The Evening Wrap: Experts urge caution as new coronavirus variant emerges in South Africa

With a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, scientists and health experts in India have said that new waves of infection are anticipated and unless we act quickly and efficiently, the country will possibly see repeat waves. India has better tools in hand now compared to two years ago, said Vinod Scaria, scientist at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB). He added the country, however, had to improve its vaccination drive, public health measures, health infrastructure and genomic surveillance to be better prepared. “We have to use our precious time to vaccinate all eligible people with two doses at least. Closing the gap in the unvaccinated and second dose in the 45+ age group could provide a unique opportunity to minimise COVID-19 deaths,” he said. Dr. Scaria added that boosters would not help when a larger proportion of the world has not got even one dose. According to experts, the new variant from South Africa is important because it has a large number of mutations, including around 32 in spike protein, some of which are independently associated with immune escape as well as increased transmissibility. Stating that the latest development is particularly concerning for a country such as India, which is densely populated, he said transmission among the susceptible population can occur at a greater pace. Viswesvaran Balasubramanian, consultant, interventional pulmonology and sleep medicine, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, said though public health systems were geared to face the possibility of a third wave, viral variants with high transmissibility could put a huge stress on the existing healthcare infrastructure, given the population in India. “In addition, with children still unvaccinated and many adults yet to receive the second dose of vaccine, a mutant variant at this time can result in rapid transmission and increased severity of disease in these susceptible populations,” he said. Doctors also explain that with mutations becoming inevitable, long-term preparations and strategic planning to live with the COVID-19 pandemic are essential. “At an individual level, compliance to pandemic norms like avoidance or limiting social gatherings, wearing masks in public spaces, and even indoors in homes with susceptible populations and adherence to hand sanitisation techniques should be followed,” said Dr. Balasubramanian. India has been successful in administering more than 100 crore vaccinated doses, which is a great achievement in terms of the huge population but mostly these are single dose and not the complete two doses of vaccination, which can be effective in fighting the new strain, if it gets in India, said Ankita Baidya of infectious diseases department, HCMCT Manipal Hospitals. India will permit international flights from all countries from December 15 India will permit international flights from all countries from December 15, but there will be restrictions on the number of flights from a country depending on its health risk status. “The competent authority has decided to resume the scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India with effect from 15th December, 2021,” Ministry of Civil Aviation said in an order issued today. “Due to prevailing COVID-19 situation, the capacity entitlements shall be as per the category of countries based on enlistment of countries as at-risk from time to time by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” it adds. Countries excluded from the Health Ministry’s list of “at risk” nations will be allowed 100% of pre-COVID 19 flights. These include countries like the U.S., UAE, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Countries that are in the “at risk” list but with whom India has an air bubble arrangement will be allowed 75% of pre-COVID-19 capacity. These include countries like U.K., France, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore. Countries that are in the “at risk” list but with whom India doesn’t have an air bubble will be allowed only 50% of pre-COVID flights. These include South Africa, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Israel. CBI gets sanction to prosecute retired Allahabad High Court judge The CBI has received the sanction to prosecute retired Allahabad High Court Judge S.N. Shukla in connection with a case alleging that a private medical college was favoured in his orders. The agency had sought the High Court’s approval to prosecute the retired judge earlier this year. Following the grant of sanction, it can now file a charge sheet for further legal proceedings. Besides Justice (now retired) Shukla, who was with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, retired judge of the Orissa High Court I.M. Quddusi has also been named in the First Information Report. The other accused were Bhawana Pandey of Prasad Education Trust; Bhagwan Prasad Yadav, chairman of the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences; his son Palash; and Sudhir Giri of Venketashwara Medical College (Meerut). The case was registered in December 2019 on the basis of a preliminary enquiry initiated by the CBI on September 8, 2017, into the alleged commission of gross misconduct by Justice Shukla and others. As alleged, the Medical Council of India (MCI) had barred the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences in May 2017 from admitting students for two years due to sub-standard facilities and non-fulfillment of the requisite criteria. Similar action had been taken against 46 other medical institutions. The Trust challenged the order in the Supreme Court. Subsequently, it is alleged, a conspiracy was hatched and the petition withdrawn with the Court’s permission. Then, another petition was filed before a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Lucknow on August 24, 2017. The next day, Quddusi