This is Messi's last World Cup and he is playing like that, says Wayne Rooney

 

As Lionel Messi confirmed he will be playing his last FIFA World Cup game when Argentina take on either France or Morocco in Sunday's final in Doha, former England star Wayne Rooney said the Argentine striker is indeed playing the way as if it's his last dance in a global showpiece event.

Messi led Argentina to a 3-0 win over Croatia in their FIFA World Cup 2022 semifinal on Tuesday night and will earn his 172nd and last cap in the World Cups during the weekend when he tries to take the side to its first global title since 1986 triumph.

"Messi announced that this is probably his last World Cup, and he is playing like that. He is playing like this, is it? It is now or never," said Rooney on the VISA Match Centre show on Sports18.

Earlier, Messi had confirmed the 2022 FIFA World Cup final to be his swansong in the mega event. "I feel very happy, to be able to achieve this, to finish my World Cup journey by playing my last game in a final."

Read More : https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/trending-news/this-is-messi-s-last-world-cup-and-he-is-playing-like-that--says-wayne-rooney.html

I have experienced racism in my life, says UK PM Sunak

 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has revealed that he experienced racism growing up in the UK but the country has made incredible progress since then in confronting the issue.

The British Indian leader was speaking to reporters on Thursday night in the wake of a racism row at Buckingham Palace, which saw the resignation of Prince William's godmother after it emerged that the senior palace aide had repeatedly questioned a black British charity worker about where she was “really from”.

When asked about the controversy, Sunak said it would not be right for him to comment on palace matters and pointed out that action had been taken.

“It would not be right for me to comment on matters to do with the royal palace, although as we have seen they've acknowledged what's happened and made an apology for it,” he said.

Sunak, who was born in the UK to parents of Indian heritage, was pressed further on how he felt when he heard about the incident involving Ngozi Fulani, founder of London-based charity Sistah Space, and Lady Susan Hussey – a close confidante of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

He said: “As I have talked about in the past, I have experienced racism in my life. But what I am pleased to say is some of the things that I experienced when I was a kid and a young person, I don't think would happen today because our country has made incredible progress in tackling racism.

Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2022/trending-news/i-have-experienced-racism-in-my-life--says-uk-pm-sunak.html

Punjab CM leaves for Delhi for likely meeting with Sonia Gandhi

 

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday left for Delhi where he is likely to meet party president Sonia Gandhi, amid reports of factionalism in the Punjab Congress.

Singh left for the national capital in a chopper from here at around 11 am. He is expected to meet Sonia Gandhi later in the day, said sources.

The meeting assumes significance as the party high command has been trying to resolve the internal rift in the Punjab unit of the Congress and there is talk of its revamp, with just months to go for the assembly polls.

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the chief minister, attacking him on issues like the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and the subsequent police firing on protesters.

There is some speculation that Sidhu may get an important role in the planned revamp.

A few days ago, Sidhu had met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Delhi.

On June 22, Singh had appeared before a three-member AICC panel headed by leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, set up to resolve the infighting in the Punjab Congress.

But he returned to Chandigarh without an audience with either Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi.

The panel had then asked Singh to deliver on 18 pending promises, including on the 2015 sacrilege issue and power purchase agreements signed by the previous government.

The panel had earlier met other party leaders and submitted a report to the party high command.

Rahul Gandhi has also met several party leaders, including legislators from Punjab, for their views on what is needed to strengthen the party ahead of the assembly polls.

On June 23, AICC general secretary and party's Punjab affairs in-charge Harish Rawat had said Sonia Gandhi would resolve all issues related to the state unit by early July and a united party would fight the next assembly elections.

Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2021/top-stories/punjab-cm-leaves-for-delhi-for-likely-meeting-with-sonia-gandhi.html

Over 6,500 new coronavirus cases in India, death toll climbs to 4,167

New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,167 in the country, while the number of cases climbed to 1,45,380, registering an increase of 146 deaths and 6,535 cases since Monday 8 am, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases climbed to 80,722. As many as 60,490 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 41.61 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior Health Ministry official said.
The total confirmed cases includes foreigners.

Of the 146 deaths reported since Monday morning, 60 were in Maharashtra, 30 in Gujarat, 15 in Delhi, 10 in Madhya Pradesh, seven in Tamil Nadu, six in West Bengal, four each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, three in Telangana, two each in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka and one in Kerala.

