From the Newsroom: River Krishna, its tributaries continue to flow near danger levels

In today's episode, Union minister Hardeep Puri announced interim relief for Kerala plane crash victims; River Krishna and its tributaries continue to flow near danger levels; The incubation period of Covid-19, which is the time after which those infected with the novel coronavirus start showing the first symptoms, could be as much as eight days and Girish Chandra Murmu assumes office as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Here is the top news of today, Saturday: August 8, 2020:

After a landslide, Kerala received a late-night shocker yesterday after Air India Express flight IX 1344 carrying 190 passengers on board skidded off the runway while landing.

Prima facie, what seems to have happened is that the aircraft overshot the runway. Bad weather which has been hovering over the west coast for the past few days seems to have been the cause.

The plane arriving at Karipur airport in Kozhikode from Dubai had also delayed its landing by over 30 minutes owing to the bad weather.

Meanwhile, Union minister Hardeep Puri announced an interim relief of Rs 10 lakh for kin of deceased, Rs 2 lakh for people who are seriously injured and Rs 50,000 for persons with minor injuries.

Arvind Singh, Airport Authority of India Chairman said that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had some issues with the runway in 2015, but after resolving those issues, clearance was given to it in 2019. The jumbo jets of Air India also used to land there.

Ober queries that after the accident, will the Vande Bharat mission continue? Ministry of Civil Aviation has said that the Vande Bharat Mission flights have no problem and that the mission will continue.

In other related news, Mumbai-bound Air Asia flight (i5-632) aborted take-off at Ranchi Airport due to a bird-hit and Airport officials said that all passengers are safe.

River Krishna and its tributaries were continuing to flow near danger levels with the inflow of waters increasing to 162139 cusecs on Saturday. Discharge of waters from dams in Kolhapur and Sangli districts in Maharashtra has added to the inflow of waters into river Krishna.

Water inflow from Rajapur barrage into river Krishna at Kallol barrage increased to 128875 cusecs and inflow from its tributary Doodhganga to 33624 cusecs leading the rivers continuing to flow near danger mark and waters spreading in the agricultural lands along the banks. Sugarcane crops along the river basin have been witnessing water clogging.

Seven low-lying bridge cum barrages in Raibag taluk and in Athani remained submerged in waters.

The incubation period of Covid-19, which is the time after which those infected with the novel coronavirus start showing the first symptoms, could be as much as eight days -- longer than previous estimates of four to five days -- says a new study which involved the largest amount of patient samples to date in such an analysis.

The research, published in the journal Science Advances, identified pre-symptomatic individuals at their time of departure from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 pandemic originated, and then followed these infected people until their symptoms developed.

According to the scientists, including Chong You from Peking University in China, the existing estimates of four to five days for the incubation period were based on small samples sizes, limited data, and self-reports that could be biased by the memory or judgement of the patient or interviewer.

Phase-2 human clinical trials of Zydus Cadila vaccine for the treatment of Covid-19 commenced at Jeevan Rekha Hospital here. Vaccine has been administered to 20 healthy individuals two days ago and progress was on expected lines.

Health individuals in the age group of 12 years to 60 years have been identified for the human clinical trials of Zydus Cadila vaccine phase-2. Vaccine has been administered to 20 healthy individuals as per protocols of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and they were on expected lines, said, Director Dr Amit Bhate.

Dr Bhate told DH that the protocols of ICMR were being followed for the phase-2 trials of Zydus Cadila vaccine. After screening and tests, 20 individuals have been administered the vaccine and the progress has been good.

He said we are conducting phase-2 human clinical trials of Zydus Cadila. As per the norms of ICMR, more details cannot be divulged.

Girish Chandra Murmu has assumed office as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India from August 8, 2020, an official statement said on Saturday.

Earlier in the morning, the former Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor were sworn in as the Comptroller and Auditor General at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Murmu made and subscribed to the oath of office before President Ram Nath Kovind, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement.

A former bureaucrat, Murmu is a 1985-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. His tenure as the new CAG will be up to November 20, 2024.

He succeeds Rajiv Mehrishi, who demitted office on Friday, the office of the CAG said in the statement.

As a constitutional functionary, the CAG is primarily entrusted with the responsibility of auditing the accounts of the central and state governments.

The CAG reports are laid before Parliament and legislatures of the states.