(Contains Press releases concerning Covid-19, issued in last 24 hours, inputs from PIB Field Offices and Fact checks undertaken by PIB)

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India registers exponential rise in Testing; 1 crore Tests conducted in the last 9 days

India has demonstrated a consistent increase in the COVID-19 testing infrastructure since Jan 2020 resulting in an exponential increase in its testing numbers. The country’s testing capacities have been ramped up multiple times. 15 lakh tests can be done very day now.With 10,75,760 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests have crossed 10.65 crore (10,65,63,440).Nearly 11 lakh tests have been conducted daily on an average during the past six weeks.The cumulative positivity rate has been falling progressively and has touched 7.54% today.India continues to maintain the declining trend of the active cases. Active cases stand at 6,03,687 today. It comprises only 7.51% of the total positive cases of the country. The declining trend of the active cases is supported by rising number of recovered cases. The total recovered cases have crossed 73 lakh (73,15,989). The gap between Recovered cases and Active cases has crossed 67 lakh (67,12,302). With increasing number of recoveries, this gap is continuously widening.56,480 have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases stand at 49,881. 79% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs.517 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, nearly 81% are concentrated in ten States/UTs.

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Dr. Harsh Vardhan reviews COVID19 preparedness and measures for ensuring COVID Appropriate Behaviour in Tamil Nadu

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare held a meeting through video conferencing to review COVID-19 preparedness and measures for ensuring COVID Appropriate Behaviour with Dr C. Vijayabaskar, Health and Medical Education Minister, Tamil Nadu and other senior officials of the State Government, yesterday.Reiterating Prime Minister's clarion call of building a Jan-Andolan against COVID, Dr Vardhansaid, “The State needs to enhance the awareness amongst the citizen regarding the need and virtues of using masks/face covers, physical distancing and regular hand hygiene. “The coming long festive season pose a significant risk that may threaten the improvements made against COVID-19 so far. We should all be vigilant for the next three months. Following simple Covid appropriate behaviour will be effective in cutting transmission of Corona. Prime Minister’s message of wearing a mask/face cover, maintaining a physical distance and frequent handwashing should reach the last citizen”, he stated.Comparing the COVID parameters of Tamil Nadu with that of the country, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “Tamil Nadu has a Recovery Rate of 94.6% which is more than the national recovery rate. The case fatality rate is 1.54% which is at par with the national average.”

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Union Health Secretary reviews the status of and public health response measures to COVID-19 in West Bengal, Delhi and Kerala

Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary reviewed the status of COVID in the States/UT of West Bengal, Kerala and Delhi and their public health response measures in a meeting held through Video Conferencing today, in the presence of Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR. Health Secretaries from the States/UT, NHM MD, DGHS and other senior health officials participated virtually. Concerns regarding rising cases in these States/UT were highlighted in the meeting.  The States/UTs were also advised to ensure enforcement of precautionary measures like maintaining social distancing, sanitization, wearing of masks, etc.

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Shri Dharmendra Pradhan invites Global Oil & Gas and Other Energy Majors to Partner India in its Multi-Pathway Energy Transition

 Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has invited the global industry and experts to become partners in India’s shared prosperity by enhancing India’s production of all forms of energy. Speaking at the concluding Session of CERA Week India Energy Forum last evening he said that inauguration of India Energy Forum by the Hon’ble Prime Minister is reflective of the importance the Government of India attaches to improve the energy security, architecture and transform our energy landscape at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is impacting adversely the global energy sector. The Minister said under the decisive and visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister, we are making concerted efforts and taking all necessary steps to make the energy sector fuel India’s economic growth during and in the post-Covid period. He said that the world is going through unprecedented health crisis and the Covid pandemic is obstructing the economic growth in the world.

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MEITY issues Clarification regarding orders passed by Central Information Commission on an RTI query with regard to AarogyaSetu App

