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1 ! " !" ! #$ #$% #$ & '" ( ) ' * ) + ! , * " %& ' ( )*+ )+$!,,!- . !*$/01 - ' ' ' .$$ " /(0 ,(12 Concerned at the decliningmask usage in the countryto pre-second surge level, theGovernment on Friday warnedpeople not to be lax and insteadtake a cue from increasingOmicron cases across the coun-tries and adopt appropriateCovid-19 behaviour seriously. WHO is warning againstthe decline in mask usage. Theglobal scene of Omicron is We are now operat-ing at a risky and unacceptablelevel. We have to rememberthat both vaccines and masksare important, Dr VK Paul, theNITI Aayog member forHealth, said at a press , Omicron is notyet posing a burden on thehealthcare system but vigil hasto be maintained, he , two moreCovid-19 cases of Omicronvariant were reported inGujarat and 7 in Maharashtraon Friday.

2 With this, India stally of the new variant infec-tion rose to in Gujarat, the wifeand the brother-in-law of anNRI man, who had been foundinfected with the Omicronvariant of Covid-19 in Gujarat sJamnagar a week back, weredetected with the new strain, inDharavi a 49-year-old, whoreturned from Tanzania onDecember 4, tested positive forOmicron variant. He had nottaken any vaccine but has beenasymptomatic, theGovernment said. All cases have mild symp-toms. Omicron cases accountfor less than per cent oftotal variants detected, LavAgarwal, joint secretary at theUnion Health Ministry, said ata briefing.

3 Since December 1, total of93 international passengershave tested positive for Covid-19. Of these, 83 are from coun-tries that have been designat-ed at-risk given the Omicronbreakout and 13 from othercountries, Agarwal said. Two countries had report-ed Omicron cases tillNovember, 24. Now, 59 coun-tries have reported cases ofOmicron. These 59 countrieshave reported 2,936 Omicroncases. Besides this, 78,054 prob-able cases have also beendetected their genomesequencing is underway, theofficial Centre said the treat-ment protocol for the Omicronvariant remained the same.

4 /(0 ,(12 Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday calledfor better cooperation amongdemocracies of the world withstress on increasing inclu-siveness and transparency andaffirmed that democratic spir-it, including respect for rule oflaw and pluralistic ethos, is ingrained in Indians .The Prime Minister saidIndia where democratic tradi-tions go back to the centurieshas shown that democracy candeliver .Addressing theDemocracy Summit called byUS President Joe Biden, thePrime Minister said he is proudto represent the world s largestdemocracy at this summit. The democratic spirit isintegral to our civilisationethos, said Modi remindingthe summit that elected repub-lican city-states such asLichhavi and Shakya flour-ished in India as far as 2,500years back.))

5 The same democ-ratic spirit is seen in the 10thcentury Uttaramerur inscrip-tion that codified the principlesof democratic participation . This very democratic spir-it and ethos had made ancientIndia one of the most prosper-ous. Centuries of the colonialrule could not suppress thedemocratic spirit of the Indianpeople. It again found fullexpression with India sIndependence, and led to anunparalleled story in democ-ratic nation-building over thelast 75 years, the PrimeMinister told the summit calledby President Biden invitingselect 110 countries to focus ondemocracies and ways to pro-mote their liberal ethos andpreserve human summit was billed bythe White House as an oppor-tunity for leaders and expertsfrom some 110 countries tocollaborate on defendingagainst authoritarianism, fight-ing corruption.

6 And promotingrespect for human countries not invitedto the summit called it a sub-tle way of re-starting cold war. /(0 ,(12 Following the emergence ofnew Covid-19 variantOmicron which is graduallyspreading its tentacles acrossthe country, the ParliamentaryStanding Committee on HomeAffairs on Friday asked theUnion Health Ministry toassess the requirement of vac-cine booster shots to tackle dif-ferent variants of the Committee recom-mended that the Ministry incoordination with the NationalTechnical Advisory Group onImmunization (NTAGI) andthe National Expert Group onVaccine Administration forCovid-19 to assess the require-ment of booster doses.))

7 The committee would liketo know whether any researchhas been conducted by ICMRand other concerned institu-tions regarding the efficacy ofthe vaccines that are beinggiven or administered in thecountry against various vari-ants, it said in a report tabledin the Lok Sabha on that the natureand virulence of Covid-19 pan-demic is unpredictable , thecommittee cautioned that alert-ness and preparedness cannotbe compromised at any stage. /(0 ,(12 Taking note of the improve-ment in air quality in theDelhi-NCR region, theSupreme Court on Fridaypaved the way for lifting curbson construction activities.))

8 Thecourt directed the commis-sion on air quality managementto take a decision on variousrepresentations seeking easingof curbs, like ban on construc-tion activities, within a week. A special bench compris-ing Chief Justice NV Ramanaand Justices DY Chandrachudand Surya Kant asked UttarPradesh and Rajasthan to com-ply with its earlier order to payminimum wages to construc-tion workers from the cess, col-lected by them from real estatefirms, as their work was hit dueto the ban. The SC s order wasfor the States under the Rajasthan and UttarPradesh Governments willhave to file compliance affi-davits on the issue related topayment of money to con-struction workers, it said.

9 Wedirect the commission to exam-ine requests of various indus-tries and organisations aboutrelaxation of conditionsimposed by virtue of our ordersor otherwise as per their cir-culars. We expect the com-mission will look into this in aweek s time, the bench said. /(0 ,(12 State force should never beused to either browbeat apolitical opinion or journalists,the Supreme Court has said,calling for introspection fromthe political class across thecountry over debasement indialogue which is taking placeeven as it asked scribes to be more responsible in the twitter age .A bench comprisingJustices SK Kaul and MMSundresh made these observa-tions while quashing the FIRsagainst editors of a news webportal and others, in connec-tion with articles published inWe s t B e n g a l.))

10 In a country which pridesitself on its diversity, there arebound to be different percep-tions and opinions whichwould include political opin-ions, the apex court is very essence of ademocracy, it said. State force should never beused to either browbeat a political opinion or the journalists suffer the con-sequences of what is already inpublic domain. We hasten to add that thisdoes not take away the respon-sibility of the journalists in howthey report the matters, moreso in a twitter age, the benchsaid. /(0 ,(12 3 )/)4 The Congress has plunged ina serious crisis in Goa withseveral party members quittingon a day party general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi was visitingthe State.