VOL. 32 NO. 36| MUMBAI, PUNE, INDORE, BHOPAL SUNDAY| JANUARY 10, 2021| 13 PAGES Trump is not fit to serve, says President-elect Joe Biden Coronavirus Cases 89,526,876 WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden has said President Donald Trump was the "most incompetent" presidents in US history. Biden said that quickest way Trump could be removed is his inauguration on January 20. (Report on Pg 7) Deaths 1,925,079 Jadeja ruled out for 6 weeks with fractured thumb GRIEF, ANGER ACROSS NATION AS 10 BABIES DIE IN MAHA HOSPITAL BLAZE Source - Worldometer BHANDARA HOSPITAL HORROR Inconsolable parents at a loss of words n CM orders probe and promises action against guilty n State announces ` 5 lakh to family of deceased infants n CM, Pawar order fire safety audit of all hospitals SANJAY JOG / Mumbai The charred remains of the newborn care unit of Bhandara district hospital; Worried families wait outside the hospital SANJAY JOG / Mumbai In the heart-wrenching tragedy 10 ba, bies – ranging from newborns to threemonth-old babies died in a horrific fire at the Bhandara district hospital on Saturday at around 1.30 am. Of these, three babies died of severe burn injuries, while seven died of suffocation due to the deadly smoke. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has ordered a detailed inquiry into the incident. He also stated that the guilty will not be spared. The chief minister declared that the safety and security of hospitals across the state is top priority and will not be compromised. While the cause of the fire was not known immediately the hospital ad, PHOTOS PTI ministration said an electrical shortcircuit could be the possible reason. According to doctors, 10 babies comprising eight girls and two boys, aged between a month and three months, died after fire broke out in the Special Newborn Care Unit of the hospital around 1.30 am. Seven out of the 17 babies in the affected unit were rescued. CONTD. ON P4 National Commission seeks No fire safety gears in detailed report in 48 hours hospital since 2018: RTI STAFF REPORTER / Mumbai The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has taken a serious note of the horrific Bhandara district hospital fire tragedy in which 10 infants died on Saturday The commission has requested the . district collector to conduct a probe and send a factual action taken report with all the necessary documents within 48 hours. FULL STORY ON P2 Fast News Queen and Prince Philip get vax jab LONDON: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip received Covid-19 vaccinations on Saturday, Buckingham Palace said. The UK surpassed three million cases since the pandemic began last year. The 94-yearold queen and Philip, 99, were given the injections by a royal household doctor at Windsor Castle. 90 infected with UK mutant strain NEW DELHI: Nearly 90 people in India have contracted the new strain of mutant coronavirus, which was first detected in the UK in September, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Eight of these cases of the mutant strain - believed to be more infectious - are new, the data shows. 300 casualties in Balakot airstrike NEW DELHI: A former Pakistani diplomat admitted on a news TV show that 300 terrorists had died in the Balakot airstrike carried out by India on February 26, 2019. The admission by the former Pakistani diplomat Agha Hilaly, who regularly takes the Pakistan Army side in TV debates, goes against the zero casualties claim made by Islamabad at that time. The IAF had carried out a strike at JeM terror training camp at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. SANJAY JOG / Mumbai It is quite shocking that as per RTI documents, the Bhandara district general hospital had not fire safety equipment from 2018 itself. The proposed inquiries and fire audit announced by the government will further bring to the light more laxities. The state public work department had submitted the proposal worth Rs 1.52 crore for 2019-20 for upgradation. CONTD. ON P4 Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced a fire audit of all hospitals across Maharashtra. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar also declared that the fire audit of child wards of all the government hospitals would be carried out. The duo made these announcements after 10 new born babies died in the Bhandara district hospital fire on Saturday . ‘’In future such incidents should not be repeated. Hence, fire audits of all the hospitals in the state would be reviewed,” said Thackeray . A state health department officer told Free Press Journal, “The fire audit will be conducted in these hospitals as per the provisions of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006 which was amended in 2015.’’ CONTD. ON P4 Quality at Value SYDNEY: India's injury woes in the ongoing tour of Australia keep growing with allrounder Ravindra Jadeja now ruled out with a fractured thumb. He has been ruled out for about 6 weeks with the management set to check on the need for surgery with a specialist. (Report on Pg 16) Wait is over, India to start vaccine drive from Jan 16 SHOT AGAINST CORONA Priority to be given to 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers FPJ BUREAU Mumbai/ New Delhi India is all set to kick off the much-awaited vaccination drive against Covid-19 on January 16, 2021. The Central government shared this information in a press release on Saturday Prime . Minister Narendra Modi has called it the world's largest inoculation programme. The government will give top priority to the three-crore healthcare and frontline workers. The government took the decision at a high-level meeting, where PM Modi reviewed the status of COVID-19 and vaccine preparedness A healthcare worker at Cooper Hospital, Mumbai Photo BL Soni across states and union territories. “ After a detailed review, it was decided that in view of the forthcoming festivals including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu etc, the COVID-19 vac- cination will start from January 16, 2021,” it said. After healthcare and frontline workers, priority will be given to those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities, together numbering around 27 crore, a government statement said. India had recently granted emergency use authorisation to two vaccines, Oxford's Covishield being manufactured by Serum Institute in India and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Both vaccines, the statement from the Health Ministry said, have established safety and immunogenicity . Indonesian plane with 62 crashes into sea ANI & AP Jakarta A Sriwijaya Air passenger jet carrying 62 people lost contact with air traffic controllers on Saturday minutes , after taking off from Indonesia's capital on a domestic flight, officials said. Indonesia's transport minister said the flight with 62 passengers and crew is suspected to have crashed into the sea. Hinting that Indonesian authorities have found the suspected debris of the aircraft. The Indonesian authorities have launched a search and rescue operation to confirm Worried relatives wait at the airport PHOTO AFP the location of a Boeing 737500 'classic' which was headed from Jakarta to Pontianak. The passenger plane of Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air, that lost contact soon after the takeoff, crashed in water not far from Jakarta on Saturday Xinhua reported cit, ing local TV . Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour. “The plane disappeared from radar four minutes later. The pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet,” he said. CONTD. ON P4 ficial in the know of developments said that the Indian cricket board stands with the boys as such behaviour is "unacceptable". "The tour has surely turned sour and the last thing you expect in a civilized society is racial abuse. The ICC and Cricket Aus- tralia need to be very responsive to this as the possible alternatives are not very pleasant for cricket, especially during the present circumstances. The Sydney Test has now become an acid test for CA interim CEO Nick Hockley and we are in complete solidarity with our boys. Racial abuse is unacceptable," the official explained. According to BCCI sources, Siraj was allegedly referred to as a "monkey" by a drunk spectator in one of stands at the Sydney Cricket Ground. (With inputs from agencies) AGENCIES / Lahore FROM OUR BUREAU New Delhi 23 Indian sailors stuck in China to Racial abuse in Aus: India complain to ICC return on Jan 14: Union minister FPJ BUREAU New Delhi The Centre on Saturday said that 23 sailors stuck in China would return to India on January 14. The cargo ship MV Jag Anand is set to sail towards Chiba in Japan, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Mansukh Mandaviya. "Our seafarers stuck in China are coming to India. Ship MV Jag Anand, having 23 Indian crew, stuck in China is set to SAIL toward Chiba, Japan, to carry out crew change, will reach India on Indian Army captures PLA soldier in Ladakh FPJ BUREAU New Delhi The Indian Army apprehended a Chinese soldier in the eastern Ladakh after he crossed over to the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Friday morning, official sources said on Saturday . This is the second such incident in the past three months on the Indo-China border in Ladakh. The Chinese soldier was nabbed at the southern bank of Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh. The capture of the soldier comes amid a massive deployment of troops by the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) in east- 14th January the minister ," said in a tweet. Mandaviya also acknowledged "the humanitarian approach of the Great Eastern Shipping Company towards the seafarers and standing by them in this crucial time!" On December 30, 2020, the minister had said that the Indian sailors stuck in China would be brought back soon as diplomatic talks are on with the neighbouring country . (With PTI inputs) The Indian cricket team lodged an official complaint after the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground racially abused pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj over the second and third day of the ongoing Pink Test between India and Australia. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday lodged a formal complaint with ICC match referee David Boon. Speaking to ANI, a BCCI of- Trumps cheer & dance as rioters ransack US Capitol Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account FPJ BUREAU Mumbai ern Ladakh in view of the tense border standoff that erupted following a clash between the two sides in the Pangong lake area in early May . The PLA soldier had transgressed into the Indian side of the LAC and was taken into custody by Indian troops deployed in the area, the sources said. The soldier is being dealt with as per laid down procedures and the circumstances under which he had crossed the LAC are being investigated, they added.