India reported a smaller rise in daily coronavirus cases for a third day in a row on Sunday, but the number of deaths in 24 hours was higher than 4,000, taking the overall death toll to 270,000.
Deaths rose by 4,077, while infections rose by 311,170 – the smallest daily increase in cases in more than three weeks, Health Ministry data showed.
Total infections rose by more than two million in the week, and deaths by nearly 28,000.
A second wave of infections hit Indian in February, putting hospitals and medical staff under pressure.
The number of cases has fallen steadily in places hit by the initial surge in infections. These include western Maharashtra state and the Delhi capital region, where stringent lockdowns were imposed.
Federal health officials said on Saturday that the overall rate of positive results from tests had dipped to 19.8 per cent from 21.9 per cent in the previous week, leading to hope that infections have started to stabilise.
But surges were reported in states such as Tamil Nadu in the south and in rural areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged officials on Saturday to strengthen rural healthcare resources and boost surveillance as the virus spreads rapidly in those areas, after ravaging the cities.
Bodies of Covid-19 victims have been dumped in some Indian rivers, a state government said in a letter seen by Reuters, the first official acknowledgement of a practice it said may stem from poverty and fear of the disease in villages.
Images of corpses drifting down the Ganges river, which Hindus consider holy, shocked a nation reeling from the world's worst surge in infections.
Although media have linked the bodies to the pandemic, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, home to 240 million people, has not publicly revealed the cause of death.
"The administration has information that bodies of those who have succumbed to Covid-19 or any other disease are being thrown into rivers instead of being disposed of in proper rituals," a senior state official, Manoj Kumar Singh, said in a May 14 letter to district heads.
"As a result, bodies have been recovered from rivers in many places."
Mr Singh confirmed the letter to Reuters but said autopsies on four or five bodies in Ghazipur district did not indicate a virus infection.
"The bodies are decomposed, so I am not sure in this state it can be found corona[virus] positive," he said.
State government spokesman Navneet Sehgal denied media reports that as many as 2,000 corpses of possible virus victims were pulled from rivers in the state and neighbouring Bihar in recent days.
"We keep recovering 10 to 20 bodies every now and then," he said on Saturday.
Some riverside villages did not cremate their dead in respect for Hindu traditions during some periods of religious significance, he said.
Uttar Pradesh has been badly hit by the second surge.
Health experts said many cases went undetected in villages, where most of the state's population live.
In his letter, Mr Singh said a lack of funds for materials such as firewood for cremation, religious beliefs in some communities, and families abandoning victims for fear of the disease were among the likely reasons for the dumping of bodies.
He asked village officials to ensure no corpses were thrown into water and said the state government would pay poor families 5,000 rupees ($68) each to cremate or bury bodies of the dead.
The state has also asked police to patrol rivers to stop the practice.
India has been reporting about 4,000 Covid-19 deaths a day for nearly two weeks, but health experts said the toll was probably much higher because of factors such as poor testing in rural areas.
The rise in deaths led to backlogs at crematoriums in many places and increased the cost of last rites.
The world's largest vaccine-producing nation had fully vaccinated just over 40.4 million people – 2.9 per cent of its 1.35 billion population – as of Sunday, according to data from the government's Co-Win portal.
India will have 516 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by July, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.
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Infiniti QX80 specs
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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The biog
From: Upper Egypt
Age: 78
Family: a daughter in Egypt; a son in Dubai and his wife, Nabila
Favourite Abu Dhabi activity: walking near to Emirates Palace
Favourite building in Abu Dhabi: Emirates Palace
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Profile of Tarabut Gateway
Founder: Abdulla Almoayed
Based: UAE
Founded: 2017
Number of employees: 35
Sector: FinTech
Raised: $13 million
Backers: Berlin-based venture capital company Target Global, Kingsway, CE Ventures, Entrée Capital, Zamil Investment Group, Global Ventures, Almoayed Technologies and Mad’a Investment.
McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
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If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
TV: World Cup Qualifier 2018 matches will be aired on on OSN Sports HD Cricket channel
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
Cheeseburger%20ingredients
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Company%20profile
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THE SPECS
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