Some early visitors at Marina beach on Tuesday. (Express photo)Chennai, Hyderabad Coronavirus News December 18, 19 Highlights: Tamil Nadu recorded 1134 positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the state tally to 8,04,650. Among these, Chennai reported 341 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,21,587. The state recorded 12 deaths on Friday, putting the state toll at 11,954. All 12 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 1170 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,82,915.
As of Friday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 9781. Till date, 4,86,202 males, 3,18,414 females and 34 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,33,10,701 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 75,347 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 234 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 67 are government and 167 are private facilities.
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A team of a high-level delegation led by the Election Commission secretary-general Umesh Sinha will be visiting Chennai to assess the preparedness for the general election to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The team will be on a two-day visit to the capital of Tamil Nadu on December 21 and December 22.
Deputy Election Commissioners Sudeep Jain and Ashish Kundra, Bihar Chief Electoral Officer HR Srinivasa, Director Pankaj Srivatsava and Malay Malick are part of the delegation.
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Less than 24 hours after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) standing committee approved the decision to gift new Apple iPhones to all 17 of its outgoing members — including the Mayor and Deputy Mayor — the decision was rolled back following widespread criticism.
On Thursday, approval to buy 17 new Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (512 GB) smartphones was sanctioned by the committee, headed by Mayor Bonthu Rammohan. A budget of Rs 27.23 lakh was approved to purchase the gadgets, each of which would cost Rs 1.6 lakh.
The sitting corporators are expected to demit office on February 10, 2021 once their term officially ends. Several members, including the Mayor, chose not to contest the elections again this time around.
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The Andhra Pradesh government has requested AIIMS-New Delhi and the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in Hyderabad to conduct a long-term study to determine the causes of the mystery illness in Eluru in West Godavari district.
One person died due to the illness while 550 people were hospitalised, however, the cases of unexplained convulsions and seizures, which started on December 5, stopped as abruptly as they started.
The government’s move comes on the heels of recommendations by several scientific agencies for a long-term study as no conclusive proof of the cause of the illness was found in probes undertaken so far.
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Taking a serious view of various mobile app companies that offer instant loans, the Telangana police Friday stated that there are at least 60 such loan applications available on Google Play Store which are not registered or recognised by the Reserve Bank of India as an NBFC and their operations were unlawful.
The response from the Telangana DGP’s office comes in the wake of a jobless techie’s death by suicide in Hyderabad and an agriculture extension officer’s in Siddipet district in the last few days, allegedly owing to harassment and humiliation over repayment.
In a statement, the DGP’s office said that these apps violated user’s privacy. “All the apps have an uncanny commonality in their methods. They appear to be built upon one SDK which is suspected to be provided by a foreign country. Their actions of calling up friends and relatives of the victims are violative of Rule 3(2) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 as well,” it said, encouraging the public to report to police any harassment by these apps.
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Md Farooq Ahmed, the Adilabad district president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), was arrested Friday night after he shot at two persons with his licensed gun and injured another with a knife during an altercation over a cricket match near Tatiguda locality. The incident took place at around 5 pm.
The police said a “minor tussle that broke out between two local groups playing cricket snowballed into a conflict involving the parents of the locals.”
Videos of the incident, that have gone viral on social media, showed Ahmed firing four rounds with his gun at a mob that was chasing him. He could be seen wielding a knife, too. The police identified the injured as Syed Zameer, with two bullet injuries, Syed Mouthesin, with one bullet injury, and Syed Mannan, who sustained a head injury.
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With tourist spots across Tamil Nadu finally reopening after nearly eight months of lockdown, travellers have begun planning short getaways to enjoy a break from work and stay at home orders amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
While the pandemic continues to make its presence felt, officials at popular tourist destinations across the state are enforcing strict COVID-19 protocols — like social distancing, temperature checks and mandatory mask wearing — to prevent the deadly infection from spreading further.
Here are the tourism spots that have reopened across Tamil Nadu and their COVID-19 guidelines.
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The CBI has booked Hyderabad-based Transstroy (India) Ltd and its directors for alleged bank fraud of over Rs 7,926 crore in a consortium led by Canara Bank, in one of the biggest banking scams in the country, officials said on Friday.
The agency carried out searches at the premises of the company and the accused directors, including former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, which led to the recovery of incriminating documents, its spokesperson said in a statement.
