China withheld data from probe team, says WHO chief chennai l wednesday l March 31, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 14 l vellore EDITION A day after the WHO-China final report on the origin of Covid rejected the Wuhan lab leak theory, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tore into it, saying the international probe team did not get access to raw data in China BIG CHANGE IN AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS FROM APRIL 1 Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally at Dharapuram in Tiruppur ahead of the Assembly polls to garner votes for the candidates in the NDA alliance | A RAJA CHIDAMBARAM ‘BJP stands for tn development’ Modi talks about the proposed defence corridor and ‘toy cluster’ that would boost TN economy E x p ress N ews S er v ice @ Tiruppur “THE defence corridor that is set to come up in Tamil Nadu will bring many benefits to the State. I will never forget the tank built in Tamil Nadu, which was dedicated to the nation on the northern border,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election gathering at Dharapuram on Tuesday. Seeking votes for the candidates in AIADMK-BJP alliance, he said the State will also have a ‘Toy cluster’ that will show the way for producing top-quality toys for the world, adding that the Centre has changed the criteria for MSMEs and as much as `14,000 crore were sanctioned for I appreciate the people of Kongu region for their spirit of enterprise. You have created wealth and value for the nation. Kongu people are also remarkably affectionate and compassionate -Narendra Modi, Prime Minister 3.6 lakh MSME units. affection and compassion. Last Modi claimed that around 1.5 year, the MSME units went out to lakh people related to MSMEs help others. I am here to assure benefitted through interthat my government is est subvention scheme, committed to help the and 1.8 lakh units benefitbusiness units.” ted through credit-guarAs the Prime Minister anteed fund trust scheme. is known for touching He further said, “I appreupon Tamil saints and litDAyS ciate the people of Kongu erary figures in his TO GO region for their spirit of speeches, this time he enterprise. You have crepicked up Andal and Avated wealth and value for the na- vaiyar, and said the National tion. Though the Kongu people Democratic Alliance and he were are known for their business inspired by their ideals and besense, they also have remarkable lieved that the progress of the so- 6 ciety is not complete without women empowerment. He listed out schemes that he said were devised with an objective of increasing women power. Like, the increase of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission. Modi said as many as 32 lakh women in Tamil Nadu have benefitted under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana; and that around 3 lakh houses (rural) and 3.8 lakh houses (urban) have been built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. A total of 4,800 police personnel were deployed in the town and three-layer security arrangements were made for the Prime Minister, who landed at the place in a helicopter.  continued on: P4 Tedros did not want to smoke out the lab leak angle, as he called for further investigation on all hypotheses, with additional missions back to China 3 1 New RBI rules require banks to send a notification to the customer 24 hours before the transaction is slated. The amount will be debited only after the customer gives his nod 2 Auto-debit payments for utility bills and subscription-based services will come to a halt 3 Standing instructions on credit or debit cards will get deactivated WHAT WILL BE AFFECTED Mobile and utility bill payments, subscription for online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar etc WHAT WILL NOT BE AFFECTED Standing instructions on bank accounts for recurring payments such as EMIs, payments or mutual funds etc will continue as usual WHY THE NEW RULES To safeguard customers from data leaks, hacking of confidential data and payment frauds For `5,000banksauto-debit a payments above this amount, must send one-time password to customer to authenticate “I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough,” Tedros said. “Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions.” He also spoke about the withholding of data. “In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data.” P14 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ Situation is going from bad to worse, vaccinate 45+ in 2 weeks: Centre S u m i S u k anya D utta @ New Delhi The Centre on Tuesday warned that the Covid-19 situation in India is getting from bad to worse and asked districts with high caseloads to ensure 100% vaccination of all above 45 within the next two weeks. The warning came as the country recorded over 4 lakh new cases over the past Top 10 districts one week, registering nearly with active cases 58,000 daily cases on an average and a growth rate of nearly 7% Pune 59,475 active cases. Mumbai 46,248 On Sunday, over 68,000 new Nagpur 45,322 cases were reported — the most 35,264 in a day since October and Thane 26,553 about half of them were from Nashik Maharashtra. “We are facing Aurangabad 21,282 an increasingly severe and in- Bengaluru Urban 16,259 tensive situation in some dis15,171 tricts but the whole country is Nanded Delhi 8,032 potentially at risk. All efforts to contain the virus and save lives Ahmednagar 7,952 should be taken,” said V K Paul, member, health at Niti Aayog and chairman of the national Covid-19 task force. “Trends show the virus is still very active and enter our defences, just when we think we can control it, it sparks back,” he added. With the Covid vaccination window for all above 45 years of age opening from Thursday the Union health , ministry said those without pre-registrations (walk-ins or onsite registration) can get vaccines only after 3 pm and not in the forenoon session.