chennai l wednesday l january 19, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Data show Omicron spread will end pandemic: expert If you were wondering how long will the coronavirus pandemic go on, you won’t have to wait much longer, says a UK virologist ‘In 2022, life can be like it was before covid’ Too early to call it, says fauci Year 2022 will mark the end of the pandemic, according to Prof Julian Hiscox, chairman in infection and global health at the University of Liverpool. With Omicron, there will ``be ‘natural immunity’ on top of vaccination, which will lead to a scenario of endemicity, he said. Endemicity means though the virus spread will continue, its severity will come down to easily manageable levels ■ ■ However, not all experts are as optimistic as Hiscox. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the US president, says it’s too early to say if Omicron will mark the end of the pandemic “It is an open question as to whether or not Omicron is going to be the live virus vaccination everyone is hoping for,” he said | P7 55 lakh Covid deaths reported worldwide so far, according to w.h.o. data 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 ED raids Punjab CM Channi’s nephew Seizes `6 crore cash and property documents in connection with 2018 illegal sand mining case Express News Service @ Chandigarh / New Delhi express read TANGEDCO told to collect `100 crore dues Chennai: Tamil Nadu power utility TANGEDCO has ordered its chief engineers to inspect 93,000 disconnected power services across the State and collect pending dues of `100 crore soon. It has been noticed that most of the services showing as DC (disconnected) are actually live leading to revenue loss to TANGEDCO | P4 Two Indians among injured in UAE attack Dubai: The identities of the two Indian nationals killed in Monday’s drone attacks near the Abu Dhabi airport have been established, the Indian Embassy said on Tuesday. However, it did not disclose their names. The mission also said two Indians were among six injured in the attacks | P7,9 Vikram Dev Dutt is new Air India chief New Delhi: Bureaucrat Vikram Dev Dutt was on Tuesday appointed the new chairman and managing director of Air India, which is slated to be handed over to the Tata Sons. Dutt, a 1993-batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, is at present principal secretary (Tourism) in the Delhi government | P10 THE Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at multiple places in Punjab, including the residence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey, in connection with an illegal sand mining case in the poll-bound border state. The searches covered a dozen locations including Chandigarh, Mohali, Ludhiana and Pathankot. ED sleuths recovered cash worth `6 crore, including `4 crore from premises linked to Channi’s nephew, and some property documents during the searches, sources said, adding that the central agency will take action under the provisions of the Prevention of Mann is AAP’s CM face AAP on Tuesday declared its Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann as CM candidate, saying 93% of respondents picked him in a poll in which people phoned in or sent messages indicating their choice | P8 Blast on navy ship kills 3 personnel Express News Service @ Mumbai/ New Delhi An explosion onboard a Navy ship at the Mumbai port killed three personnel and left 11 others injured. The blast happened in an internal compartment of INS Ranvir. “In an unfortunate incident on Monday at Naval Dockyard Mumbai, three naval personnel succumbed to injuries caused by an explosion in an internal compartment onboard INS Ranvir,” the Navy said in a statement. However, there was no major material damage, the statement added. The ship’s crew brought the situation under control quickly . INS Ranvir was on cross coast operational deployment from the Eastern Naval Command from November 2021 and was due to return to its base port shortly A Board of . Inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause. “The explosion was not due to malfunction of any weapon or ammunition. However, it could have happened because of machinery failure. The official probe will determine the exact cause,” sources said requesting anonymity The in. jured personnel are stable and are admitted in INS Ashwini hospital in Mumbai. Earlier, too, several untoward incidents involving the Navy have happened off Mumbai coast. In 2014, Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi had resigned after two officers were killed and seven other sailors were injured when a fire erupted onboard submarine INS Sindhuratna off Mumbai coast. A Rajput Class Destroyer, INS Ranvir was built in the former Soviet Union and inducted in the Indian Navy in 1986. It is deployed for antiaircraft and anti-submarine warfare. It can also take on cruise missiles. Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The raids were related to an illegal sand mining case registered by Punjab police in 2018. Later, charges of cheating were added to the FIR and subsequently the ED took over the investigation. The name of one Kudratdeep Singh surfaced during preliminary probe. During detailed interrogation, he revealed that Bhupinder Singh was the main facilitator, sources said. The ED is now probing if the chief minister’s name was used to facilitate illegal mining, they added. Reacting sharply to the raids, Jab-o-meter Take your shot Jan 17 68,95,050 doses Jan 18 65,85,945 doses Total doses the Congress accused the Centre of trying to defame Punjab, adding that such acts will not hurt the ruling party’s electoral prospects in the state. Channi alleged the Centre is using the federal agency to target political opponents. He said actions of central probe agencies have become predictable as they follow the same pattern during every poll season. After quitting the Congress, former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh had publicly alleged that many Congress leaders were involved in illegal sand mining. Rejected tableau to be in TN’s parade: CM 1,58,74,38,750 EXPRESS NEWS SERVI C E @ Chennai NATIONWIDE jan 17 jan 18 As the slugfest on the tableau for Republic Day Parade continues, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday said the tableau rejected by the Union government’s expert panel will be part of the State’s Republic Day parade in Chennai and will be taken across Tamil Nadu for public view. This follows the statement by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to defend the Centre’s decision to reject TN’s tableau. He said it was based on guidelines. Tamil Nadu had proposed a tableau featuring freedom fighters such Fresh cases 2,58,089 2,38,018 Recoveries 1,51,740 1,57,421 Deaths 385 310 tamil nadu jan 17 jan 18 Fresh cases 23,433 23,888 Recoveries 13,551 15,036 Deaths 20 29 TN to hold spl booster vax camps Chennai: Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said starting this week, the department will hold exclusive vaccine camps for those eligible for booster doses on Thursdays. The special camps will be held at 600 centres across Tamil Nadu | P2 as VO Chidambaranar, Mahakavi Bharathiyar, Veeramangai Velu Nachiyar, and Maruthu Brothers. The CM in a statement on Tuesday said the Defence Minis, ter in reply to his letter did not cite any reason for the rejection. “It is shocking to know that Tamil Nadu’s tableau has been denied opportunity to take part in the Republic Day parade without any reason,” the CM said. State officials had carried out corrections pointed out by the panel thrice but without citing any reason, Tamil Nadu was not invited for the next meeting, Stalin said. Tamil Nadu’s contribution to the freedom struggle for over 250 years is not inferior to any other State. The Vellore Mutiny or Vellore Revolution of 10 July 1806 was the first big resistance by Indian soldiers against the East India Company, predating the 1857 rebellion by half a century Similarly . , 75 years before Jhansi Ki Rani joined the freedom struggle, Tamil Nadu’s Velu Nachiyar fought the British valiantly the , Chief Minister pointed out in his statement.  Continued on: P4 Autopsy report City leopard died of brain haemorrhage SV KRISHNA C HAI TANYA @ Chennai The 14-year-old leopardess, Jaya, which died in a freak accident on Monday, was choked to death inside the poorly maintained, rusty squeeze cage at Arignar Anna Zoological Park. Sources in the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS), whose veterinarians conducted a postmortem on Tuesday, told TNIE that the big cat’s ribs were squeezed, affecting oxygen flow to its lungs. This resulted in clotting of blood and brain hemorrhage leading to death. After 70 zoo staff tested positive for Covid-19, authorities started collecting nasal swab samples of big cats. Fourteen samples were collected and sent to Bhopalbased National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases for testing. Last year, several lions had tested positive for Covid-19 and two had died of the infection. “We collected swab samples from this leopard too, but while releasing the animal, squeeze cage got jammed, killing the animal before we could rescue it,” a zoo official said. Vandalur Zoo director V Karunapriya said the animal died due to difficulty in breathing. Recently, a fouryear-old male lion had also died mysteriously. As per a postmortem report of the leopard, the lion had died of shock.  CONTINUED ON: P3 Stay relaxed and tension free Diversifying your investments across asset classes helps to mitigate the impact of Choose from asset allocation solutions and start your SIP today! Contact your MFD/RIA SIP - Systematic Investment Plan An Investor Education Initiative by HDFC Mutual Fund For KYC, change of address, investor complaints redressal, etc. visit, https://www.hdfcfund.com/information/key-know-how. Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.