The doodle, illustrated by Mumbai-based guest artist Onkar Fondekar, focused on the country’s vibrant cultures, regional diversity, and architecture.

On this day 72 years ago, India’s Constitution came into effect and it officially became a sovereign Republic. In his colorful artwork, Fondekar featured musical instruments like the dholak (a two-headed hand drum) and the sitar (a long-necked stringed instrument), the people of India, cricket and dance, among other elements.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison wishes India on the 72nd Republic Day. “What wonderful coincidence it’s of our history that Jan 26 Australia Day, is India’s #RepublicDay, a national day shared b/w friends. Australia-India share more than national day. We pursue same ideals-democracy, freedom, liberty, diversity, enterprise, opportunity,” he said.

“Our history is long and our connections are many. With each year, we become even closer. The global pandemic has not divided us but has made us appreciate these shared ideals even more,” Morrison added.

In his video message to celebrate the birth of an “extraordinary Constitution” that established India “as the biggest sovereign democracy in the world”, the UK PM reiterated his plan to visit India in the coming months. “I was hugely looking forward to joining you for this important occasion at the kind invitation of my friend Prime Minister Modi, alas our common struggle against COVID has kept me in London,” said Johnson.

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“Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use the first in-person G7 summit in almost two years to ask leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to seize the opportunity to build back better from coronavirus, uniting to make the future fairer, greener and more prosperous,” the statement said.

Boris Johnson was planning to visit India to Republic Day parade. He was the supposed to be the chief guest in R-Day parade. However the plan was cancelled because of the serious coronavirus situation in the UK.

Terming India as ‘pharmacy of the world’, the UK praised the efforts regarding the production of coronavirus vaccine and said, “India already supplies more than 50 per cent of the world’s vaccines, and the UK and India have worked closely together throughout the pandemic.”

Apart from India, Australia and South Korea,too, have been invited to attend G7 summit. The meet is scheduled to be held in Cornwall from June 11 to 14, 2021.

Announcing plans to hold the G7 Summit in June, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to use Britain’s presidency of the G7 to forge a consensus that the global economy must recover from the COVID-19 crisis in a pro-free trade and sustainable way.

“Coronavirus is doubtless the most destructive force we have seen for generations and the greatest test of the modern world order we have experienced,” he said in a statement. “It is only right that we approach the challenge of building back better by uniting with a spirit of openness to create a better future.”

The summit in June will address shared challenges, from beating coronavirus and tackling climate change, to ensuring that people everywhere can benefit from open trade, technological change and scientific discovery.

G7 is a grouping of leading economies — the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the USA and the EU.

Last year’s G7 meeting, due to be hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump, was cancelled due to the pandemic.The leaders of Britain, Germany, France, the United States, Italy, Japan, the European Union and Canada have not met in person since the 2019 meeting in Biarritz, France.

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Vaccines are underway and they are still effective against the new strain. Although the new strain is any more deadly, people are highly worried because this mutation appears to be 70 percent more infectious.

The new variant, which has been named VUI-202012/01 (the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020), is thought to have first occurred in mid-September in the country’s southeast, in the capital London or the county of Kent.

Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said the agency notified the government on December 18 when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain. The UK submitted its findings to the World Health Organization the same day.

Since then it spread quickly, becoming the dominant form of the virus there.

In London , 62 percent of cases were due to the new variant in the week of December 9. The rapid turn of events forced UK government to enforce stricter lockdown measures over the coming Christmas period. UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said the new lockdown measures might stay in place for some time.

Scientists says the new strain contains 23 changes , many associated with alterations in a protein made by the virus.

Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific adviser, said the new variant may be in other countries as well but might have started in the UK.

In a bid to stop the new strain from spreading, The Netherlands and Belgium banned travellers from the UK.

Dutch authorities said they had at found at least one case of the new strain and flights carrying UK passengers have been banned until January 1. Belgium is suspending flight and train arrivals from the UK for at least 24 hours, according to Prime Minister Alexander De Croo who spoke to Belgian television channel VRT.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Twitter that cases of the mutant strain were lower in Scotland “than the rest of the UK,” but warned, “preventative action may be necessary to stop the faster-spreading strain taking hold.”

More than 67,000 people have died of COVID-19 to date in the UK, making it one of Europe’s worst-hit along with Italy.

Italy has also detected a patient infected with the new strain of the coronavirus, the health ministry on Sunday informed. The patient and his partner returned from the United Kingdom in the last few days with a flight that landed at Rome’s Fiumicion airport and were now in isolation, the ministry said.

Meanwhile the Health Ministry of India’s top advisory body will meet urgently on Monday to discuss the new strain of novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom. Reports suggest that experts from AIIMS and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), along with a representative from the World Health Organisation(WHO) will attend the meeting.

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UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “I’m pleased that PM Boris Johnson has invited PM Modi to join the UK-hosted G7 summit next year.

UK PM Johnson has also accepted the very generous invitation to attend India’s Republic Day celebrations in January, which is a great honour.”

