INDIA bloc parties decide to participate in exit poll debates: Cong spokesperson Pawan Khera
New Delhi, Jun 1: INDIA bloc parties on Saturday announced that they will participate in the exit poll debates on television this evening after the grouping's top leaders met and deliberated on the issue at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
The development came a day after the Congress said it has decided not to participate in any Lok Sabha exit poll debates on television channels. The party does not want to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP, it had said.
Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said INDIA bloc parties met and decided to expose the BJP and its ecosystem on the prefixed exit polls.
"After considering factors for and against participating in the exit polls, it has been decided by consensus that all the INDIA (bloc) parties will participate in the exit poll debates on television this evening," he said in a post on X.
On Friday, Khera had said people have cast their votes and their verdict has been secured.
"The results will be out on 4th June. Prior to that, we do not see any reason to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP," he had said in a statement shared on X.
"The Indian National Congress will not participate in the debates on exit polls. The purpose of any debate should be to inform the people. We will happily partake in debates from June 4 onwards," Khera had said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda had claimed on Friday that the Congress's decision to not participate in exit poll debates is the confirmation that the opposition party has conceded the Lok Sabha elections.
Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said in a statement that the Congress has been in a "denial mode" since he began playing a key role in its affairs.
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WHO declares global health emergency over Ebola outbreak in Congo, Uganda
Abuja (Nigeria) (AP): WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the Ebola disease outbreak in Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths.
In a post on X, the World Health Organisation said the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic, and advised against the closure of international borders.
Ebola is highly contagious and can be contracted via bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare, but severe and often fatal.
Health authorities have confirmed the current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of the Ebola disease that has no approved therapeutics or vaccines. Although more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have taken place in Congo and Uganda, this is only the third time the Bundibugyo virus has been reported.
Congo accounts for all except two of the cases, both of which were reported in neighbouring Uganda, the WHO said.
Officials first reported the spread of the disease in Congo's eastern province of Ituri, close to Uganda and South Sudan, on Friday. On Saturday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths.
“There are significant uncertainties regarding the true number of infected persons and geographic spread associated with this event at the present time. In addition, there is limited understanding of the epidemiological links with known or suspected cases,” Tedros said.
Uganda on Saturday confirmed one case it said was imported from Congo, and said the patient died at a hospital in Uganda's capital, Kampala, and the WHO said that a second case has been reported in Kampala. The two cases had no apparent links to each other, and both patients had travelled from Congo, it added.
The Bundibugyo virus was first detected in Uganda's Bundibugyo district during a 2007-2008 outbreak that infected 149 people and killed 37 people. The second time was in 2012 in an outbreak in Isiro, Congo, where 57 cases and 29 deaths were reported.
WHO's emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action. However, the global response to previous declarations has been mixed.
In 2024, when the WHO declared mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency, experts at the time said it did little to get supplies like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to affected countries quickly.
