16-10-2021 The Asian Independent

6 16-10-2021 to 31-10-2021 ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Man killed on Singhu border belonged to Punjab: Hry Police
Chandigarh. Haryana Police said
on Friday that an FIR was lodged
in connection with the murder of a
man belonging to Punjab near the
farmers' protest site on the Singhu
border in Sonepat district.
However, no arrest has been made
so far in connection with the case.
A police spokesperson said
that on Friday, the police in
Kundli got information that
Nihangs had tied a person to a
barricade with his hand chopped
off near the protest site.
It is being alleged that the man
was caught while desecrating the
Sikh religious holy book.
However, an official confirmation
about this is still awaited.
By the time the police reached
the spot, the person had died.
When the police tried to take the
body away, the people at the spot
protested, an official statement
said.
After some efforts, the body
was brought to the Civil Hospital
in Sonepat for post-mortem. An
FIR has been registered under
Sections 302 and 34 of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC).
People were questioned
regarding the incident but, no
concrete information was
received. After making extensive
efforts, the deceased was identified
as Lakhbir Singh, son of
Harnam Singh, a resident of
Chimakhurd village in Tarn
Taran district.
SKM condemns gruesome murder at
Singhu border, disassociates from Nihangs
New Delhi. The Samyukta
Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday
condemned the barbaric killing
of a man at the Singhu border
protest site and has disassociated
itself from the Nihangs.
A statement issued by the
SKM said: "A Nihang group at
the scene has claimed responsibility,
saying that the incident
took place because of the victim's
attempt to commit sacrilege
with regard to the Sarbaloh
Granth. It is been reported that
he was staying with the same
group of Nihangs for some
time."
SKM, an umbrella body of
over 40 Indian farmers' unions
against Centre's three farm laws,
has identified the deceased as
Lakhbir Singh from Cheema
Kala village of Punjab.
"The SKM condemns this
gruesome killing and wants to
make it clear that both the parties
to this incident, the Nihang
group and the deceased person,
have no relation with Morcha.
The Morcha is against sacrilege
of any religious text or symbol,
but that does not give anyone the
right to take the law into their
own hands," it said.
The group has demanded that
the culprits be punished according
to law after investigating the
allegation of murder and conspiracy
behind sacrilege.
"This peaceful and democratic
movement is opposed to violence
in any form," the statement
added.
An unidentified decedent
with a chopped left hand was
found tied to an inverted police
barricade at the Haryana-Delhi
Singhu border outside of Delhi
on Friday morning, sending
shockwaves.
The body was found near the
staging area of the anti-farm law
protest site where the farmers
have been demonstrating against
the three farm laws since past 10
months.
The Haryana Police have registered
an FIR against unknown
people in the incident.
The police are yet to ascertain
the identity of the victim.
2nd Covid wave in Delhi shows reaching herd immunity hard with Delta: Study
New Delhi. The severe outbreak
of Covid-19 in Delhi this year
showed not only that the Delta
variant of SARS-CoV2 is
extremely transmissible but that
it can infect individuals previously
infected by a different
strains of the virus, according to
a team of international scientists.
The team led by National
Centre of Disease Control and
the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR),
Institute of Genomics and
Integrative Biology, India, along
with collaborators from the
University of Cambridge and
Imperial College London, UK,
and the University of
Copenhagen, Denmark, used
genomic and epidemiological
data, together with mathematical
modelling to study the outbreak.
To determine whether SARS-
CoV-2 variants were responsible
for the April 2021 outbreak in
Delhi, the team sequenced and
analysed viral samples from the
previous outbreak in November
2020 until June 2021.
Their findings, published in
the journal Science, showed that
the 2020 outbreaks in Delhi were
unrelated to any variant of concern.
The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7)
was identified only occasionally,
primarily in foreign travellers,
until January 2021.
The Alpha variant increased
in Delhi to about 40 per cent of
cases in March 2021, before it
was displaced by a rapid
increase in the Delta variant
(B.1.617.2) in April.
The researchers examined a
cohort of individuals recruited
by CSIR. In February, 42.1 per
cent of unvaccinated subjects
participating in the study had
tested positive for antibodies
against SARS-CoV-2.
In June, the corresponding
number was 88.5 per cent, suggesting
very high infection rates
during the second wave. Among
91 subjects with prior infection
before Delta, about one-quarter
(27.5 per cent) showed increased
levels of antibodies, providing
evidence of reinfection.
When the team sequenced all
the samples of vaccinationbreakthrough
cases at a single
centre over the period of the
study, they found that among 24
reported cases, Delta was sevenfold
more likely to lead to vaccination
breakthroughs than non-
Delta lineages.
Since the first case of Covid-
19 was detected in Delhi in
March 2020, the city had experienced
multiple outbreaks, in
June, September and November
2020. In November 2020, the
capital city had almost 9,000
cases daily, but it declined
steadily between December
Stalin urges 4
CMs to allow
sale of green
firecrackers
Chennai. Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister M K. Stalin has
urged his counterparts in
Delhi, Odisha, Rajasthan and
Haryana to reconsider the
ban on sale of firecrackers
and allow sale of green
crackers.
In a letter to his four
counterparts, Stalin requested
them to allow the sale of
firecrackers that falls within
the norms set by the Supreme
Court and the National
Green Tribunal (NGT) in
their states during this
Diwali.
Citing the apex court's
order of allowing green
crackers, Stalin said a blanket
ban was not reasonable.
"Such a ban is not prevalent
in other countries.
Moreover, such a ban if
imposed by other states also,
would lead to the closure of
the entire industry, jeopardising
the livelihood of around
8 lakh persons," Stalin said.
"You would also appreciate
that bursting of firecrackers
is an integral part of
Indian festivals, especially
Diwali. A balanced approach
that gives due regard to environment,
livelihood and public
health is possible and necessary,"
he added.
Nearly 90 per cent of the
country's firecrackers are
made in Sivakasi in Tamil
Nadu and about eight lakh
workers are dependent on
this sector.
2020 and March 2021. However,
the situation reversed dramatically
in April 2021, going from
approximately 2,000 daily cases
to 20,000 between March 31 and
April 1. "The concept of herd
immunity is critical in ending
outbreaks, but the situation in
Delhi shows that infection with
previous coronavirus variants
will be insufficient for reaching
herd immunity against Delta,"
said Professor Ravi Gupta from
the Cambridge Institute of
Therapeutic Immunology and
Infectious Disease.
"The only way of ending or
preventing outbreaks of Delta
is either by infection with this
variant or by using vaccine
boosters that raise antibody
levels high enough to overcome
Delta's ability to evade
neutralisation," he added. The
research was also supported by
the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Council of
Scientific and Industrial
Research, and Department of
Biotechnology.