Kerala

Following the reduction effected by the Centre, petrol price per litre came down by Rs 12.27 while diesel prices fell by Rs 6.30 and the average price of one litre petrol in the state was Rs 103.80 and diesel stood at Rs 91.59 per litre. Speaking to the media here on Thursday Balagopal said the Centre has only reduced a very minimum rate and we are not going to reduce it as the state is passing through huge financial stress.

Over two dozen people lost their lives, several bridges were washed away, rail track near Kathgodam was upturned and twisted, houses at many places were swallowed by swollen rivers and landslides leading to roadblocks made life difficult for people of Uttarakhand, especially the Kumaon region.

The day's test positivity rate was 14.54 per cent. "Restaurants can now open for in-house dining but can seat only 50 per cent of its existing capacity. Bars also can open and all the employees and those coming to these places should have taken both the vaccine doses. Air conditioning should not be switched on," said Vijayan. Indoor stadiums and swimming pools also can start functioning.

According to sources in the know of things, Gopi is meeting both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the coming week. Gopi was nominated to the Upper House in April 2016 and in between, contested two elections - the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Trissur and the recent 2021 Assembly polls, from the Trissur Assembly constituency - on a BJP ticket, but had to bite the dust both times.

For the past several weeks, Kerala continues to head the tally of new cases in the country. Vijayan, in the statement, also said that 20,388 people turned negative taking the active cases in the state to 1,88,926, of which 12.8 per cent of the patients are in hospitals. The day saw 131 Covid deaths being reported, taking the toll to 23,296.

Addressing the media at Kottayam on Friday, the office-bearers said they have filed the petition before the Kottayam Police as not a single agency has ever said with any conclusive proof about such a thing happening in the state and, hence his statement is with communal overtures. Congress working president and senior legislator P.T. Thomas said the statement of the bishop does not help in bringing harmony in a secular state.

He said, "Wherever arms cannot be used, narcotics are being used and it's here Catholic girls become the victims. And to help this there is a group in Kerala which is functioning. To understand this, one needs to just analyse, how come ladies from other religions reached the IS camps".

He was speaking to the media and conveyed the impressions of health experts from various places who took part in a meeting called by him a few days back who opined that economic activity has to go forward and the government is speaking to a wide cross sections of people on how to go forward.

Speaking to IANS, veteran virologist T. Jacob John who took part in the meeting, said practically every expert who participated from various parts of the globe wanted to see that schools are opened.

With Kerala now becoming 'Covid's Own Country', leading the country in all major indicators like daily cases, total active cases, and also in number of deaths, the Kerala government has gone on high alert and she said even though the mantra is testing, tracing and treatment, at the moment, vaccination is also of prime concern.