chennai l sunday l may 25, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION like a bad dream, covid cases creep up, experts say no worry One case of the newly emerging COVID-19 variant NB.1.8.1 and four instances of LF.7 type were detected in India, according to INSACOG data WHO says it’s not a variant of concern Man, 84, with comorbidities dies in B’luru As of May 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) classifies LF.7 and NB.1.8 subvariants as ‘Variants being Monitored’, not as ‘Variants of Concern’ or ‘Variants of Interest’. But these are the variants that are reportedly driving the rise in Covid cases in China and parts of Asia. In India, the most common variant remains JN.1, comprising 53% of samples ■ ■ Delhi recorded 23 new cases, Thane 10, Andhra Pradesh recorded four in the last 24 hours, Telangana confirmed one. In Bengaluru, a 84-year-old man with comorbidities, who also had Covid, died Doctors in Delhi advised people not to panic and said the new strains are not severe; and that most patients only reported mild symptoms 273 new cases THAT were reported in KERALA this MONTH ALONE 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 Four fatally run over by car in Madurai, 3 hurt Express News Service @ Madurai Group photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Union ministers, chief ministers and administrators of various states and Union Territories at the NITI Aayog Governing Council meet in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI Modi chants Centre-state unity mantra to achieve Viksit goal MUKES H RAN J AN @ New Delhi miss world Performing like monkey, says Miss UK, leaves Sh r e ya V e r o n i c a @ Hyderabad TILL Saturday the 72nd edi, tion of Miss World was progressing as planned: A polite parade of poise, sequins and diplomatic smiles. Then came an unscheduled firework display by none other than Miss England 2024, Milla Maggie. Having left the competition on May 16, allegedly due to “personal reasons”, Maggie re-emerged in tabloid The Sun with claims that make Bridgerton look like a documentary . “I went there to make a difference, but we had to sit like performing monkeys,” The Sun quoted her as saying. Maggie, 24, didn’t stop there. In tones more suited to exposés than tiaras, she claimed the whole affair resembled a sort of high-end cattle fair, where women were “paraded to impress wealthy individuals” and she was made to feel “like a prostitute being farmed out for entertainment.” Understandably, this did not go down too well in Hyderabad which is hosting the pageant. The state government was swift in its response. Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary, said, “This is an exaggerated situation.” The Miss World Organisation said Maggie cited health reasons for her departure and released videos in which she expresses gratitude for the experience. Miss England 2024 Milla Maggie said they had to sit like monkeys | Vinay Madapu Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged all states to develop at least one tourist destination at par with global standards by providing the full range of facilities, including infrastructure, while addressing the Gover ning Council of NITI Aayog. Giving special emphasis to tourism, he said, ‘One State, One Global Destination’, would lead to the development of neighbouring towns as well as tourist places. Chairing the 10th edition of the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meeting, Modi said if the Union government and states work together like Team India, no goal is impossible to healthcare delivery focus The prime minister emphasized the need to focus on health services delivery. He urged the CMs to check if oxygen plants are functional in the context of possible Covid-related challenges. He also asked states to expand telemedicine coverage achieve. He urged all chief ministers to make the spirit of solidarity trickle down to the district and village levels. Noting that India collectively should work in a manner so as to bring change in the lives of common people, Modi said, “Only when people feel the change, it will transform into a national movement.” Modi also sought to expedite the pace of development. “We have to increase the speed of development,” he added. “This is the century of technology and it should be integrated in every field from governance to agriculture,” he said. The theme of this edition was ‘Viksit Rajya for Viksit Bharat@2047’. “When every state is Viksit, then Bharat will be Viksit. This is the aspiration of its 140 crore citizens,” Modi said. PM Modi also issued a call to work towards future ready cities. Growth, innovation and sustainability should be the engine for our cities, he said. Monsoon arrives in Kerala 8 days ahead of schedule Express News Service @ T’puram TWO people died in Kannur while widespread damage was reported from across the state, especially in the northern districts, as the Southwest monsoon made an early onset over Kerala on Saturday. Bayas Oroyana, a Jharkhand native, died in a landslide while working on the NH 66. Earlier in the day, another landslide claimed the life of Ratheesh, 52, at Azhiyur in Kannur. