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10:08 (IST) Level-3 curbs to continue in Mumbai Mumbai will continue to remain in the level-3 category of the Maharashtra government's plan to ease coronavirus-induced restrictions till further orders, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Friday night.  Considering the possible difficulties in the implementation of COVID-19 control measures, the guidelines issued on June 5, 2021, will continue as of now, it said. The infection positivity rate in Mumbai has dipped to 4.40 per cent and oxygen bed occupancy is 27.12 per cent. Therefore, as per the state government's criteria, Mumbai can shift to the less rigorous level-2 restrictions.  But the BMC said it decided to continue with level-3 restrictions considering the city's size and population density, daily arrival of a huge number of commuters from other parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the India Meteorological Department's warning of very heavy rainfall in the next few days. 10:01 (IST...

The Dominica High Court has denied bail to fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi in the case of illegal entry into the island country after his mysterious disappearance from neighbouring Antigua and Barbuda where he is staying as a citizen since 2018, local Caribbean media reported. The high court on Friday (local time) gave the ruling by concluding that Choksi was a "flight risk", did not have any ties with Dominica and the court could not impose any conditions which will stop him from leaving the country, news outlet AntiguaNewsroom said. Choksi had approached the high court after the magistrate had rejected his bail petition. The promoter of Geetanjali Gems and other famous diamond brands in India had fled the country weeks before Rs 13,500 crore fraud in Punjab National Bank (PNB) allegedly involving him and his nephew Nirav Modi surfaced. Choksi, 62, who has an Interpol Red Notice against him, had mysteriously gone missing on 23 May from Antigua and Barbuda where he has...

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted access to contraceptives and family planning services, experts and health workers told Firstpost . Stating that this lack of access could lead to a major health crisis in terms of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted diseases, the experts called for urgent attention. A number of experts from major civil society organisations raised concerns about this issue in a recent panel discussion organised by the Population Foundation of India (PFI). The speakers touched upon a number of policy actions that need to be taken, including optimising access to existing contraceptive methods as well as expanding choices in terms of contraceptives. “Across the world, more women and children may die due to lack of access to health services than due to COVID-19 itself...If we agree that contraceptives save lives, then it stands to reason that the lack of access to contraceptives is detrimental to women’s health and their lives,” s...

One of the key differences between the ferocity of the second wave versus the first was that the new variants in circulation the second time were seen to be impacting children as well. According to reports, more children were affected by COVID-19 in the second wave in states like  Karnataka and several districts of Maharashtra. Firstpost spoke to two senior doctors in Maharashtra who agreed that there were a higher number of pediatric cases in the second wave. However, they added that the overall number of coronavirus cases was higher and hence, the number of children getting infected went up. They also said that the disease is generally mild in children and the mortality rate is also low. Dr Tushar Parikh, consultant neonatologist and paediatrician at Motherhood Hospital in Pune’s Kharadi said “We saw the maximum number of paediatric patients, during the entire pandemic, in the month of April 2021 and this also corresponds to data from the Pune Municipal Corporation and I th...

Earlier this week, the Central Government raised the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and other Kharif crops. While the MSP for paddy was raised marginally by Rs 72 per quintal to Rs 1,940 per quintal for the 2021-22 crop year, the rates of pulses, oilseeds and cereals were hiked substantially. Among the commercial crops, the MSP of cotton was increased by Rs 211 per quintal to Rs 5,726 for medium staple variety, and by Rs 200 per quintal to Rs 6,025 for long-staple variety of cotton for the 2021-22 crop year (July-June). What is MSP? Minimum Support Price or MSP is the minimum price set by the government at which farmers in India can expect to sell their produce for the season. When the market prices of produce fall below the MSP level, procurement agencies step in to procure the crop and ‘support’ the prices. The system, theoretically speaking, saves farmers from selling their produce at a low price. How is MSP calculated? As Firstpost had reported earlier, the MSP is usu...

Kolkata/New Delhi:  A Chinese national apprehended while trying to cross the India-Bangladesh border illegally has told the investigators that he and his associates have smuggled as many as 1,300 Indian SIM cards into their country by hiding them in undergarments, the BSF said on Friday. Han Junwe (35), a resident of China's Hubei province, has been handed over by the Border Security Force (BSF) to the West Bengal police for "further legal proceedings". He was nabbed by a BSF patrol party from the Malda district of the state on Thursday. "Junwe has been a wanted criminal and upon thorough interrogation, shocking facts have come to the fore that he has so far taken around 1,300 Indian SIMs from India to China using fake documents. "Junwe, through his associates, used to hide the SIMs in undergarments and send these to China," the Kolkata-headquartered south Bengal frontier of the BSF said in a statement. These SIM cards, it alleged, were used to hack ac...

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that issues raised in the pleas, seeking directions for ex-gratia compensation of Rs 4,00,000 to the families of those who have died of COVID-19, are "genuine" and are under consideration of the government. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, requested a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah to give him some time so that he can file a reply on the pleas. "The issues are genuine and are being attended to. If the court will grant me some time, I will file a reply," Mehta told the bench. The apex court observed that as per media reports, the Bihar government has already announced that it would give Rs 4,00,000 ex-gratia to families of those who have died due to COVID-19. When the counsel appearing for one of the petitioners said that authorities are not issuing death certificates to those succumbing to the deadly virus, Mehta said, "Let me put in my reply. I have already said t...