News Analysis India

Tag: Yavatmal

  • MBBS student murder: Three, including minor, held in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal

    Final Year MBBS student Ashok Pal of Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College was fatally attacked on Wednesday night.

  • 20 COVID-19 patients escape from care centre in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal

    By PTI
    YAVATMALA: Twenty COVID-19 patients have escaped from a care centre in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district, officials said on Sunday.

    The incident took place on Saturday at the COVID-19 care centre set up at a students’ hostel in Ghatanji taluka, local health officer Dr Sanjay Puram said.

    Based on a complaint lodged by health officials, the Ghatanji police have registered an FIR against the 20 patients under relevant sections, he said.

    Puram said a COVID-19 testing camp was organised on Friday at Amdi village in the district.

    Later, 19 village residents who tested positive for the disease were admitted to the COVID-19 care centre at Ghatanji.

    All those 19 patients and another person lodged at the facility escaped around 8 am on Saturday, he said.

    Puram said he had lodged a police complaint, seeking action against the patients.

    Efforts were on to trace them, he added.

    Yavatmal Collector Amol Yedge expressed concern over the incident.

    “If this behaviour continues, the cases of viral infection will rise in the district. Instructions have been given to take criminal action against the patients who escaped,” he said.

    A committee will be set up to conduct a probe into the incident and action will be taken against those found guilty, the collector said.

    On Saturday, 1,163 new COVID-19 cases were found in the district, taking the overall tally to 46,704.

    The district has so far reported 1,073 deaths due to the viral infection.

    As of now, there are 5,972 active COVID-19 cases in the district, as per official data.

  • SKM firm on holding Tikait’s ‘Maha Panchayat’ in Yavatmal

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: Even as the district administration in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal has denied permission to the February 20 ‘Maha Panchayat’ of farmer leader Rakesh Tikait due to rising COVID-19 cases, its organiser- Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM)- on Friday said it is firm on holding the public meeting there.

    The SKM said that if Tikait and other leaders are stopped in Yavatmal, then a sit-in protest would be held.

    The administration in Yavatmal district on Thursday ordered curbs on gatherings and also closure of schools (which had reopened for select classes) for ten days in view of the rising cases of coronavirus.

    Tikait, one of the leaders of farmers’ agitation against the new farm laws on Delhi borders, was scheduled to address the rally at Azad Maidan ground in Yavatmal city on Saturday.

    However, the district administration had denied permission for it.

    The organisers said that they have submitted a fresh application to the administration seeking its permission for the public meeting.

    However, response to it is still awaited.

    Talking to PTI, SKM’s Maharashtra co-ordinator Sandip Gidde said, “We are firm on holding the Maha Panchayat in Yavatmal tomorrow.

    Rakesh Tikait along with several other leaders of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha will address the public meeting.

    He will arrive in Nagpur tonight and will address the event at Yavatmal tomorrow.

    ” “But, if Tikait and other leaders are stopped, we will hold a ‘thiyya andolan’ (sit-in) at the very place where they are stopped,” he said.

    The SKM is an umbrella body of farmer unions which is spearheading the protest on Delhi borders.

     

  • Yavatmal shut down for 10 days; strict rules in Mumbai

    Express News Service
    MUMBAI: As Covid cases are speedily rising in Maharashtra, the authorities in Mumbai and elsewhere clamped down with fresh safety measures on Thursday. The administration in eastern Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district ordered a 10-day lockdown from Thursday night. Similarly, Amravati will have a weekend lockdown from 8 pm on Saturday to 7 am on Monday.

    Maharashtra on Thursday reported 5,427 Covid cases, a sizable number of them coming from Akola and Nagpur divisions. Officials said there is an almost 64 per cent jump in Covid cases in last 18 days in Maharashtra.

    “People should follow the pandemic norms strictly… We have put a limit of  50 people for wedding functions, but  people are not following it,” asked Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Amravati, Akola and Yavatmal are especially in the radar due to the high number of Covid cases.

