There was a lull after one case was detected in the state on December 3 amid the emergence of JN.1, a new sub-variant of Omicron, which is currently pushing the nationwide tally. The remaining four infections have been reported in the last four days.

According to Health department sources, two cases have been detected from Cuttack, one was found positive in Khurda district between Saturday and Monday. They have mild symptoms and are undergoing treatment in home isolation. The districts concerned have been asked to analyse the travel history of all three patients. “The samples of the three patients have been sent for genome sequencing to ascertain the presence of the JN.1 variant. There is no reason to panic, but those with symptoms should go for COVID tests,” Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Mohapatra told the media.

The state is yet to provide details of the two cases detected in the last 24 hours.

While cases are rising, the number of tests being conducted in Odisha reportedly fell to less than 150 on Monday from around 300/day last week. The government has advised the elderly people and those with co-morbidities to wear face masks while going out and avoid visiting crowded places.

Meanwhile, 412 fresh cases have taken India’s active cases tally to 4,170. Three new fatalities have also been reported from Karnataka. A total of 63 cases of the sub-variant JN.1 were detected in India till Sunday. About 35 cases of the sub-variant have been detected in Karnataka so far.

The Karnataka government’s cabinet sub-committee on coronavirus has suggested measures like wearing masks, not sending children with symptoms to schools, adhering to COVID appropriate behaviour like social distancing, seven days home isolation and leave for infected patients. It has also decided to administer “precautionary vaccine” for the aged and those with comorbidities.

A division bench of Justices G Narendar and Vijaykumar A Patil made the observation while hearing an appeal by X Corp (formerly Twitter) challenging the single judge order of June 30 which had dismissed its plea to the takedown orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY), PTI reported.

Between February 2, 2021, and February 28, 2022, MeiTY had under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, issued 10 Government Orders directing it to block 1,474 accounts, 175 Tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag. Twitter challenged the orders related to 39 of these URLs.

“Ban social media. I will tell you a lot of good will come. Today’s school going children are so addicted to it. I think there should be an age limit such as in Excise rules,” Justice G Narendar noted.

The court further observed that “children may be 17 or 18. But do they have the maturity to judge what is or is not in the interest of the nation? Not only on social media, even on the Internet things should be removed, it corrupts the mind. Government should consider bringing in an age limit for the use of social media.”

The court had also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on X Corp. X Corp’s counsel argued that MeiTY had not informed the users about blocking their tweets and accounts and even the company was forbidden from informing them.

The high court asked the government “You do not release the order. He is not permitted to reveal the order. How is he going to defend himself?”

The high court suggested that the government may have to tweak the rules a bit as it is at the government’s discretion that X Corp is blocking the accounts of users and the company cannot be left high and dry.

However, the high court said that “When it comes to national security, everybody has to be on the same page.” When the counsel for the company argued that it had informed which order of MeiTY it can comply with and which it could not, the bench said X Corp cannot be the judge.

The court said the X Corp “cannot be given the right to judge the content. If the content says ‘Apple a day keeps the doctor away’, you will interpret that as being against the doctor and the interest of the nation?”

The hearing of the case was adjourned to Wednesday when the high court will decide on the interim relief sought by X Corp. The hearing of the appeal will be heard after that, the court said, PTI reported.

In the show, Chaudhary had allegedly claimed that subsidies were being provided only to minorities in Karnataka and not to Hindus, said the FIR. “The show claimed that the scheme meted injustice to poor Hindus in the state” and “conspired to disturb communal harmony,” it added.

While Chaudhary is accused number one in the case, the chief editor and the organiser of Aaj Tak are accused number two and three respectively, The Indian Express reported.

After the show was aired on the channel on September 11, the Karnataka government threatened legal action against the anchor for deliberately spreading misinformation on government schemes. The scheme offered subsidies for members of the minority community to buy commercial vehicles.

Earlier, reacting to an advertisement published in a newspaper about the scheme, BJP MPs alleged that it highlighted ‘minority appeasement’ under Congress rule.

The incident was captured on CCTV installed in the premises, and the video has gone viral on social media.

The 20-second video clip shows Vasant, a 23-year-old inmate who faces rape charges, taking a risk to escape jail.

As he lands on the floor outside the prison campus, the man falls flat and looks to have injured himself.

But with no one in the vicinity, he limps his way towards the nearby road where he finds an auto-rickshaw and boards it.

The prisoner’s escape, however, was short-lived as he was arrested a day later from Haveri and put back in jail.

Five months ago, three prisoners had escaped from Kurukshetra district jail in Haryana from an area where maintenance work was underway.