Four more cases of Covid-19 variant Omicron have been confirmed in Kerala, state Health Minister Veena George said on Wednesday night.

With this the total cases of the variant in Kerala has reached 5 and in India — 73.

Speaking to reporters here, the minister said two of the four news cases were the wife and mother-in-law of the Ernakulam native who was the first person in Kerala to test positive for Omicron.

India logged 6,984 coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,47,10,628 while the active cases declined to 87,562, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,76,135 with 247 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 48 days now.

The SIT of the UP police that is probing the Lakhimpur Kheri violence has submitted before a court that the killing of four farmers and a journalist in which Union minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra is among the 13 accused was a "pre-planned conspiracy", and also sought to substitute lesser charges in the case with graver ones.

After hearing arguments on the application moved by the Special Investigation Team(SIT), Lakhimpur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Chinta Ram on Tuesday allowed it to add IPC sections 307(attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing injuries by dangerous weapons) in the FIR in which Ashish Mishra is the main accused, Senior prosecution officer SP Yadav told PTI.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday (local time) said that Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pill mark a significant step forward in the path out of the pandemic.

I am encouraged by the promising data released by Pfizer today, showing that its antiviral pill is effective at reducing the risk of severe illness in people infected with COVID-19. This news provides another potentially powerful tool in our fight against the virus, including the Omicron variant, read a statement from the President on Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pill.

The price of 10 gram of gold increased by Rs 370 on Wednesday, with 24 carat of it trading at Rs 48,150 and 22 carat at Rs 47,150.

The price of 1 kg of silver also increased by Rs 300 from yesterday, trading at Rs 61,500 this morning.

In Delhi, the price of 24-carat gold stands at Rs 51,710, while in Mumbai it is at Rs 48,150, according to the Goodreturns website.

Shares of Expleo Solutions hit a new high of Rs 1,746, on rallying 15 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade in an otherwise weak market. In the past six weeks, the stock of information technology (IT) consulting software company has zoomed 66 per cent, as compared to 3.4 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Expleo Solutions on December 8, 2021 said the increase in volume in equity shares of the company is purely based on market conditions and absolutely market driven, and the company is no way connected with any such increase in volume.

Shares of One97 Communications, the parent company of digital payments major Paytm, slipped 13 per cent to Rs 1,297.70 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade as the mandatory one-month lock-in period for anchor investors expired today, December 15, 2021.

The stock was trading close to its record low of Rs 1,271.25 touched November 22, 2021. India's leading digital ecosystem for consumers and merchants had made stock market debut on November 18, 2021.

The number of new initial public offerings (IPOs) worldwide in 2021 increased 64 per cent year-on-year to 2,388, according to a study published by the consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY).

Global IPO issue volume went up 67 per cent to $453 billion, according to the study published on Tuesday.

Auto maker Skoda Auto Volkswagen India on Wednesday said its Managing Director Gurpratap Boparai has resigned from the company with effect from January 1, 2022.

Christian Cahn von Seelen will take interim charge of the VW Group's Indian operations from January 1, 2022, in his capacity as Chairman of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (SAVWIPL), the automaker said in a statement.

The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI,) is planning to offload a 6 per cent stake in its mutual fund subsidiary SBI Funds Management Private Ltd (SBI mutual fund) through an initial public offer (IPO). The lender however, has not indicated a timeline for coming to the market with a public offer.

The executive committee of the bank's central board has accorded approval for exploring possibilities to offload a 6 six per cent stake of the bank in SBI Funds Management Private Limited through IPO route.

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