Attention has been drawn to media reports regarding orders passed by Central Information Commission regarding an RTI query with regard to AarogyaSetu App. With regard to the above, it is clarified that there should be no doubt with regard to the AarogyaSetu App and its role in helping contain COVID19 Pandemic in India. As was announced through Press Releases and Social Media posts on 2^nd April 2020, AarogyaSetu App was launched by Government of India in public private partnership mode to bring people of India together in its fight against COVID19. The AarogyaSetu App was developed in a record time of around 21 days, to respond to the exigencies of the Pandemic with Lockdown restrictions only for the objective of building a Made in India Contact Tracing App with the best of Indian minds from Industry, Academia and Government, working round the clock to build a robust, scalable and secure App. Since 2^nd April 2020, regular press releases and updates have been issued on AarogyaSetu App including making the source code available in Open domain on 26^th May 2020. The names of all those associated with the development of the App and management of the App ecosystem at various stages wasshared when the code was released in Open/Public Domain and the same was shared widely in media also.As has been mentioned earlier, the App has been developed in a collaborative effort of Government and Private Sector. The App has been downloaded by more than 16.23 Cr users and has greatly augmented the efforts of front line health workers in the fight against COVID19. It has helped identify Bluetooth contacts of COVID positive users and issued alerts for helping people to stay safe. These Bluetooth contacts have been advised for caution, quarantine or testing depending on the extent of exposure to COVID19 positive user. Thus, AarogyaSetu has proved to be very useful in India’s fight against COVID19. Recently, WHO has also appreciated the role of AarogyaSetu in containing the pandemic in India.

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Guidelines of PLI schemes to promote domestic production of bulk drugs and manufacturing of medical devices ‘Revised’

Union Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and fertilizers has revised the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes for promoting domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices keeping in view the suggestions and comments received from the industry. Accordingly, ‘minimum threshold’ investment requirement has been replaced by ‘committed investment’ taking into account availability of technology choices which varies from product to product.The tenure of the scheme has been extended by one year keeping in view the capital expenditure expected to be done by the selected applicants in FY 2021-22. Accordingly, the sales for the purpose of availing incentives will be accounted for 5 years starting from FY 2022-2023 instead of FY 2021-2022.

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Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman leads Indian delegation in 10th Round of Ministerial UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman led the Indian Delegation in the 10th Round of Ministerial UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD), held yesterday in virtually through video conferencing.India and the United Kingdom enjoy close bilateral relations in diverse areas.India-UK economic ties are important as together they are two of the world’s top seven economies with a combined GDP of over $5 trillion. India-UK trade has more than doubled since the first EFD in 2007, with bilateral investment supporting over half a million jobs across both countries

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Badminton player Lakshya Sen has pulled out of the SaarLorLux Open in Germany after his coach tested positive

Indian men’s badminton player Lakshya Sen who was due to play the SaarLorLux Open in Germany this week has pulled out of the event after his coach DK Sen tested positive for Covid-19. Sen, his coach and physio arrived in Saarbrucken on October 25 for the tournament where he is the defending champion and were advised to travel to Frankfurt for COVID testing. The reports were received on October 27 where Sen and his physio came COVID negative but his coach came positive (asymptomatic). So as to not hamper the functioning of the tournament and jeopardise the other players, Sen has pulled out of the event and informed the organisers.

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World’s first scientoon book “Bye ByeCorona”on Coronavirus released by Governor of UP, Ms. Anandi Ben

Cartoons are most effective at communicating with human beings.A ‘scientoon’ is a cartoon communication based on science. Scientoons are meant to inform and sensitize people to science and scientific concepts in an intelligible and interesting way.World’s first scientoonbook entitled “Bye Bye Corona”, written by ‘scientoonist’ Dr Pradeep Srivastava, former Senior Principal Scientist at CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, was released today at a function held at Raj Bhawan, Lucknow, by Ms. Anandi Ben, Governor, Uttar Pradesh. The book is published by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous agency under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India.

