Biden’s Covid team grapples with a basic question: Where’s all the vaccine?

States are warning they're running out of the vaccine, with little sense of when more will arrive.

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Fauci: New Covid strains increase need for fast vaccination scheme

Speaking at a White House news briefing, the government's top infectious disease expert warned that strains first identified in South Africa and Brazil could reduce the potency of the two vaccines now in use.

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‘Nobody is telling you what to say’: Fauci regains the spotlight under Biden

One day into the Biden presidency, the longtime infectious disease expert described it as “a refreshing experience.”

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Cuomo says New York days away from exhausting vaccine supply

The governor is urging President Joe Biden to increase the supply.

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'We have the infrastructure': Mayors eye larger role in vaccination effort under Biden

POLITICO talked to the leaders of four major cities as part "The Fifty" series highlighting political trends outside of the Beltway.

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Bengaluru airport train ran empty over 10 times since launch, officials stumped

TRANSPORT

Though the train service is nominally priced and was launched amid much buzz, this has not translated to ridership.

Prajwal Bhat

The suburban train which allows Bengalureans to travel from the city to the Kempegwoda International Airport was launched amid fanfare and social media buzz on January 4, but two weeks on, railway officials are at a loss to explain the abysmally low ridership on the trains. Even though the ticket is priced at just Rs 10, figures provided by South Western Railways state that, up to January 21, the train to and from the airport ran empty on more than 10 rides since the service started. Each train can accommodate 610 passengers, after taking distancing rules into account, but there does not seem to be takers for the trains to the airport. The ridership of the train was in single digits on more than 20 occasions in the last two weeks. "We are unable to explain it but the figures are low. There haven't been major delays reported except for January 20, when there was a weld failure," a railways official told TNM. The official noted that the ridership on most trains is lesser than it used to be due to the pandemic, but the trains to the airport were expected to attract more passengers than it has so far. SWR will now discuss the timings of the train with Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), which manages the airport. The trains were not only expected to benefit the public, but also help over 20,000 staff members working at the airport.  Five pairs of trains connecting Bengaluru city to the Kempegowda International Airport 35 km away, were launched on January 4. The service was hailed as a game changer for the city as it offered a cheaper way to reach the airport.  The tickets for the trains were priced at Rs 10, which costs much less than taking cabs or buses to the airport.  Read: From Bengaluru to the airport for Rs 10: Why new train service is a game changer Two trains start from the KSR Railway Station at 4:45 am and 9 pm, and three other trains operate from Yelahanka (7 am), Yeshwantpur (8:30 am) and Cantonment (5:55 pm) stations. Five trains operate in the other direction from the airport to the city, with the earliest train at 6:23 am and the last train at 10:38 pm. The train journey takes less than an hour and a free shuttle bus service takes commuters from the halt station to the airport. “In the long run, the trains will help Bengaluru by providing a practical option for commuting to and from Airport. But, for this to happen, everyone has to do their bit to promote, popularise and patronise these trains, so that they become more and more useful," activist Rajkumar Dugar said. He has prepared a user-friendly timetable of the trains to the airport from Bengaluru.

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Bengaluru airport records first low-visibility landing using CAT IIIB system

Airport

A flight from Lucknow landed in Bengaluru on Thursday morning when the visibility was as low as 200 metres.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport recorded its first landing under CAT IIIB (Category 3 Instrument Landing Systems or low visibility) conditions on Thursday morning. Airport authorities said an IndiGo flight 6E-6389 which was flying from Lucknow made a successful touchdown a little after 7: 30 am when the visibility was as low as 200 metres. In a statement, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the company that manages the airport, said, “Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) recorded its first landing under CAT IIIB conditions on the morning of Thursday, January 21, 2021. Radiation fog set in during the early part of the day, resulting in a rapid drop in visibility to 200 metres. During this time, IndiGo flight 6E-6389 from Lucknow made a successful touchdown at 0741 hours.” Fog-induced delays and cancellations of flights have been a regular feature in winter months for the Bengaluru airport for more than a decade. In January 2019, there were more than 200 flights that were delayed or cancelled in a single week inconveniencing passengers. Bengaluru typically sees fog-induced conditions between November and February. As reported earlier, the second runway also known as the ‘South Runway’ at the Kempegowda Airport in Bengaluru which began operating in March 2020 was CAT-III-B ILS complaint. However, it was only on Thursday that the first landing using the system was used. The first runway is currently undergoing repairs after functioning non-stop for a decade. BIAL had earlier said that the first runway will also be made CAT-IIIB compliant. The airport said that this system allows the airport to facilitate aircraft landing with visibility as low as 50 m and take off at 125 metres. Previously the permissible visual range was 550 metres and 300 metres, for landing and take-off, respectively. Chandigarh, Kolkata, Delhi, Amritsar and Jaipur are other leading airports in the country which  have similar technology.

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