    In Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal corporation has issued strict guidelines. Anyone found flouting the guidelines will face cases. Additionally, any building in Mumbai with more than five active cases of Covid will be sealed.

    Face mask is mandatory when people are out on the roads, the civic body said. Orders to raid marriage halls, clubs, restaurants etc. to check Covid appropriate behaviour were also issued by the municipal corporation.

  • Two new COVID mutations found in Maharashtra’s Amravati, Yavatmal as regions brace for lockdown

    By PTI
    PUNE: Researchers have found two new mutations in coronavirus samples from Amravati and Yavatmal districts of eastern Maharashtra which can escape neutralizing antibodies, a senior official said on Thrusday.

    However, in none of the samples for which genome sequencing was done, the UK, South African or Brazilian strains of the virus were found, he added.

    Yavatmal and Amravati are among districts which have shown considerable increase in new cases in the last one week.

    Genome sequencing was done for 24 samples — four each from Amravati, Yavatmal and Satara and 12 from Pune — said Dr Rajesh Karyekarte, Head of Department of Microbiologyat the state-run B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital here.

    ALSO READ | Second wave of Covid-19? Weekend lockdown in Maharashtra’s Amravati as cases surge

    “We were asked by the state government to conduct genome sequencing of samples. The D614G strain which is prevalent was found in all the samples,” he said.

    But in Amravati, Yavatmal and Satara, they also came across different mutations, Dr Karyekarte said.

    “In Amravati, we came across a mutation named E484K in all the four samples.

    When we inquired if all samples belonged to one family, we were told they were taken from different locations, so the conclusion was that it was a common mutation,” he said.

    The character of the strain found in Amravati is that it escapes neutralizing antibodies, he said.

    “In a nutshell, even if there are neutralizing antibodies in the human body, the particular mutation escapes or saves itself from these antibodies,” Dr Karyekarte said.

    In Yavatmal samples, they found a mutation named N440K, which is commonly seen in Andhra Pradesh, he said.

    ALSO READ | Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district to go for 10-day lockdown amid rising COVID cases

    “It was also found in a case of re-infection in Delhi. This mutation too can escape the neutralizing antibodies and cause re-infection,” he added.

    “In Satara sample, a new mutation named V911I was found but the researchers could not find significant scientific references about this mutation in published journals, he said. All these strains are of A2 type of coronavirus, which is common in India.

    Maharashtra on Thursday reported over 5,000 new cases after a gap of 75 days.

    Dr Murlidhar Tambe, Dean of B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, said these “small curves” (spurts in infections) are happening due to lax behavior as gatherings, weddings and various functions are happening and no physical distancing is being followed.

    They have received six samples for genome sequencing from Akola where a spike has been witnessed, he said.

  • Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district to go for 10-day lockdown amid rising COVID cases

    By PTI
    BULDHANA: Concerned by growing number of coronavirus cases, the administration in eastern Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district ordered a ten-day lockdown from Thursday night.

    Earlier in the day, a weekend lockdown was announced in Amravati district of the same Vidarbha region from 8 pm on Saturday to 7 am on Monday.

    Yavatmal Collector M D Singh said the number of coronavirus cases in the district was increasing since February 1, and the district has 606 active cases as of Wednesday.

    ALSO READ | New Covid strains: India makes tests on arrival must for flyers from UK, Europe, Middle East

    Almost 80 to 90 percent of new cases were being reported from Yavatmal, Pandharkawda and Pusad cities, he said.

    “We have decided to conduct around 500 tests per day in Yavatmal, Pandharkawda and Pusad municipal corporations.

    Today we are ordering lockdown in Yavatmal district till February 28,” Singh said.

    Schools, colleges, coaching classes will remain closed and no religious functions will be allowed during this period, while only 50 persons will be allowed at weddings, he added.

    Official sources had said earlier that the Maharashtra government may impose a stricter lockdown in Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola cities of Vidarbha region in view of the COVID-19 situation there.

    Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his deputy Ajit Pawar discussed the issue on Thursday morning, they said.

    The state reported 4,787 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest one-day count this year.