People arrive to board a bus in New Delhi, India. EPA
People arrive to board a bus in New Delhi, India. EPA
People arrive to board a bus in New Delhi, India. EPA
People arrive to board a bus in New Delhi, India. EPA

India's Covid-19 surge in cases puts hospitals under strain as UK variant blamed


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Gujarat, the home state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, became the latest to tighten coronavirus curbs on Wednesday as daily infections in the country surged to a record high, with almost 116,000 new cases in 24 hours.

Experts blame the country's latest wave on people ignoring guidelines and attending huge religious and political events, as well as weddings and cricket matches in recent months.

India has now recorded 12.8 million cases, the third-highest behind the US and Brazil, although those countries have much smaller populations.

More than 166,000 Indians have died of Covid-19

On Wednesday, Gujarat in western India, home to 63.8 million people, extended nightly restrictions to 20 cities and banned large social and political gatherings.

"We have also extended the time of night curfew from 8pm to 6am ... this will be in force until April 30," Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said.

Gujarat has 17,348 active Covid-19 cases.

In Maharashtra, the worst-hit state and home to megacity Mumbai, authorities imposed a night curfew and weekend lockdowns that are due to begin on Friday evening.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, seven of the 10 districts with the highest number of active cases in the country are in Maharashtra.

On Tuesday, 55,469 new infections were reported, the second-highest tally after a surge on April 4.

Active cases in Maharashtra, home to 123 million, stand at 473,693.

More than 30 million residents of New Delhi were placed under a night-time curfew on Tuesday as the government tried to curb rising infections. There are 17,332 active cases in Delhi.

The northern state of Punjab on Wednesday ordered a ban on political gatherings and extended a night-time curfew to the entire state while capping numbers at indoor funerals and weddings to 50 guests and 100 for outdoors.

UK variant suspected 

Chief minister Amarinder Singh said it was also a "matter of concern that over 85 per cent of cases in Punjab are of the UK strain, which is more contagious and virulent".

Press reports say that hospitals are beginning to struggle, particularly in Maharashtra. One Pune clinic that ran out of hospital rooms is reportedly giving oxygen support to patients in a makeshift waiting area.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, one of Delhi's biggest government hospitals, will from Thursday end walk-in consultations to minimise infections, local reports said.

The government has so far shied away from reimposing a nationwide lockdown after a shutdown in March 2020 – one of the world's toughest – caused widespread human and economic misery.

Many Indians lowered their guard after infections slowed sharply in late 2020, with huge crowds thronging religious festivals such as the Kumbh Mela, which on one day last month drew three million devotees.

Spectators were also allowed at cricket matches between India and England in Gujarat, while political rallies for state elections drew huge crowds, including an estimated 800,000 at one event hosted by Mr Modi.

India has so far administered almost 90 million vaccine shots but experts say that the government's target to inoculate 300 million people by August risks being missed with many scared to get the injections or complacent about the virus.

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UAE jiu-jitsu squad

Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)

Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)

How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The biog

Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah

Date of birth: 15 November, 1951

Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”

Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry

The biog

Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi

Age: 23

How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them

Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need

Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman

Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs 

Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing

White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogenChromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxideUltramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica contentOphiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on landOlivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950