Of the total 4,167 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,695 deaths followed by Gujarat with 888 deaths, Madhya Pradesh with 300, West Bengal with 278, Delhi with 276, Rajasthan with 167, Uttar Pradesh with 165, Tamil Nadu with 118 and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 56 deaths each..

The death toll reached 44 in Karnataka and 40 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 23 fatalities due to the disease, Haryana has 16 deaths, while Bihar has registered 13 and Odisha has seven deaths.

Kerala and Himachal Pradesh have reported five deaths each so far, while Jharkhand and Assam have recorded four deaths each so far.

Chandigarh and Uttarakhand each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each, while Meghalaya has reported one fatality so far, according to the ministry data.

More than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, according to the ministry's website.

According to the ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 52,667 followed by Tamil Nadu at 17,082, Gujarat at 14,460, Delhi at 14,053, Rajasthan at 7,300, Madhya Pradesh at 6,859 and Uttar Pradesh at 6,532.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 3,816 in West Bengal, 3,110 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,730 in Bihar.It has risen to 2,182 in Karnataka, 2,060 in Punjab, 1,920 in Telangana, 1,668 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,438 in Odisha.

Haryana has reported 1,184 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 896 cases. A total of 526 people have been infected with the virus in Assam and 377 in Jharkhand.

Uttarakhand has 349 cases, Chhattisgarh has 291, Chandigarh has reported 238 cases, Himachal Pradesh has 223, Tripura has 194 and Goa has registered 67 cases so far.

Ladakh has reported 52 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 41 instances of the infection, Manipur has 39 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections.

Meghalaya has registered 14 cases. Nagaland has reported three cases of the infection, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Arunachal Pradesh have reported two cases of the virus each, while Mizoram and Sikkim have reported a case each till how.

"2,970 cases are being reassigned to states," the ministry said on its website, adding, "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR."

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/special/covid-19-death-toll-in-india-climbs-to-4-167.html

31 new COVID-19 cases in Haryana total 625

The novel coronavirus cases rose to 625 in Haryana after 31 people, including 13 in the worst-affected Gurgaon district, tested positive, the Health Department said.

The number of active coronavirus cases are 358, up from 81 until over a week ago, while 260 people have been discharged so far, the department said.

Mahendragarh in south Haryana, which had remained free from the pandemic, reported its first two cases. Rewari is the only district in the state that has not reported any coronavirus case so far, according to the medical bulletin.

Gurgaon, which is also among the worst-hit in the National Capital Region, reported 13 new infections. It has a cumulative 117 cases, out of which 66 are active, the bulletin said.

Until a week ago, Jhajjar was also free from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but now the district, which borders Delhi, is the worst-hit with 73 cases, all of them active.

There more people were afflicted with the disease in Sonipat, six in Faridabad, three each in Jhajjar and Jind, and one in Panipat, the department said.

The recovery rate continued to slide and was 41.60 per cent on Thursday. There have been seven COVID-19 deaths in the state so far.

Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/special/31-new-covid-19-cases-in-haryana--total-625.html

CRPF man's death sparks row over different COVID-19 guidelines in force; MHA takes note

The death of a 55-year-old CRPF personnel due to COVID-19 and about 50 other troops of his battalion being infected with the disease have rung alarm bells in the establishment after it was found that "dichotomous" orders were issued in the country's largest paramilitary force to check the spread of the pandemic.

CRPF Director General (DG) A P Maheshwari has again issued fresh directives that all suspected coronavirus cases will have to undertake a "mandatory" quarantine of 14 days after it recently came to light that the medical wing of the paramilitary issued a separate order sometime in April stating that asymptomatic staffers can join work after a five-day quarantine.

Maheshwari told PTI that after multiple positive cases were reported from the Delhi based 31st battalion of the force, contact tracing led them to the source -- a nursing assistant jawan, who had joined duty at this unit upon returning from leave after undergoing "only five days quarantine".

The nursing assistant, who himself is admitted to a Delhi hospital after he was detected positive for the virus, worked at the unit hospital for some days after spending five days in quarantine and it is suspected that the infection travelled from him to other troops of the 31st battalion.

"Our general order was 14 days quarantine for any personnel who came back to the unit after leave or had an exposure to COVID-19 infected person. Then we found there was another order by the medical wing that said medical staff who undergo five days quarantine and have no symptoms can be taken off quarantine.

"These were dichotomous orders. I have sought a written explanation from the Director Medical of the force on April 26 and have also referred the case to the ADG (Medical)," the CRPF chief told PTI.

