The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Sunday HYDERABAD  SATURDAY  JANUARY 15, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION VISA VISA REVOKED, DJOKOVIC APPEALS AGAINST DECISION Immigration minister uses statutory discretion, three days before Oz Open. World No 1’s lawyers appeal against decision SPECTRE OF THREE-YEAR BAN MASSIVE SURGE IN CASES Deportation from Australia can lead to a three-year ban on returning to the country, although it may be waived. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said he cancelled Djokovic’s visa in public interest. PM Scott Morrison welcomed the decision in view of the pandemic. Djokovic, who is not vaccinated, will be detained again before his case to stay in the country is heard ■ ■ Australia is facing a massive surge in cases driven by the Omicron. On Friday, the nation reported 130,000 new cases Djokovic’s lawyers had last week successfully challenged the decision after the Serbian’s visa was first cancelled when he landed in Melbourne 9 OF DJOKOVIC’S 20 GRAND SLAM TITLES HAVE BEEN WON AT MELBOURNE PARK CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI CLOSE SHAVE Former UP minister Swami Prasad Maurya (2nd from right) and others who joined the SP on Friday with party president Akhilesh Yadav | PTI Major collision averted at Dubai airport E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi A collision between two Indiabound Emirates planes was averted at Dubai airport on Sunday In. d i a ’ s av i a t i o n r e g u l a t o r, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has sought the probe report from the UAE authorities. Flight EK-524 to Hyderabad was scheduled for take-off at 9:45 pm while Dubai-Bengaluru flight was also scheduled to take off from the same runway. According to the Emirates flight schedule, there was a five-minute gap between the departure time of both flights. Reports said that the Hyderabad-bound plane was accelerating for take-off from runway 30R when the crew saw another aircraft coming in the same direction at high speed. Take-off was immediately instructed to be aborted by the ATC. The aircraft slowed down safely and cleared the runway via taxiway N4. Flight EK-568 to Bangalore, which was rolling for departure, was to take-off from the same runway — 30R. After the ATC intervention, the Bengalurubound Emirates flight took off and the Hyderabad-bound flight went back to the taxi bay and departed a few minutes later. A probe was launched by the UAE’s Air Accident Investigation Sector. MAURYA & CO JOIN AKHILESH, ACCUSE YOGI GOVT OF BETRAYING BACKWARDS 2 ex-ministers, 5 ex-MLAs of BJP join SP at a rally; FIR for Covid norm violation N A M I TA BA J PA I @ Lucknow ACCUSING the Yogi Adityanath government of running Uttar Pradesh in the last five years, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday taunted the BJP for losing “one wicket after the other” as he welcomed into the SP fold two ministers and five MLAs who recently quit the ruling party . At a huge gathering of party workers in Lucknow, Akhilesh as well as the new inductees alleged that the BJP dispensation had betrayed the farmers and the youth. Former minister Swami Prasad Maurya accused the ruling party of betraying backwards. The others who joined the SP included minister Dharam Singh Saini and MLAs Bhagwati Sagar, Vinay Shakya, Mukesh Verma, Brajesh Prajapati and Roshan Lal Verma. The police later lodged an FIR against SP leaders after hundreds of supporters, in defiance of the Covid norms, turned up at the party office to attend the ‘virtual rally’. According to Lucknow Police Commissioner DK Thakur, the FIR was lodged against 2,500-odd SP leaders under various IPC Sections and relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act. Thakur added that the police had got the event video-recorded before lodging the FIR. While addressing the gathering, Akhilesh took a dig at CM Yogi Adityanath over his recent statement that the UP election was about ‘80 per cent positivity versus 20 per cent negativ- Dry cough means Delta, wet can be Omicron: Experts E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad DOLLS & IDOLS A Hyderabad-based family arranges dolls as they set up Bommala Koluvu at their residence as part of Sankranti celebrations on Friday. The family has a collection of over 3,500 bommalu | R V K RAO SCHOOL HOLIDAYS LIKELY TO BE EXTENDED IN TS E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad REOPENING of schools in Telangana after Sankranti holidays is doubtful. As the Covid-19 cases are on the rise, the holidays may be extended. Holidays were announced for schools and other educational institutions till January 16 on account of Covid-19 and Sankranti. Now that the situation has not abated, a high level meeting of education and health department officials is scheduled on Sunday where they may propose to the government to extend holidays. According to sources, the officials may recommend reverting to online classes as it would be too risky to resume offline classes at least in the next few CONTINUED ON P4 weeks. ONE key marker that distinguishes Delta from Omicron variant is the manner in which cough manifests, noted doctors from AIG Hospitals. They said that based on known research and their personal observations of patients they have treated, most Delta variant affected