Gujarat: 49 Kumbh returnees test COVID-19 positive in two days
Ahmedabad, Apr 18: A total of 49 people, who returned to Gujarat after taking part in the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, have tested coronavirus positive in two days, officials said on Sunday.
Of the 533 people who were tested at Sabarmati Railway Station of the city on Saturday and Sunday, as many as 49 persons were found positive in the rapid antigen test conducted by the civic health teams, a statement by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said.
All the infected persons were shifted to Covid Care Centres in the city, it said.
On Saturday afternoon, 313 Kumbh returnees underwent rapid antigen tests on their arrival in Sabarmati by a train from Haridwar. Of these, 34 persons tested positive, the release said.
On Sunday, of the total number of 220 Kumbh returnees tested at the station, 15 were found infected.
All of them were shifted to Covid Care facilities, it added.
In order to stem the spread of the virus in the state, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had on Saturday announced that people returning to the state after attending the Kumbh Mela will have to undergo COVID-19 test before they are allowed to enter their respective cities and villages.
He had said that collectors of all the districts in Gujarat were directed to keep a watch on the Kumbh Mela returnees and enforce a 'nakabandi' (security checking) to prevent their entry in their hometowns without undergoing test.
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Xi Jinping calls for 'elephant-dragon tango' on 75th anniversary of India, China ties
Beijing (PTI): In a message marking 75th anniversary of their bilateral relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed on partnership between India and China for “mutual achievement” and the need to do the “dragon-elephant tango” to serve their fundamental interests.
Apart from President Xi's message to his counterpart Droupadi Murmu, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Prime Minister Narendra Modi too exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the occasion, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced here.
In her message, Murmu said a stable, predictable and friendly bilateral relationship will benefit both countries and the world, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The development comes amid the efforts to reset the ties after over four years of freeze due to the eastern Ladakh military standoff.
President Xi, in his message to Murmu, said China and India, both ancient civilisations, major developing countries and important members of the Global South, are at a critical stage of their respective modernisation efforts.
“The development of China-India relations demonstrates that it is the right choice for China and India to be partners of mutual achievement and realise the 'dragon elephant tango,' which fully serves the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples,” Xinhua said quoting Xi.
Xi called on both sides to view and handle bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, seek a way, which features peaceful coexistence, mutual trust, mutual benefit and common development, for neighbouring major countries to get along with each other, and jointly promote a multi-polar world and greater democracy in international relations.
He also said he stands ready to work with Murmu to take the anniversary of ties as an opportunity to enhance strategic mutual trust, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various fields, deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the China-India border area, push forward a sound and steady development of bilateral relations and contribute to world peace and prosperity.
For her part, Murmu said India and China are two major neighboring countries that are home to one-third of the world's population, noting that a stable, predictable and friendly bilateral relationship will benefit both countries and the world.
She proposed to take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to jointly promote the sound and steady development of India-China relations, Xinhua reported.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun while announcing the exchange of greetings by the leaders told media briefing here that the historical course of our bilateral relations shows that being partners that contributed to each other's success and the cooperative dance of 'the dragon and the elephant' is the right choice for both sides.
Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of our two countries, China stands ready to work with India to view and handle bilateral relations with a strategic and long-term perspective and take this occasion as an opportunity to enhance strategic mutual trust and step up exchanges and cooperation in various fields, Guo said.
He was referring to how Modi and Xi provided strategic guidance for the development of bilateral relations at their meeting at Kazan in Russia on the sidelines of the BRICS summit last year.
The two sides are implementing the consensus of the two leaders and are promoting cooperation and achieving fruitful outcomes.
Both the countries should also deepen communication and coordination in major international affairs, jointly maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas and advance China-India relations on the track of sound and stable development, Guo said.
To a question about the plans by both the countries to celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, he said the two sides have the willingness to take the occasion to advance the bilateral relations.
Details of the specific events will be released in due course, he said.
After last year's meeting between Modi and Xi, both countries held a series of high level meetings, including that of the Special Representatives (SRs) of the boundary mechanism followed by the visit of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Beijing for talks to normalise relations after the four-year freeze in relations due to the Ladakh standoff.
This year, on March 25, India and China held a fresh edition of diplomatic talks in Beijing focusing on ensuring effective border management and early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
In the meeting of WMCC (Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination) on China-India Border Affairs, the two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during talks between NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Special Representatives (SR) dialogue in December.
On the following day, Gourangalal Das, the joint secretary in the MEA's East Asia division, and Liu Jinsong, the director general at the Chinese foreign ministry's department of Asian Affairs met in Beijing during which they explored ways to rebuild ties and agreed to initiate efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges, including arrangements for resumption of direct flights and to resume Kailash Manasarovar Yatra this year.
In the meeting, the two sides also discussed resumption of dialogue mechanisms in a step-by-step manner to utilise them to address each other's priority areas of interest and concern and move the relations to a more stable and predictable path, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said in a press release.
