Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the need for hospitalisation and oxygen support was low, state health minister Rajesh Tope said in Jalna on Saturday.

He said the state task force and health department had given their assessment of the COVID-19 situation to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who will decide on the extent of restrictions etc.

He added that 41,000 cases were detected on Friday in the state, though there was no addition to the Omicron tally.

"Those having cough, fever etc, including children, must get themselves tested. Senior citizens with comorbidities and frontline health staff must go for the precautionary vaccine dose, the drive for which will begin on January 10," the minister said.

A third top-up booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine provides high levels of protection against severe disease from the Omicron variant among older adults, a latest UK study concluded on Saturday.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) analysis showed that around three months after the third jab, protection against hospitalisation among those aged 65 and over remains at about 90 per cent.

Whilst with a booster shot, the duration of protection against severe disease remains high, protection against mild symptomatic infection is more short-lived and drops to around 30 per cent by about three months.

The UKHSA study examined booster shots in those aged over 65, who were among the first to be eligible when the UK's booster vaccination rollout began in mid-September 2021.

The latest findings also show that protection from getting severe infection from the Omicron variant of COVID-19 after the first two doses wanes within months.

With just two vaccine doses, protection against severe infection drops to around 70 per cent after three months and to 50 per cent after six months, the study noted.

The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said it has taken this latest evidence into account in its ongoing review of the booster programme and decided against the need for a fourth booster dose rollout at this stage.

The current data shows the booster dose is continuing to provide high levels of protection against severe infections, even for the most vulnerable older age groups. For this reason, the committee has concluded there is no immediate need to introduce a second booster dose, though this will continue to be reviewed, said Professor Wei Shen Lim, the JCVI's chair of COVID-19 immunisation.

The data is highly encouraging and emphasises the value of a booster jab. With Omicron continuing to spread widely, I encourage everyone to come forward for their booster dose, or if unvaccinated, for their first two doses, to increase their protection against serious illness, he said.

The JCVI has concluded that there is no immediate need to introduce a fourth jab to the most vulnerable groups such as care home residents and those aged over 80 and that priority should continue to be given to rolling out the first booster shots to all age groups.

However, extremely vulnerable patients with impaired immune systems are still advised to administer the fourth shot to get fully vaccinated.

More than 35 million boosters and third doses have now been administered across the UK, with the government's Get Boosted Now campaign at the end of last year to tackle the surge in coronavirus cases driven by the Omicron variant.

It comes at a time when the UK's daily infections rate continues to remain high, with another 178,250 cases being reported on Friday.

Hospitalisations, which have remained relatively low, have also started to rise among the vulnerable age groups.

As a result, the widespread staff absences due to self-isolation have caused severe pressures on the country's National Health Service (NHS), with Army personnel being drafted in for support in some regions.

I think we have to be honest when we look at the NHS and say it will be a rocky few weeks ahead," said UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

About 4 per cent of hospital staff in England nearly 36,000 were off work for reasons related to COVID-19 during the week ending January 2.

When other sickness absence is added, it brings the total to 9 per cent nearly double what would normally be seen at this time of the year. 

Lauding the feat of over two crore youngsters in the 15-18 age group getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called for continuing the momentum.

He tweeted, "Excellent! Well done my young friends. Let us continue this momentum. Urging everyone to follow all COVID-19 related protocols and get vaccinated, if you haven't already."

He was reacting to Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya's tweet regarding the feat.

"Shielding Young India against COVID-19. Over 2 crore children between the age group of 15-18 vaccinated against #COVID19 since 3rd January. Congratulations to all my young friends who got vaccinated," he had said.

Vaccination of children in the 15-18 age group began on January 3 in the country. 

The BJP on Saturday swept the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation mayoral polls and its municipal councillor Sarabjit Kaur became the new mayor.

The saffron party also bagged the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor of the Chandigarh MC. The mayor's post was reserved for a woman candidate this year.

However, the AAP called the poll results a "murder of democracy".

BJP's Sarabjit Kaur defeated Aam Aadmi Party's Anju Katyal by one vote in a direct contest.

