MOSCOW: Russia reported 895 new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, the most recorded in a single day since the pandemic began, with the Kremlin blaming the slow pace of vaccinations and a more virulent virus.
Cases are rising after a third wave over the summer and officials are considering bringing back safety restrictions, although they say a Moscow lockdown is not being looked at.
The coronavirus task force reported 25,110 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The record daily death toll is Russia’s sixth in recent weeks.
“The numbers are really very bad, and this is indeed a cause for concern. The main reason is the insufficient level of vaccination,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“The virus is getting more virulent... As a rule, those who have not been vaccinated are severely ill and unfortunately die,” he told reporters on a conference call.
Russia has administered both shots of a coronavirus vaccine to 42.2 million people and needs to inoculate 35.9 million more to reach collective immunity, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said.
Around 7.6 million people need booster shots, she said during a televised government meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia, which has a population of over 142 million, has approved four domestically-made vaccines for use.
Vaccine hesitancy has hampered the inoculation drive. Russians often cite a general fear of new medical products and distrust of the authorities as their reason for refusing the vaccination.
Kremlin blames record COVID-19 deaths on slow vaccination rate
https://arab.news/5tb42
Kremlin blames record COVID-19 deaths on slow vaccination rate
- Cases are rising after a third wave over the summer and officials are considering bringing back safety restrictions
- Coronavirus task force reported 25,110 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours
Built on ancient design, Indian Navy’s first stitched ship sails to Oman
- INSV Kaundinya is a 21-meter wooden ship modeled on painting from Ajanta Caves
- It was constructed by artisans from Kerala and inducted into Indian Navy last year
NEW DELHI: Built using a fifth-century stitched-ship technique, the Indian Navy’s Kaundinya vessel is approaching Oman, navigating the historic Arabian Sea route once traveled by ancient seafarers.
The 21-meter ship is a type of wooden boat, in which planks are stitched together using cords or ropes, a technique popular in ancient India for constructing ocean-going vessels.
The vessel set sail on its first transoceanic voyage from Porbandar in Gujarat on Dec. 29 and is expected to reach Muscat in mid-January.
“The exact date obviously depends on how weather conditions pan out. It has been a great experience thus far and the crew remains in high spirits,” Sanjeev Sanyal, an Indian economist who initiated the Kaundinya project and is part of the expedition, told Arab News.
“This is a very ancient route going back to the Bronze Age, and very active from ancient to modern times. We are trying to re-create the voyage on INSV Kaundinya, a ‘stitched’ ship using designs as they would have existed in the fifth century A.D. — a hull from stitched planks, steering oars, square sails, and so on.”
The ship was built by artisans from Kerala based on a painting found in the Ajanta Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Maharashtra state, where rock-cut monuments feature exquisite murals dating from the second century B.C. to the fifth century.
Funded by the Indian Ministry of Culture in 2023, the vessel was completed in February last year and inducted into the Indian Navy in May.
The Indian Navy collaborated with the Department of Ocean Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras to conduct model testing of the vessel’s hydrodynamic performance. The navy also tested the wooden mast system, which was built entirely without modern materials.
On its journey to Muscat, the ship is manned by an 18-member crew, which, besides Sanyal, consists of four officers, 12 sailors, and a medic.
“The voyage gives a good glimpse of how ancient mariners crossed the Indian Ocean — the changing winds and currents, the limitations of ancient technology,” Sanyal said.
“The square sail, for example, allows the ship to sail only up to a limited angle to the wind compared to a modern sailing boat. It also does not have a deep keel, so it rolls a lot. “Nonetheless, in good winds, it can do up to five knots — a very respectable speed. One reads about these voyages in ancient texts and (they are also) depicted in paintings and sculpture, but this provides a real experience.”
