(Contains Press releases concerning Covid-19, issued in last 24 hours and

Fact checks undertaken by PIB)

Updates on COVID-19 from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

An increase of 1076 new cases since yesterday has been reported, with a total of 11,439 confirmed cases and 377 deaths for COVID-19 in the country. As many as 1306 persons have been cured/discharged after recovery.With a view to managing to COVID-19, every district of the country has been divided intoHotspot districts,Non-Hotspot districts with reported cases, and Green zone districts.The Cabinet Secretary held a high level review meeting today. Special teams have been setup to trace all contacts as well as conduct house to house surveys. These teams will include the health staff, local revenue staff, corporation staff, Red Cross, NSS, NYK and other volunteers.

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MHA issues Consolidated Revised Guidelines for the Containment of COVID-19 epidemic in the Country

MHA has issued consolidated revised guidelines regarding lockdown measures to be taken by Ministries/Departments of Government of India, State/UT Governments for containment of COVID-19 epidemic in the country. The guidelines also prescribe National Directives for COVID-19 management; SOPs for Social Distancing at offices, workplaces, factories and establishments; and, penalties for offences regarding violation of lockdown measures under relevant sections of Disaster Management Act 2005 and IPC, 1860.

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Revised Consolidated Guidelines of Ministry of Home Affairs

In pursuance of the announcements of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order dated April 14, 2020, extending the lockdown in India till May 3, 2020. MHA issued another Order, dated April 15, 2020, to allow select additional activities in areas not demarcated as containment zones by States/ UTs/ District Administrations.Along with the Order dated April 15, 2020, consolidated revised guidelines have been issued, delineating the prohibited activities across the country, activities not allowed in containment zones, and select permitted activities allowed from April 20, 2020 in the rest of the country.

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Lockdown Measures for containment of COVID-19 pandemic in the country to continue to remain in force up to May 3, 2020

Government of India has issued directions to all the Ministries/Departments of Government of India, State/Union Territory Governments and Authorities, that the lockdown measures stipulated in the Consolidated Guidelines of MHA, for containment of COVID-19 pandemic in the country, will continue to remain in force up to May 3, 2020.

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Over 10.2 lakh Refunds worth Rs 4,250 crore issued in a week by CBDT to help taxpayers in COVID-19 pandemic situation

In pursuance to the Government’s decision to issue pending income tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh in order to help taxpayers in a COVID-19 pandemic situations, the Central Board of Direct taxes today said that it has already issued over 10.2 lakh refunds totalling to around Rs. 4,250 crore as on 14^th April 2020. These refunds are over and above the 2.50 crore refunds already issued in FY 19-20 till 31^st March 2020 totallingRs 1.84 lakh crore.

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All India Agri Transport Call Centre numbers 18001804200 and 14488 launched to facilitate inter-state movement of perishables during lockdown

Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launched the All India Agri Transport Call Centre at a function in KrishiBhavan today to facilitate inter-state movement of perishables in the current situation of lockdown due to the COVID-19 threat.

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Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment arranges free meals for more than 1.27 CroreDestitutes/Beggars/Homeless persons since lockdown started

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment working with major Municipal Corporations has arranged for feeding of more than 1.27 croredestitutes/beggars/homeless persons since lockdown started (till 10.04.2020).

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Telephone Conversation between PM and President of the State of Palestine
Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi spoke on phone today with H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine. The two leaders discussed the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and apprised each other of the steps being taken in their respective countries to control the situation.

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Accord top priority to farmers and agriculture during the lockdown – Vice President to Center and States

The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today asked the Centre and State Governments to accord top priority to farmers and agriculture during the lockdown and advised them to facilitate the smooth conduct of farming activities and transportation of agri-produce during this period.During an interaction with the Union Agriculture Minister, ShriNarendra Singh Tomar, the Vice President appreciated various measures taken by the Agriculture Ministry to protect the farm sector. He wanted the interests of both producers and consumers to be safeguarded.

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Initiatives of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare to promote farming and allied sectors during lockdown

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India is taking several measures to facilitate the farmers and farming activities at field level during the lock down period.

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Government and aviation industry committed to provide Essential medical supplies to people across the country

Ministry of Civil Aviation and the aviation industry is determined to support India’s war against COVID-19 by transporting medical air-cargo within India and abroad in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. ‘Lifeline Udan’ flights are being operated by MoCA to transport essential medical cargo to remote parts of the country to support India’s war against COVID-19.

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Dr. Harsh Vardhan interacts with bigwigs of Confederation of Indian Industries

The Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan held an interactive session through Video Conferencing today with over 50 Indian Industry leaders. He allayed their concerns with respect to measures being taken for revival of economy, availability of testing facilities, quarantine facilities, raw materials for Pharmaceutical industry, disease surveillance, use of telemedicine facilities, preventive healthcare etc. during the fight against COVID-19.

