Centre pegs AES death toll in Assam at 214
NEW DELHI/GUWAHATI: As many as 214 deaths due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) were reported in Assam till July 18 this year, Minister of State for Health, Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Responding to a question over what measures were initiated by the Centre to address the outbreak, the minister said the central teams have visited Assam between June 30-July 1 and July 8-10 to review the situation and provide technical assistance to the state. “The teams observed that Japanese Encephalitis (JE) transmission is going on in the state but at the same time transmission of other pathogens like scrub typhus, leptospirosis is also observed. The state health authorities have already taken large number of actions to tackle the problem,” Choubey said in his reply. Meanwhile, Japanese Encephalitis (JE) has claimed four more persons in Assam, the daily report of the National Health Mission (NHM) said on Tuesday evening, adds our special correspondent from Guwahati. The deaths were reported from Dima Hasao, Goalpara, Lakhimpur and Sonitpur districts. The deceased were undergoing treatment in hospitals. (PTI)
IndiGo daily flights from Delhi to Agartala, Dibrugarh
NEW DELHI: IndiGo on Tuesday announced that it would start daily non-stop flights on Delhi-Agartala and Delhi-Dibrugarh routes from August 14. “IndiGo will be the first airline to fly on Delhi-Agartala route. Bookings on these routes are open with immediate effect,” the low-cost carrier said in a statement. The daily flight on Delhi-Agartala route would depart from Delhi at 1.45 pm and would land at Agartala at 4.20 pm, the airline said. The return flight would depart from Tripura’s capital city at 4.50 pm daily and would arrive at Delhi at 7.25 pm. On the Delhi-Dibrugarh route, the flight would depart daily at 11.45 am from Delhi and would arrive at 2.25 pm at Dibrugarh. The return flight would depart at 2.55 pm daily and would land at Delhi at 5.50 pm, the airline said. (PTI)
Quake jolts Arunachal district
ITANAGAR: An earthquake measuring 4.5 on Richter scale hit the Dibang Valley district of Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) data, the earthquake of 4.5 magnitude was recorded at 12.27 pm at a depth of 33 km in Dibang Valley. However, no loss of life or damage to property has been reported due to the quake. “No damage report so far,” a State Disaster Management report said. (UNI)