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

Updates on Covid-19 from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: Recovered Cases more than 4 lakh; Recovered cases exceed Active cases by close to 1.65 lakh

The number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients has risen to 4,09,082 as of today. During the last 24 hours, a total of 14,856 COVID-19 patients have been cured. So far, there are 1,64,268 more recovered patients than COVID-19 active cases. This takes the national Recovery Rate amongst COVID-19 to 60.77%. There are 2,44,814 active cases and all are under active medical supervision. There are 21 State/UTs with a Recovery Rate of more than the National average. The testing lab network in the country continues to expand. With 786 labs in the government sector and 314 private labs, so there are as many as 1100 labs in the country. there has been a steady rise in the samples tested every day; during the last 24 hours 2,48,934 samples have been tested. The cumulative number of samples tested, as on date, is 97,89,066.

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Raksha Mantri, Home Minister, and Health Minister visit Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID Hospital in Delhi

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh along with Home Minister Shri Amit Shah and Minister of Health & Family Welfare Shri Harsh Vardhan visited 1,000-bedded with 250 intensive care units beds Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID Hospital in Delhi today. The facility was built in a record time of 12 days by Defence Research and Development Organisation along with Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Armed Forces, Tata Sons and other industry players. Raksha Mantri was also accompanied by Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal and Minister of State for Home Shri G Kishan Reddy. The unique centrally air-conditioned medical facility is spread over 25,000 square metres and is equipped with 250 ICU beds. Each ICU bed is equipped with monitoring equipment and ventilator. The hospital will be operated by medical team of doctors, nurses and support staff from the Armed Forces Medical Services while the facility will be maintained by the DRDO. Additionally, for the mental wellbeing of patients, the hospital has a dedicated DRDO managed psychological counselling centre.

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ASHAs in Rajasthan: Selfless commitment to people in the long fight against COVID-19

The work of ASHAs as integral pillars of COVID-19 response in Rajasthan started immediately after the first case was diagnosed in early March this year in Jaipur. The contribution of the ASHAs, in collaboration with the state’s Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs), enabled reaching out to nearly 39 cr people in eight crore households for active surveillance and information dissemination. In the midst of all this and while being vigilant about anyone with symptoms, ASHAs also continued to provide care for pregnant women, new-borns and children. They also mobilized transport to health facilities in cases when ambulances were not available.

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Vice President urges every Indian to adopt Aatam-Nirbhar Bharat campaign to transform “Local” India into a “Glocal” India;

The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today called for creating an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship to thrive and urged every Indian to adopt Aatam-Nirbhar Bharat campaign to transform “Local” India into “Glocal” India. Speaking at the virtual launch of Elyments mobile App, the Vice President said the Aatam-Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan was aimed at giving a new boost and a quantum jump to the economic potential of the country by strengthening infrastructure, using modern technologies, enriching human resource, and creating robust supply chains. Talking about the number of internal and external challenges being faced by the country including the COVID-19 pandemic, Shri Naidu said, India is passing through a crucial moment in the history. “But we should remain resolute in our response to the challenges thrown at us”, he added.

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Livelihood opportunities to returnee workers by providing functional household tap connections under Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan

As the whole world is fighting corona virus, Union Government is converting this huge challenge to an opportunity, especially for the rural areas by making plan for livelihood provision as well as boosting rural economy. In this context, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) has been launched, to start extensive public works to provide livelihood opportunities and create local employment to returnee migrants and similarly affected rural citizens. As part of this Abhiyan, Jal Jeevan Mission aims at providing household tap connections to every rural household and offers a huge opportunity to engage skilled, semi-skilled and migrant returnees in drinking water supply related works. States have been requested to start works in villages of these districts so that it will not only help to ensure adequate quantity of water at household level but will also help in providing employment to migrant returnees.

