Dehradun, May 24: Two women, including a doctor from AIIMS Rishikesh, have tested positive for Covid-19 in Uttarakhand, prompting the state health department to issue a high alert.

According to officials, both individuals recently travelled to Uttarakhand from other states.

Dr Sunita Tamta, Director General of Health, Uttarakhand, confirmed that a 57-year-old woman from Gujarat who had come to Rishikesh for religious purposes exhibited symptoms of coronavirus.

After testing, she was confirmed positive and is currently under treatment. The second patient is a doctor from Bengaluru who has also tested positive and is receiving treatment at home, said Tamta.

She added that, as of May 22, a total of 277 COVID-19 cases have been reported across India, primarily from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Kerala.

While there are currently no active local cases in Uttarakhand, the state is intensifying preventive measures in line with central government guidelines.

“All Chief Medical Officers across the state have been instructed to increase Covid testing and sampling. If any new case is detected, genome sequencing should be conducted to identify the variant,” Dr. Tamta stated.

She also emphasised that oxygen plants and hospital beds are being kept operational as a precaution.

Following the two positive cases, the health department is focusing on aggressive sampling and monitoring of incoming travellers from other states.

Meanwhile, Karnataka has also seen a slight uptick in COVID-19 cases, especially in Bengaluru. State Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Friday confirmed that 35 cases have been reported in Karnataka this year, with 32 of them from Bengaluru.

“A gradual increase in Covid-19 spread has been observed in Bengaluru over the past 20 days, though the situation remains under control,” he said.

Minister Rao urged citizens to proactively follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

“Pregnant women, children, immuno-compromised individuals, and those with comorbidities should wear face masks in crowded places,” he advised.

He also encouraged the use of hand sanitisers and recommended testing for individuals showing symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI).

In another development, a nine-month-old infant tested positive for COVID-19 in Bengaluru on May 22 via a Rapid Antigen Test, officials confirmed.

Authorities across multiple states are on alert as the country witnesses a fresh wave of sporadic COVID-19 cases, and health departments are urging continued vigilance to prevent a broader outbreak.

United Nations, May 24: India has charged Pakistan with violating the Indus Water Treaty by trampling its spirit of goodwill through thousands of terrorist attacks and by obstructing the updating of the infrastructure to ensure its safety.

“Despite this, India has shown extraordinary patience and magnanimity,” said India’s Permanent Representative P Harish, responding to what he said were Pakistan’s campaign of disinformation about New Delhi suspending the treaty.

“India has finally announced that the Treaty will be in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism. It is clear that it is Pakistan which remains in violation of the Indus Water Treaty and not India,” he said.

After the massacre of 26 people by Pakistan-based terrorists last month, India said it was suspending the treaty reached in 1960 under the aegis of the World Bank to provide Pakistan a consistent share of the water from the Indus and its allied water resources.

Speaking at an informal meeting of the Security Council on protecting water in armed conflict, Harish outlined the problems that have arisen since the treaty was signed.

“Far-reaching fundamental changes have taken place not only in terms of escalating security concerns through cross-border terror attacks, but also growing requirements for producing clean energy, climate change, and demographic change”, he said.

While the technology for dam infrastructure improved to ensure safety and more efficient water use, “some of the old dams are facing serious safety concerns”.

He said that New Delhi formally asked Islamabad on several occasions in the last two years to discuss modifications of the treaty to no avail.

“Pakistan has continued to consistently block any changes to this infrastructure, and any modifications of the provisions, which are permissible under the treaty,” Harish said.

Harish emphasised that while the fundamental basis of the treaty laid out in its preamble is a spirit of goodwill and friendship, Pakistan has inflicted on India three wars and thousands of terror attacks.

He added that these cynical acts continue to endanger the safety of our projects and the lives of civilians.

“In the last four decades, more than 20,000 Indian lives have been lost in terror attacks, the most recent of which was the dastardly targeted terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam last month. In fact, in 2012, terrorists even attacked the Tulbul Navigation Project in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.

New Delhi, May 23: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking action against Maharashtra government officials over protocol lapses during Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai’s first visit to the state on May 18 after taking over the country’s highest judicial post.

A bench of CJI Gavai and Justice A.G. Masih opined that the plea was filed with an intent to obtain “cheap publicity” and termed it a “publicity interest litigation”.

The bench refrained from imposing exemplary costs but asked the PIL litigant to deposit a cost of Rs 7,000.

In its order, the apex court said that soon after CJI Gavai expressed displeasure over the protocol lapse, senior Maharashtra government officials, including the Chief Secretary, came to meet him and expressed regret.

The top court, in a press statement released on Tuesday, said that CJI Gavai stressed that a “trivial issue should not be blown out of proportion” and requested everyone that “the matter be given a quietus”.

Following his taking oath as the 52nd CJI, Justice Gavai on Sunday (May 18) travelled to Mumbai for a felicitation programme by the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. “If the Chief Justice of India is visiting Maharashtra for the first time, and the state’s Chief Secretary, the Director General of Police, and the Mumbai Police Commissioner don’t feel it appropriate to be present, then they need to reflect on that. There’s nothing new about the protocol — it’s a matter of respect from one constitutional institution to another,” the CJI said.

“It’s a question of respect by the other organs of the institution to the judiciary,” he added.

The three pillars of democracy — the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive — are equal, and every organ of the Constitution must reciprocate and show respect to the other, he had said. Following the episode, the Maharashtra government issued protocol guidelines to ensure adherence to official decorum during the visit of the Chief Justice of India to Mumbai and other parts of the state. It designated the CJI as a Permanent State Guest in Maharashtra under the State Guest Rules, 2004. Accordingly, the Chief Justice of India will continue to be entitled to all protocol-related facilities, including accommodation, vehicle arrangements, and security throughout the state during visits.