(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:

With 853 labs in the government sector and 353 private labs, the total number of testing labs is 1206 as on date.During the last 24 hours 2,86,247 samples have been tested. The cumulative number of samples tested, as of now is 1,20,92,503. The testing per million for India is consistently rising. Today it has touched 8762.7.In the last 24 hours, a total of 17,989 people were cured of COVID, taking the total cumulative number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients to 5,71,459 and the recovery rate to 63.02% today. There are 3,11,565 active cases and they are all under medical supervision, either in home isolation or in hospital care. There are 2,59,894 more recovered cases than active cases. India’s fatality rate has further dropped to 2.62% owing to effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients.

Turning Crisis into opportunity- Dr. Harsh Vardhan discusses bilateral Health co-operation including management of COVID-19 with Australian Health Minister

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare had a digital interaction with his Australian counterpart Mr. Gregory Andrew Hunt to discuss bilateral Health co-operation today. Elaborating upon the role of India’s medical community in containment and management of the pandemic, Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted that India’s medical professionals, paramedics and scientists have played a pivotal role in containing COVID-19. He stated that they are helping in drug discovery and in repurposing of existing drugs. They have also isolated the virus in the early onset of diseases and are engaged in studying the virus using Genome sequencing. “From just one lab to test the virus in January 2020, India now has more than 1200 labs all across the country facilitating the people in widespread testing”, he further added. India’s drug manufacturers have also enabled India to supply Hydroxychloroquin to 140 countries.” The Health Ministers agreed to continue to jointly work in the area of health and other common interests.

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Indian Railways creates Post- COVID COACH to ensure safer journey

Indian Railways has taken numerous steps and measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus infection. Sustaining the ruthless fight against COVID-19, Indian Railways’ production unit, Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, has developed a Post- Covid Coach to fight Covid-19. This Post-Covid Coach has design improvements in the coach like hands-free amenities, copper-coated handrails & latches, plasma air purification and titanium di-oxide coating for Covid free passenger journey.Post Covid Coach is having hands-free amenities like foot operated water tap & soap dispenser, foot operated lavatory door (outside), foot operated flush valve, foot operated latches in lavatory door, outside washbasin with foot operated water tap and soap dispenser and forearm operated handle on compartment door.

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Union HRD Minister virtually releases PRAGYATA Guidelines on Digital Education

Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' released PRAGYATA Guidelines on Digital Education through online medium in New Delhi today.PRAGYATA guidelines include eight steps of online/ digital learning that is, Plan- Review- Arrange- Guide- Yak(talk)- Assign- Track- Appreciate. These steps guide the planning and implementation of digital education step by step with examples. Speaking on the occasion , Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said that COVID-19 pandemic has led to closure of schools and has impacted over 240 million children of the country who are enrolled in schools. Extended school closures may cause loss of learning. Shri Pokhriyal said that to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, schools will not only have to remodel and reimagine the way teaching and learning have happened so far, but will also need to introduce a suitable method of delivering quality education through a healthy mix of schooling at home and schooling at school.

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Finance Minister reviews implementation of Insurance Scheme for Health workers fighting COVID-19 announced under PMGKP

Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs SmtNirmalaSitharaman chaired a meeting to review the implementation of Insurance Scheme for Health workers fighting COVID-19 announced under Pradhan Mantri GaribKalyan Package (PMGKP) yesterday. During the meeting, the Finance Minister highlighted the importance for a speedy settlement and emphasized the need of the benefit reaching out to the nominees at the earliest. Officials from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare provided an overview of the mechanism being followed with State nodal authorities to expedite the claims, also highlighting the issues being faced while reaching out to the family of deceased as well as obtaining the legal heir certificate.

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Finance Minister Smt. NirmalaSitharaman reviews Pradhan Mantri FasalBimaYojana

Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. NirmalaSitharaman chaired a meeting to review the implementation of Pradhan Mantri FasalBimaYojana (PMFBY) yesterday. The Finance highlighted the need of carrying out awareness activities to ensure dissemination of information among all farmers in view of Scheme becoming voluntary for all farmers and the need for States to release Premium Subsidy on time to ensure timely settlement of claims. SmtSitharaman suggested that stringent follow up should be done with States where subsidy is pending specially those which are not implementing the Scheme in Kharif 2020 with a view to ensure payment of all pending claims to farmers at the earliest.