Out of the total 36 votes, 28 were polled, while seven Congress councillors and the lone Shiromani Akali Dal councillor abstained.

Kaur bagged 14 votes and Katyal got 13, officials said, adding that one was declared invalid.

The Aam Aadmi Party was contesting the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls for the first time.

After the result was declared, AAP councillors created a ruckus in the House, with some of them reaching near the mayor's chair and holding a protest.

Crying foul play, they tried to stop the new mayor from addressing the House. First, marshals were called in and later police were called to remove the protesting councillors who were standing near the mayor's chair.

BJP's Dalip Sharma became the senior deputy mayor after he trounced AAP's Prem Lata by a margin of two votes. Sharma polled 15 and Lata got 13 votes, indicating that one AAP councillor cross voted.

BJP's Arun Gupta won the post of deputy mayor as he defeated AAP's Ram Chander Yadav. There was a tie as both the candidates got 14 votes each.  Then after a draw of lots, BJP's Gupta was declared deputy mayor.

BJP councillor Mahesh Inder Singh Sidhu was the presiding officer and Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh chaired the election process.

The results of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation polls which were declared on December 27, threw up a hung House, with the AAP winning 14 of the 35 wards and the BJP 12.

The Congress had bagged eight seats and the Shiromani Akali Dal got one.

Days after the polls results were declared, municipal councillor from the Congress Harpreet Kaur Babla joined the BJP.

Besides 35 councillors, the Chandigarh MP, who is an ex-officio member in the municipal corporation, also has a voting right.

Later, Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab and Chandigarh affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh accused the BJP of "murdering democracy" in the mayoral election of Chandigarh.

He said that in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation elections, the residents of the city had voted the Aam Aadmi Party to the most number of seats at 14.

AAP's victory in the mayor's election was certain, but the BJP deliberately got an AAP vote "cancelled" by insulting the 'fatwa' of the public and declared its mayor forcibly, he alleged.

Singh said the elections for the mayor of Chandigarh clearly showed that there was "a clandestine understanding between the BJP and the Congress" to defeat the AAP in the mayoral elections.

Somehow BJP's vote figure reached 14, equalling AAP, by including the vote of a member of Parliament, but the party flouted all rules and regulations, and got its candidate appointed as the mayor, he alleged.

Singh also accused officials of Chandigarh of helping the BJP and said that in order to maintain fairness of the election, votes should be re-counted and the mayor should be re-elected, failing which the AAP will resort to a legal action.

The Karnataka COVID-19 war room analysis into the infections in the past seven days from January 1 to 7 has revealed that unvaccinated people are 30 times more likely to land in the Intensive Care Unit than the vaccinated, an official said on Saturday.

Karnataka COVID-19 War Room chief Munish Moudgil said unvaccinated people are 10-times more likely to have manifested COVID infection than vaccinated.

"The unvaccinated people are 30 times more likely to land in ICU or High Dependency Unit (HDU) as compared to the vaccinated," he said in his analysis.

He explained the methodology to arrive at the conclusion.

According to him, with 97 per cent citizens vaccinated and three per cent unvaccinated, ideally if both were equally vulnerable to COVID, then for every 100 COVID cases or hospitalised cases, 97 people should have been vaccinated and three should have been unvaccinated.

"But, proportionately unvaccinated constitute 10 times COVID patients and 30 times more in ICU than expected," Moudgil explained.

"Vaccination surely helps a lot to avoid COVID complications and everyone eligible must take it," the IAS officer concluded.

Regarding the possibility of overwhelming majority of patients who are vaccinated fully, Moudgil said many in hospital general beds could be out of their own precaution. The actual number of people in the ICU will give the real comparison, he opined.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said his party is ready to contest the assembly polls in various states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

The AAP national convenor made the remark soon after the Election Commission announced the poll schedules for five states, including Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, besides UP and Punjab assemblies.

"The dates for the elections have been announced. The Aam Aadmi Party is ready," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

The AAP has decided to contest in all these states barring Manipur.

