COVID-19: 1,325 new cases in Karnataka, 12 deaths
Bengaluru: Karnataka on Saturday reported 1,325 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 8,91,685 and the death toll to 11,846, as it tested over a lakh sample.
A total of over 1,16,13,924 samples have been tested so far, out of which 1,04,032 were tested today alone, and 18,367 among them were rapid antigen tests.
The day also saw 1,400 patients getting discharged after recovery.
Out of 1,325 fresh cases reported on Saturday, 709 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.
As of December 5 evening, cumulatively 8,91,685 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 11,846 deaths and 8,54,861 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.
It said, out of 24,959 active cases, 24,681 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and stable, while 278 are in ICU.
According to the bulletin, 6 out of the total 12 deaths reported on Saturday are from Bengaluru urban, followed by Ballari, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Kolar, Mandya, and Uttara Kannada (1).
Most of the dead are either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).
Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounted for 709, Mysuru 55, Belagavi 45, Tumakauru 44, Chikkamagaluru 42, followed by others.
Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 3,73,291 infections, followed by Mysuru 50,977 and Ballari 38,327.
Among discharges too Bengaluru urban tops the list with a total of 3,49,929 discharges, followed by Mysuru 49,621 and Ballari 37,555.
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India should create strategic buffers to navigate 'most difficult' energy shock: CEA Nageswaran
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said India needs to create strategic buffers in the face of the "most difficult" energy shock that the country is facing amid the West Asia crisis.
Nageswaran also said the rising prices of fertiliser and petroleum products globally due to the crisis will make it challenging to achieve the 4.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal, while below normal monsoon and pass-through of higher energy prices could lead to "potential inflation spike".
He also said India has employment challenge emanating from AI, and there is a need to ensure that IT sector becomes more competitive and not lose jobs to AI, and instead create jobs that use AI within the IT sector or in other services.
Speaking at the ICPP Growth Conference organised by the Ashoka University, Nageswaran said the current account deficit (CAD) in the current fiscal could rise to over 2 per cent of GDP, from less than 1 per cent in FY'26.
"The ... priority for us is to create strategic buffers. This energy shock is the most difficult one compared to any other previous energy shock in terms of energy lost as a percentage of total global energy supply, not just oil, including gas.
"And we also need to use this occasion to think about other areas where we are vulnerable in terms of import dependence, nickel, tin, and copper. We need to build strategic buffers if we have to make a shot at manufacturing and becoming indispensable," Nageswaran said.
Since the beginning of the war in West Asia on February 28, crude oil prices soared to a four-year high of USD 126 per barrel on Thursday, from about USD 73 level before the war.
Stating that geopolitics will compel policymakers to be nimble and flexible and shed old model of thinking, Nageswaran said India is better prepared than many other countries to deal with the crisis because of the fiscal leeway that the country has due to lowering of fiscal deficit ratio to 4.4 per cent of GDP in FY'26.
Nageswaran said the West Asia conflict is more of a price shock than supply shock for India as the government is managing the supply side deftly.
"This particular conflict, which is going to be on a low simmer or a high flame situation, whatever it is, it is going to be there with us in some form or the other because the military conflict may be over, but the strategic conflict is well and truly alive. It will be so for some time," Nageswaran said.
He said the conflict has four channels of shock: price and supply shock, trade impact, sticky logistics costs and remittance shock.
India imports 60 per cent of its LPG usage and of that, 90 per cent flows through the now closed Strait of Hormuz.
Nageswaran said the pass-through of high global energy prices would have to be a "balancing act". He said some pass-through is already happening in commercial LPG, and the levy of export duty on diesel and ATF.
The government has cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to shield customers from the impact of the rise in petroleum prices. "We are coming around to arriving at a certain modus vivendi with respect to burden-sharing between the fiscal policy side, inflation, households and the oil marketing companies. So it has to be a balancing act," Nageswaran said.