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Class XII results of CBSE declared; CBSE decides to replace the term “FAIL” by the term “Essential Repeat”

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared Class XII results yesterday. Trivandrum performed best amongst all regions with 97.67% pass percentage followed by Bengaluru region with 97.05 %. Total 11, 92,961 students appeared in the exam, out of which 10, 59,080 students passed the exam. Overall pass percentage of this year is 88.78%which is 5.38 % higher than previous year. The CBSE Class XII Board Examinations were scheduled to be conducted from 15.02.2020 till 30.03.2020. Due to spread of Covid-19 pandemic, CBSE was forced to cancel examinations scheduled from 19.03.2020 to 30.03.2020 in 12 subjects along with examinations in 11 subjects for students of North-Eastern Delhi. These exams were re-scheduled to be held from 01 to 15 July 2020. Looking at the uncertainties and unprecedented situation and keeping in mind the health and well-being of students, the Supreme Court of India passed orders on 26.06.2020, approving the assessment scheme of CBSE to compute results.

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Punjab: Stepping up its fight against COVID, the Punjab government has put a complete bar on all public gatherings, while restricting social gatherings to five and marriages/other social functions to 30 instead of the current 50. Mandatory FIRs shall be filed against those found violating the curb on public gatherings, which now stand strictly disallowed. The state government has also partnered with IIT Chennai experts to intensify surveillance, using technology in order to identify super-spreader gatherings in the past that have resulted in spread, to guide future action.
• Arunachal Pradesh: Covid19 test conducted at the Raj Bhavan in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh for Hon'ble Governor, his family members, officials & members of the Governor’s Secretariat.
• Assam:  The CM of Assam, Shri SarbanandaSonowal reviewed the ongoing projects and works of Water Resources Department aimed at protecting the area at the Flood and Erosion hit Okland in Jonai, Assam today.
• Manipur: Manipur Police Department during its drive to crack down on violators of lockdown, those not wearing face masks and not maintaining social distance in public detained 411 persons and 310 vehicles and an amount of Rs 60,750 was collected as fine.
• Mizoram: Eight recovered Covid-19patients discharged in Mizoram today. Now active case stands at 74 in the state while 159 have  recovered so far.
• Nagaland: Kohima district administration doing active surveillance for early detection to break the chain of transmission of COVID-19 infection in all the ongoing containment zones.
• Sikkim: Chief Minister, Shri Prem Singh Tamang convened an emergency meeting of the State Task Force today to discuss the latest spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in Rongli Subdivision and the immediate measures to be taken.The meeting was attended by Cabinet Ministers, Chief Secretary, DGP and Heads of Departments. Sikkim government announced new measures to contain COVID-19. Gyms and bars to be shut, all inter and intra district movement "stopped forthwith".Movement of all private vehicles including two-wheelers has also been banned.Taxis however will continue to ply following odd-even stipulation but only for local movement.The rules come into force with immediate effect and will continue till 31 July.
• Maharashtra:  6,497 new patients have been found to be COVID-19 positive in the state in the last 24 hours. The state tally COVID-19 patients currently stands at 2,60,924. Also, 193 more patients succumbed to the infection and with this, the death toll rose to 10,482. The present count of active patients in the whole state is 1,05,637.In the wake of surge in Covid-19 cases lockdown has been re-imposed in Pune and Pimpri- Chinchwad region since midnight last. 
• Gujarat: Gujarat has recorded 902 new COVID cases during the last 24 hours. Total number of cases detected so far in the state has gone up to 42,808. Out of total 10,945 active cases in the state, the conditions of 74 patients are serious and they are on ventilator. The state has carried out 4.70 lakh tests so far.
• Rajasthan: 98 new cases have been reported on Tuesday morning. The COVID-19 tally of the state has crossed the 25,000-mark. It stands at 25,034 now. There are 5,759 active cases as on date.
