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Around 5-10% of the active Covid-19 cases have needed hospitalisation in the present surge so far, the health ministry data shows even as the Centre cautioned states that the situation is dynamic and demand for hospitalisation may change rapidly.

Urging states to closely monitor cases under home isolation and in hospitals, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked them to ramp up hospital infrastructure as well as human resource to meet any surge in hospitalisation.

The Centre has also suggested states to utilise final year MBBS students, junior residents, nursing students and retired professionals to ensure there is no dearth of health workers.

The Covid-19 third wave peak in India is expected to arrive at the end of this month with daily cases of four to eight lakh (seven-day average) and the peak in Delhi and Mumbai are expected around mid-January with daily cases of 50,000-60,000 and 30,000 odd cases (seven-day average), respectively, said IIT Kanpur professor Manindra Agrawal, who is leading the government's backed Sutra model to mathematically predict the spread of the virus, on Sunday.

The model has always indicated that the fall would also be sharper in cases of sharper rise in number of cases - it means the number of cases would fall quickly once the country as a whole and cities reach their respective peaks.

Agrawal, however, said the Sutra model at present does not have "precise data" on the third wave to be able to make accurate predictions for India as a whole. "Doing prediction for India at the moment is more difficult since the model has not been able to capture the present phase yet," Agrawal tweeted two days ago.

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced the dates for assembly polls in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur. While the term of the current Uttar Pradesh assembly is ending in May, those of the other four assemblies are ending on different dates in March.

Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said basic preparations were taken to ensure Covid-safe election, hassle-free voter experience, and maximum voters participation. The commission visited poll-bound states to review preparations and has been working to ensure Covid-free elections. “We also held meetings with health officials of the states which are going to polls," he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday gave the Union government “the last opportunity” to respond to a public interest petition that demands minorities be identified statewise and that Hindus be declared a minority in six states and two Union territories.

A bench of Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh, hearing the petition which relied on the Supreme Court’s 2002 TMA Pai judgment that religious and linguistic minorities have to be considered statewise under the Constitution’s Article 30, gave the Centre four weeks after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta sought more time to file an affidavit. The court also allowed two weeks after that for filing a rejoinder, and will hear the matter after seven weeks.

Article 30 deals with the rights of minorities to establish and run educational institutions.

Amid politics over the lapses in the security cover of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Punjab visit on Wednesday, the Home Minister has constituted a three-member committee to probe the “serious lapses in the security arrangements” that “led to the exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk”.

The three-member committee will be led by Sudhir Kumar Saxena, Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat and include Balbir Singh, Joint Director of Intelligence Bureau, and S Suresh, Inspector-General of SPG. The committee is advised to submit its report at the earliest.

As visuals of the prime minister’s convoy stuck on a flyover in Punjab for 15-20 minutes emerged, a war of words erupted in poll-bound Punjab, with the BJP accusing the Punjab government of harbouring “murderous intent” towards the PM even as the Charanjit Singh Channi government slammed the “gimmick”.