Rao, an additional director in the company, has been named in the FIR as accused, besides the company, its chairman-cum-managing director Cherukuri Sridhar and another additional director Akkineni Satish
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Telangana registered 627 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally to over 2.80 lakh while four related fatalities pushed the toll to 1,510.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 123, followed by Rangareddy 52 and Medchal Malkajgiri 48, a government bulletin said on Saturday.
As many as 6,942 patients are under treatment and 46,694 samples were tested on Friday. Cumulatively, over 64 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was nearly 1.72 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.53 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 96.99 per cent.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 404 fever clinics in Chennai on Friday. A total of 19,435 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 352 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Teynampet (Zone 9) where 43 camps had been set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with six camps.
Calling it “disturbing”, the Supreme Court Friday stayed an order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court to examine if there has been constitutional breakdown in the state under the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
Hearing an appeal by the Andhra Pradesh government, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde stayed the October 1 order of the High Court, stating that “as an apex court, we find it disturbing”.
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The CBI has booked a former TDP Lok Sabha MP and his Hyderabad-based company for allegedly defrauding a consortium led by Canara Bank of around Rs 8,000 crore in what is expected to be one of the biggest banking scams seen in the country.
TDP leader Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, an additional director in Transstroy (India) Ltd, is accused along with others of fabricating accounts, round-tripping and misappropriating funds, and fraudulently reneging on repayments of Rs 7,926.01 crore to the consortium, the CBI said.
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Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth is likely to be summoned again by the one-man commission probing the Thoothukudi violence for his remarks on the anti-Sterlite protesters.
According to Arul Vadivel Sekar, the counsel for the commission which is headed by Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, the actor may be summoned in January.
Rajinikanth had sought an exemption in February earlier this year apprehending a law and order problem. He had said thousands of his fans will gather in Thoothukudi to see him and hence he needed to be exempted from appearing in person before the Commission.
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A total of 221 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 110 arrivals and 111 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai from 9 am to 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 1134 positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the state tally to 8,04,650. Among these, Chennai reported 341 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,21,587.
The state recorded 12 deaths on Friday, putting the state toll at 11,954. All 12 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 1170 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,82,915.
As of Friday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 9781. Till date, 4,86,202 males, 3,18,414 females and 34 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,33,10,701 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 75,347 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 234 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 67 are government and 167 are private facilities.
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With tourist spots across Tamil Nadu finally reopening after nearly eight months of lockdown, travellers have begun planning short getaways to enjoy a break from work and stay at home orders amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
While the pandemic continues to make its presence felt, officials at popular tourist destinations across the state are enforcing strict COVID-19 protocols — like social distancing, temperature checks and mandatory mask wearing — to prevent the deadly infection from spreading further.
Read more
Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth is likely to be summoned again by the one-man commission probing the Thoothukudi violence for his remarks on the anti-Sterlite protesters.
According to Arul Vadivel Sekar, the counsel for the commission which is headed by Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, the actor may be summoned in January.
Rajinikanth had sought an exemption in February earlier this year apprehending a law and order problem. He had said thousands of his fans will gather in Thoothukudi to see him and hence he needed to be exempted from appearing in person before the Commission.
Read more
The decision of the Standing Committee of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Thursday to give themselves a brand new Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (512GB) has given ammunition to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to attack the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
The GHMC’s move comes at a time when all the 17 members of the Standing Committee, which is the final authority to approve the development projects of the Corporation, will demit office in the first week of February 2021. The proposal to buy new iPhones was among the 14 proposals that were approved Thursday.
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A student was killed and two of his friends suffered injures after their bike rammed into the median on Durgam Cheruvu flyover Thursday. According to the police, the youngsters were drunk and the rider, who lost his life in the accident, did not have a driving licence.
The deceased has been identified as Shiva (20), who was a third year BTech student at a city Engineering College. Madhapur police have filed a case under section 304(II) (culpable homicide note amounting to murder) against the two friends, Prashant(22) and Vijay (22). All three are natives of Sircilla town and were schoolmates. On Wednesday night, the friends celebrated Prashant’s birthday at his apartment in Yousufguda, after which they went for a ride in the wee hours. Shiva and Prashant were roommates, and Vijay stayed at Jeedimetla.
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