The assembly elections in these five states will be held between February 10 and March 7 in seven phases, as announced by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra at a press conference earlier in the day.

Two brothers who were engrossed in playing popular online game PUBG on their mobile phones while sitting on a railway track were run over by a train in Rajasthan's Alwar district on Saturday, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Lokesh Meena (22) and his younger brother Rahul (19). They were preparing for competitive exams, the police said.

"Lokesh Meena and Rahul were sitting on the railway track near Roopbaas town and were playing PUBG when they were run over by a train. They were so engrossed in the game that they did not see the train coming," said Manohar Lal, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Sadar police station.

They were staying with their elder sister in Roopbaas. Their father lives in a village near Tehla in Alwar, he said.

The bodies were handed over to the family of the deceased after a post-mortem examination, the police said. 

A day after Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, in a letter, complained that he was stopped from attending a programme in Jhargram, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday asked the chief secretary and director general of police to provide him on January 10 all details of the incident.

Dhankhar also sought a written report from them in the matter.

"In view of highly disturbing scenario, reminiscent of emergency, in Jan 07 communication @SuvenduWB WB Guv has directed CS @MamataOfficial & DGP @WBPolice to brief him, fully updated, with written report, on Jan 10 at 11 am," he tweeted.

In an earlier tweet, he said that Adhikari was "ill treated by the administration".

"In spite of Jan 5 Hon'ble HC  order the LOP was so ill treated by the administration @MamataOfficial and police @WBPolice  compromising his fundamental rights. Such blatant disregard of Hon'ble High Court directive calls for exemplary consequences if democracy is to survive (sic)," he wrote on the microblogging platform.

Adhikari, in his letter to Dhankhar, said he was prevented from visiting Netai, where he sought to pay respect to those killed on January 7, 2011.

The Nandigram MLA alleged he was stopped by the police, despite a Calcutta High Court order stating that "there is no restriction on my movement".

In 2011, nine people were killed in Netai in indiscriminate firing by alleged CPI(M) activists.

Three family members of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi have tested positive for COVID-19, a senior health official said on Saturday.

However, the chief minister has tested negative for the infection.

Mohali civil surgeon Dr Adarshpal Kaur said Channi's wife Kamaljit Kaur, his son Navjit Singh and daughter-in-law Simrandheer Kaur have tested positive for coronavirus.

They all have mild symptoms and are in home-isolation, she further said. 

Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar on Saturday said he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

In a brief statement posted on his official Instagram page, the 53-year-old filmmaker said he is experiencing mild symptoms and has isolated himself.

"I have tested positive for Covid. Been fully vaccinated but experiencing mild symptoms. Have isolated myself," he wrote.

The National Award-winning director urged people to follow necessary COVID-19 guidelines.

"Those who came in contact with me kindly get yourself tested. Please be safe and follow Covid-19 protocols," he added.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai reported 20,927 cases of COVID-19 and six fatalities on Friday.

The Charanjit Singh Channi-led government selected the 1987 batch IPS officer out of a panel of three officers shortlisted by the Union Public Service Commission.

The other two officers in the panel were senior IPS officers Dinkar Gupta and Prabodh Kumar.

Bhawra's term shall be for a minimum period of two years from the date of assumption of office, said the order.

At present, Siddharth Chattopadhyaya was the officiating DGP of the state. 

In view of the forthcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, a total of 150 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel are being provided to the state by the Centre in the first phase, officials said.

These include 50 companies of the Central Reserved Police Force (CRPF), 30 companies each of the Border Security Force (BSF), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and 20 companies each of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border (ITBP).

One company of CAPF generally has around a hundred personnel.

A senior Uttar Pradesh police officer said the 150 companies are being provided by the Centre in the first phase from January 10 with the objective of conducting elections in a fair and efficient manner as also to reduce the sensitivity and vulnerability around polls.

These CAPF companies are being allotted to all 78 districts and commissionerates in UP as per their sensitivity and requirement. Instructions have been given by the police headquarters, Lucknow to the districts to organise a flag march for area domination, keeping in view the assembly elections by engaging the local police force along with these central police forces, the officer said.