and the institute’s chairman met Justice Shukla at his residence and “delivered illegal gratification”. According to the CBI, the petition was heard later that day by the Division Bench comprising Justice Shukla and a favourable order was passed. The MCI challenged the order in the Supreme Court. During the hearing, the Trust did not claim any benefit from the High Court order, but requested that its bank guarantee not be encashed, which was permitted. The agency alleged that the institute’s chief then attempted to get back the illegal gratification from Justice Shukla and a part of it was returned. In September 2017, in another case, the agency had arrested Quddusi and five others for allegedly conspiring to get the case of the Lucknow-based institute “settled” in the Supreme Court. The institute’s chief, his son Palash, Pandey, alleged middleman Vishwanath Agarwala and “hawala operator” Ramdev Saraswat were also arrested. The CBI did not need sanction to prosecute Quddusi as he had retired at the time of the alleged offence. Sibal urges urgent SC hearing over ‘mayhem’ in Tripura Senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Friday made an urgent mentioning in the Supreme Court, alleging “mayhem” in Tripura where the municipal elections are underway. The senior lawyer urged a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud to hear the case in the course of the day. The request came just 24 hours after the court ordered additional deployment of central armed police forces to be moved across the State to protect the electoral process. It had also directed the State and the police to not hinder the media from reporting on the elections. “No two battalions of CAPF... Media was to be given unhindered access. It is mayhem there,” Sibal submitted. He claimed to have electronic evidence to show that the apex court orders were not being followed. However, Justice Chandrachud, who was heading a different Bench from the one he was heading on November 25, expressed doubts about hearing the matter on the same day. The November 25 order of the apex court was based on petitions, including one filed by All India Trinamool Congress party, alleging intimidation and violence in Tripura in the build-up to the elections. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had also intervened in the court, alleging attacks on their party workers. Farmers in hundreds descend at protest sites to mark anniversary Hundreds of tractors bedecked with lights and posters rolled through the Singhu border protest site as loud Punjabi and Haryanvi songs filled the air on Friday to mark one year of the protest against the three farm laws that the government is set to formally withdraw. Farmers flaunting colourful turbans, sunshades, long beards and twirling moustaches danced on tractors, distributed sweets and hugged each other to mark the occasion that seemed like a festival. Thousands of them have flocked to the site over the last few days, buoyed by the government's announcement to repeal the farms laws, to mark the completion of one year of a dogged protest that saw a long dusty patch of the Delhi-Karnal road between Delhi and Sonepat turn into a makeshift town with bamboo huts and all the basic amenities one could think of. Children and elderly, men and women, carried flags of their farmer unions and raised slogans of victory, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Zindabad’ amid passionate non-stop beating of drums. The assembly area near the centrestage saw a large gathering resembling the early days of the protest. The attendees included businessmen, lawyers and teachers among others, who belonged to families of farmers. Hundreds of farmers in tractors arrived at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. Many of them brought along vegetables, sacks of flour and lentils, spices and cooking oil on their tractor-trollies, saying they have come prepared for a long haul. Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), an influential farmers’ union from western Uttar Pradesh, has been leading the charge at the Ghazipur border since November last year. The BKU is part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ collective, which is spearheading the protest for withdrawal of three contentious farm laws and for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) of crops. “It has been a year of unmatched struggle mixed with happiness and sadness. We are fighting and winning. We will fight and win. MSP law is farmers’ right,” BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait tweeted in Hindi. The outfit’s office-bearers claimed the police have been strengthening the barricading at Ghazipur border -- both on the Delhi-Meerut elevated highway patch and at the UP Gate down below it -- since Thursday, even as they said the crowd would swell at the protest site by evening Friday “We have a meeting of the SKM on Saturday and the future course of our action will be decided only after that. “We have planned a march towards Delhi on November 29, but SKM will take a call about it on Saturday,” BKU spokesperson Saurabh Upadhyay said. He said, “Supporters in large numbers started reaching the border early Friday morning and by evening we are expecting over 50,000 people at Ghazipur alone.” A BKU supporter who reached Ghazipur in the morning from Muzaffarnagar on a tractor in a group said they have come to the protest with arrangements for food and accommodation. “It has been a year, the farmers can continue the protest for their rights for several years,” the villager, draped in a shawl and a muffler, said. Kirpal Singh (57), who reached the Singhu border December last year, showed an injury mark on his right leg he got from police baton. “Batons, barricades, treats, nails... nothing could stop us. We won!” he said. Constitution Day: ‘Right to choose Government is a right to disagree with present