KOCHI l friday l january 21, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION 19-year-old girl flies solo around world in 155 days Bad weather, visa issues vex 90-day target Rutherford will find herself in the Guinness World Records book after setting the mark that had been held by 30-year-old American aviator Shaesta Waiz since 2017. Her global flight in her ultralight Shark plane was supposed to take three months, but relentless bad weather and visa issues kept her grounded sometimes for weeks on end, extending her adventure by 2 months Belgian-British pilot Zara Rutherford has set a world record as the youngest woman to fly solo globally in a small aircraft ■ 18-year-old 52,000 km, 41 countries, 5 continents ■ In her trek of more than 52,000 km (28,000 nautical miles), she stopped over in five continents and visited 41 nations During her flight using visual flight rules (going on sight only), she steered clear of wildfires in California, dealt with biting cold over Russia and narrowly avoided North Korean airspace Travis Ludlow is the youngest to fly solo globally in a single-engine plane 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 30.9 28.6 (Numbers in %) 18.4 10.6 7.9 4.5 1.2 1.2 Africa ■ 22 3.6 3.3 Asia Dec-28 Dec Europe ■ 29 Dec-4 Dec North America ■5 Oceania Jan-11 Jan ■ 12 South America 1 2 3 Jan-18 Jan 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 J A N U A R Y ■ Daily cases ■ Daily positivity rate 2,68,833 16.66% 2,71,202 16.28% 2,58,089 19.65% 2,38,018 14.43% 2,82,970 15.13% 3,17,532 16.41% 2,64,202 2,47,417 7 15 16 17 18 19 20 No stringent curbs on normal life Hospital occupancy new metric to decide on restrictions; lockdown-like norms on Sundays E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram OPTING to take a calibrated approach in Covid containment, the state government on Thursday refrained from imposing stringent restrictions on normal life even as the number of daily cases set a new record with TPR crossing 40%. Except for lockdown-like restrictions to be imposed on two upcoming Sundays — January 23 and 30 — other measures are directly linked to the status of hospital bed occupancy in a district. School classes for 10, 11 and 12 and college classes will continue in the offline mode while those for lower standards will be online. The availability of hospital beds, oxygen beds, ICU beds and ventilators will be assessed on a weekly basis. Districts will be divided into A, B and C categories based on the infection rate, each set having different rules to control crowd. The online Covid review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who joined from the US where he is 50 employees at Kottayam MCH +ve With more than 50 employees, including doctors and house surgeons, testing positive for Covid at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kottayam, the MCH authorities have suspended regular classes for two weeks. The hospital also cut short its services and postponed all kinds of surgeries. on treatment, avoided knee-jerk decisions as in the past. People are allowed to visit shops, malls, beaches, cinema halls and tourist spots. The only condition set is that the institutions concerned must ensure that there is no crowding and Covid protocol is followed properly Sanitiser dis. pensers must be made available inside the buildings at a particular distance. Families can dine together in public places, but arrangements must be made in such places to prevent spread. The state reported 46,387 new Covid cases and 62 Omicron cases on Thursday. However, only 3% of active cases availed hospital treatment.  ● More on P4 Raveendran pattayam After Mani stands firm, govt promises all eligible owners fresh title deeds E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram/Idukki ASSURING that no eligible land holder in Idukki would be vacated following the cancellation of controversial Raveendran pattayams (title deeds) in Idukki, Revenue Minister K Rajan said all of them would be issued fresh title deeds. The cancellation of the pattayams was a continuation of the process initiated in 2019, said Rajan as the order to cancel 532 title deeds given in Devikulam Taluk of Idukki district has created confusion and fears of eviction in the region. “The government doesn’t propose to evict anyone. The land holders are unable to pledge their land for loan or sell the land as the title deeds are invalid because of the procedural irregularities occurred while granting them. All eligible land holders will be given fresh title deeds soon,” said Rajan. Title deeds signed by M I Raveendran who was the deputy tahasildar in Devikulam were issued in 1999. However, as the deputy collector is not empowered to issue title deeds, their legal validity became questionable soon after. Acting upon the decision of state cabinet taken on August 7, 2019, the revenue principal secretary has now directed the Idukki collector to cancel title deeds issued by Raveendran within 45 days after completing due formalities. The district administration has been asked to examine all title deeds which were categorised as illegal before cancelling them to avoid a situation of eligible people losing rights over their land. Rajan said all landholders who had been legally eligible for possessing land at the date of allotment would be given fresh title deeds while the illegal ones would be cancelled.  ● More on P4 key decisions Lockdown-like curbs to be imposed on Jan 23 & 30 Districts to be classified on the basis of number of people admitted in hospitals, from a baseline date of January 1 CATEGORY A If occupancy doubles from baseline date & ICU admission up by 50% Only 50 will be allowed to attend marriages, funerals & public events CATEGORY B If more than 10% of all admissions are Covid patients & if ICU admissions double from the date Only 20 people will be allowed to attend marriages and funerals. No public functions CATEGORY C If more than 25 % of patients admitted are Covid patients STATEWIDE Jan 19 Jan20 Fresh cases 34,199 46,387 Recoveries 8,193 15,388 Deaths 49 32 Virus spreading to remote corners E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi OVER 3 lakh more Covid-positive case were reported in the country on Thursday morning, but the ratio of deaths and active cases stayed low when compared to the disastrous second wave because of the ongoing vaccination drive. On the flip side, data shows that the virus is now travelling to new territories as there is a progressive increase in districts with more than 5% positivity rate (TPR). Smaller cities and towns have been particularly affected, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said. About 11 states and Union Territories have more than 50,000 active Covid cases, while 515 districts reported a weekly case positivity rate of over 5%. The national TPR stood at 16.41% on Thursday . The Centre has