(With PTI inputs) FPJ SPORTS DESK New Delhi A video showing US President Donald Trump and his family (daughter Ivanka, son Don Jr) and others cheering and dancing to pop songs just hours before pro-Trump supporters lay siege to the US Capitol has gone viral. In visuals, the Trumps can be seen cheering the "MAGA" march that descended into chaos. However, it is unclear if the video, which was filmed by Don Jr. on his mobile phone, was shot before or after Trump's speech on Wednesday The protesters . scaled walls, smashed windows and desecrated offices of American lawmakers. Meanwhile, Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account due to the "risk of further incitement of violence". The social media giant has announced, days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol and caused the deaths of four civilians and a police officer. The unprecedented move by the California-based social media platform comes after Trump tweeted that he would not attend the inauguration of his successor Joe Biden on January 20. Pak police asked to arrest JeM chief Azhar UN designated global terrorist Masood Azhar, chief of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), should be arrested by January 18 in connection with a terror financing case, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has asked the Punjab Police, a court official said on Saturday . The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala issued an arrest warrant against Azhar in the terror financing case. "ATC Gujranwala judge Natasha Naseem Supra during the case hearing on Friday directed the CTD to arrest JeM chief Masood Azhar by January 18 and present him in the court," a court official said. Avian flu: Delhi bans import of live birds, closes market The Delhi government on Saturday ordered closure of the capital's wholesale poultry market at Ghazipur for 10 days and imposed a total ban on import of live birds in the city as a preventive measure , to stop the spread of the bird flu. Announcing this, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters: "There is no confirmed case of bird flu in Delhi so far. We have sent around 104 samples to a lab in Jalandhar. The reports will come by the day after tomorrow. The Delhi government will take the necessary decision based on these reports." Around 50 birds have died in three areas of the national capital over the past three to four days, Dr Rakesh Singh of the animal husbandry department said. "We received information about the death of crows in Dwarka, Mayur Vihar Phase 3 and Hastsal village in west Delhi. However, it is yet to be ascertained if bird flu infection is the reason," Singh said. According to officials, 11 rapid response teams have been set up to monitor Delhi's potential avian influenza (H5N8) hotspots. Colleges under state public Reopening of schools in US didn’t shoot up COVID cases: Study varsities may reopen by Jan 20 SANJAY JOG Mumbai With the coronavirus pandemic seems to be under control, the colleges coming under the jurisdiction of state public universities in Maharashtra are expected to reopen with 50 percent attendance by January 20. State Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant on Saturday said that the final decision on the matter will be taken after Cchief Minister Uddhav Thackeray gives the consent. Samant made this announcement during his web interaction with students, principals and professors on faculty recruitment, grievances of colleges and barriers in the admission process. “The decision to restart the colleges under state universities with 50 per cent students would be taken in consultation with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray by January 20,” said the minister. CONTD. ON P4 It seems safe to reopen schools when there are no more than 36 to 44 new COVID cases per 100,000 people per week FROM OUR BUREAU New Delhi In most cases, re-opening of K-12 schools in the United States did not result in an increase in hospitalisations because of COVID-19, a new study shows. The study is the first to examine how reopening of schools in-person has affected COVID-19 health outcomes. Researchers found no evidence that reopening of schools in-person or in a hybrid form increased COVID hospitalisations in the 75 per cent of counties that had low COVID hospitalisation rates during the summer, prior to reopening schools. It seems safe to reopen schools when there are no more than 36 to 44 total new COVID hospitalisations per 100,000 people per week, says coauthor Douglas Harris, an economist of education at Tulane University and director of the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), which conducted the study . “This conclusion is consistent across a wide range of data and research methods. It appears that, when hospitalisations rates are low, it is safe to reopen schools in-person,” Harris says. “This is important given the side effects of closure for students, such as limiting access to essential services, social isolation, and learning loss.”