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New Delhi: Names of Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel, state agriculture minister R C Faldu and Union ministers Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandaviya are doing the rounds amid speculation over who will succeed Vijay Rupani as Gujarat chief minister. Rupani resigned as CM on Saturday, over a year ahead of Assembly elections in the state, without assigning any specific reason.

"Names of Patel, Faldu, Rupala and Mandaviya are being discussed. But it is impossible to say who will be the chief minister as the decision will be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a party leader said.

When Anandiben Patel resigned as chief minister in August 2016, there was talk that Patel would succeed her, but in a last-minute decision, Rupani was chosen for the top post. 

Amid concerns about resurgence of Covid-19 cases in some cities in the wake of the festival season, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed on the need for constant genome sequencing to monitor emergence of mutants.

PM Modi was chairing a high-level meeting to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the country as well as the vaccination status.

INSACOG now consists of 28 labs across the country with the lab network linked with a hospital network for clinical correlation. Besides, sewage sampling is also being done for genomic surveillance, officials apprised the PM during the meeting.

Taking note of the rise in infiltration into Jammu & Kashmir by terrorists from Pakistan, and the possibility of some of the sophisticated weapons left behind by US troops in Afghanistan finding their way into the hands of Jaish-e-Muhammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters in J&K, the Centre has decided to tighten the border grid.

A review meeting, chaired by home minister Amit Shah here on Thursday, also discussed the need for an upgrade in the weaponry of the Indian forces responsible for tackling terror infiltration in the near future. The meeting — attended by J&K LG Manoj Sinha, NSA Ajit Doval, Chief of Army Staff M M Naravane and heads of central para-military forces like BSF and CRPF, J&K Police and intelligence agencies — saw Shah share a detailed assessment of issues related to both security and development fronts.

Despite the increase in daily cases which typically happens in the middle of the week, for the worst-hit states (those with at least a hundred daily cases) the seven-day average of cases is on a declining curve.

The weekend effect that typically pushes cases at the national level could also be seen for Kerala where the daily cases increased from 25,772 reported on Tuesday to 30,196 on Wednesday. The seven-day average of cases declined from 28,009 reported on Tuesday to 27,637 cases for Wednesday.

The Karnataka government has urged people to defer their plans to visit Kerala till the end of October, if there is no emergency or urgency, with a view to avoid third wave of coronavirus and in larger interest of public health.

The state government in an advisory has also asked all administrators or principals of the educational, nursing, paramedical institutions to instruct their wards who have not yet returned to Karnataka from Kerala, to defer or postpone their return till the end of October. 

A similar advice has been given to all administrators or owners of hospitals, nursing homes, offices, hotels, factories, industries, etc. The advisory signed by Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Jawaid Akhtar, further asked the administrators or owners to advise their wards not to travel to Kerala till the end of October.