Karnataka Health Minister Sudhakar asks people to be through with vaccination amid XE variant fear
Bengaluru, Apr 11: Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday appealed to people to complete their vaccination doses amid the outbreak of new XE variant of COVID-19 in some foreign countries.
Please ensure that all your vaccination doses are completed at the earliest, Sudhakar said after a meeting with the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
Sudhakar said in a statement that there was an increase in XE variant COVID-19 cases in eight different countries, including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, United Kingdom and Germany.
According to him, the TAC has suggested thermal-screening, strict surveillance and mandatory quarantine for a period of seven to 10 days for passengers arriving from the eight countries.
The government will soon release guidelines regarding this. Additionally, we urge people to wear masks, as the IIT-Kanpur has predicted another COIVD-19 wave around June and July, Sudhakar said.
He stressed on the fact that many haven't completed their second dose.
As many as 4.77 crore forming around 98 per cent of people under the 60+ category have taken the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Karnataka and only 49 per cent have taken the precautionary dose. Already, there is a decline in immunity in this age group. I urge everyone to complete all doses, the minister appealed.
He pointed out that some people had blamed the government for the COVID-19 wave and shortage of vaccine in the past. "Now, there is an adequate supply and we have made several requests to people to take the vaccine. People should take the vaccine and cooperate with the government," he said.
He said that among the 15-17 age group, 25.11 lakh people out of 30 lakh had taken the vaccine amounting to 79 per cent and only 65 per cent had taken the second dose.
Among the 12-14 age group, only 13.96 lakh children have received the vaccine out of 20 lakh amounting to 69 per cent. He urged parents to have their children vaccinated.
As there are no vaccines for young kids, Sudhakar said 5,000 children would be tested across the State as per the recommendation of the TAC.
Regarding the hospitals overcharging, the Minister said the government would not tolerate this.
A high-level meeting has been held and a committee formed to check overcharging. The capped prices for CT scans, MRI etc must be considered as the new prices for future and not just for COVID-19.
All officers have been given instructions in this regard. Labs should not charge higher cost than the cap fixed by the government. If this rule is violated, the government has the right to revoke the licence of the lab or hospital, he said.
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Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
