India

NEW DELHI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The third wave of COVID-19 in India was inevitable and could hit the country in the next six to eight weeks, Director of India's premier health institute All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, Dr. Randeep Guleria said Saturday.

Guleria made the comments in an interview with local television news channel NDTV, as local states governments are resorting to unlocking and easing COVID-19 restrictions.

New Delhi, Jun 18 (PTI) The Delhi government increased the dearness allowance for unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled and other workers in all scheduled employments on Friday, thus increasing the overall amount of the minimum wage.

In a statement, the city government said the order shall be applicable from April 1.

Banda (UP), Jun 18 (PTI) A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her relative here, police said on Friday.

The victim had come to her maternal grandparents' home here. She had gone out to attend nature's call on Wednesday when 22-year-old Sunder Yadav, the cousin of her mother, allegedly raped her and fled, (SHO), Banda City Kotwali police station, Bhaskar Mishra said.

The grandfather met the Superintendent of Police along with the victim after which an FIR was lodged against the accused on Friday.

Ghaziabad, Jun 18 (PTI) All nine youths arrested for allegedly beating up an elderly Muslim man from Bulandshar in Ghaziabad's Loni area and chopping off his beard have been granted interim bail by a court here, said an advocate representing the accused.

Key accused Parvesh Gurjar, who had allegedly got Bulandshahr resident Abdul Samad picked up through his friends from Gokulpuri in East Delhi and beaten him up after confining him in a room in a desolate area, was given bail in the case by Chief Judicial Magistrate Sandeep Chaudhary on Friday.

Chandigarh, Jun 18 (PTI) Punjab police on Friday said that they have busted an interstate gang producing fake Remdesivir injections with the arrest of six persons.

The arrested accused have been identified as as Mohammad Shahwar, Arshad Khan and Mohammad Arshad from Uttar Pradesh; Pradeep Saroha from Haryana; and Shah Nazar and Shah Alam from Mohali in Punjab, they said.

Mumbai, Jun 18 (PTI) A day after the National Investigation Agency arrested former police officer Pradeep Sharma in the case of explosives-laden SUV found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's house and the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran, teams of CRPF were deployed outside its office in South Mumbai on Friday.

Sharma, famous as `encounter specialist' when he was in the Mumbai police force, was the fifth serving or former police official to be arrested in the case.

Dehradun, Jun 19 (PTI) The Uttarakhand Police has set up a special investigation team to probe allegations that fake Covid tests were conducted during the Haridwar Kumbh Mela.

One of the world's largest religious gatherings, the Kumbh was held in the state from April 1 to 30, and the notified area for the congregation covered various places in Haridwar, Dehradun and Tehri districts.

Jammu, Jun 19 (PTI) At least nine shops were gutted in a major blaze in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Saturday, while another fire at a J&K Road Transport Corporation (JKRTC) yard here burnt a parked bus and dozens of tyres, officials said.

The fire in the Mandi area of Poonch broke out from a shop at the Loaran bus stand around 4.45 am and engulfed nearby shops, they said.

Fire tenders rushed to the spot were able to put off the blaze after several hours of hectic efforts, the officials said.

Mumbai, Jun 18 (PTI) Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has pitched for policy support from all sides -- fiscal, monetary and sectoral -- to nurture recovery of the economy hit by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The dent on economic activity due to the second wave of the pandemic during April-May necessitated continuation of monetary measures to support the process of economic recovery to make it durable, Das had said while participating in the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) earlier in the month.

BENGALURU, June 18 (Reuters) - A third wave of coronavirus infections is likely to hit India by October, and although it will be better controlled than the latest outbreak the pandemic will remain a public health threat for at least another year, according to a Reuters poll of medical experts.

The June 3-17 snap survey of 40 healthcare specialists, doctors, scientists, virologists, epidemiologists and professors from around the world showed a significant pickup in vaccinations will likely provide some cover to a fresh outbreak.