(Contains Press releases concerning Covid-19, issued in last 24 hours, inputs from PIB Field Offices and Fact checks undertaken by PIB)
India’s Total COVID-19 Recoveries cross the milestone of 10 lakh; More than 30,000 recoveries for the 7th Successive Day; 16 States/UTs exceed the National Recovery Average of 64.44%
India has achieved the landmark of more than 10 lakh recoveries from COVID-19. There has been a consistent trend of more than 30,000 recoveries/day for the seventh day in a row. There has been a continued increase in the average daily recoveries from around 15,000 in first week of July to around 35,000 in the last week. With 32,553 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries have jumped to 10,20,582. The recovery rate today stands at 64.44% amongst COVID-19 patients. The gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases currently stands at 4,92,340. With this figure, the recovered cases are 1.9 times the active cases (5,28,242, all under medical supervision). 16 States/UTs are recording higher Recovery Rate than the national average rate. India has one of the lowest Case Fatality Rate (CFR) at 2.21% as compared to the Global average of 4%. 24 States/UTs have lower CFR than the national average and 8 States/UTs are showing CFR below 1%.
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India tests a total of 1.82 crore samples; Tests Per Million (TPM) jump to 13,181; 21 States/UTs report Positivity Rate less than 10%
4,46,642 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The average daily tests (on a rolling week on week basis) have increased from 2.4 lakh in the first week of July to more than 4.68 lakh in the last week of July. The testing lab network in the country is continuously strengthened with 1321 labs in the country, as on date; 907 labs in the government sector and 414 private labs. the ramped up testing in the country has resulted in reduction in Positivity Rate across the country. Currently 21 States/UTs are reporting Positivity Rate of less than 10%.
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MHA issues Unlock 3 Guidelines, opens up more activities outside Containment Zones, Strict enforcement of lockdown in Containment Zones till 31st August 2020Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued new guidelines yesterday, for opening up of more activities in areas outside the Containment Zones. In Unlock 3, which will come into effect from August 1, 2020, the process of phased re-opening of activities has been extended further. The new guidelines, issued are based on feedback received from States and UTs, and extensive consultations held with related Central Ministries and Departments. Some of the salient features of the new guidelines are removal of restrictions on movement of individuals during night (Night curfew), Schools, colleges and coaching institutions to remain closed till August 31, 2020. Independence Day functions will be allowed with social distancing and by following other health protocols, e.g., wearing of masks etc. In this regard instructions issued by MHA on 21.07.2020 shall be followed. Lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the Containment Zones till 31 August, 2020. Containment Zones are required to be carefully demarcated by the State/ UT Governments with a view to contain the spread of COVID-19, after taking into consideration the guidelines issued by MoHFW.
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AIIA starts providing free testing and treatment facilities to COVID 19 patientsAll India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi has started providing free testing and treatment to patients in its COVID 19 Health Centre (CHC). Shri Naik visited the CHC on 28th July 2020 to review the arrangements at the Centre for treatment of COVID-19 patients. During the visit, the minister announced that CHC will provide free of cost testing and treatment facilities to all the patients. He also inaugurated the Intensive Care Unit of CHC which has been equipped with ventilator facility and all other standard provisions of ICU. AIIA has also been designated as COVID-19 testing centre (RT-PCR and Rapid antigen testing) by Government of Delhi. A COVID Call Centre has been established at AIIA for handling queries related to COVID 19 being raised by the general public telephonically. Under the directions of Ministry of AYUSH, a prophylactic program ‘AYURAKSHA’ is also going on for 80,000 Delhi Police personnel. Delhi Police being the frontline warriors of COVID -19 are being given AYURAKSHA kit for boosting the immunity and increasing quality of life against COVID 19.
