Highlights: 27 students of Telangana welfare school test positive for Covid-19

As many as 27 students of Mahatma Jyothirao Phule Backward Classes Welfare School, in Telangana's Sangareddy district tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, ANI reported citing the DMHO. This comes after 46 students from the same district tested positive for the virus on Monday.

The United Nations (UN) headquarters have been cordoned off as armed man seen outside, AFP reported quoting official.

Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday inspected the Parade Ground in capital city Dehradun to take stock of the arrangements ahead of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit on December 4, ANI reported citing the chief minister's office.

As many as three close contacts of international passengers have been found to be Covid-19 positive in Maharashtra, state government informed on Thursday, according to ANI. “Until today morning, 861 international passengers have been tested with RT-PCR…Samples of all three have been sent for genomic sequencing,” the ANI report, citing the government, added. Read more here.

As many as five contacts of a 46-year-old doctor, who was found to be infected with Omicron Covid-19 variant earlier in the day, have tested positive for Covid-19. “So a total of six people (including the doctor himself) have been isolated, admitted to government hospital. None of them showing any serious symptoms. All these people are fully vaccinated,” Karnataka health Mmnister Dr K Sudhakar told ANI.

Germany will impose new curbs for those who are still unvaccinated against Covid-19, AFP reported quoting Chanceller Angela Merkel.

Former Mumbai Police commissioner Param Bir Singh suspended under section 4 of the All India Services Rules for dereliction in duty. The proceeding was initiated for the irregularities and lapses, including absence from duty, without informing the government, according to the order. 

Maharashtra government on Thursday revised its guidelines for passengers arriving in the state. For domestic air travel, passengers will either have to be completely vaccinated against Covid-19 or mandatorily carry RT-PCR test report showing negative result within 72 hours before boarding the flight. The guidelines come as Omicron Covid-19 variant entered India with two cases being from Karnataka.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that if his party comes to power in Punjab, people from Canada, London and the US will come to see government schools in the north Indian state.

Increased vaccination against Covid-19 is the “need of the hour,” ICMR director general Balram Bhargava said during a press briefing on Thursday. He also emphasised on getting inoculated with both doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Read more here.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges Russia to 'de-escalate' on Ukraine, AFP reported on Wednesday.

India confirmed cases of Omicron Covid-19 variant on Wednesday with two people testing positive for the strain from Karnataka.

Punjab CM Charanjit Channi on Thursday presented his report card of 50 days in the chair wherein he said that as many as 50 “pro-people” decisions have so far been taken in his tenue and also implemented. “People say it's Channi government, I say it's changi (good) government,” he added.

Amit Shah said that the current central government under PM Narendra Modi did surgical strike after Uri and Pulwama incidents. “Pakistan ko uske ghar me ghuskar maara,” the Union home minister said, alleging that PM Modi established honour of India in the world.

Union home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that crime rate in Uttar Pradesh under BJP chief minister Yogi Adityanath is 70 per cent less than what it was under the Samajwadi Party's (SP) regime previously. “Incidents of murder 30 per cent less, loot 69 per cent less, and murder for dowry 22.5 percent less,” Shah added.

Union home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Thursday said that no daughter of western Uttar Pradesh has to go to other states for studies anymore. His remarks come after he laid the foundation stone of Ma Shakumbhari Devi State university in Saharanpur district in western UP. “There was a time when not only riots occurred here but our daughters had also to be sent to other states for studies because there was no security here. Today…nobody dares to misbehave with them (daughters),” Shah was quoted as saying by ANI.

A meeting of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP's) working committee chaired by party president Sharad Pawar is scheduled to be held on December 7 in Delhi, ANI reported. This comes after Pawar met Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing a meeting on the cyclone-related situation in the country.

The Tamil Nadu government implemented new standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the wake of the spread of the new variant of coronavirus, named Omicron. The new SOPs came into effect from December 1. Read More

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday urged the Opposition and government to talk out the ongoing crisis over the suspension of the 12 MPs and let the upper House of Parliament to do its mandated job. Read More

The Supreme Court on Thursday rapped the Delhi government for reopening schools and subjecting children to pollution-related health hazards, while the government has allowed work from home for its employees. Read More

Members of Opposition parties continued their protest near a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on Parliament premises on Thursday demanding revocation of suspension of MPs from the remainder of the session. Read More

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Thursday said without the Congress, the UPA will be a body without a soul, a day after West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said there was no United Progressive Alliance left in the country. It is time to show opposition unity, Kapil Sibal tweeted on Thursday morning, without referring to Mamata's comment. Read More

India's Covid-19 tally rises by 9,765, while the number of active rises to 99,763. 

Union Health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya will chair a meeting at 10 am today with States on airport screening and surveillance with Airport Public Health Officials (APHOs) and Port Health Officials (PHOs), according to ANI.

The Indian meteorological Department  (IMD) predicts light intensity rain over parts of Delhi; Farukhnagar, Haryana; Debai, Narora, Sahaswan, Atrauli, Aligarh in UP; Bharatpur and Mahandipur Balaji in Rajasthan during next 2 hours.

Amid the global concern over the Omicron variant, UK’s top epidemiologist has warned people against assuming that the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) evolve into a milder infection. Neil Ferguson, the head of the disease outbreak analysis and modelling group at Imperial College London, told British parliamentarians that the threat posed by the Omicron variant will not be clear until the end of December, The Guardian reported.

American actor Alec Baldwin said that he 'didn't pull the trigger' on the firearm in the fatal shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. During an interview with abc News, Baldwin said he has 'no idea' how a live bullet got onto the set of his film 'Rust'.

Odisha government on Wednesday asked collectors to prepare for evacuation from 13 districts amid the forecast of a cyclonic storm, Jawad, reaching the coast on December 4. Read More

Six international passengers tested positive for the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) out of 3,476 passengers from the so-called at risk countries tested on arrival at airports across the country on December 1, the first day of implementation of the Centre’s revised guidelines for Covid testing, according to a government statement. The samples of all six have been sent for whole genome sequencing to confirm the strain.