The UK foreign secretary made the announcement on Tuesday during a 3-day visit to India, which is also being seen as a means to lay the ground for Boris Johnson’s upcoming visit in January.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday held talks with the British Foreign Secretary to expand cooperation in a range of sectors such as trade, defence, education, environment and health.

Raab’s three-day visit to India from December 14-17 comes at a time the UK is holding complex negotiations with the European Union on reaching a post-Brexit trade deal.

On December 14, the Ministry of External Affairs said Raab’s visit will pave the way for further strengthening of the partnership across the trade, defence, climate, migration and mobility, education and health sectors in the post-Covid, post-Brexit context.

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The announcement came as part of the collaboration between eh SII, Gavi, Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This brings the total now to be delivered by the partnership to up to 20 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

It will accelerate the manufacturing and delivery of up to an additional 10 crore doses of future safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines, priced at a maximum of US$ 3 or Rs.250 per dose for low- and middle-income countries in 2021

The SII is the leading vaccine manufacturer in the world and has partnered with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for producing the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the scientists of the Oxford University.

The announcement by the SII came days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the AstraZeneca reached an agreement with the SII to supply 1 billion doses of Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine to low and middle-income countries. Johnson announced this during his speech at the 75th high-level debate of the United National General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday.

The Oxford vaccine, being produced under brand name of Covishield is now in Phase-III of clinical trials in a multi-national vaccine development programme. The SII is conducting the trials in India.

Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.3 billion doses). Vaccines manufactured by Serum are accredited by the World Health Organization, Geneva and are being used in approximately 170 countries across the globe.

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“One million is a terrible number and we need to reflect on that before we start considering a second million. Are we prepared collectively to do what it takes to avoid that number? If we don’t take those actions… yes, we will be looking at that number and sadly much higher,” WHO emergency director Michael Ryan told reporters.

The United States is one of the worst hit countries due to the coronavirus outbreak, and the country has recorded more than seven million positive cases, and 2,08,000 deaths. India is also facing the wrath of the coronavirus pandemic, and the country is all set to touch the six million positive cases mark. In India alone, coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 93,410 people.

A few weeks back, Anthony Fauci had claimed that coronavirus is a perfect storm with no end in near sight. The recent warning from WHO indicates that Fauci’s words are turning true.

“We are living, right now, through a historic pandemic outbreak. And, we are, right now, in a situation where we do not see any particular end in sight. It’s the perfect storm. We often talk about outbreaks and pandemics, be they influenza or other pathogens, that have to have a few characteristics that make them particularly formidable. Well, this particular virus has that,” said Fauci.

In the meantime, British prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed that the United Kingdom will not return to normalcy in the next six months, as the coronavirus cases in the country started resurging again.

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As top medics in the United Kingdom have predicted a surge in coronavirus cases by October, prime minister Boris Johnson has warned Britinos that the country will not return to normalcy at least for the next six months. Johnson made these remarks after ordering new restrictions in the UK, as an attempt to suppress the dramatic surge in coronavirus cases.

Interestingly, a couple of weeks ago, Johnson had asked citizens of the country to go back to work, stating that London could become a ghost town. But now, as fear looms up, Johnson has asked everyone to work from home. The new order also asks pubs, restaurants, and other entertainment venues in England to close down between 10 PM to 05.00 AM.

“We will spare no effort in developing vaccines, treatments and new forms of mass testing, but unless we palpably make progress, we should assume that the restrictions I have announced will remain in place for perhaps six months,” said Johnson.

It was on yesterday that Professor Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, two top medics in the United Kingdom issued a warning regarding the possible surge of coronavirus cases in November. The duo revealed that the country could witness at least 50,000 positive cases and 200 deaths in a day by November.

On Monday alone, the country recorded 4,300 coronavirus cases in the United Kingdom, the highest number since May. Experts believe that easing lockdown restrictions could drastically increase the cases in the country which will ultimately create chaos in NHS hospitals.

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According to Johnson, coronavirus could become more virulent in winter, and the works of NHS will become more challenging to cope up the rise in positive cases.

“Demand for testing is not the only challenge that winter will bring. It’s possible that the virus will be more virulent in the winter months and it’s certain that the NHS will face the usual annual winter pressures,” said Johnson.

A few weeks back, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute and professor of health policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health had warned that the real chaos associated with COVID-19 is yet to unfold. According to Jha, the coronavirus outbreak is still in its early stages, and the pandemic could challenge the entire healthcare sector if it starts spreading in rural areas.

It should be noted that coronavirus had initially spread among people in urban areas, and now, the pandemic has slowly started affecting people living in suburbs and rural areas.

“The nature of this pandemic is that it starts and kind of accelerates in big cities, but then it moves out into the suburbs and into the rural areas. So, by the time we’re done with this, I think every American will have felt it much more up close and personal. That’s what I worry about — that it shouldn’t have to take that for people to really understand how tragic this is and how calamitous in many ways this is,” said Jha.

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