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Rahul Gandhi, in one of his sharpest attacks yet on the government's handling of Covid and the deadly second surge, said today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was responsible for the second wave and that he "did not understand Covid at all". The Congress leader also predicted "multiple waves" in the country if vaccinations continued at the current pace. Soon after, the government hit back and declared that vaccinations would be completed before December this year.

"The first wave no one understood...but the second wave is the PM's responsibility. His stunts (nautanki)... His failure to fulfil his responsibilities is the reason for the second wave," the Congress leader said, addressing a virtual press conference.

Twitter on Thursday said it was very concerned with the “recent events” regarding its employees in the country and “the potential threat to freedom of expression” for its users.

“We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global Terms of Service, as well as with core elements of the new IT Rules. We plan to advocate for changes to elements of these regulations that inhibit free, open public conversation,” a Twitter spokesperson said.

The statement by the social media intermediary comes days after the Special Cell of Delhi Police had earlier this week on Monday knocked on the doors of Twitter India’s Delhi and Gurgaon offices to allegedly serve a notice asking the company executives to join in the probe regarding the alleged “toolkit” seeking to undermine Indian government’s response to Covid-19, released on Twitter.

Our planet will not be the same after the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, adding that the economic impact left by COVID-19 is huge.

Speaking at Buddha Jayanti Celebration event,  the Prime Minister said there have been many noteworthy improvements as well over the last year like having a better understanding of the pandemic, which strengthens our strategy to fight it and having the vaccine, which is absolutely important to save lives and defeat the virus.

More than 1.77 crore doses of anti-coronavirus vaccines are still available with the states and Union Territories, while seven lakh doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The Government of India has so far provided more than 21.89 crore vaccine doses to states and Union Territories.

Of this, the total consumption, including the wastage, is 19,93,39,750 doses, according to data available at 8 am on Tuesday. “More than 1.77 crore COVID vaccine doses (1,77,67,850) are still available with the states and UTs to be administered. Furthermore, seven lakh vaccine doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days,” the ministry said.

May has turned out to be the deadliest month since the outbreak of coronavirus. Since May 1, India has reported 95,390 deaths related to the infection, accounting for 31.41 percent of the total deaths.

In terms of infections, India reported 2.67 crore cases to date, Union Health Ministry says. Of these, 1.45 crore were reported since April 1, accounting for 54.32 percent of the total cases, as per the Ministry data analysed by NW18.

In May alone, the cases reported were 79.89 lakh, about 30 percent of the total infections. The country’s coronavirus death toll was 3,03,720 as of Monday morning, the Union Health Ministry shows.