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

India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) continues to improve and is 2.28%,Total Recoveries cross 9 lakh,More than 30,000 Recoveries/day for 4^th Successive Day

The focused efforts of Centre and State/UT governments on early detection and isolation through aggressive testing and efficient clinical management of hospitalized cases have shown results with continuously falling Case Fatality Rate and improving Recovery Rate. With effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on holistic Standard of Care approach, the Case Fatality Rate has significantly dipped. The Case Fatality Rate is progressively falling and currently, it is 2.28%. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.Continuing the streak of more than 30,000 recoveries per day for the 4^th successive day, 31,991 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours. This has taken the total recoveries beyond 9 lakh and the number currently stands at 9,17,567. The Recovery Rate is 64%. As a result of low mortality and more people recovering, the recovered cases exceed the active cases (4,85,114) by 4,32,453 today.

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Ayushman Bharat- Health & Wellness Centres made their presence felt during the times of COVID

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the resilience of India’s public health systems particularly in the rural hinterland was reflected through continued operationalization of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers (AB - HWCs) and continued delivery of non-COVID essential health services while also meeting the urgent tasks of prevention and management of COVID-19. An additional 13,657 HWCs were operationalized within the period of the pandemic itself (between January to July 2020) to ensure that an array of healthcare reaches the vast community of citizens they serve. As of 24^th July, 2020, a total of 43,022 HWCs are operational across different parts of the country. In the week starting 18^th July till the 24^th of July, a total of 44.26 lakh people have benefitted from the health and wellness services being provided by the AB-HWCs. The cumulative total footfall among the HWCs since their inception (i.e. 14^th April 2018) consequently rose to 1923.93 lakh. 32,000 yoga sessions were conducted in last week in AB-HWCs all across India. 14.24 lakh yoga sessions have been conducted in total by the HWCs since their inception.

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Shri SadanandaGowda launches Schemes and announces guidelines paving way for setting up of Bulk Drugs Parks& Medical Devices Parks

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri DV SadanandaGowda launched today four schemes of Department of Pharmaceuticals for promotion of domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices parks in the country . He said India is often referred to as ‘the pharmacy of the world’ and this has been proved true especially in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic when India continued to export critical life saving medicines to needy countries even during the countrywide lockdown. However, despite these achievements, it is a matter of concern that our country is critically dependent on imports for basic raw materials. The list of 41 products contained in the scheme guidelines will enable domestic production of 53 bulk drugs. Financial incentives will be given to a maximum of 136 manufacturers selected under the scheme as a fixed percentage of their domestic sales of these 41 products manufactured locally with required level of domestic value addition.

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Indian Railways hands over 10 Broad Gauge Locomotives to Bangladesh

In a handing over ceremony held today, 10 Broad Gauge (BG) locomotives were virtually flagged off to Bangladesh by the External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar and the Minister of Railways, Shri PiyushGoyal. Speaking on the occasion, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar said, “I am glad to know that Parcel and container trains have been started between both the countries. This will open up new opportunities for our businesses. I am happy to note that movement of trade by rail have been ensured. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply of essentials particularly in the holy month of Ramadan were ensured.” He expressed his happiness that the COVID pandemic had not slowed down the pace of bilateral cooperation. Shri Goyal said that the leadership of both, India & Bangladesh, are committed to reviving the pre-1965 railway connection between the two countries. Out of the 7 rail links that existed then, 4 are functional now. During COVID-19, both Railways have shown exemplary foresight in managing the crisis and maintained the supply chain by stepping up transportation of essential commodities. In the recent times, India and Bangladesh have stepped up their rail cooperation in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as trade via land border faced disruptions.

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Vice President asks students not to get disturbed by the Covid induced disruption in academic schedule

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today emphasised the need to teach children how to navigate through the misinformation and fake news that infest the media landscape, especially the new media environment these days.Addressing over 200 young participants at the ‘Times Scholars Event’ through video conferencing today, the Vice President asked them to develop the ability to analyse and courage to accept the truth and discard the lies. Observing that Covid induced disruption in academic schedule has caused anxiety and stress among many students, the Vice President advised them to not get disturbed by events which are beyond one’s control.“All of you are young and need to develop a strong emotional quotient and the ability to weather ups and downs in life”, he told students.He also advised students to practice Yoga regularly to improve their physical fitness, mental equilibrium and overcome stress and anxiety.

