As the ongoing farmers protest on the borders of National Capital Region of Delhi enter their 28th day, the farmer unions on Tuesday (December 22) decided that they will take a call on Central government’s letter on Wednesday (December 23).

32 farmer unions from Punjab held a meeting and discussed the next course of action. A meeting of farmer leaders from across India would be held on Wednesday where a decision on the government’s offer will be taken, said farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu said during a media briefing at Delhi’s Singhu Border.

The air quality index (AQI) in Delhi has plunged into the severe category with a count of 404 in the early hours of Wednesday. Noida is even worse with the PM 10 count at 582 and PM 2.5 count of 511, much higher than Delhi.

The PM 10 count is at 435 in the severe category and is only expected to deteriorate in the coming days of the week. It will cross the 500-mark during the day and worsen in the following couple of days, going up to the 522-mark.

Bhutan will go in lockdown for seven days starting from Wednesday amid rising case of Covid-19 cases, announced Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering.

In a statement, Tshering announced that a nationwide lockdown will be enforced for seven days, starting December 23, adding that the lockdown will enable the government to control the spread of the disease and also discern the extent of transmission in the communities.

British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc told Reuters on Tuesday its COVID-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant, adding that studies were under way to fully probe the impact of the mutation.

AZD1222 (AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, and the changes to the genetic code seen in this new viral strain do not appear to change the structure of the spike protein, an AstraZeneca representative said in an email.

A new variant of Sars-Cov-2 has been found in the United Kingdom and is reportedly "out of control", an announcement that set off alarm bells around Europe and elsewhere. Many members of the European Union suspended travel to and from Britain and imposed harsher quarantine rules.

The new variant is likely to cause 60 to 70 per cent more infections than the original strain. With abundant precaution India has temporarily suspended flights to and from UK till the end of the year. The Union government is closely following the development and advised people not to panic.

Shares of SpiceJet slipped 10 per cent to hit an intra-day low of Rs 82.35 on the BSE in the early morning trade on Tuesday, falling 19 per cent in the past two trading days, after India suspended flights to and from the UK.

India has suspended all flights from the UK from Tuesday midnight (December 22) till December 31 to prevent the new aggressive strain of the novel coronavirus from entering the country. This may lead to lower traffic recovery.

India continues to witness a steady decline in daily new coronavirus infections as only 19,556 new COVID-19 cases were reported in last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With the addition of new cases, the country's coronavirus count reached 1,00,75,116 on Tuesday. At present, the active coronavirus cases in the country dropped to 2,92,518 after 30,376 new recoveries were recorded. The overall recoveries have now mounted to 96,36,487.

Gold price today jumped to Rs 53,720 from Rs 53,410 per 10 gm, while silver price was trending at Rs 70,700 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

IDBI Bank on Monday said it had option to draw Rs 1,500 crore as equity capital from its promoter Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). The bank, with LIC and the government of India as its promoter, raised equity capital Rs 1,435 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) last week.

Rakesh Sharma, MD and CEO, said the shareholding of LIC had come down (fell below 51 per cent), so the bank could take up to Rs 1,500 crore capital from LIC.

Farmers have started a 'relay' hunger strike on various borders of Delhi adjoining Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to demand repeal of the new agricultural laws of the Center. On Monday, farmer leaders claimed that there is nothing new in the Center's letter regarding the next date for talks. Gurmeet Singh of Krantikari Kisan Union said that there is a possibility of meeting on Tuesday for the next step of the farmer leaders. Farmers' organizations are also trying to get support from farmers of other states like Bihar.

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