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1 India saw the highest single-day rise of Omicron infec-tions with 156 fresh cases onMonday, taking the case tally to578 as infection spread to 19 States. The Union HomeMinistry has now directed allChief Secretaries in the Statesand UTs to impose need-based restrictions on publicmovement during the festiveseason and implement theadvisory issued recently by theUnion Health Ministry to con-tain the accounts for thehighest number of Omicroncases(148), followed byMaharashtra (141), Kerala(57), Gujarat (49), Rajasthan(43), Telangana(41), TamilNadu (34), Karnataka (31),Madhya Pradesh (9), andAndhra Pradesh (6). The otherStates that have reportedOmicron infections includeWest Bengal (6 cases), Haryana(4), Odisha(4), Chandigarh(3), Jammu & Kashmir (3),Uttar Pradesh (2), HimachalPradesh, Ladakh andUttarakhand one Home Ministry hasstressed the need for greaterforesight, data analysis, dynam-ic decision making, and strictand prompt containmentactions at the local and districtlevels to deal with the crisis.

2 Ithas also issued statutory ordersunder the DisasterManagement Act for the imple-mentation of directions issuedby the Health Ministry. The country has wit-nessed an overall decline inactive cases. However, the newvariant, Omicron, is reported tobe at least 3 times more trans-missible than the Delta VoC(variant of concern), and isposing a new challenge for theCovid containment on Page 2 Come January 1, 2022, andteenagers in the age groupof 15-18 years will be able toregister on the CoWIN app,two days before the Covid-19vaccination programme is setto be unveiled across the coun-try to include them. Topsources said Bharat Biotech sCovaxin is likely to be the onlyCovid-19 vaccine available forchildren in the age group of 15-18 years, who will be inoculat-ed from January means CadilaHealthcare-developed deoxyri-bonucleic acid (DNA) vaccineZyCoV-D, approved by thedrug regulator for use in chil-dren aged 12 and above, willnot be used right away to vac-cinate youngsters aged 15 andabove, the sources indicated theNational Technical AdviseryGroup on Immunisation inIndia has not recommendedthe use of ZyCoV-D for thetime being for kids below Saturday, the DrugsController General ofIndia(DCGI) had approvedthe use of Covaxin for childrenaged 12 and above.

3 On October12, the subject expert commit-tee (SEC) advising the DCGIhad approved Covaxin for usein children as young as 2 yearsand beyond. The DCGI, how-ever, has approved its use for 12years and Minister NarendraModi in his address to thenation on December 25 said precaution dose will be givento the elderly (60 years andabove) with comorbiditiesupon furnishing a doctor s cer-tificate. There are around 20major comorbid conditionslisted by the Union comorbid conditionsincluded cardiovascular dis-eases, diabetes, kidney ail-ments, cirrhosis, cancer, sick-le cell anemia, organ trans-plants, prolonged use ofsteroids or other immunosup-pressant same set of comor-bidities will be consideredwhen evaluating if someone iseligible for an additional shotor a third shot. Someone mayhave diabetes, but at what levelthe disease qualifies as acomorbid condition is some-thing a doctor will decide uponand certify accordingly, said agovernment on Page 2 !

4 "" #$ % & # $ ' Delhi reported 331 newcases of Covid-19 and onedeath on Monday. This is thehighest single-day spike in thepast seven months. Accordingto the Delhi Covid-19 healthbulletin, the positivity rate wasrecorded at per cent. The death toll due to thecoronavirus infection in Delhirose to 25,106. The number ofcumulative cases on Mondaystood at 14,43,683. Over patients have recoveredfrom the Covid-19 deathswere reported here inNovember this year, accordingto official data. Delhi hadrecorded four Covid deaths inOctober and five in total of 48,589 tests,46,549 RT-PCR tests and 2,040rapid antigen tests were con-ducted a day ago, a bulletinreleased by the health depart-ment said. In view of the night curfew,hotels, restaurants, and barsallowed to function at their 50per cent capacity will have towind up before the curfewhours per the DDMA order,District Magistrates, DeputyCommissioners of Police andall the other authorities con-cerned will ensure strict com-pliance of the night will be punished asper the law.

5 The DDMA order saidpatients, pregnant women, peo-ple out to buy essential itemsand those travelling to or fromrailway stations, bus stops andairports would be exemptedfrom the curfew. Governmentemployees carrying out emer-gency services, judges and judi-cial officers, medical personneland media persons too going on foot forpurchasing essential items likevegetables, milk and otherhousehold products fromneighbourhood shops will beexempted from the curfewrestrictions. Delivery personscarrying food or medical prod-ucts, shops selling vegetables,dairy products, meat and otheredible products, pharmacy anddrug stores too are on Page 2 # ( % " ) *+ , Amid the rising cases ofOmicron and theAllahabad High Court obser-vation to postpone the polls,the Election Commission (EC)on Monday held wide-rangingdiscussions with Union HealthSecretary Rajesh Bhushan andtop brass of the NarcoticsControl Bureau, paramilitaries.