Government’ Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court spoke about dissent on the Constitution Day and said, “There is a need to do away with terms like “ruling party”, as we are “governed” and not “ruled”. In a virtual discussion titled “Undermining the Idea of India: The Way Forward”, Justice Patel said, “It is time we get rid of this colonial linguistic baggage. The right to choose a Government is a right to disagree with the present Government. It is a right to dissent. Because the Constitution compels us to choose every five years, it then becomes a duty and not just a right, so we must do away with terms like ‘ruling party’.” The talk was hosted by The Leaflet, a legal news website, where Justice Patel spoke about dissent. He said, “The first self-preserving strategy is to criminalise dissent. Another attempt to muzzle dissent is coming from a different quarter — a civil servant has recently said the fourth front of war is coming from ‘Civil Society’. As critics have pointed out what is ‘Civil Society’? Is it in contrast to an uncivil society? Does it include journalists, lawyers, bureaucrats, judges? Are judges a threat to the Government? Ideas are dangerous and ideas are also bulletproof. So is the Constitution of India.” He went on to say, “A bulwark comes from technology — specifically the Internet. It makes impossible the kind of territorial censorship we used to see. Therefore, it does not matter if someone in America speaks about the idea of two or three Indias. The idea will somehow get through. There is nothing as too much democracy and too much dissent. Governments will come and Governments will go but the Idea of India must live on forever.” Retired Justice Madan B Lokur of the Supreme Court said dissent is the essence of freedom of speech, democracy and good governance. He said, “Wanton arrests, search and seizure are undermining life and liberty and are troubling on the human rights front. An independent judiciary is a must for the ‘Idea of India’. Unless we have a judiciary that stands up and speaks up, the Constitution will become a piece of document which we discuss on every 26th of November.” Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 3,45,56,818 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,67,486. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 26 NOVEMBER 2021 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Experts in India urge caution as new coronavirus variant emerges in South Africa With a new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa, [scientists and health experts in India have said that new waves of infection are anticipated]( and unless we act quickly and efficiently, the country will possibly see repeat waves. India has better tools in hand now compared to two years ago, said Vinod Scaria, scientist at CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB). He added the country, however, had to improve its vaccination drive, public health measures, health infrastructure and genomic surveillance to be better prepared. “We have to use our precious time to vaccinate all eligible people with two doses at least. Closing the gap in the unvaccinated and second dose in the 45+ age group could provide a unique opportunity to minimise COVID-19 deaths,” he said. Dr. Scaria added that boosters would not help when a larger proportion of the world has not got even one dose. According to experts, the new variant from South Africa is important because it has a large number of mutations, including around 32 in spike protein, some of which are independently associated with immune escape as well as increased transmissibility. Stating that the latest development is particularly concerning for a country such as India, which is densely populated, he said transmission among the susceptible population can occur at a greater pace. [People queue up for RT-PCR test at Dhaula Kuan bus stand in Delhi. File]  Viswesvaran Balasubramanian, consultant, interventional pulmonology and sleep medicine, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, said though public health systems were geared to face the possibility of a third wave, viral variants with high transmissibility could put a huge stress on the existing healthcare infrastructure, given the population in India. “In addition, with children still unvaccinated and many adults yet to receive the second dose of vaccine, a mutant variant at this time can result in rapid transmission and increased severity of disease in these susceptible populations,” he said. Doctors also explain that with mutations becoming inevitable, long-term preparations and strategic planning to live with the COVID-19 pandemic are essential. “At an individual level, compliance to pandemic norms like avoidance or limiting social gatherings, wearing masks in public spaces, and even indoors in homes with susceptible populations and adherence to hand sanitisation techniques should be followed,” said Dr. Balasubramanian. India has been successful in administering more than 100 crore vaccinated doses, which is a great achievement in terms of the huge population but mostly these are single dose and not the complete two doses of vaccination, which can be effective in fighting the new strain, if it gets in India, said Ankita Baidya of infectious diseases department, HCMCT Manipal Hospitals. [underlineimg] India will permit international flights from all countries from December 15 [India will permit international flights from all countries from December 15]( but there will be restrictions on the number of flights from a country depending on its health risk status. “The competent authority has decided to resume the scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India with effect from 15th December, 2021,” Ministry of Civil Aviation said in an order issued today. “Due to prevailing COVID-19 situation, the capacity entitlements shall be as per the category of countries based on enlistment of countries as