patients suffer from dry cough, whereas in Omicron it is a productive cough. “Omicron tends to occur more around the upper respiratory track for productive or wet cough is a good indicator of the same,” explained Dr Ketan Mashrani, Consultant Internal Medicine, AIG Hospitals. The other crucial indicators of Omicron are fever not beyond 101 degrees for less than five days and headaches that are stabbing, and a scratchy throat. These distinguishing factors come into play because Delta variant tends to manifest in very extreme forms. “In earlier variants, many patients reported extra-pulmonary symptoms. However, in Omicron the viral replication occurs in the upper respiratory tract alone. So if a patient has conjunctivitis, neurological symptoms, loss of smell and taste then it is Delta,” he explained. This kind of close monitoring of symptoms is crucial for a doctor to treat the patient because if it is Delta, then the manifestation on the body is more severe but there are proven treatment options like monoclonal antibodies and symptomatic treatments options. With Omicron, however, most of the tried and tested treatment opP2 tions are not effective. KCR, Telangana BJP leaders keep an eye on 5 poll-bound States to chalk out future plans R P R I D H V I R A J @ Hyderabad TELANGANA Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and top BJP leaders in the State are watching the run-up to elections to the five State Assemblies in the north with growing interest as their future course of action depends on the outcome. With indications that the BJP is not in the pink of health in many of these poll-bound States, particularly in UP where ministers are leaving Yogi Adityanath’s company one after the other in a metronymic rhythm, KCR is preparing to roll the dice to seize the day . He may take a plunge in the campaign, in whichever mode it is permitted, against the saffron party to prove his , anti-BJP credentials which are under a cloud at present. The BJP too is keeping its powder dry and is pre- paring to go full throttle against the TRS if another BJP wave builds up across the nation. KCR had recently invited the general secretaries of the CPM and CPI, Sitaram Yechury and D Raja to his official residence Pragathi Bhavan in Hyderabad, where he reportedly discussed the possibilities of crafting a credible coalition against CONTINUED ON P4 the ruling BJP. ity’, saying that after Murya’s induction into the SP, 80 per cent support had shifted to his party and the remaining 20 per cent would also vote for SP as they were unhappy with the present dispensation. S P Maurya claimed that he was going to script the end of ‘Yogi sarkar’ on the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti by joining the SP He said . it was the day of the amalgamation of ‘Samajwad’ (socialism) and ‘Ambedkarvaad’ (BR Ambedkar’s philosophy). Playing up the caste card, he said, “They had promised during the 2017 campaign that a backward --- either me or Keshav Maurya -- would be the CM, but they brought a sky lab from Gorakhpur and dropped him on the CM’s chair.” EC may extend ban on rallies, road shows in view of rising Covid-19 cases E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi WITH fresh Covid-19 cases recording a steep rise every day the Elec, tion Commission of India is likely to extend the ban on public rallies and road shows in five poll-bound states. The decision will be finalised at a meeting on Saturday How. ever, the broadcast/telecast time allotted to each party for campaigning on Doordarshan and All India Radio will be doubled. The ECI had banned the rallies, road shows and corner meetings till January 15 while announcing the assembly poll schedule on January 8. It had said that any decision on lifting or extending the ban would be taken after a review of Covid situation in the five states headed for assembly elections. The daily infections are seeing a spike every day with 2.64 cases recorded on Friday . The poll panel has also relaxed the norms for registration of political parties in the five states. Keeping in view difficulties caused by Covidrelated restrictions, it has reduced the notice period for registration of new parties from 30 days to 7 days for those who published their public notice on or before January 8, 2022. In a statement, the EC explained Notice period reduced The poll panel has reduced the notice period for registration of new parties from 30 to 7 days for those who published their public notice on or before Jan 8, 2022 that under the existing guidelines, a party seeking registration has to submit an application to it within 30 days following the date of its formation. The applicant is asked to publish the party’s proposed name in two national dailies and two local dailies on two days. Objections, if any, with regard to the proposed registration of the party have to be submitted within 30 days from the publication of the notice. However, the EC said it was appraised of delay in moving applications for registration because of the curbs and hence, the notice period had been reduced. For all parties, including those which have already published the public notice in less than 7 days prior to January 8, objection, if any, can be submitted by 5.30 PM on January 21, or by the end of the originally provided 30 days period, whichever is earlier, the EC said.