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Viral message on Covid XBB variant is fake: Union health ministry

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 Amid the sudden Covid scare that has erupted across many countries, a WhatsApp message has been making its rounds claiming that the newly discovered XBB subvariant of Omicron is five times more virulent and has a higher mortality rate than the Delta variant.

However, the Union health ministry has rejected the claim and has termed the message fake. “This message circulating in many WhatsApp groups regarding XXB variant of Covid 19 is FAKE and Misleading”, said the health ministry on Thursday.

The viral message claims that “the new variant of the COVID-Omicron XBB coronavirus is different, deadly and not easy to detect correctly. The symptoms of the new virus COVID-Omicron XBB are – there is no cough and there is no fever.”

“COVID-Omicron XBB is 5 times more virulent than the Delta variant and has a higher mortality rate than it,” the viral message claims further.

In view of the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in China and other countries, the Centre has asked states to step up vigil and gear up genome sequencing of positive case samples to track existing and emerging variants.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in India and preparedness of the public health system for surveillance, containment and management of the virus in view of the recent spike in cases in some countries. The meeting was attended by Minister of State Health Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Member (Health) NITI Aayog, Dr V.K. Paul and other senior officials.

Maharashtra

Mumbai Deonar Eid-ul-Azha preparations, Online Sacrifice Authorization facility from BMC My App

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Mumbai: All preparations have been started in the backdrop of the import of sacrificial animals in Deonar Mandi before Eid-ul-Adha. Special arrangements have also been made for the slaughter of buffaloes and sacrificial animals in Deonar. The Mumbai Municipal Corporation has introduced an online facility for permission to slaughter sacrificial animals on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. A coordination meeting of various agencies was held under the chairmanship of Additional Municipal Commissioner, City, Dr. Ashwini Joshi regarding the preparations for Eid.

Various elaborate arrangements at Deonar Slaughterhouse for slaughter of sacrificial animals. This year, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation has made an online facility available on the MyBMC application to apply for permission to slaughter sacrificial animals on the occasion of Eid. Also, online arrangements have been made for the import license of buffaloes and goats for the slaughter of sacrificial animals as well as ‘slot booking’ on the website https://www.mcgm.gov.in. Also, various elaborate arrangements have been made for the cattle market and the slaughter of sacrificial animals at the Deonar Slaughter House. Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr. has directed that all the agencies involved in this entire system should work together to fulfill their responsibilities.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Dr. reviewed the preparations made in the backdrop of Eid-ul-Azha. Ashwini Joshini reviewed the coordination meeting held at the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Headquarters. Mumbai Municipal Corporation Deputy Commissioner (Special) Chanda Jadhav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic-3) Pradeep Chavan, Assistant Commissioner (Property) Prithviraj Chauhan, Assistant Commissioner (M-East) Shri Ujjal Angule, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Deonar Division) Rajesh Babishti, along with General Manager of Deonar Reservoir Dr. Kaleem Pasha Pathan, officers from various departments of Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Police Force, Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai Veterinary College, Kora Centre, Department of Legal Metrology, Adani Electricity and other agencies were present on the occasion.

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Maharashtra

No more Mumbai Special Commissioner, now Joint Police Commissioner Intelligence State Government and Ministry of Home Affairs issued a new post in Mumbai

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Deven Bharti

Mumbai: After appointing Special Commissioner Deven Bharti as the head of Mumbai in Mumbai city, now with the abolition of the post of Special Commissioner, the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to appoint a Joint Police Commissioner Intelligence in this post. This decision has been introduced to ensure the security of Mumbai city and the visits of VPIs, especially the frequent visits of the President of India, Vice President of India and Ministers to Mumbai and the security and intelligence collection of important installations. The responsibilities of the Joint Police Commissioner Intelligence are to collect intelligence in Mumbai city, protect the city and perform services under the Commissioner.

The Home Ministry has clarified in its order that the post of Special Commissioner was of the ADG i.e. Additional DG level and has now been downgraded to the level of Joint Commissioner of Police Mumbai Director General IG and after this amendment, now instead of the post of Special Commissioner, Joint Police Commissioner has been declared eligible for it. In such a situation, after this amendment, it has become clear that the first and last Special Commissioner in Mumbai was Deven Bharti and this post was created for Deven Bharti in Mumbai. Deven Bharti is also the special secretary of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, hence he was appointed as Special Commissioner in Mumbai. Now there is no space for this post, hence the government has downgraded this post and changed the name of this post to Joint Police Commissioner Intelligence.

The decision to create this post to strengthen intelligence in Mumbai city has been taken by the state home ministry, but reliable sources say that since Deven Bharti has been appointed as a commissioner from a special commissioner, there was no scope for this post for the state government. Instead, the state government and the home ministry have amended the gist of this post and changed it to the post of Joint Police Commissioner Intelligence so that it does not seem that the post of Special Commissioner has been abolished after Deven Bharti was appointed as the police commissioner. Earlier, there were five joint police commissioners in the Mumbai commissionerate, but now after the creation of this post, there will be 6 joint police commissioners.

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Maharashtra

Two arrested in Mumbai Crime Branch’s major operation against drug dealers

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Mumbai: Unit 5 of Mumbai Crime Branch claimed to have arrested two drug peddlers and seized MD and drugs worth Rs 4 crore from their possession. The Mumbai Crime Branch received information that two people were going to come to Jogeshwari bus stop at midnight for the purpose of drug peddling, on which Crime Branch Unit 5 in-charge Ghanshyam Nair laid a trap and arrested two people from here and during the search, 2 kg of MD was recovered from their possession, which is said to be worth Rs 4 crore in the international market. Both of them were later arrested by the police. The two who have been arrested are said to be 44 years old and the other is 29 years old. After the arrest of both the drug peddlers, the Crime Branch has now started interrogating them and it is being found out from where these drug peddlers brought the drugs on such a large scale. And how many other people were involved in the drug trade with him?

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