New Delhi: India has imposed a ban on single-use plastics on items ranging from straws to cigarette packets to combat worsening pollution in country whose streets are strewn with waste.

Announcing the ban, the Indian government dismissed the demands of food, beverage and consumer goods companies to hold off the restriction to avoid disruptions.

Plastic waste has become a significant source of pollution in India, the world's second most populous country.

Rapid economic growth has fuelled demand for goods that come with single-use plastic products, such as straws and disposable cutlery.

But India, which uses about 14 million tonnes of plastic annually, lacks an organised system for managing plastic waste, leading to widespread littering.

Streets across towns are littered with used plastic goods that eventually choke drains, rivers and oceans and also kill animals.

India's ban on single-use plastic items includes straws, cutlery, ear buds, packaging films, plastic sticks for balloons, candy and ice-cream, and cigarette packets, among other products, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government said in a statement.

PepsiCo (PEP.O), Coca-Cola Co (KO.N), India's Parle Agro, Dabur (DABU.NS) and Amul had lobbied for straws to be exempted from the ban. 

In a relief to consumers, the government has for now exempted plastic bags but it has asked manufacturers and importers to raise the thickness to promote reuse.

Other than the food and beverage and consumer goods companies, plastic manufacturers have also complained about the ban that they say did not give them adequate time to prepare for the restriction.

Some experts believe that enforcing the ban might be difficult. The government has decided to set up control rooms to check any illegal use, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products.

According to the United Nations, plastic waste is at epidemic proportions in the world's oceans, with an estimated 100 million tonnes dumped there. 

Scientists have found large amounts of micro plastic in the intestines of deep-dwelling ocean mammals like whales.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Islamabad: Pakistan has reported four deaths and 818 new COVID-19 infections in past 24 hours as the novel virus continues to rage across the country.  

As per the latest stats, the new infections—detected after diagnostic testing on 18,305 samples—took Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity rate to 4.47%. 

COVID-19 Statistics 02 July 2022
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 18,305
Positive Cases: 818
Positivity %: 4.47%
Deaths: 04
Patients on Critical Care: 126

— NIH Pakistan (@NIH_Pakistan) July 2, 2022

This was the first time in nearly four months that the infections moved past 800.

According to National Institute of Health (NIH), condition of 126 COVID patients is critical and they are being treated in intensive care units (ICU). 

Authorities, however, have started imposing restrictions in a bid to curb the infection rate — making ‘wearing masks’ mandatory for passengers travelling on public transport, including busses and trains.

The overall tally of the infected people climbed to 1536479 across Pakistan after adding the fresh cases.

Experts say Pakistan may potentially witness another COVID-19 wave as the country continues to see an uptick in new cases, pushing the positivity rate further up.  

Rescuers in India's northeast have recovered 20 dead bodies from the site of a landslide that buried a railway construction camp, the army said, after a second day of search efforts.

As per details, security forces and disaster relief teams are still racing to rescue dozens more feared trapped under debris.

Reportedly, most of the victims were reserve soldiers from the Territorial Army who had been working on the railway project.

Experts say climate change is increasing the number of extreme weather events around the world, with damming, deforestation and development projects in India exacerbating the human toll.

This month, unprecedented rains lashed India’s northeastern states and neighbouring Bangladesh, killing more than 150 people.

Millions have been displaced by the catastrophic floods in recent weeks, and in some low-lying areas, houses have been submerged.

Army helicopters were on standby and assisting in rescue operations at the site of the landslide, a statement from the Indian army said.