 8.88 and Rs 7.97 in 15 days.

Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 79.23 per litre from Rs 78.88, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 78.27 a litre from Rs 77.67, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies. 

In Bengaluru, petrol will be costlier by 37 paise at Rs 81.81 per litre, while diesel will cost 57 paise more per litre at Rs 74.43.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

The 15th daily increase in rates since oil companies on June 7 restarted revising prices in line with costs after ending an 82-day hiatus in rate revision, has taken diesel prices to a new high. The petrol price too is at a two-year high.

Over 63 per cent of the retail selling price of diesel is taxes. Out of the total tax incidence of Rs 49.43 per litre, Rs 31.83 is by way of central excise and Rs 17.60 is VAT. 

Petrol in Mumbai costs Rs 86.04 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 76.69.

Prior to the current rally, the peak diesel rates had touched was on October 16, 2018 when prices had climbed to Rs 75.69 per litre in Delhi. The highest-ever petrol price was on October 4, 2018 when rates soared to Rs 84 a litre in Delhi.

When rates had peaked in October 2018, the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each. State-owned oil companies were asked to absorb another Re 1 a litre to help cut retail rates by Rs 2.50 a litre.

Oil companies had quickly recouped the Re 1 and the government in July 2019 raised excise duty by Rs 2 a litre.

The government on March 14 hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each and then again on May 5 by a record Rs 10 per litre in case of petrol and Rs 13 on diesel. The two hikes gave the government Rs 2 lakh crore in additional tax revenues.

Oil PSUs Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), instead of passing on the excise duty hikes to customers, adjusted them against the fall in the retail rates that was warranted because of a decline in international oil prices to two-decade lows.

International oil prices have since rebounded and oil firms are now adjusting retail rates in line with them.

In 15 days of hike, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.97 per litre and diesel by Rs 8.88 a litre.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday issued fresh guidelines for international passengers coming to India amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The new guidelines will be implemented from 12:01 am on August 8.

The ministry has also asked all passengers to submit a self-declaration form online at least 72 hours before travel.

"All travellers should submit self-declaration form on the on the online portal (www.newdelhiairport.in) at least 72hours before the scheduled travel," the guidelines said.

It also said that those coming to India must give an undertaking that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days as prescribed by the government. "They should also give an undertaking on the portal that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days i.e. 7 days paid institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by 7 days isolation at home with self-monitoring of health," it added.

Giving exemptions in some cases, the guidelines mentioned, "Only for compelling reasons/cases of human distress such as pregnancy, death in the family. Serious illness and parent (s) with children of 10 years or below, home quarantine may be permitted for 14 days."

"If they wish to seek such exemption, they shall apply to the online portal at least 72 hours before boarding. The decision taken by the government as communicated on the online portal will be final," it said further.

The guidelines further said that travellers could request for exemption from institutional quarantine by submitting a negative RT-PCR test report on arrival.

"This test should have been conducted within 96 hours prior to undertaking the journey. The test report should be uploaded on the portal for consideration," it added.

Passengers have also been asked to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Mumbai, Mar 25: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday confirmed that five people from a family in Sangli and four others from Mumbai tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total count to 116, which is the highest in any state of the country.
"The current count of COVID19 patients in the state of Maharashtra is 116. In Sangli, 5 people from one family are identified as positive due to contacts and 4 people from Mumbai are identified as positive due to travel history or contacts," Tope tweeted.
The state Health Minister informed that out of 116 people, 14 people have recovered and are in the process of being discharged from the hospitals.
"14 people from these have been recovered and are in the process of being discharged from the hospitals," he said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, the Sangli district administration in Maharashtra has released contact numbers for citizens to get home delivery of essential items during the 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The police personnel and district administration will be in charge of facilitating delivery for the essential commodities during the lockdown.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday confirmed 539 positive cases of coronavirus in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

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