retained Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka Maharashtra and Delhi on its list of “states of concern”. On April 30, 2021, there were 3,86,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths, 31,70,228 active cases and 2% of the eligible population fully vaccinated. As against that, 3,17,532 new cases were logged on January 20, 2022, 380 deaths, 19,24,051 active cases, and 72% people fully vaccinated, indicating how jabs are life savers. Child devpt dept, cops face backlash as rape survivor, 18, ends life Army in touch with PLA to get back teen V i s h n u p r a s a d K P @ Malappuram 14.78% 37.6 22,775 2.05% 27,553 2.48% 33,750 3.84% 37,379 3.24% 58,097 5.03% 90,928 6.43% 1,17,100 7.74% 1,41,986 9.28% 1,59,632 10.21% 1,79,723 13.29% 1,68,063 10.64% 1,94,720 11.05% 52.3 13.11% Trend of global new cases India’s daily case load THE Indian Army on Thursday contacted the People’s Liberation Ar my (PLA) through hotline, a day after BJP leader and Arunachal Pradesh MP Tapir Gao said a 17-year-old Indian boy was abducted by Chinese soldiers. A defence spokesman tweeted: “Indian Army immediately contacted PLA through hotline. Assistance from PLA has been sought to locate and return him as per protocol.” The statement also comes in the wake of the Congress targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Dear PM, how dare Chinese Army transgress into our territory again? Why is Govt not listening to the earnest appeal of its own MP?” said Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala. Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry on Thursday denied such an incident happened. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army controls borders in accordance with the law and cracks down on illegal entry and exit activities,” a Chinese spokesperson said. A Pocso case survivor committed suicide in the district triggering widespread criticism and protests against the department of woman and child development and the police for failing to protect her. The 18-year-old girl committed suicide in her house in Thenhipalam. She has been living with her mother and younger brother in a rented house in the area for the past six months. The incident occurred when her mother went out of the house on Wednesday The . girl, a survivor of six Pocso cases, was sexually assaulted by people including her relatives. The girl’s mother said the survivor was under pressure from relatives to withdraw complaints against the culprits. “No one supported me to raise my children. I informed officials that my daughter often tries to cut her veins and swallow some pills to commit suicide. Yet, no one helped my daughter with counselling. I also asked the officials to take my daughter to some shelter homes. They have never lis- Didn’t get report from police: CWC An official with the CWC said they did not get a report from the police about the vulnerable circumstances of the girl. “We only received a copy of the FIR in the case. The CWC will act only on the report from the police.” The clarification sparked criticism from the protestors. tened to my plea. The p o l i c e we re n eve r helpful.” In March 2021, five Pocso cases were registered in the Feroke police station and one in the Kondotty police station. The sexual abuse case came to light after the officials with Childline Kozhikode counselled the girl. Feroke police said seven out of the eight culprits in the cases have so far been arrested. Meanwhile, protest is brewing up against the child welfare committee (CWC) in Kozhikode and the police for failing to follow up on the case after they had sent the girl back to her house.  ● More on P4 E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ Guwahati 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express E X P RESS REA D Dileep conspired to kill police officers: CB to HC 6 AI flights to the US restored after 5G scare Kochi: The Crime Branch has sought actor Dileep’s custodial quizzing for allegedly plotting to kill the probe officers in the actor abduction and sexual assault case. The CB submitted that Dileep and five others were involved in the conspiracy. P5 New Delhi: Air India on Thursday resumed six out of the eight Boeing 777 flights to the US, which were suspended over fears of the 5G rollout in the US would interfere with the aircraft’s radio altimeter. tunnel travel Vehicles pass through the second tunnel at Kuthiran, near Thrissur, on NH-544 on Thursday even as the work of the approach road is in progress | Express | p4 first-class mess Ranji hits dead end again, many up & coming cricketers to suffer v enkata k r i s h na B @ Chennai The Indian cricket board (BCCI) is on verge of cancelling the Ranji Trophy for a second successive domestic season citing a short window available up to the start of IPL in April. It’s bizarre considering the same board managed to host two IPLs overseas successfully, two Test series last year, and part of IPL at home during peak of second wave, and not to mention host of white-ball domestic events. Yet that the BCCI has failed to find a convenient window seems outrageous. The cancellation of the event will be a big bl­ w for the next o rung of up and coming cricketers. This will also hit hundr­ ds e of players and match officials financially for the second consecutive year. The BCCI is the only board the world over to not conduct its first-class tournament last season and failure to do so this season too will reflect poorly on the organisational skills of the richest cricket board. After BCCI was unable to host full-fledged domestic season in 2020-21, it included all the tournaments for the 2021-22 season. However, it did not have a window for the Ranji Trophy and it was to as late as January to accommodate the Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy with an eye on the IPL player auctions. While a third wave was not predicted at that stage, having held these whiteball events for the 2020-21 season in January-February 2021, the move to host them again within a year’s time raised eyebrows. Horse in legal spot: Did it give birth or have miscarriage? A m i ya Mee t h a l @Kozhikode A 12-year-old horse at Kariyathampara tourist spot near Koorachundu here is caught in a legal wrangle over whether it had given birth to a colt or not. Kannan, the Ooty native owner of the horse — Sabinaz — alleges the animal had given birth when it was in the custody of People for Animals (PFA) but it didn’t hand foal over to him. But PFA argues that Sabinaz had not given birth and that the pregnancy was aborted prematurely in the eighth month on March 3 last year. The case is now in the Perambra judicial first Sabinaz, the horse class magistrate court. It all started in February last year when the police handed over the horse to PFA following a complaint that Kannan had been using the animal for giving rides to tourists at Kariyathampara despite it be● More on P4 ing injured.