at-risk from time to time by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,” it adds. Countries excluded from the Health Ministry’s list of “at risk” nations will be allowed 100% of pre-COVID 19 flights. These include countries like the U.S., UAE, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Countries that are in the “at risk” list but with whom India has an air bubble arrangement will be allowed 75% of pre-COVID-19 capacity. These include countries like U.K., France, Germany, Netherlands, Singapore. Countries that are in the “at risk” list but with whom India doesn’t have an air bubble will be allowed only 50% of pre-COVID flights. These include South Africa, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Israel. [underlineimg] CBI gets sanction to prosecute retired Allahabad High Court judge The [CBI has received the sanction to prosecute retired Allahabad High Court Judge S.N. Shukla]( in connection with a case alleging that a private medical college was favoured in his orders. The agency had sought the High Court’s approval to prosecute the retired judge earlier this year. Following the grant of sanction, it can now file a charge sheet for further legal proceedings. Besides Justice (now retired) Shukla, who was with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, retired judge of the Orissa High Court I.M. Quddusi has also been named in the First Information Report. The other accused were Bhawana Pandey of Prasad Education Trust; Bhagwan Prasad Yadav, chairman of the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences; his son Palash; and Sudhir Giri of Venketashwara Medical College (Meerut). The case was registered in December 2019 on the basis of a preliminary enquiry initiated by the CBI on September 8, 2017, into the alleged commission of gross misconduct by Justice Shukla and others. As alleged, the Medical Council of India (MCI) had barred the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences in May 2017 from admitting students for two years due to sub-standard facilities and non-fulfillment of the requisite criteria. Similar action had been taken against 46 other medical institutions. The Trust challenged the order in the Supreme Court. Subsequently, it is alleged, a conspiracy was hatched and the petition withdrawn with the Court’s permission. Then, another petition was filed before a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court in Lucknow on August 24, 2017. The next day, Quddusi and the institute’s chairman met Justice Shukla at his residence and “delivered illegal gratification”. According to the CBI, the petition was heard later that day by the Division Bench comprising Justice Shukla and a favourable order was passed. The MCI challenged the order in the Supreme Court. During the hearing, the Trust did not claim any benefit from the High Court order, but requested that its bank guarantee not be encashed, which was permitted. The agency alleged that the institute’s chief then attempted to get back the illegal gratification from Justice Shukla and a part of it was returned. In September 2017, in another case, the agency had arrested Quddusi and five others for allegedly conspiring to get the case of the Lucknow-based institute “settled” in the Supreme Court. The institute’s chief, his son Palash, Pandey, alleged middleman Vishwanath Agarwala and “hawala operator” Ramdev Saraswat were also arrested. The CBI did not need sanction to prosecute Quddusi as he had retired at the time of the alleged offence. [underlineimg] Sibal urges urgent SC hearing over ‘mayhem’ in Tripura Senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Friday [made an urgent mentioning in the Supreme Court]( alleging “mayhem” in Tripura where the municipal elections are underway. The senior lawyer urged a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud to hear the case in the course of the day. The request came just 24 hours after the court ordered additional deployment of central armed police forces to be moved across the State to protect the electoral process. It had also directed the State and the police to not hinder the media from reporting on the elections. “No two battalions of CAPF... Media was to be given unhindered access. It is mayhem there,” Sibal submitted. He claimed to have electronic evidence to show that the apex court orders were not being followed. However, Justice Chandrachud, who was heading a different Bench from the one he was heading on November 25, expressed doubts about hearing the matter on the same day. The November 25 order of the apex court was based on petitions, including one filed by All India Trinamool Congress party, alleging intimidation and violence in Tripura in the build-up to the elections. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had also intervened in the court, alleging attacks on their party workers. [underlineimg] Farmers in hundreds descend at protest sites to mark anniversary Hundreds of tractors bedecked with lights and posters rolled through the Singhu border protest site as loud Punjabi and Haryanvi songs filled the air on Friday [to mark one year of the protest against the three farm laws]( that the government is set to formally withdraw. Farmers flaunting colourful turbans, sunshades, long beards and twirling moustaches danced on tractors, distributed sweets and hugged each other to mark the occasion that seemed like a festival. Thousands of them have flocked to the site over the last few days, buoyed by the government's announcement to repeal the farms laws, to mark the completion of one year of a dogged protest that saw a long dusty patch of the Delhi-Karnal road between Delhi and Sonepat turn into a makeshift town with bamboo huts and all the basic amenities one could think of. Children and elderly, men and women, carried flags of their farmer unions and raised slogans of victory, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and ‘Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Zindabad’ amid passionate non-stop beating of drums. [Farmers gather at the Singhu border protest site in New Delhi on November 26, 2021 as they mark one year of their agitation against the Centre’s farm laws.]  