Among all UP districts, Prayagraj has got the maximum four companies of the CRPF in the first phase, according to officials.

The state has four districts where the commissionerate system of policing has been implemented.

Of the commissionerates, Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi have got three companies each of the paramilitary personnel, while Gautam Buddh Nagar got two companies, the officials said.

There are 25 districts which have got just one company of the paramilitary personnel, while 35 districts got two, 17 got three and one got four companies, they added.

Delhi is likely to record around 20,000 COVID-19 cases on Saturday with a positivity rate of around 19 per cent, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.

He said till now there has been no Omicron variant-related death in the national capital.

Jain said most of the patients who succumbed to coronavirus infection on Thursday had comorbidities.

"The hospital admissions are lower this time and the severity of infection is lower as well. Delhi will see around 20,000 cases with a positivity rate of 19 per cent today," he told reporters.

Maintaining that the city government is well prepared, he said infrastructure has been augmented keeping in mind the high number of Covid cases.

"Currently hospital admissions are less. Earlier, when Delhi had 17,000 cases, the deaths were more than 200 on a daily basis but the deaths are lower this time. People are coming to hospitals for treatment of other disease and are being found positive (for Covid)," he said.

Jain reiterated that the high number of coronavirus infections is due to the increasing number of tests being conducted in the national capital.

"Nearly a lakh tests are being conducted on a daily basis. So the number of cases is proportional to the tests being conducted," he added.

He urged people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and wear face masks while stepping out, adding they are more effective than implementing a lockdown.

Delhi on Friday recorded 17,335 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and nine deaths, while the positivity rate mounted to 17.73 per cent, according to data shared by the city's health department.

A man with a knife in hand climbed the stage minutes after Congress leader Harish Rawat had finished his speech at a rally in Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district recently and began shouting "Jai Shree Ram".

However, Youth Congress workers soon overpowered him and handed him over to the police.

The man was mentally unstable, Kashipur Additional Superintendent of Police Chandra Mohan Singh said.

He had climbed onto a tower in the town a few days earlier insisting on talking to the prime minister, Singh said.

The incident occurred on Thursday evening soon after Rawat had got down from the stage after finishing his speech.

A case under the Arms Act has been registered against the man who is in his 40s, the police officer said.

When contacted, Rawat said he had also heard the noise on stage after he had finished his speech at the Kashipur rally but ignored it as he had other events to attend. 

The third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic across all states is being driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, official sources said on Saturday, citing the latest data.

Till a few days ago it was only in the western region of the country that the surge in Covid cases was due to Omicron, while in the northeastern states, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha the Delta variant was predominant.

A source said, however, the latest data suggests that all eastern states have also reported high numbers of Omicron cases.

"So going by that it can be said that the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic across all states is being driven by the fast-spreading and highly transmissible Omicron variant," the source said.

India saw a single-day rise of 1,41,986 new coronavirus infections taking the total case tally to 3,53,68,372, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The government has reiterated and urged people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and avoid mass gatherings.

The Centre has also asked states and union territories to review infrastructure preparedness, including re-establishment of field/makeshift hospital facilities to avoid any shortage in the eventuality of a potential surge in hospital admissions due to COVID-19.

BJP leader Ashish Shelar has written to Maharashtra home minister and Mumbai police commissioner claiming that he had received threat calls from an unidentified caller, an official said on Saturday.

The Bandra (west) MLA stated in his letters that the caller had abused him and threatened to kill him and his family members.

Shelar, a former minister, has submitted details of the two phone numbers from which he received the threat calls and requested the police to do the needful.

The official, however, didn't elaborate on the reason for Shelar receiving the threat.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said in Nagpur on Saturday that Shelar was vocal about "corruption" in (state) government.

"Ashish Shelar often takes a stand against the government and bring out corruption. This could be the reason behind him receiving the threat. Police should take this matter seriously," the former chief minister told reporters.

