Varanasi: After the inauguration of phase 1 of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a desi meal with the construction workers of around Rs 339 crores project in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi. PM Modi had lunch with around 2,500 workers whose hard work gave the old temple the new look. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath joined Prime Minister Modi and the construction workers during the simple meal, which included daal, rice, mix vegetable, roti, and papad. https://twitter.com/ANINewsUP/status/1470329931745751040?s=20 The ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in the heart of Varanasi witnessed a grand inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The project intends to provide an easily accessible pathway to connect Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple to the banks of the river Ganga. With this pathway, the devotees do not have to cross the congested and unkempt streets after the holy dip in the River Ganga while walking towards the temple to offer Gangajal to Lord Vishwanath. As per an official statement from Prime Minister’s office, a total of 23 buildings were inaugurated in the first phase which will provide facilities to the devotees. This includes– Yatri Suvidha Kendras, Vedic Kendra, Tourist Facilitation Centre, Bhogshala, Mumukshu Bhavan, City Museum, Viewing Gallery, among others. Notably, the inauguration of the state-of-the-art infrastructure surrounding the historic Kashi Vishwanath Temple near the iconic Dashashwamedh Ghat comes ahead of the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year. A palpable excitement was seen among the majority of the residents of the temple town on the arrival of the Prime Minister in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi. Locals gave a rousing welcome to PM Modi by showering flower petals and raising slogans of ‘Modi, Modi’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’. The PM is on a two-day visit to the city to inaugurate Kashi Vishwanath Corridor project.

“As case numbers linked to a variant of concern increase globally, we expect the number of hospitalized cases and even deaths to be reported,” the WHO said in a statement.

The UN health agency also said that more information is needed to fully understand the clinical picture of those infected with Omicron and WHO encourages countries to contribute to the collection and sharing of hospitalized patient data through the WHO COVID-19 Clinical Data Platform, according to Sputnik.

It comes as the WHO last week had shed light on features of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, including the extent to which it will spread, and the number of mutations in the newfound strain.

The UN-health agency had suggested that a new variant could have a major impact on the course of the pandemic, but it`s still too early to say for sure.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, last week had said that highlighted “a consistent picture of the rapid increase in transmission” but he added that the exact rate of increase relative to other variants remains difficult to quantify.