ARVIND KEJRIWAL

As India confronts horrific smog, officials are touting new pollution-fighting efforts with highly visible marketing campaigns and barely visible results.

India's capital, New Delhi, was blanketed again this week in filthy smog that experts say is harmful to residents' health.

The Indian capital has reintroduced public mask mandates as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country.

The lessons of the last election season and its attendant wave of Covid infections seem to have been forgotten.

Texas officials indicated Tuesday that thousands of National Guard members are refusing COVID-19 vaccines in the latest challenge against a Biden administration order that requires all members of the military to get one.

There were 37,379 new cases reported over a 24-hour period, government data showed Tuesday.

Air pollution in the Indian capital has hit dangerous levels again this winter, as thick, gray smog obscures the sky and monuments and high-rises are swallowed by a blanket of haze.

Air quality is a major problem in New Delhi, and the city's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called it a "gas chamber" in 2019 due to the overwhelming pollution there.

Starting Monday, every adult in India will be eligible for a free vaccine paid for by the federal government.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his government will provide free coronavirus shots to any adult starting later this month and will take back control of the country’s vaccination drive, marred by delays and shortages.

India says its economy, pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic, contracted by 7.3% in the 2020-21 financial year, just before the country was hit by another catastrophic surge in infections.

Cases started rising since February and so far this month, India has reported more than 3.1 million new cases and over 18,000 deaths.

New Delhi has imposed a weeklong lockdown to prevent the collapse of the Indian capital’s health system amid an explosive surge in coronavirus cases.

India’s two largest cities have imposed stringent restrictions on movement and one planned to use hotels and banquet halls to treat coronavirus patients.

Health workers and relatives carry the body of a COVID-19 victim for cremation in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. The capital's health system is under tremendous strain: Government figures showed 90% of the critical care beds with ventilators designated for virus patients and 86% of critical care beds without ventilators were full as of Thursday. At Aakash Healthcare, a private hospital in New Delhi, all the critical care beds there were full, and many patients were waiting outside the hospital, said Dr. Akshay Budhraja, a pulmonologist. He said New Delhi is hoping to add 1,400 more critical care beds and that all private hospitals have been asked to reserve 80% of their critical care beds, and over 60% of their other beds for virus patients. It took India 12 days to go from 5 million cases to 6 million but 22 days to go from 8 million to 9 million.

There were 1,225 new confirmed COVID-19 cases increasing the state total to 60,873. ___WASHINGTON -- Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech will seek emergency government approval for their coronavirus vaccine, as the U.S. aims to begin administering doses by the end of the year. ___LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — Kentucky reported a new daily record of 3,649 coronavirus cases Thursday amid warnings by Gov. He and public health experts are warily watching the number of patients hospitalized with the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. ___WASHINGTON — Infection disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says he “wants to settle” concerns about a coronavirus vaccine as he returns to the White House podium for the first time in months.

People play with fireworks during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Prayagraj, India, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)NEW DELHI – More than a billion Indians celebrated Diwali on Saturday amid twin concerns of a resurgence in coronavirus infections and rising air pollution that is enveloping the country’s north in a cloud of thick toxic smog. Kejriwal said last week that the pandemic was spreading fast in the capital due to the rising air pollution. The link between air pollution and worsening COVID-19 cases remains mostly theoretical at the moment. But ahead of Diwali, messages encouraging people to stay home during the festival whizzed around New Delhi via WhatsApp.

Authorities in New Delhi have banned firecrackers and are appealing to people to celebrate the Hindu festival of lights at home. Coronavirus infections have been rising in the capital and authorities are worried large festival crowds will worsen the virus situation. India has confirmed more than 8.7 million cases of coronavirus infection, second-most in the world, and more than 128,600 fatalities. India's Hindu festivals draw tens of thousands of people, packed in temples, shopping districts and family gatherings exchanging gifts. For India’s nearly 70 million traders, who employ about 400 million people, an upturn could not come fast enough.

India has reported the second most coronavirus infections in the world after the United States, with more than 8.4 million confirmed cases and nearly 125,000 deaths. “The relationship of long-term air pollution and COVID-19 indicate adverse health impacts that make people prone to the infection,” Wu said. The link between air pollution and worsening COVID-19 cases remains mostly theoretical at the moment. New Delhi’s air pollution woes aren’t new. Every winter season, air pollution levels in the capital soar to dangerous levels and dark yellow haze blankets the city for months.