Over 2 crore teenagers in the age group of 15-18 years have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in less than a week of the inoculation drive being launched for children, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Saturday.

With the administration of more than 90 lakh (90,59,360) vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, the cumulative number in the country has exceeded 150.61 crore (150,61,92,903), according to provisional reports updated till 7 am.

"Great Going, my Young Friends. Over 2 crore youngsters between the 15-18 age group have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in less than a week of vaccination drive for children," Mandaviya tweeted.

According to health ministry officials, over 91 per cent of the adult population of the country has received at least one dose of he vaccine while more than 66 per cent have been vaccinated with both the doses.

The West Bengal government Saturday relaxed its COVID-19 curbs in the state, allowing salons and beauty parlours to operate with 50 per cent capacity till 10 pm.

An official order to this effect said the owners should ensure that the staff and customers are fully vaccinated and they follow all health protocols.

However, there was no clarification from when the order would be applicable.

Salons and parlours should be regularly sanitised, it added.

As part of the ongoing Covid curbs, all educational institutions are closed in the state, and flight services are regulated. Gymnasiums and swimming pools are also shut. 

The poll body has convened a press conference in which it will declare the schedule for the polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur. 

While the term of the current Uttar Pradesh assembly is ending in May, those of the other four assemblies are ending on different dates in March.

Delhi Commission for Women Chief Swati Maliwal Saturday said she has tested positive for coronavirus and is feeling "terribly ill".

"Tested positive for COVID. Feeling terribly ill with high fever. Have isolated myself. Request people who came in contact with me to get their RTPCR done," she said in a tweet.

The 37-year-old asked people to stay cautious.

"Despite so much work on ground, was able to evade COVID till now! Omicron is damn infectious. Everyone pl take precaution! (sic)" she added. 

The Union home ministry has restored the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration of the Missionaries of Charity, days after revoking it following some "adverse inputs".

 

A home ministry official said that with the restoration of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence, the Kolkata-based famed organisation will be able to receive foreign fundings and also can spend the money lying in the banks.

The Missionaries of Charity is a Catholic religious congregation established in 1950 by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa to help the poor and destitute, 

On December 27, the home ministry had said that it cancelled the FCRA licence of Missionaries of Charity after receiving some "adverse inputs".

It also said that it did not freeze any account of the Missionaries of Charity but the State Bank of India informed it that the NGO itself sent a request to the bank to freeze its accounts.

After the matter became public, the Opposition, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Congress, slammed the government for the alleged "freezing" of the bank accounts of the Missionaries of Charity.

Following the home ministry action, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had directed to all District Collectors to ensure that no unit of the Missionaries of Charity, operating in the state, should face any financial crisis and if necessary use the chief minister's relief fund to help them.

Patnaik had also released over Rs 78 lakh to Missionary of Charity to run over a dozen institutes in the state. 

Delhi recorded its highest rainfall in a day for January in at least 13 years, according to official figures, as overnight rains inundated some low-lying areas in the national capital.

 

Several parts of the city reported waterlogging with the Safdarjung Observatory, considered the official marker for the city, recording 41 mm rainfall which, according to data available on the IMD website, is the highest in a day for January for at least 13 years. 

The weather station at Palam gauged a record 48 mm rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 8:30 am Saturday. 

The overnight rain, however, improved the air quality of the city to moderate category this morning with the air quality index (AQI) of 114 at 9 am. It was 182 on Friday, the best since October 26 when it stood at 139. 

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".

The minimum temperature was recorded at 15.2 degree Celsius, eight notches above season's average. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 19 degree Celsius, the meteorological department said. 

The weathermen have forecast thunderstorm with rain during the day. The relative humidity was 100 per cent. 

 

December recorded the longest streak of six "severe" air quality days since 2015. -- PTI

Political rallies, dharnas and demonstrations have been banned in poll-bound Uttarakhand till January 16 in view of the rising coronavirus cases, according to an official order.

 

In fresh guidelines issued late Friday night that come into effect from Sunday, Chief Secretary SS Sandhu said all political rallies, dharnas, demonstrations and public events like cultural gatherings etc will remain suspended in the state till January 16.

