Only approved vaccines will issued vaccination certificates

US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has arrived in New Delhi on a two day visit to India.This is Secretary Blinken's first visit to India after assuming charge as US Secretary of State.  Blinken will meet the External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Both sides will review the robust and multifaceted India-US bilateral relations and potential for consolidating them further. Discussions will focus on regional and global issues of mutual interest including recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indo-Pacific region, Afghanistan and cooperation in the United Nations. Secretary Blinken's visit is an opportunity to continue the high-level bilateral dialogue and bolster the India-US global strategic partnership. 

-Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai has said Subordinate Legislation Committees of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been requested to grant further extension of time up to 9th January next year to frame the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, he said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has been notified on 12th December 2019 and has come into force with effect from 10th January last year.

-In Assam, complete curfew to be continued in Golaghat and Lakhimpur district due to high COVID-19 positivity rate with effect from Wednesday morning till further order. The State Disaster Management authority has issued new guidelines today.  However full containment zone order has been revoked at Jorhat, Biswanath and Sonitpur districts following the improvement in COVID situation. Curfew from 2 pm to 5 am has been imposed in Goalpara, Morigaon, Jorhat, Sonitpur, Biswanath districts. There would be a total ban on movement of all public and private transport in the total containment districts. All inter-district passenger transport services and movement of people to and from other districts shall remain suspended.

-Union Health Ministry has said that vaccination certificates will be issued for only such COVID-19 vaccines which are approved for emergency use in India. In a letter to Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that this certificate will be issued to only such volunteers who participated in the trials for approved vaccines. Bhushan said that since Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V are the only three approved vaccines, it will be possible to issue the certificates to the trail participants for only these vaccines. He said, the Ministry will provide data template to ICMR for compilation of relevant vaccination data for participants of unblended trials, so that necessary details required for issuing certificates can be captured on Co-WIN.

-In Meghalaya, BJP MLA from South Shillong, Sanbor Shullai was sworn-in as a new Cabinet Minister in place of Health Minister, A L Hek at Raj Bhavan. Governor Satya Pal Malik on Tuesday administered him the oath of office. The swearing-in ceremony was attended by all State Cabinet Minister, top officials of the State Government. The MLA from South Shillong assembly constituency is a three-time elected representative and has earlier served as Deputy Speaker. Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma said that the decision to induct Shanbor Shullai to the Cabinet was taken based on the letter sent by Meghalaya BJP President Ernest Mawrie.The Chief Minister informed that the agreement between the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalition partners to share ministries for two and a half years has been maintained and this decision has been taken with the knowledge of the State President.