• Madhya Pradesh: 575 new positive cases and 10 deaths have been reported on Monday. This is the highest single day spike in the state till now, which takes the state tally of COVID-19 patients to 18,207.  While there are 4,336 active patients presently, 13,208 patients have also recovered from the infection till date. Gwalior has become the new hotspot where 110 new cases have been reported followed by  92 cases from Indore and 88 from Bhopal.
• Chhattisgarh: In the highest single day spike of cases till date, Chhattisgarh reported 184 new corona positive patients on Monday, which takes the state tally of positive cases to 4265. There are 1044 active cases. Maximum, that is, 87 cases were from Raipur, followed by 26 cases from Rajnandgaon and 25 from Durg.
• Goa: 130 new positive cases have been identified which takes the state COVID-19 tally to 2,583. Presently, there are 1,026 active patients in the state.
• Kerala:One more death due to Covid-19 has been reported in the state at Alappuzha Medical college; the deceased is a gulf returnee and with this the total death toll in the state touched 34. Alappuzha, Thrissur, Palakkad and Kannur districts have been asked to stay alert as local transmission cases are on the rise; more clusters may be created in these places. Rapid Response Team has been deployed in ChellanamPanchayat in Ernakulam where 35 more positive cases were reported. Two doctors each in Kochi and Trivandrum have been tested positive. Meanwhile, a petition has been filed in the Kerala High Court, seeking to ban protests during the Covid-19 pandemic. 449 new cases reported yesterday of which 144 were contact cases and 18 were of unknown source. Active cases in the State are 4,028. 713 persons were admitted to the hospital yesterday, the highest till date.
• Tamil Nadu: Puducherry plans to enhance Covid-19 testing to 3,000 samples per lakh population as cases reach 1,531; as many as 63 fresh cases of Covid-19 were reported in the UT today. TN CM, CMO office employees test negative for Covid-19; recently, three Ministers out of 11 legislators and as well as a few employees in the CMO were tested positive. Coimbatore projected to touch 4,000 cases by August though the district crossed the 1K mark only on July 9; clusters, travellers reason for Coimbatore’s case load. 4328 new cases & 66 deaths reported yesterday. Total cases: 1,42,798; Active cases: 48,196; Deaths: 2032; Active cases in Chennai: 16,601.
• Karnataka: Lockdown to come into effect from 8pm today in Bengaluru urban and Bengaluru rural districts. In Dakshin Kannada, Dharwad and Kalburgi districts lockdown will come into force from tomorrow. State has also banned all public celebration of festivals. Meanwhile state government warned private hospitals and medical college that criminal case will be filed for refusal of treatment to covid patients. BBMP has started real-time bed availability information system to help Covid patients. 2738 new cases & 73 deaths reported yesterday with 1315 cases from Bangalore city. Total positive cases: 41,518; Active cases: 24,572; Deaths: 757.
• Andhra Pradesh:State issued fresh guidelines for quarantine of people coming into the state from various parts of the country and abroad, advising strict home quarantine for 14 days.  Karnataka and Telangana states categorised as high-risk. State has not opened inter-state borders yet for movement of persons; obtaining e-pass for entry into the state is still mandatory. AP DGP launched ‘Operation Muskan COVID-19’, which aims to eradicate child labour, paying special attention to control covid and save street children from virus infection. 1916 new cases, 952 discharges and 43 deaths reported during last 24 hours. Total cases: 33,019, Active cases: 15,144; Discharged: 17,467; Deaths: 408.
• Telangana: Telangana High Court tore into the state government for not doing mass testing for Covid-19 and summoned public health director Dr G SrinivasaRao to appear before it to explain. While Telangana, after much delay, has started rapid antigen testing, it is not following the ICMR protocol strictly. Though the ICMR has suggested that those who test negative in an antigen test, need to undergo a RT-PCR test, the government has decided to ask symptomatic people to go into isolation, instead of testing them again. Total cases reported till yesterday: 36,221; Active cases: 12, 178; Deaths: 365; Discharged : 23,679.

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YB