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Indigenous Indian COVID19 vaccines in the global race to end the pandemic
With the announcement of COVAXIN by Bharat Biotech and ZyCov-D Vaccine by Zydus Cadila the proverbial silver line in the dark clouds of COVID19 appears at the horizon. Now the nod given by the Drug Controller General of India CDSCO (The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) for the conduct of the human trial for the vaccines, marks the beginning of the end. In the past years, India has emerged as one of the significant vaccine manufacturing hubs. Indian manufacturers account for 60% of vaccine supplies made to UNICEF. The vaccine for novel coronavirus may be developed anywhere in the world, but without Indian manufacturers involved the production of required quantity is not going to be feasible.

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Punjab: In view of rising cases of Covid-19, the Punjab Government has issued an advisory for all inbound persons traveling to Punjab. This advisory will be applicable from 7^th July. In accordance with the advisory, any person whether major or minor coming to Punjab via any mode i.e. Road, rail or air shall henceforth, and till further orders, would be medically screened when he/she enters Punjab and will be required to e-register himself/herself before starting his/her journey to Punjab. Except for frequent travellers, all inbound persons after reaching Punjab will have to undertake a self-quarantine of 14 days & during this period they will have to update their health status daily on COVA app or would have to call 112 daily. In case they feel they are developing any symptoms of COVID-19, they will have to immediately call 104. For International Travellers, the quarantine would be institutional for first 7 days & home for the next 7 days.
• Haryana: Chief Minister said that despite COVID-19, now industrial and commercial activities are back to normal in the state. In order to prevent the effect of pandemic on children’s education during the Corona transition period, education is being imparted through online mode. He said that the procurement of food grains during the Corona pandemic was also satisfactory. To expedite the procurement of wheat, the government had set up more than 1,800 procurement centres and during this season, record procurement of mustard, wheat and other crops was made. Meanwhile, the farmers were also paid directly to their account through pool account.
• Himachal Pradesh: Chief Minister, while addressing the Deputy Commissioners and Block Development Officers through Video Conferencing, directed them to prepare the list of beneficiaries of various welfare schemes of the Government so that the State Government could maintain better coordination and liaison with the beneficiaries. He said that it was essential that the government  interacts constantly with the beneficiaries and also has a mechanism to get their feedback regarding various schemes. He said that optimum use of technology must be ensured. He directed the BDOs to have a detailed database at panchayat level regarding beneficiaries so that the same could be available at a click of a button.
• Kerala: State recorded its 26th Covid death when an 82-year-old gulf returnee, who had been in a critical condition at the Manjeri Medical College in Malappuram passed away last evening. His test result shows that he was Covid positive. A man who was in quarantine for Covid-19, collapsed and died in Kottayam today; his swab sample is being tested. Strict vigil is being maintained in capital Thiruvananthapuram, with the rising number of cases through contacts and unknown sources. Four more wards have been declared as containment zones. More tests will be conducted in coming days. The situation in Ernakulam district too is very serious. Eight more Keralites lost their lives to the Covid-19 outside the state. While the virus claimed six lives in the Gulf region, one life each was lost in Mumbai and Delhi.  Kerala reported its so far highest single-day count of 240 new positive cases yesterday. Currently 2,129 patients are undergoing treatment and more than 1.77 lakh people under quarantine in different districts.
• Tamil Nadu: Puducherry reports 43 new Covid-19 cases; total of 448 patients have been discharged after recovery including 43 patients today; so far 14 patients have died in the UT. AIADMK Coimbatore South MLA Amman K Arjunan (58) has been admitted to ESI Hospital for Covid-19 treatment today. A total of 4,280 new cases of Covid-19 and 65 deaths were reported across 37 districts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday, taking its tally to 1,07,001. Total Active cases reported till yesterday: 44956, Deaths: 1450, Discharges: 60592, Active cases in Chennai: 24195.
