“The Ministry of Home Affairs has sought a detailed report on today’s security breach in Punjab. Such dereliction of security procedure in the Prime Minister’s visit is totally unacceptable and accountability will be fixed,†said Home Minister Amit Shah on Twitter. In a spiralling row, the BJP accused Punjab’s ruling Congress of “murderous intentions”. Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi denied any lapse and said he would die for the Prime Minister but he was never in danger.
A diabetic man who died in Rajasthan was India’s first fatality from the Omicron COVID-19 variant, the health ministry said on Wednesday, adding that overall infections had doubled to 58,097 over the past four days. The health ministry reported that total Omicron infections had risen to at least 2,135, just over a month since the first case was detected in the country.