6 Top sources said the finaldecision about election sched-ule will be taken next month. Both the poll body and theHealth Ministry will holdanother meeting in January totake a final call, sources , top officials of theElection Commission met theUnion Health Secretary toreview the Covid-19 situationin the wake of the spread ofhighly infectious Omicron vari-ant ahead of Assembly polls infive States early next briefed the EC aboutthe Covid-19 situation and therising cases of Omicron in thecountry. The Health Secretary hasgiven a detailed presentation tothe poll body for nearly anhour, especially the poll-boundUttarakhand, Manipur, Goa,Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, the sources Health Secretary alsobriefed the EC about the Covidprotocol and Home Ministryguidelines issued in the recentpast to check the spread of thevirus. Another source said itwas a session meant to getinformation. The EC assessedthe situation based on statisticsprovided by the health EC also met with thetop brass of the NarcoticsControl Bureau, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP),the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)and the Border Security Force(BSF) and pressed for main-taining strict vigil on interna-tional borders in poll-boundStates to ensure drugs do notinfluence the upcomingAssembly polls in five commission in partic-ular referred to Punjab andGoa with regard to drug smug-gling, the sources on Page 2- ".

7 The results of MunicipalCorporation Chandigarh(MCC) elections which weredeclared on Monday threw upa hung verdict even as the newentrant Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) made a major impact inChandigarh politics. The AAP, which contestedthe MC poll for the first time,emerged as the leading party,winning an impressive 14 of the35 taking back thethree farm laws, the BJP, whichenjoyed a majority in the pre-vious MC House, could winonly 12 wards while theCongress was relegated to thethird position bagging eightseats. The Shiromani AkaliDal (SAD) won only one seemsto have gone in favour of theAAP instead of the Congresswhich was eying a comeback inthe MC the prominentlosers were sitting Mayor RaviKant Sharma, and formerMayors Davesh Moudgil andRajesh Kalia. All three BJP candidateswere Mayors in the currentterm of the party. FormerCongress Mayor Kamlesh toowas defeated. ChandigarhCongress president SubhashChawla s son Sumit Chawlaalso lost.

8 In Ward No. 25, BJP YuvaMorcha leader Vijay KaushalRana was defeated by YogeshDhingra of AAP by a margin of315 votes. The ward was earli-er represented by ChandigarhBJP president Arun Sood. BJP ssenior leader Heera Negi lostfrom Ward to AAP sAnju Katyal by a narrow mar-gin of 76 on Page 2 ! !" # $ % & ' (" " # $% ! " )*+ %# ' + , # % - . + , # - / - . - 0- 1& 2 $ , - $ ( & ' ( ) * & # $% ! 3 / . & . 4 %' / 3' . $ # & % % % %' 55(6 ( " + , - ., !$ % ' & 78& . - ) ' & / # % ( Kerala has yet again emergedas the best State in terms ofoverall health performancewhile poll-bound UttarPradesh is the worst, accordingto the fourth Health Indexreleased by Niti fourth round of theHealth Index took into accountthe period 2019-20 as the ref-erence year. The report, titled The Healthy States,Progressive India , ranks Statesand Union Territories on theiryear-on-year incremental per-formance in health outcomes aswell as their overall is for the fourth con-secutive round that Keralaemerged as the best performerin terms of overall perfor-mance.)))

9 tamil nadu andTelangana have emerged asthe second and third best per-formers on health parametersamong larger UP is the worst per-former overall, it has made themaximum incremental gainsover the period of one year fol-lowed by Assam andTelangana. Bihar and MadhyaPradesh were the second andthird-worst performers onhealth parameters. Rajasthanwas the weakest performerboth in terms of overall per-formance and incremental per-formance. Among the smaller States,Mizoram emerged as the bestperformer in overall perfor-mance as well as incrementalperformance. Mizoram andTripura too showed improve-ments in incremental perfor-mance. Arunachal Pradesh andManipur are the worst-per-forming States in terms of bothoverall and incremental per-formance. Among UTs, Delhiand Jammu & Kashmir rankedamong the bottom UTs interms of overall performancebut emerged as the leading per-former in terms of incremen-tal performance, as per the NitiAayog health index by theGovernment think-tank is aweighted composite scoreincorporating 24 indicatorscovering key aspects of healthperformance.

10 The report, pre-pared in collaboration withthe Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare with technicalassistance from the WorldBank, said that the health indexcomprises select indicators inthree domains health out-comes, governance and infor-mation, and key inputs andprocesses. ( //0 " " ! " # $ " " % " & '( " " ) " * " # + % " &, - . ' 9" + # ( %: ' %( %: ' : ),$/01 22 ;<=> - '' # + # ? % 2 @ A ) A+ ) 2) - +2 2 B ) C * B 2. $ 2% 13 4 ! "#$ !"# $ AC "A " " A2+ B ?2 " % &'( )A$ A -+ - A) AA$ AC BD- ) " A - ! ! * - +$ )- ?A CA" -&E2 " ? A - " !In Odisha, along with therest of the country, Covid-19 vaccination for lakh children between15 and 18 years age wouldbegin from January 3 nextas per Prime Minister Modi , Health DirectorBijay Panigrahi said Mondaythat precaution doses forhealthcare and frontlineworkers numbering overseven lakh and for senior citi-zens above 60 years with co-morbidities or other healthproblems would be providedfrom January 10.