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Tuesday saw an explosion of Covid-19 infections in the country with the daily tally close to 58,000, registering a single-day rise of 56%, the highest during a period of surge since the pandemic began.

Tuesday’s case count had galloped to 57,974 by late night and was likely to cross 58,000 after data from two remaining states came in. This was over 20,000 higher than the tally of 37,123 recorded on Monday and India's highest daily tally since June 19, 2021, when 58,570 cases were reported.

Only once has the single-day rise in infections been higher than 56% — 63% on January 28, 2021 — and that was because the previous day’s count had fallen sharply due to disruptions in testing on Republic Day. That rise was anomalous since it came at the time when cases were falling.

Reacting to China's unfurling of its national flag at the Galwan Valley, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi on Tuesday said the Indian military is handling the situation and China is getting a "befitting response".

This is the first official response from the Ministry of External Affairs on the issue.

"Indian military is handling the situation. I do not want to speak. China is getting a befitting response," Meenakshi Lekhi said.

On January 1, China laid claim to the Galwan Valley once again by unfurling its national flag. Videos of the event were put out by various Chinese government mouthpieces.

Union Education Minister launches National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) 3.0 and AICTE prescribed technical books in regional languages. 12 lakh NEAT ed-tech free course coupons worth Rs 253.72 crore distributed to socially disadvantaged groups on Monday.

NEAT is an initiative to provide the use of best-developed technological solutions in the education sector to enhance the employability of the youth on a single platform for learners' convenience. Launching the initiative, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said: “NEAT will be a game-changer in bridging the digital divide, especially among the economically disadvantaged students and fulfilling the knowledge-based requirement of the world.”

New infections of Covid-19 across India are rising faster than they did even during the brutal second wave in April-May last year, data analysed by a national daily showed, indicating that the latest surge fuelled by the Omicron variant may follow the trend seen across the world, where it has outpaced all previous waves.

India on Sunday reported 33,647 new Covid-19 infections, the highest in a single day since September 17, or in 107 days, according to the Covid dashboard, as the country’s latest surge in cases continued to push daily case numbers up to levels not seen since the second wave was brought under control in the first half of 2021.

To be sure, experts said that data from the world over has shown that despite the rapid rise in the case rate due to Omicron, hospitalisation rates and reports of severe infections have consistently remained low.

New Delhi: At least 12 people died and over a dozen were injured in a stampede at the famous Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir triggered by a heavy rush of devotees, officials said on Saturday, as L-G Manoj Sinha ordered an inquiry. The stampede occurred around 2.30 am near gate number three outside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine located atop the Trikuta hills, about 50 km from Jammu.

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday visited devotees injured in a stampede at the famous Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, officials said. Singh, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, was accompanied by Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh during his visit to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital at Kakriyal. He enquired about the condition of the devotees undergoing treatment at the facility, the officials said.