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Punjab: To further spread awareness among all the diabetic & hypertension patients of Punjab to adopt preventive measures and schedule their diet and exercise routine, the Health & Family Welfare Minister, Punjab, wrote letters to all such patients. He said that he has also directed the department to ensure that these letters to be delivered to all diabetic and hypertension patients within 15 days with the help of ANM and ASHAs.  The Minister stated that even though the number of active cases of coronavirus rapidly declined in Punjab, the Civil Surgeons have been instructed to ensure the strict compliance of guidelines such as wearing of masks, following physical distancing at public places and maintaining hand hygiene in view of the festival season.
• Himachal Pradesh: Himachal Pradesh Education Minister yesterday launched three new Elementary, Higher and vocational channels of Jio TV. He said that with these channels, one more facility for online studies have been made available to students in the state. In the view of COVID-19 pandemic, the state government started 'Har GharPatshala' programme from pre-nursery to 12th standard through WhatsApp and started Gyanshalaprogramme for class 10th and 12th through Doordarshan Shimla, which is still running smoothly.
• Arunachal:Covid patients recovery rate is more than 85 percent in the state. 183 patients recovered and discharged from hospital during last twenty four hours. 108 new positive cases detected across state.
• Assam:In Assam during the last 24 hours 448 COVID-19 cases detected out of 26150 tests conducted in the state. The total COVID-19 tally reached to 205237.
• Meghalaya: 134 individuals have recovered from coronavirus in the State today. Total active cases reached to 1364 out of them 54 are from BSF and Armed forces.
• Nagaland:Of Nagaland's 8824 COVID cases, armed forces account for 3843, traced contacts 2906, returnees 1642 & frontline workers 433.
• Maharashtra: After the Maharashtra government wrote a letter to the Railway authorities that the general public is allowed to travel by Mumbai local trains during non-peak hours, the Western Railway and Central Railway on Wednesday said they are ready to augment suburban services keeping social distancing norms. Mumbai reported 1,354 new Covid cases on Wednesday and number of active cases in the city stands at 19,357.
• Gujarat:  More than seven months after the first coronavirus case was reported in Gujarat, the state’s cumulative caseload crossed 1.7 lakh on Wednesday. The state reported 980 fresh cases of Covid-19, taking the tally to 1,70,334. Six more patients succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 3,729.
• Rajasthan: The Rajasthan government has directed the CBSE affiliated private schools to slash the tuition fees by 30 per cent for class 9 to 12, while the schools affiliated with the state board have to reduce their fees by 40 per cent for the same classes. As the CBSE reduced the school syllabus from Class 9 to 12 by 30 per cent, therefore their school tuition fees should be reduced by 30 per cent. At the same time, the Rajasthan Board has reduced the syllabus by 40 per cent, so they should reduce the fee by 40 per cent, said the order.
• Madhya Pradesh:  In view of the Corona pandemic, the Election Commission has provided the facility to the elderly people above the age of 80, Divyangjan and Corona-infected patients to vote from home through postal ballot for the by-elections which is being held for 28 State Legislative Assembly seats in the state.   The Vote from home facility will be available till 2nd of November.  MP has 10,094 active Covid patients.
• Kerala: A 551-bed Covid hospital built by the Tata Group in Kerala's Kasaragod district has started operation. The state government is set to develop the facility further and recruit the requisite number of healthcare personnel. According to health officials, it would take at least three months for the Rs 60 crore hospital to be working in full swing with operation theatres and intensive care units. Meanwhile, Covid situation in the state continuous to be grim with three districts recording more than 1000 cases. The number of active Covid-19 cases in the state touched 93,264 yesterday, with another 8,790 persons testing positive for the virus. The Covid death toll has crossed the 1400-mark in the state.
• Tamil Nadu: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, through a video conference, flagged off seven of the 33 vehicles launched for the State chapter of the “Jan Andolan” campaign, meant to create awareness on Covid-19, in view of the festive season. The impact of pandemic on school education has been immense, shows data released by the Annual Status of Education Report released Wednesday. As per its findings, at least a quarter of students in Tamil Nadu did no learning activity during an entire week of the survey period. The State on Wednesday informed the Madras High Court that e-pass is not needed for intra-state travellers; it is only mandatory for those travelling to hill stations and international travellers entering the state.
• Karnataka: Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar has cautioned schools against violation of online classes’ norms. He has warned that schools violating the guidelines set by the State government’s Expert Committee on Online Education will lose their recognition and face fines. In the first election amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Karnataka saw high polling for four seats of the Legislative Council, compared to the previous polls for the same seats in 2014. Karnataka firm on reopening degree colleges, PG institutes from November 17: the Higher Education Department has decided to go ahead with the November 17 schedule for reopening of degree colleges and post-graduate institutions in the state.
• Andhra Pradesh: In a reversal of stands, the state government submitted to the State Election Commissioner (SEC) N. Ramesh Kumar that the Covid-19 situation was not conducive for holding local body elections now while the SEC aired his intention to go ahead with the elections soon.  Chief secretary Nilam Sawhney, who met SEC Ramesh Kumar, submitted that several government employees were affected by the virus and hence the situation was not suitable for elections. Active Covid cases brought under 27,000 in Andhra Pradesh; 2,949 new infections reported on Thursday out of 77,028 tests conducted in a day; 3,609 more patients recover.
• Telangana: 1504 new cases, 1436 recoveries & 5 deaths reported in the last 24 hours; out of 1504 cases, 288 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 2,35,656; Active cases: 17,979; Deaths: 1324; Discharges: 2,16,353. The Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V is likely to be available for use in India only around the second quarter of 2021 as the Phase III trials are not expected to wind up before March 2021 end and may even take longer. Dr Reddy's Laboratories CEO Erez Israeli said the Phase III studies are expected to be completed only as early as March end and may even take April or May 2021 or beyond to complete.

FACT CHECK

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