Delhi

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will begin a four-day visit to London from Monday primarily to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of Group of Seven (G7) rich nations.

India has been invited to the meeting as a guest country.

"The external affairs minister will be visiting London from May 3-6 to participate in the G7 foreign ministers meeting, at which India has been invited as a guest country. He will thereafter undertake a bilateral visit to the UK," the Ministry of External Affairs said.

New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) The third and largest phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to inoculate people in 18-45 age group began here Monday morning.

Around 90 lakh people are eligible for the jabs under this category in Delhi. Five vaccination booths each have been set up at 77 schools for the exercise, an official said.

The government set up the vaccination centres at schools to accommodate the large number of beneficiaries, he added.

Till now, vaccines were being given to those aged above 45 at around 500 centres in the national capital.

New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) The daily COVID-19 cases in India showed a slight dip with 368,147 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, taking the total tally of cases to 19,925,604, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The death toll increased to 218,959 with 3,417 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

While the country recorded 401,993 new cases on May 1, it had registered 392,488 cases on May 2.

New Delhi, May 1 (PTI) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced an extension of the ongoing lockdown in Delhi by another week on Saturday amid a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases as the national capital battles an acute shortage of beds and medical oxygen in its hospitals.

"Lockdown in Delhi is being extended by one week," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

The lockdown that was scheduled to be in force till 5 am on Monday now stands extended by another week till May 10.

New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI) United Sikhs, a human rights and advocacy organisation, is offering dignified cremation services here to those who have succumbed due to coronavirus, a statement said on Friday.

The United Nations-affiliated group is approaching the families who are unable to arrange a funeral either because they are sick, scared or too weak to leave homes for themselves being COVID positive, according to a statement.

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) State Bank of India (SBI) will try to keep the interest rates benign as long as possible with a view to supporting the economic growth, its chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara has said.

On the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on non-performing assets of the bank, the SBI chief said that as the lockdown was not pan-India, one will have to wait and watch to assess its impact on the banking sector.

New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) As many as 462 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.36 lakh crore, according to a report.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Of the 1,737 such projects, 462 reported cost overruns and 557 were delayed.

New Delhi, May 1 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Saturday directed all hospitals in the national capital to provide information on daily admissions and discharge of COVID-19 patients and of those admitted for over 10 days, since April 1.

A concern was raised in the court regarding optimal utilisation of ICU and oxygenated beds and ICU beds in hospitals and nursing homes across Delhi.

New Delhi, May 1 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to stay the counting of votes for panchayat polls in Uttar Pradesh and said no victory rallies will be permitted during the counting or after the process is over.

At a special urgent hearing, which took place on a court holiday ahead of the counting beginning on Sunday, a bench comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and Hrishikesh Roy also asked the State Election Commission to fasten responsibility on gazetted officers for observing COVID-19 protocols at counting centres across the state.

New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI) Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Friday said oxygen crisis still persists in the national capital and they grapple with an SOS situation every day.

Hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs have been grappling with oxygen shortage. Last week, several hospitals had sent out SOS messages about depleting oxygen supplies at their medical facilities and some hospitals had even lost patients due to the crisis situation.