The assembly area near the centrestage saw a large gathering resembling the early days of the protest. The attendees included businessmen, lawyers and teachers among others, who belonged to families of farmers. Hundreds of farmers in tractors arrived at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. Many of them brought along vegetables, sacks of flour and lentils, spices and cooking oil on their tractor-trollies, saying they have come prepared for a long haul. Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), an influential farmers’ union from western Uttar Pradesh, has been leading the charge at the Ghazipur border since November last year. The BKU is part of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a farmers’ collective, which is spearheading the protest for withdrawal of three contentious farm laws and for legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) of crops. “It has been a year of unmatched struggle mixed with happiness and sadness. We are fighting and winning. We will fight and win. MSP law is farmers’ right,” BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait tweeted in Hindi. The outfit’s office-bearers claimed the police have been strengthening the barricading at Ghazipur border -- both on the Delhi-Meerut elevated highway patch and at the UP Gate down below it -- since Thursday, even as they said the crowd would swell at the protest site by evening Friday “We have a meeting of the SKM on Saturday and the future course of our action will be decided only after that. “We have planned a march towards Delhi on November 29, but SKM will take a call about it on Saturday,” BKU spokesperson Saurabh Upadhyay said. He said, “Supporters in large numbers started reaching the border early Friday morning and by evening we are expecting over 50,000 people at Ghazipur alone.” A BKU supporter who reached Ghazipur in the morning from Muzaffarnagar on a tractor in a group said they have come to the protest with arrangements for food and accommodation. “It has been a year, the farmers can continue the protest for their rights for several years,” the villager, draped in a shawl and a muffler, said. Kirpal Singh (57), who reached the Singhu border December last year, showed an injury mark on his right leg he got from police baton. “Batons, barricades, treats, nails... nothing could stop us. We won!” he said. [underlineimg] Constitution Day: ‘Right to choose Government is a right to disagree with present Government’ Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court [spoke about dissent on the Constitution Day]( and said, “There is a need to do away with terms like “ruling party”, as we are “governed” and not “ruled”. In a virtual discussion titled “Undermining the Idea of India: The Way Forward”, Justice Patel said, “It is time we get rid of this colonial linguistic baggage. The right to choose a Government is a right to disagree with the present Government. It is a right to dissent. Because the Constitution compels us to choose every five years, it then becomes a duty and not just a right, so we must do away with terms like ‘ruling party’.” The talk was hosted by The Leaflet, a legal news website, where Justice Patel spoke about dissent. He said, “The first self-preserving strategy is to criminalise dissent. Another attempt to muzzle dissent is coming from a different quarter — a civil servant has recently said the fourth front of war is coming from ‘Civil Society’. As critics have pointed out what is ‘Civil Society’? Is it in contrast to an uncivil society? Does it include journalists, lawyers, bureaucrats, judges? Are judges a threat to the Government? Ideas are dangerous and ideas are also bulletproof. So is the Constitution of India.” He went on to say, “A bulwark comes from technology — specifically the Internet. It makes impossible the kind of territorial censorship we used to see. Therefore, it does not matter if someone in America speaks about the idea of two or three Indias. The idea will somehow get through. There is nothing as too much democracy and too much dissent. Governments will come and Governments will go but the Idea of India must live on forever.” Retired Justice Madan B Lokur of the Supreme Court said dissent is the essence of freedom of speech, democracy and good governance. He said, “Wanton arrests, search and seizure are undermining life and liberty and are troubling on the human rights front. An independent judiciary is a must for the ‘Idea of India’. Unless we have a judiciary that stands up and speaks up, the Constitution will become a piece of document which we discuss on every 26th of November.” [underlineimg] Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The [number of reported coronavirus cases from India]( stood at 3,45,56,818 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 4,67,486. [underlineimg] Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.  Today's Top Picks [[Explained | What is the new coronavirus variant in South Africa?] Explained | What is the new coronavirus variant in South Africa?]( [[Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | RIC meeting amidst India-China tensions] Worldview with Suhasini Haidar | RIC meeting amidst India-China tensions]( [[Bichu Thirumala obit | Prolific and poetic, a Malayalam lyricist for all tunes] Bichu Thirumala obit | Prolific and poetic, a Malayalam lyricist for all tunes]( [[Andhra-based nursery firm supplies two olive trees to Mukesh Ambani’s Jamnagar office] Andhra-based nursery firm supplies two olive trees to Mukesh Ambani’s Jamnagar office]( Copyright @ 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. 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