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PM interacts with stakeholders from Banks and NBFCsPrime Minister Shri Narendra Modi yesterday joined stakeholders from Banks and NBFCs to discuss and deliberate on vision and roadmap for the future. The crucial role of the financial and banking system of supporting growth was discussed. It was noted that the small entrepreneurs, SHGs, farmers should be motivated to use institutional credit to meet their credit needs and grow. Each bank needs to introspect and take a relook at its practices to ensure stable credit growth. Banks should not treat all proposals with the same yardstick and need to distinguish and identify bankable proposals and to ensure that they get access to funding on their merit and don’t suffer in the name of past NPAs. It was emphasised that the Government is firmly behind the banking system. The government is ready to take any steps necessary to support it and promote its growth. Banks should adopt fintech like centralised data platforms, digital documentation and collaborative use of information to move towards digital acquisition of customers. This will help increase credit penetration, increase ease for customers, lower costs for banks and also reduce frauds.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Mr Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurate the new Supreme Court Building
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Mr Pravind Jugnauth, today jointly inaugurated the new Supreme Court building in Mauritius through video conference. The building is the first India assisted infrastructure project within the capital city of Port Louis to be inaugurated after the Covid pandemic. The landmark project has been completed with grant assistance of USD 28.12 million from the Government of India. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Modi noted the importance of human-centric approach as the underlying philosophy of India’s development cooperation and commended the role of people-oriented infrastructure projects in further cementing the close ties between India and Mauritius.
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Indian Red Cross Society to Buy 1.80 lakh Face Masks from KVICAs the popularity of the Khadi Face Masks grows across the country due to its fine quality and affordable price, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has received a purchase order from Indian Red Cross Society to supply 1.80 lakh face masks. As per KVIC, the IRCS masks will be made of 100% double-twisted handcrafted cotton fabric in brown colour with red piping. KVIC has especially designed these double-layered cotton masks for the Indian Red Cross Society as per the samples provided by them. The mask will have suitably printed IRCS logo on the left side and the Khadi India tag on the right side. The supply of masks will begin by next month. The execution of this order will require over 20,000 meter of fabric which will generate 9000 additional man days for the Khadi artisans.
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INPUTS FROM FIELD OFFICES
Chandigarh: The Administrator, UT Chandigarh directed Commissioner, Municipal Corporation to identify the congested areas and other markets where violations of social distancing norms are more evident, so that stringent regulatory measures including closing on weekends, odd-even formula etc. can be thought of for these specific areas. Punjab: Acting on the directions of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, a special drive was run across the state to enforce COVID-19 related protocols in the buses. 186 buses carrying 3500 passengers were checked, and in found only 96 persons were not wearing masks. This drive was launched by Transport Department & Sub Divisional Magistrates throughout Punjab, and persons found not wearing masks were challaned. Transport Department has also mandated availability of masks, sanitizers and gloves at all the bus stands. Haryana: Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal has directed the officers to set up nine new COVID-19 Testing Labs in the next 10 days in the state and conduct a special campaign to motivate people to wear masks during Unlock-3. The Chief Minister also directed the Police Department to strictly enforce the wearing of masks and issue challans to the offenders on the spot. Himachal Pradesh: Chief Minister, Shri Jai Ram Thakur said that during this Covid-19 pandemic, effective use of information technology has helped us interact with each other and the credit of this also goes to the Digital India vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the State Government not only held regular meetings through video conferencing with the district officers of the State to effectively tackle the Covid-19 crisis, but also held virtual meetings and interactions with the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes launched by the State Government. Kerala: Three more Covid -19 deaths have been reported in the state till noon. With this, the death toll has reached 71. As the first step towards treating Covid patients at their homes, from now on, health workers who have contracted Covid can get treatment at their homes. Guidelines have been issued in this regard. In the coming days, asymptomatic Covid patients will be allowed to stay home and undergo treatment. The state reported 903 new cases yesterday. Out of this 739 were locally acquired. 