229 students at Maha school test+ve
NAGPUR: As many as 229 students at a residential school in Maharashtra’s Washim district have tested positive for coronavirus disease, district health officer Avinash Aher said on Thursday.
Four teaching and non-teaching employees at the school have also been infected, Aher said, adding that the area has been declared a containment zone.
“Necessary treatment is being given to the patients. Two doctors and other health workers have been deputed to treat the students,” the official said. He said that almost all the students are asymptomatic.
The development has come amid a spate of cases in the state. On Thursday, more than 8,000 cases were recorded in the state.
With 8,807 cases on Wednesday,
Maharashtra recorded over 8,000 cases after a gap of over four months. It reported 8,142 cases on October 21 last year, after which the numbers witnessed a decline.
On Thursday, district collector Shanmugarajan S visited the school and instructed the district health department to provide care to the students and the school staff. “Assistant collector Vaibhah Waghmare has been appointed as the nodal officer to coordinate the health care,” he said.
In a related development, the chief priest at the Pohradevi temple in the district, including 11 others also tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday.
The priest was present during Maharashtra forest minister and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rathod’s visit to the temple earlier this week. Rathod visited the temple on Tuesday, along with nearly 25,000 of his supporters after the opposition in the state sought his arrest over his alleged role in the death of a 22-year-old woman.
Shanmugarajan said that the priest and five of his family members tested Covid-19 positive. “We have set up testing camps near the temple to detect coronavirus infection among the temple staff and nearby villagers, particularly those who had attended the temple on Tuesday when the minister visited there,” the collector said.
Taking serious note of the gathering, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray directed the district administration and police officials to immediately take action against those who flouted Covid-19 norms.
While offences were registered against around 10 people, no action was taken against Rathod, said WHO. “We are trying to identify others in this connection and will certainly book them,” Shanmugarajan said.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state has banned all gatherings of more than 50 people with strict action against people not adhering to the social distancing norms.
FOUR TEACHING & NON-TEACHING EMPLOYEES ALSO INFECTED; MORE THAN 8K CASES RECORDED ACROSS MAHARASHTRA IN SINGLE DAY
NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday he had spoken to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to review the disengagement of troops of the two countries in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
This was the first formal contact between Jaishankar and Wang since they met on the margins of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Moscow on September 10 last year, and it came days after India and China pulled back frontline troops from strategic heights around Pangong Lake along with armoured vehicles and artillery.
“Spoke to State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi this afternoon. Discussed the implementation of our Moscow Agreement and reviewed the status of disengagement,” Jaishankar tweeted, without giving details.
There was no official word on the contact from the Chinese side.
The “Moscow Agreement” that Jaishankar referred to was a fivepoint agreement that the two sides had concluded during the meeting of the foreign ministers in the Russian capital. A joint statement issued after that meeting
had said the two sides would be guided by the consensus of the leaders of India and China, including not allowing differences to become disputes.
Jaishankar and Wang had also agreed that border troops would “continue their dialogue, quickly disengage, maintain proper distance and ease tensions”, and that the two sides would abide by all existing agreements and protocols on border management and “avoid any action that could escalate matters”.
The two sides further agreed to continue dialogue through the Special Representatives’ mechanism and through meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs. Once the situation eases, the two sides would work on new confidencebuilding measures for enhancing peace and tranquillity in border areas.
Asked about the situation on the LAC at a regular news briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: “Both sides view the smooth and successful completion of disengagement in the north and south bank [of Pangong Lake] as a significant first step as this forms a basis for resolution of remaining issues so as to achieve the eventual goal of complete disengagement in all friction areas.”
“The two sides have agreed to work towards a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues,” he said.
Within 48 hours of the completion of the disengagement at Pangong Lake, the 10th round of talks between senior military commanders of the two sides was held on February 20. Srivastava said the two sides had “candid and in-depth exchange of views on the remaining issues along the LAC in the western sector” at this meeting.
The meeting of the military commanders had focused on disengagement at other friction points such as Gogra, Hot Springs and Depsang Plains though there were no immediate signs of a breakthrough.