The Uttarakhand high court had recently asked the Election Commission to see if poll rallies could be held virtually and if online voting was possible. Assembly polls in the state are due in a few weeks and the Election Commission may announce the dates this month. 

Covid cases have been constantly on the rise in Uttarakhand with single-day cases crossing 800 mark on Friday after several months.

Anaganwadi centres and schools upto class XII besides swimming pools and water parks will also remain closed during the period, the order said.

However, gyms, shopping malls, cinema halls, spas, saloons, entertainment parks, theatres and auditoriums will remain open during the period with 50 per cent capacity.

Night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am will continue during which essential and emergency services can operate with strict adherence to Covid protocol, said the order. -- PTI

India today reported 1,41,986 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total tally to 3,53,68,372, according to the Union health ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 4,83,463 with 285 fresh fatalities, the data stated.

India will witness a peak in the number of COVID-19 cases by next month with the expectation of reporting five lakh cases per day, a US-based health expert said, adding that however "the severity of the variant will be less this time in the country than Delta variant."

Dr Christopher Murray, Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and Chair of the Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington said: "You are entering the Omicron wave, as many countries around the world are, and we expect that there will be more cases per day at the peak than you had in April last year for the Delta wave, but Omicron is much less severe."

"So, while you will have many cases and set records probably for cases. It should be less of an impact on the severity of the disease. We currently have in the models that we will release later, we expect about five lakh cases at the peak, which should come in during the next month," he added.

As many experts in India say that the country has hybrid immunity due to which Omicron will be less effective, Dr Murray said: "What we know from a place like South Africa where there was a tremendous amount of prior infection, both Delta as well as Beta. Vaccination doses provide considerable protection for severe disease, from hospitalisation and death, which is why we think there will be many Omicron cases in India, but much less hospitalisation and death than you had in the Delta wave."

Speaking about the number of hospitalisations and severity due to the variant, he said: "We expect that 85.2 per cent of infections will have no symptoms. They will be asymptomatic, but amongst the cases, we still expect quite a number of them to end up in hospitals and in terms of death, cases will be much reduced. So we expect that the peak of hospital admissions in India will be about a quarter of what you had for the Delta wave, and deaths should be less of what you saw for Delta."

According to some experts, further spread of Omicron may lead to other mutations. Talking about it Dr Murray said: "The thing about mutations is that they're random. So, the more transmission there is, the more potential there is for mutations to occur. But in the setting of this rapid transmission of Omicron, it's going to be very difficult in the next month or two for a new variant to meet Omicron because it's so transmissible."

Dr Christopher Murray further spoke over the new variant with multiple mutations in France.

"There are mutations all the time, and you can identify variants with many mutations but the thing that we look for, is that within, you know, 30 to 45 days after a new mutation appears, has it spread as it spread like Omicron, so far, that mutation has been around for quite some time in France. And it has not spread so we are not currently learned about that mutation." -- ANI

During the monitoring of social media, it was observed that a fake/morphed video has been shared on Twitter by some Twitter handles, they said.                  

In reality, the video was of the meeting of the cabinet committee, which took place on December 9, 2021, after the demise of chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat. 

The video was readily available on various news portals and social media platforms, a senior police officer said.                  

With the ill-intent to promote enmity and instigate communal disharmony, the video was morphed and a new voiceover was super imposed in which the alleged persons tried to show that the meeting was against the Sikh community, deputy commissioner of police (IFSO) K P S Malhotra said.                  

A tweet referring to a viral video claim that in a #Cabinet Committee meeting on Security, there was a call for the removal of Sikhs from the Indian Army. The claim is #Fake. No such discussion/meeting has taken place, PIB Fact Check tweeted.                  

Such act of promoting disharmony/enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony and can disturb public tranquility and is an offence under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, the DCP said.                  

In this regard, a case has been registered and investigation has been taken up. The Twitter accounts which started the propagation of this video are found to be @simrankaur0507 and @eshalkaur1, he said. -- PTI