• Karnataka: State imposes complete lockdown every Sunday till August 2. Age limit for home isolation upped to 60; a dedicated tele-monitoring link will be established for daily updates from the patient. CM ropes in two more Ministers into the team to fight the pandemic: Deputy CM Dr C N Ashwanthnarayan will oversee Covid care centres (CCC) and Revenue Minister R Ashok will coordinate with private hospitals on availability of beds. Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar will continue to focus on the Coronavirus policy and has also been entrusted with the task of briefing the media daily. 1839 new cases, 439 discharges & 42 deaths reported yesterday. Total positive cases: 21,549 Active cases: 11,966 Deaths: 335, Discharges: 9244.
• Andhra Pradesh:  State records single day highest spike of 998 cases in the last 24 hours, with 14 deaths taking the toll to 232. Active cases too cross 10K mark (10,043) with total case tally reaching 18,697. The state has tested 10,17,140 samples till date. As many as 17 TTD employees have tested positive and are under treatment, while members of their family and contacts have been quarantined. The TTD has decided not to go in for increasing the daily number of pilgrims for darshan till July end. State ties up with UNICEF to launch the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Programme to reach out to about 1.3 crore households to check for infection; intends to inculcate "Covid appropriate behaviour" among people.
• Telangana: Old City slums adopt Dharavi model to fight coronavirus. From being among one of the better states in terms of incidence of coronavirus cases, Telangana’s positivity rate, or total confirmed cases per 100 tests, in the past two weeks has gone up to 25% — more than double the positivity rate recorded in the previous fortnight — and the state is in first position followed by Maharashtra and Delhi. Total cases till yesterday: 22312, Active cases: 10487, Deaths: 288, Discharges: 11537.
• Arunachal Pradesh: Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh government informed that frontline warriors, be it in the health, police or the hospitality service, would be tested during the seven days of lockdown to ensure that they are free from Covid-19.
• Assam: Assam will complete 5 lakhs COVID-19 test in next few days tweeted Health Minister of State.
• Manipur: Manipur government decides that Jiribam town to have a Covid Care Center to treat rising cases. Mass testing to be done to identify infected people. Manipur state government orders 50,000 rapid testing kits after getting ICMR approval. Kits likely to arrive by tomorrow.
• Meghalaya: One more BSF personnel has been tested positive for COVID19 in Shillong today. With this the total  active cases stand at 27 in Meghalaya and 43 have recovered so far.
• Mizoram: Two more COVID-19 survivors discharged from Khawzawl District Hospital of Mizoram today. Khawzawl becomes the 5th district in the state with no active cases. Other districts with zero cases are Hnahthial, Saitual, Kolasib & Serchhip.
• Nagaland: Arrangements have been made by Nagaland government for providing food and shelter to migrant workers affected by the COVID-19 restrictions.
• Maharashtra: The number of reported Covid 19 cases in Maharashtra has crossed over two lakh with a staggering 7,074 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours. As per the government health bulletin, a total of 295 people died due to the virus in the state on Saturday, taking the death toll to 8,671. The number of active cases in the state is 83,295. Mumbai reported 1,180 new cases. Four deaths and 30 more cases of Coronavirus were reported among the Maharashtra Police personnel in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra Police has now reached 5,205 with 1,070 active cases.
• Gujarat: In Gujarat, the number of Covid19 cases has reached 35,398. The state reported 712 new cases in the last 24 hours, with Surat reporting 205 and Ahmedabad accounting for 165 cases. There are 8,057 active cases in the state. The state has so far carried out 4.04 lakh tests.
• Rajasthan: 224 new cases and 6 deaths have been reported today morning. The state tally of COVID-19 has shot up to 19,756. The number of active cases is 3,640.
• Madhya Pradesh: 307 new cases and 5 deaths have been reported in Madhya Pradesh taking the state tally of Covid-19 to 14,604. There are 2,772 active cases in the state, as on date. Under the 'Kill Corona' campaign which is being run in MP from 1st July to 15th July, 61.54 lakh people have been surveyed and over 10 thousand samples collected for testing. 1,776 teams in urban areas and 8975 survey teams are working in rural areas.
• Chhattisgarh:  96 new patients have been identified in Chhattisgarh, which takes the total count of COVID-19 in the state to 3,161. There are 621 active patients in the state, as per latest update.     
• Goa: 108 new COVID-19 infected patients have been identified taking the state tally of positive patients to 1,684.  Number of recovered patients to 825. There are 853 active cases in the state.  Goa is also contemplating to seek ICMR's nod for conducting Convalescent Plasma Therapy in the state.

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