Left, Right & Centre

A large chunk of Omicron cases in India as the country faces a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported from big cities, the head of the country's vaccine task force told NDTV today, adding the third wave of the pandemic is very much here.

There has been an outrageous targeting of prominent and outspoken Muslim women by a platform called 'Bulli Bai' which 'auctions' their pictures and names. It appears to be an almost copy-cat of what happened last year with another app - the culprits of which are still at large. On Left, Right and Centre, we ask: will the culprits of the 'Bulli Bai' app be booked?

The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act licence of around 6,000 organisations, mostly NGOs ceased to exist from January 1, 2022. The organisations are among a cumulative 12,580 whose FCRA licence have ceased to exist over the past few years. Critics allege that refusing FCRA clearance is the government's way of suppressing organisations whose work or officials are not considered supportive enough of the Centre. If so, who pays the price for this?

The critical R or rate of reproduction factor, which defines the spread of Covid, is above 1 in India now. This means that each person with Covid is infecting at least one other person and this is a huge worry. Amid fears over a third wave, the big question is whether there is now open community transmission of the easy-to-get Omicron variant of Covid. We also talk to the CMD of Optimus Pharma about the next potential game-changer in the fight against Covid - pills such as Merck's Molnupiravir, which are being made as generics here. In this interview, we discuss the A to Z of the pills which will be available in a week.

India appears to be on the brink of a third wave of Covid. There are spikes in Covid cases in almost all metros. In Mumbai, daily cases have jumped by 82% in a day to 2,510 new cases. Positivity is above 4%, but with few hospitalisations. In Delhi, Covid cases have nearly doubled overnight. We are seeing the highest rise in active cases since end-September and the highest rise in weekly covid cases in four months. Where are we headed - that's our big debate tonight.

The Home Ministry rejected the Missionaries of Charity's FCRA clearance, that too on Christmas. What is the message being sent here and does anyone care about how the world is viewing India?

A huge day for India's fight against Covid. Two new vaccines and an anti-covid drug have been cleared for use. But will these be allowed for use as boosters? And if so, how soon?

Night curfew has been imposed in Delhi as the national capital continues to record a surge in COVID-19 cases. In several states now, daily Covid cases have started increasing. The Centre is rolling out boosters for senior citizens and vaccines for children - and yet, one thing goes on as per usual - political rallies. Are we headed the same way we were a year ago before Delta struck?

Amid widespread confusion over the government's classification of the third coronavirus vaccine shot for select groups termed a "precaution dose" instead of a booster (commonly a different kind of vaccine), RS Sharma, chief of the government's coronavirus vaccination platform CoWIN, on Monday told NDTV that the portal for now will go with the official nomenclature.

New restrictions have been announced as coronavirus cases continue to surge in Delhi and Mumbai. Will this manage to put the brakes on a third wave powered by the Omicron variant? Also, as the government announces a third dose for some, and vaccinations for 15-18-year-olds, is too little, too late?