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Exam Schedule Announcements by UPSC following Lockdown

UPSC has decided that dates for all interviews, Examinations and Recruitment Boards, where candidates and advisers are required to travel from all parts of the country, will be reviewed from time to time. A decision on fresh dates for the remaining Civil Services-2019 Personality Tests will be taken after May, 3, 2020, following the second phase of the lockdown. The Chairman and Members of the Union Public Service Commission have decided to voluntarily forego 30% of the basic pay received by them from the Commission for a period of one year,

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VC and Members of NITI Aayog and Chairman, EAC-PM contribute to PM CARES by voluntarily taking a salary cut of 30% for a year

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and to shore up the government's efforts to battle the national crisis, Vice Chairman and Members of NITI Aayog and Chairman, EAC-PM have voluntarily decided to take a salary cut of 30% for a year.The money will be contributed to the PM Citizens' Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation (PM Cares) fund.

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Indian Railways plans to produce over 30,000 coveralls (PPEs) in April 2020

Indian Railways Production Units, Workshops and field units have started manufacturing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Coveralls for medical and health-care personnel who get directly exposed to the COVID-19 disease when working amongst infected patients.Indian Railways will produce over 30,000 such coveralls in April 2020 and plan to manufacture 1,00,000 of the same in May 2020. The prototype coveralls have already cleared the prescribed tests with the highest grades at the authorised DRDO laboratory at Gwalior.

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Parcel Trains beginning to bring revenue for Railways; Over 20400 tonnes of consignments loaded since Lockdown period and the earnings are about Rs 7.54 crores

Transportation of essential items like medical supplies, medical equipment, food, etc in small parcel sizes is going to be very important during the lockdown in the wake of COVID-19. In order to fill in this vital need, Indian Railways has made railway parcel vans available for quick mass transportation by E-Commerce entities and other customers including State governments. Railways have decided to run time-tabled Parcel Special trains on select routes, to ensure uninterrupted supply of essential items.

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Special mail arrangements made for far flung areas of J& K and Ladakh

Post offices across J&K and Ladakh UTs are being opened with the primary objective of facilitating financial transactions- easy withdrawals and deposits of funds so that the people can have sufficient cash flow to fulfil their day to day requirements of basic needs. In this regard, Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS) has also been enabled at the post offices so that the people having bank account with any bank can withdraw uptoRs 10000/- per month from any Post office.

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Know about Kolkata’s great history and culture in the second webinar series of "DekhoApnaDesh" tomorrow

Ministry of Tourism‘s "DekhoApnaDesh" webinar series isgetting a good response during lockdown. After Delhi's success, the second"DekhoApnaDesh" webinar serieswill be held tomorrow (16th April) between 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.The webinar will provide people to get a chance to know about ’Calcutta - A Confluences of Culture’.

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Smart cities use latest technology for Covid-19 awareness and safety of people

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POWERGRID carrying out CSR activities to combat COVID-19 pandemic

While the whole nation is under lock down, POWERGRID, a central PSU under Ministry of Power, has not just been ensuring uninterrupted 24x7 transmission of power but also acting proactively by taking up humanitarian relief activities to aid those impacted by the pandemic in India.

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Kerala:  The only pregnant Covid patient in the State, and 2nd in India, was cured & discharged today from Kollam MC.  2 more malayalees die of Covid in New York and Dubai, taking the toll of Keralites deaths abroad to 30. Thrissurpooram festival cancelled for the first time in history.
• Tamilnadu: Chennai Corp to check 40,000 samples by May 3. Safe quarantine spaces created to accommodate 10,000 across the city. Total cases till yesterday 1204; discharged 81; Total samples tested 1955. Chennai (211) & Coimbatore (126) lead.
• Karnataka:  State’s wait for one lakh Rapid test kits gets longer due to policy changes by the Chinese govt. and Center’s order for centralised procurement. Total covid cases reported 260;  deaths 10; cured 71. High no. of cases in Bangalore 69, Mysore 48 &Belagavi 18.
• Telangana :  State planning to ease lockdown restrictions in a phased manner after April 20 in non-affected areas. DRDL in Hyderabad develops 'COVSACK - Covid Sample Collection Kiosk' - for taking samples. Total cases reported till now is 644.
• Andhra Pradesh : 19 new cases reported taking the total confirmed cases to 502.  Deaths till now 11; cured 16. Most of the cases from Guntur (118), Kurnool (97), Nellore (56), Krishna (45), Prakasam (42), Kadapa (33), West Godavari (31).  State to distribute free ration to poor from tomorrow, following social distancing norms.
• Arunachal Pradesh: The only Covid-19 patient of Arunachal Pradesh tests negative in the 3rd test.
• Assam: Liquor shops in Assam to be shut down immediately till 3rd May.
• Manipur: 11 family members (residing in Manipur) of the pilot, whose father-in-law tested COVID19 positive in Meghalaya, will also be tested .
• Meghalaya: 50 samples from primary contact of the first COVID19 case in Meghalaya tested today in Guwahati Medical College & Hospital, and all tested negative.
• Mizoram:Mizoram receives 1800 novel Corona testing kits from Indian Council of Medical Research.
•   Nagaland: National Disaster Management Force conducts fumigation drive in Kohima, Nagaland.
• Tripura: CM urges people to download "ArogyaSetu" app to be safe during corona pandemic.

Fact Check on #Covid19

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