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INPUTS FROM FIELD OFFICES

• Punjab: The Punjab Government is using Effective Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) to achieve real-time tracking of supply chain of COVID19 materials. This platform has proved significant in maintaining the supply and demand balance to overcome the shortage of essential materials.
• Himachal Pradesh: Partial amendments have been made in the orders issued by the State Government regarding the Interstate movement. As per the modifications the students or candidates and the accompanying parents who need to move in and out of the State due to competitive/ selection examinations, may be facilitated by waiving off the condition of quarantine, if they exit or re-enter the State or vice-versa within a period of 72 hours. 
• Maharashtra-In Maharashtra, the Minister of State for Environment Sanjay Bansode has become the sixth Minister of the UddhavThackerey Government to test Covid positive.   Meanwhile, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has completed the first phase of COVID-19 serosurvey that covered 10,000 residents of the city. It was conducted for the residents of Mumbai to determine the level of antibodies among the population.  Samples were taken from both slum and non-slum locations in the city. There will be another survey conducted in August.  As of today, the number of active cases in Maharashtra is 1.48 lakhs.  Pune district at 43,838 has the most number of active cases for any district in the country.  Thane is second with 37,162 active cases, while their number has come down to 22,443 in Mumbai.
• Gujarat: 1,110 fresh cases of Covid 19 were reported on Sunday. With this, the total tally of Covid 19 cases in the state rose to 55,822. A total of 753 persons were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recovered coronavirus patients to 40,365. With the death of 21 patients, the death toll due to the pandemic in the state rose to 2,326.
• Rajasthan: 448 new positive cases and 7 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours. This takes the state tally of COVID-19 to 36,878 out of which 10,124 active cases.  Total recoveries have increased to 26,123 and total death toll so far is 631.
• Madhya Pradesh: 874 new positive cases along with 644 recoveries and 12 fatalities related to COVID-19 on Sunday, have taken the number of active cases to 7,857. Most of the new cases were from Bhopal (205 cases), followed by Indore (149 cases)
• Arunachal Pradesh: As per the revised SoP of Arunachal Pradesh government, the registered contractors who are dealing bigger projects in the state are allowed to bring maximum 50 labourers per contractor. They have to take online permit for entry and pay Rs 500 per antigen test.
• Assam: One more Viral Research and Development Laboratories (VRDL) in the campus of Jorhat medical college has been operationalised from today. With this, there are now 17 VRDL in Assam tweeted the Health Minister of Assam Shri HimantaBiswaSarma.
• Manipur: In Manipur, the COVID-19 Common Control Room Spokesman said that there is no sign of community transmission in any part of the State yet.Due to detection of COVID-19 cases among the staff of RIMS, Manipur, the hospital has been shut down with immediate effect till July 29 for sanitization.
• Nagaland: In Nagaland, Kohima district administration declares demarcated areas at Mima Village as  sealed areas following the detection of a COVID-19 person residing in the location.
• Sikkim: Sikkim Chief Minister Shri Prem Singh Tamang chaired a high level meeting of State Task Force to review the State Government plan of action on COVID-19 at SammanBhawan today.
• Kerala:  A special Cabinet meeting held today decided not to clamp a state wide lockdown again as it is impractical. Police checking and restrictions will be tightened in areas where disease transmission is high. District administration can take a decision on opening of shops. Meanwhile, a third member of a family in Kozhikode succumbed to coronavirus today. Another Covid death was reported at Ernakulam Medical College Hospital. The latest official death toll is 61. Police have registered a case against fifty people including local councillor who blocked the cremation of a Covid patient in Kottayam. With 927 new patients, Kerala's Covid cases crossed 19,000 yesterday. At present, 9,655 patients are undergoing treatment and 1.56 people under observation in various districts.
• Tamil Nadu: The Puducherry Legislative Assembly complex would remain closed on July 27 and 28 after an MLA and a watch and ward tested positive for Covid infection. 29 nurses and doctors at Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital test positive for Covid. Deadline to apply for arts, science colleges in Tamil Nadu extended; students can upload their papers between August 1 and 10.  Chennai’s share in Covid cases comes down and other districts add more cases as Tamil Nadu tally surges ahead. 6986 new cases and 85 deaths reported yesterday. 1155 cases from Chennai. Total Covid cases: 2,13,723; Active cases: 53,703; Deaths: 3494;  Active cases in Chennai: 13,744.
• Karnataka: As per a study conducted by researchers of Stanford University, Karnataka fares the best in terms of quality of Covid 19 data reporting among all the States in the country. State Forest Minister Anand Singh tests positive for Covid-19. State government said that it is waiting for central government guidelines to decide on continuing of Sunday curfew. The first set of mobile laboratories designed by IISC team is ready to be deployed and will be handed over to state government shortly. Karnataka sees highest one-day spurt of 5,199 Covid-19 cases on Sunday as total rises to 96,141. There are 58,417 active cases and the 2,088 discharges on Sunday took the total discharges to 35,838.
• Andhra Pradesh: State issued key guidelines over conducting Covid-19 tests, saying that only the ICMR approved laboratories should conduct coronavirus tests. The government also restricted charges of not more than Rs 750 for rapid antigen test and Rs 2,800 for VRDL examination. As the state plans to reopen schools from September 5, admission process for the academic year 2020-21 commenced today for state-run schools. Only parents are allowed for completing the admission procedures, following the Covid-19 guidelines. 7627 new cases and 56 deaths reported yesterday. Total cases: 96,298; Active cases: 48,956; Deaths: 1041; Discharges: 46,301.
• Telangana: Hyderabad continues to make its mark in the field of finding solutions to tackle Covid-19 as city based Avra Laboratories plays a vital role in the soon-to-be-launched Covid-19 drug Ciplenza, the generic version of Favipiravir, by Cipla Laboratories. Telangana’s district hospitals brace for Covid surge by setting up isolation facilities in all districts of the State and urging patients to avoid visiting Hyderabad. 1473 new cases, 774 recoveries & 08 deaths reported on Sunday; out of 1473 cases, 506 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases till yesterday: 55,532; Active cases: 12,955; Deaths 471.

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YB