With 8.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, India is the second worst-hit country behind the United States. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)NEW DELHI – India’s coronavirus outbreak increased by more than 50,000 cases Thursday amid a resurgence of infections in the capital. Nerves are frayed in New Delhi after it reported a record 6,842 new cases in the past 24 hours. With 8.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, India is the second worst-hit country behind the United States. Indonesia has reported more than 425,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the largest in Southeast Asia and second only to India’s 8.3 million in all of Asia.

Authorities in New Delhi launched an anti-pollution campaign on Monday in an attempt to curb air pollution levels ahead of winter, when the capital is regularly covered in toxic haze, and warned that filthy air could make the coronavirus pandemic more dangerous. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)NEW DELHI – Authorities in New Delhi launched an anti-pollution campaign on Monday in an attempt to curb air pollution levels ahead of winter, when the capital is regularly covered in toxic haze, and warned that filthy air could make the coronavirus pandemic more dangerous. Earlier studies have also suggested that high levels of air pollution can make viral infections more dangerous. Winters have become a time of health woes, when the city is covered with a toxic haze that obscures the sky and blocks sunlight. Pollution levels soar as farmers in neighboring agricultural regions set fire to clear their land after harvests and prepare for the next crop season.

In this Wednesday, June 10, 2020 photo, people enquire about their relatives from a health worker at a COVID designated hospital in New Delhi, India. Half of Delhis 8,200 hospital beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients are already full and officials are projecting more than half a million cases in the city alone by July 31. Two and a half months of nationwide lockdown kept numbers of infections relatively low in India. Half of Delhi's 8,200 hospital beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients are already full and officials are projecting more than half a million cases in the city alone by July 31. We are sitting on a ticking time bomb, said Dr. Harjit Singh Bhatti, president of the Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum.

New Delhi Since Friday, India has seen a new record number of confirmed coronavirus cases every day. Police personnel stop motorists at a checkpoint during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Allahabad on April 20, 2020. SANJAY KANOJIA/AFP/GettyIndia was under a strict nationwide lockdown from March 25 until Sunday. While the government officially extended the lockdown until May 18 on Monday, many of the restrictions have been relaxed significantly. A doctor checks the temperature of residents during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums, in Mumbai, India, April 11, 2020.

People look out from their balconies at Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia who was present during a sanitation drive in Mayur Vihar Phase II, on day twenty of the 21-day nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Coronavirus on April 13, 2020 in New Delhi, India. India's coronavirus lockdown has been extended until May 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an address to the nation. Modi explained that the lockdown, as well as other social distancing measures, have benefited the country despite the economic costs incurred. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted about the decision on Saturday before any formal announcements were made from Modi's government. A recent summary of one of Modi's meetings with all the state chief ministers posted by his office said, "The Chief Ministers suggested that Lockdown should be extended by two weeks."

The air quality index, measuring levels of PM 2.5, tiny particulate matter in the air, deteriorated to above 900, way over the 500-level that qualifies as "severe-plus". "Delhi has turned into a gas chamber as the pollution levels hit the 'severe+' category," Taparia said. A survey of 17,000 people in the Delhi region by his consultancy found that 40% want to get out of the Delhi region because of the failure to control pollution. From Monday, the city government will also restrict the use of private vehicles on the capital's roads under an "odd-even" scheme based on license plates. "The temporary restrictions on private vehicles will have a negligible impact as we face the most hazardous situation," said Skymet's Palawat.

Rishabh Mathur/Wikimedia(CNN) - Flights to and from New Delhi's international airport were delayed and diverted on Sunday as pollution reached "unbearable" levels, leaving the Indian capital blanketed with heavy smog. Visibility was so poor that 37 flights -- including at least one international journey -- were diverted from the city's Indira Gandhi International Airport, a senior airport official told CNN. Pollution indexes saw air quality in the Indian capital climb to "hazardous" levels in the city on Sunday. On Sunday, major airlines including Air India and SpiceJet warned of delays and cancellations to flights to and from the international airport. New Delhi is home to more than 18 million people and 8.8 million registered motor vehicles -- more than any other Indian city, according to Indian government figures from 2016.