India surpasses global record of 315,000 daily COVID cases

India has reported almost 315,000 new COVID infections on Thursday. It’s surpassing the record for infections in a single day previously set by US in January.

India’s Health ministry data on Thursday showed 314,835 new infections in the past 24 hours, the most of any country since the pandemic began, taking total cases to 15.9 million, the world’s second highest. The country has now added more than 200,000 cases every day since 15 April. There were 2,074 fatalities, bringing the total death toll to almost 185,000.

New Delhi’s hospitals warned that patient could die without fresh oxygen supplies. Nearly 500 tons of oxygen was supplied to Delhi on Wednesday but this fell short of the required 700 tons per day. Late Wednesday the Delhi High Court ordered the government to ensure safe passage of oxygen supplies from factories to hospitals across India.

The country’s long-underfunded healthcare system is being stretched to the limit by a devastating second wave of the pandemic blamed on a ‘double mutant’ variant and ‘super-spreader’ mass gatherings.

Amid the explosion of coronavirus infections in India, election rallies and voting continued in West Bengal state. For allowing the voting amidst a pandemic and also for urging Hindu devotees to continue attending the Kumbh festival : the largest human pilgrimage anywhere in the world, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi is facing criticism.

TXT’s comeback happening: Big Hit Music confirms

K-pop five-piece boyband TXT is planning to release a new album in late May, OSEN reported on April 22. They are yet to work on the finishing touches of the album.

A source from Big Hit Music confirmed the news as they stated to Newsen, ‘TXT is making a comeback in late May.’ According to other sources, it is rumored that many globally renowned producers have participated in the album.

TXT’s May’s comeback was also reported two weeks ago, but BIG Hit Music told they would announce the date when it’ll be finalized. While last year Big Hit Music announced on their official Twitter accounts that the group had to postpone their comeback last August to September 2020 due to their health conditions.

TXT or Tomorrow X Together consisted with five members namely, Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Tae Hyun, and HeuningKai.

Indonesia’s navy searching for missing 53 onboard with submarine

Indonesia’s navy is searching for a missing submarine with 53 onboard that went missing north of the resort island during a military exercise. The submarine was carrying 49 crew members, its commander and three gunners – has not been seen or heard from since Wednesday when it was conducting a torpedo drill in waters north of Bali.
The country’s military chief, Hadi Tjahjanto, said on Wednesday night, “The KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise when it missed a scheduled reporting call. The vessel is believed to have disappeared in waters about 60 miles (95km) north of Bali.”
Tjahjanto also said the navy had deployed scores of ships to search the area, including a hydrographic survey ship, and had asked for help from Singapore and Australia, which have submarine rescue vessels.
French navy vice admiral Antoine Beaussant told a news agency that the submarine would have a safety descent level of 250 meters, and “if it went down to rest at 700 meters the likelihood is it would have broken up”.
Indonesia is deploying four warships to search for the submarine, including a Rigel warship equipped with sophisticated sonar that can precisely detect the vessel’s position. Indonesia has requested Australia and Singapore to associate them.

BRIT awards to host 4,000 audiences as part of COVID research

A live audience of 4,000 people will attend the BRIT awards on 11 May in London as part of a government-led research program into how crowds can safely return to mass participants’ events. It would be the first major indoor music event with a live audience as the country emerges from COVID19 lockdown.
The awards will be held on next month which is pushed back from the traditional February date because of the pandemic. The hope of organizers was always to have some kind of live audience for a show which will feature performances by Dua Lipa, Headie One and Arlo Parks. 2,500 tickets are being made available to key workers from greater London, who can apply via a ballot system. They will not have to wear face masks inside the arena but will have to provide proof of a negative lateral flow test result to enter the venue.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced on Thursday that the Brits will be joining events such as the current world’s snooker championships in Sheffield’s Crucible theatre as a pilot in the government’s events research program.

Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the British Phonographic Industry and the BRITs said, “not only will we be celebrating the brilliant music and artists that have helped us through the pandemic, but we hope it will provide a path for the return of live music that fans and artists have so sorely missed.”

The awards are due to be hosted by Jack Whitehall for the fourth year running and will be broadcast live on ITV.

Film Friday: 5 trending movies you can watch on Netflix

Hey movie lovers, are you bored or not sure what to watch this weekend? Here we are to guide you again with the top 5 trending movies you can watch on Netflix right now-

Arrival
This Oscar-nominated movie is directed by Denis Villeneuve. The story tells about a linguistics professor who leads an elite team of investigators in a race against time to communicate with the extraterrestrial visitors.
https://youtu.be/tFMo3UJ4B4g

Boat capsizes off Libya: 130migrants feared dead

Around 130migrants are feared dead after a rubber boat capsized in stormy seas off the Libyan coast while they were attempting to reach Europe, UN migration agency said.
Rescue ship of SOS Mediterranee’s, Ocean Viking, and three merchant vessels went out to the site of the shipwreck where they found about 10 bodies but no survivors.

In a statement SOS Méditerranée said, “Today, after hours of search, our worst fear has come true. The crew of the Ocean Viking had to witness the devastating aftermath of the shipwreck of a rubber boat north east of Tripoli. This boat had been reported in distress with around 130 people onboard on Wednesday morning,”
According to an initial reconstruction of events, the European humanitarian group SOS Méditerranée was alerted on Tuesday by the volunteer-run Mediterranean rescue hotline Alarm Phone to the presence of three boats in distress in international waters off Libya.
In accordance with SOS Mediterranee, this year more than 350 people have died in the short stretch of sea separating Europe and Africa. Though the figure does not include the victims of the latest capsize.