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded red alert for Malapppuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod on Sunday. On Monday, all districts, barring Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Alappuzha, will be placed under red alert. In view of the landslide threat, the Idukki and Wayanad administrations have imposed restrictions on entry into tourist spots. In Wayanad, where a minor landslip was reported, the collector has ordered a halt to operation of quarries. This marks the earliest onset of the Southwest monsoon in Kerala in the last 16 years. The IMD said this year’s onset was eight days ahead of the normal schedule of June 1, and was the earliest after 2009, when it set in on May 23. The monsoon this year will be above normal, IMD officials said. In Kozhikode, restoration work underway after a high tension tower collapsed following heavy rain on Saturday | PTI Heavy rain likely in TN, mild showers in Chennai E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai With the southwest monsoon officially setting in over Kerala early this year, and advancing into large parts of Tamil Nadu, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) on Saturday issued a sevenday rainfall forecast for Tamil Nadu, Puducherry , and Karaikal. Chennai is likely to experience moderate rain, with temperatures ranging between 35 and 37°C. Heavy to very heavy rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds reaching 40-50 kmph, is likely in several districts, including the Nilgiris, Coimbatore (ghat areas), Theni, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Dindigul, Kanniyakumari, and Tiruppur, from May 25 to May 28. A low-pressure area is likely to form over west-central and adjoining North Bay of Bengal around May 27, said B Amudha, head of RMC.  P7 england series Touch of hinterland as Gill set to lead Test team F i r o z M i r z a @ Chennai Shubman Gill, the first India Test captain from Punjab since Bishan Singh Bedi (1976-78), will usher Indian cricket into a new era. Unlike Bedi, who was born in Amritsar but played domestic cricket for Delhi, Gill, in fact, will be the first to have represented Punjab in age group cricket before being made the Test captain. With the England tour, Gill, who doesn’t hail from a cricketing power centre, is set to lead a squad of 18 mostly comprising players like him. Among the players for the five-Test series, only five were born in metro cities like Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It can be argued that Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal represent Delhi and Mumbai in the domestic circuit but even they shifted their base to pursue the game. Pant was born in Haridwar while Jaiswal’s birth place is Bhadohi in UP As many as three play. ers selected were born in UP — Yashasvi, Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja were born in Gujarat. Besides, one each was born in Punjab (Gill), Rajasthan (Karun Nair). Maharashtra (Shardul Thakur), Bihar (Akash Deep), MP (Arshdeep Singh) and Andhra Pradesh (Nitish Reddy).  P9, 13 Last year or so we have looked at Shubman. We are hopeful he is the guy who is going (to take team forward) — Ajit Agarkar, chief selector 31 states/UTs participated in the meet The meeting was attended by CMs and L-Gs of 24 states and 7 UTs. There was no-show from Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Pondy Op Sindoor not one-off initiative Modi said Operation Sindoor should not be seen as a one-off initiative, and urged states to modernise preparedness STalin seeks 50% share in central taxes EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday urged the BJP-led union government to extend its support to all the states, including Tamil Nadu, without any discrimination to achieve their developmental goals. He also reiterated the state’s demand, made earlier to the 16th Finance Commission, to increase the states’ share in the centre’s tax revenue to 50%. Though the 15th Finance Commission had increased it to 41%, only 33.16% of the centre’s gross tax revenue has been shared with the states, he noted. Addressing the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council (GC) meeting in New Delhi, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the participation of CMs from across the country Stalin stressed that “coopera, tive federalism” is the foundational principle to realise the PM’s vision to make India a developed nation and a $30 trillion economy by 2047.  P7 Four persons, including a three-year-old boy, from the same family were killed after a car allegedly ran over them, as they were crossing a road in Usilampatti on Saturday night. Three of their relatives, including a oneyear-old girl, were critically injured. The deceased have been identified as J Pragalathan (3), his mother J Jothika (25), her relatives K Lakshmi (50) — all from Kunjampatti — and J Pandiselvi (42) from Petchiyammankovilpatti. The driver of the car, Anand Kumar from Pochipatti, is absconding. Usilampatti Taluk police sent the bodies to GRH in Madurai. The police have registered a case and initiated an investigation. 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