10,350 patients are still in treatment and 1.47 lakh people under observation. Tamil Nadu: One died and 122 fresh Covid-19 cases reported today in Puducherry, with the total cases in the UT climbing to 3293, active cases to 1292 and deaths to 48. Tamil Nadu government extends Covid-19 lockdown till August 31;while dine-in services are allowed in 50 per cent of the seats in restaurants and tea shops between 6 am and 7 pm in Chennai, public worship is allowed in small places of worship for rest of state. In the last two weeks, over half of the virus cases reported in Madurai comprised contacts of Covid-19 patients; active cases in Madurai are now 2392. 6426 new cases, 5927 recoveries & 82 deaths reported yesterday. Total cases till now : 2,34,114; Active cases: 57,490; Deaths: 3741; Active cases in Chennai: 12,735. Karnataka: Amidst Covid crisis common entrance test for admission to professional courses commenced today and around 1.94 lakh students wrote exam. Covid positive students to write CET in care centres; invigilators to wear PPE kits, follow all safety norms, says DyCM. Karnataka is short of intensivists, who are doctors trained to work in the ICU; experts estimate that there are only around 1,000 in the State and 15,000 in India. 5503 new cases, 2397 discharges & 92 deaths reported yesterday. 2270 cases in Bangalore city. Total cases: 1,12,504; Active cases: 67,448; Deaths: 2147. Andhra Pradesh: State attributes the spike in Covid-19 cases is due to the conduct of more number of tests. 15 security personnel posted at Raj Bhawan tests positive for Covid. Government gives nod for recruitment of 26,778 medical posts (medical officers, specialist doctors, staff nurses and technicians) in the state to help contain the coronavirus spread. District Collectors have been directed to fill these posts by August 5 through walk-in interviews from today. State has taken measures to make available antiviral drugs like Remdesivir, Tolicizumab in government hospitals to effectively minimise the death rate due to Covid19. 10,093 new cases, 2784 discharges and 65 deaths reported yesterday. Total cases: 1,20,390; Active cases: 63,771; Deaths: 1213. Telangana: State to launch mobile Covid-19 testing centres; the mobile Covid-19 testing buses along with ambulances and trained personnel will visit the containment zones. Over 14,000 Covid beds available in Telangana hospitals as per State bulletin. 1811 new cases, 821 recoveries & 13 deaths reported in the last 24 hours in Telangana ; out of 1811 cases, 521 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 60,717; Active cases: 15,640; Deaths: 505; Discharges: 44,572. Manipur: CM of Manipur N. Biren Singh chairs meeting with the legislators of the BJP-led coalition Government of the State to review the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Manipur, 2 resident doctors of RIMS hospital tested COVID positive. So far, 22 staff members of hospital infected. Nagaland: In Nagaland 48 new cases of COVID-19 positive have been detected. Out of them 32 cases are in Dimapur & 16 in Kohima. Maharashtra: The state crossed 4 Lakh mark of reported Covid 19 cases on Wednesday. With 9,211 patients testing positive for COVID-19, the state tally of coronavirus infection has gone up to 4,00,651. However, the number of active cases is 1,46,129. On the same day, 7,478 patients have recovered throughout the state. This takes the count of recovered patients to 2,39,755. However, 298 deaths have also been reported in the state, which takes the state’s death toll to 14,463. Meanwhile, Maharashtra has extended the lockdown till Aug 31 with situation in other cities and towns like Pune, Sangli, Nasik, Kolhapur is still remaining grim. The night curfew will remain in place across Maharashtra. Gujarat: 1,144 new positive cases and 24 deaths reported in Gujarat in the last 24 hours taking the state tally to 59,126 and death toll to 2,396. The number of active cases is 13,535. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has urged organizers to voluntarily cancel all religious celebrations such as Ganesh Chathurthi, Janmashtami , Moharram; if COVID-19 situation prevailed, Navratri celebrations will also be cancelled. The government has also raised the fine for not wearing mask from Rs 200 to Rs 500. Rajasthan: 365 new Covid 19 patients have been reported this morning. Maximum new patients, that is, 108 of them are from Kota district, followed by Ajmer (50) and then Alwar (48). The state tally of COVID-19 has increased to 40,145. The number of active patients in the state is 10,817 while 654 people have died due to this disease. Madhya Pradesh:. Madhya Pradesh Government has decided to conduct a Sero Surveillance study in three major cities i.e. Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain; Survey will be conducted under the supervision of AIIMS, Bhopal. Survey will be started from Ujjain as the death rate is the highest here. 917 new cases were reported in the state on Wednesday taking the state tall to 30,134.****
YB