The office of Additional DG (Medical) functions under the Union home ministry and has operational control over the medical wings of all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) like the CRPF, BSF and CISF among others.

"I have asked the ADG (Medical) to take appropriate action on the directive issued by our medical director," the DG said.

H L Raskaran, CRPF's medical director, declined to comment stating he was "not authorised to speak to the media".

A senior official said the Union home ministry has taken note of this "serious" incident where a soldier has lost his life and about 50 others were infected with the pandemic in a single battalion.
The CRPF, on its part, has already submitted a report to the ministry of home affairs (MHA).

The ministry has sought details of the entire sequence of events, also the first case of COVID-19 death in CAPFs, from the force by this month-end.

The official said the CRPF DG has now issued fresh directives that all suspected cases will have to undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine as stipulated under the central government and global health bodies like WHO for COVID-19 containment.

The Sub-Inspector who hailed from Assam had tested positive for the virus a few days back and he breathed his last on Tuesday at the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi.

As the official suffered from co-morbid conditions like hypertension and diabetes he was admitted to the premier central government hospital while the rest of his positive colleagues have been admitted to a state government quarantine facility in Mandoli, a CRPF officer said.

The last rites of the deceased will take place in Delhi as per medical procedures decided for COVID-19 linked deaths, the official said.

While the entire premises of the 31st battalion based in Mayur Vihar has been sealed, about a thousand personnel and their families have been put on different levels of quarantine.

At least 45 personnel from this battalion have already tested positive for the corona virus and are admitted in various hospitals in the national capital. Over 400 samples from this unit have already been collected, officials said.

A jawan of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and a doctor of the CRPF were earlier detected positive for COVID-19.

The 3.25 lakh personnel-strong CRPF is designated as the lead internal security force of the country apart from being the mainstay for anti-Naxal operations and counter-terrorist duties in the Kashmir valley.

Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/top-stories/crpf-man-s-death-sparks-row-over-different-covid-19-guidelines-in-force--mha-takes-note.html

Cabinet approves Rs 15,000 cr package for fighting COVID-19 outbreak

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved Rs 15,000 crore for what it calls COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package'. The funds will be utilized in 3 phases while for immediate COVID-19 emergency response, provision of an amount of Rs 7,774 crore has been kept.
Meanwhile the rest of the amount will be used for medium-term support for the next 1-4 years, which will be provided under the mission mode approach, said the government on Wednesday.

"The key objectives of the package include mounting emergency response to slow and limit COVID-19 in India through the development of diagnostics and COVID-dedicated treatment facilities, centralized procurement of essential medical equipment and drugs required for treatment of infected patients, strengthen and build resilient National and State health systems to support prevention and preparedness for future disease outbreaks, setting up of laboratories and bolster surveillance activities, biosecurity preparedness, pandemic research and proactively engage communities and conduct risk communication activities," said a government statement.

These interventions and initiatives would be implemented under the overall umbrella of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In Phase 1, the health ministry with the support of all the other ministries has already undertaken several activities. Additional funds to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore is released under the package to states and UTs, for strengthening of existing health facilities as COVID Dedicated Hospitals, Dedicated COVID Health Centres and Dedicated COVID Care Centers. Detailed guidelines, protocols and advisory for quarantine, isolation, testing, treatment, disease containment, decontamination, social distancing and surveillance has already been made. Meanwhile, identification hotspots and appropriate containment strategies are also in full swing.

Talking about India's testing facilities, the government said, "Diagnostics laboratories network has been expanded and our testing capacity is increasing everyday. In fact, leveraging on the existing multi-disease testing platforms under NationalAA TB Elimination Programme, orders for procurement of 13 lakhs diagnostic kits have been placed to augment COVID-19 testing."

All health workers including Community Health Volunteers (ASHAs) have been covered with insurance. Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), N95 masks and ventilators, testing kits and drugs for treatment are being procured centrally, said the government.

However, the major share of the expenditure will be used for mounting robust emergency response, strengthening National and State health systems followed by strengthening pandemic research and multi-sector national institutions and platforms. It will be done for community engagement and risk communications and implementation, management, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation components.

The cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also amended the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1987 to ensure safety of India's medical fraternity with steep fines and making any attack on them a cognisable and non-bailable crime.

Source: https://www.dailypioneer.com/2020/top-stories/cabinet-approves-rs-15-000-cr-package-for-fighting-covid-19-outbreak.html