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New Delhi: The ministry of home affairs restored the FCRA registration of Missionaries of Charity on Saturday. Government sources said the NGO’s licence was renewed after it submitted necessary documents to the concerned department. On December 27, 2021, the MHA had cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of the Mother Teresa-founded NGO due to “adverse inputs". A home ministry official said the organisation will now be able to receive foreign funding and can spend the money in its bank accounts.

While the Centre had cancelled the licence, it did not freeze any bank accounts. The State Bank of India had informed that the NGO itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts.

The priority groups of healthcare workers, frontline workers and 60-plus population with comorbidities, who are eligible for their third “precautionary dose” 39 weeks after getting their second jab, can either book an online appointment or walk in to any vaccination centre, sources in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Friday.

“There is no need for new registration on CoWIN. Those who have taken two doses of Covid vaccine can directly take an appointment or walk in to any vaccination centre,” said a source in the ministry. “Online appointment facility will start from tomorrow (Saturday) evening. Vaccination with on-site appointment starts on January 10," said the source.

Amid a surge in coronavirus cases across India, Delhi and Karnataka are preparing for a weekend curfew from Friday. Mumbai, meanwhile, is mulling over the same as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to review the Covid-19 situation in Maharashta with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray later in the evening.

Many states and union territories have already imposed night curfew or renewed safety restrictions. While Odisha revised guidelines and closed all its educational institutions, Chandigarh is also set to impose a night curfew.

India recorded above one lakh positive cases after 214 days, taking the total reported caseload to 3,52,26,386. This includes 3,007 Omicron cases reported from 27 states and UTs, according to data from the union health ministry data.

Amid the political fracas over the breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security in Punjab, sources told media that the Centre is mulling action against state police officials for their alleged failure to secure the route for the PM’s cavalcade.

Modi’s convoy was stranded on a flyover along the Moga-Ferozepur highway in poll-bound Punjab for 15-20 minutes on Wednesday after protesting farmers blocked the road, forcing the PM to return without attending a scheduled rally.

The incident has triggered a major political row, with the BJP alleging that the ruling Congress in Punjab “tried to physically harm” the Prime Minister, while other parties too attacked the state government over the law and order issue.

India is witnessing a sudden outburst of coronavirus infections with daily cases going up by five times since December 31, and the active caseload increased by three times in the last seven days, official data shows.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data analysed by media shows that the cases of the Omicron variant have also doubled since December 31.

India reported 16,764 fresh cases of coronavirus on December 31, this went up to 27,553 on January 2 and 37,379 on January 4. On Thursday, January 6, India recorded 90,928 cases — five times more than the cases reported on December 31.