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

India records highest ever single day COVID-19 recoveries of 51,255;Total recoveries nearly 11.5 lakh; Recovery Rate reaches a new high of 65.44%; Case Fatality Rate continues its downward slide to 2.13%

More than 51,000 recoveries were registered in India in the last 24 hours. With 51,225 patients cured and discharged, India’s total recoveries from COVID-19 have touched 11,45,629. With the highest ever single day increase in recovered patients in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate has seen a high of 65.44%. This means that more and more COVID-19 patients are getting cured and discharged. On 10^th June 2020, for the first time, the total number of recovered patients exceeded the active cases with a difference of 1,573 which has increased to 5,77,899 as on today. The active cases are the actual case load for India and currently the active cases (5,67,730) account for 32.43% of the total cases and all are under medical supervision either in hospitals and in home isolation. India has one of the lowest Case Fatality Rate (CFR) at 2.13% as compared to the global average.

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Dr. Harsh Vardhan announces the successful completion of first Pan India 1000 Genome sequencing of SARS- CoV-2

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Science & Technology, Health & Family Welfare and Earth Sciences announced the successful completion of PAN-India 1000 Genome sequencing of SARS- CoV-2 yesterday. He took a meeting with Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and reviewed the COVID-19 activities of DBT, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and DBT-Autonomous Institutions (AIs). During the meeting, Dr. Harsh Vardhan also launched and dedicated to the nation the largest network of five dedicated COVID-19 Bio-repositories established by Department of Biotechnology in record time. These are at Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) Faridabad, Institute of Life Science (ILS) Bhubaneshwar, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) New Delhi, National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) Pune and Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (InStem) Bangalore. He complemented the efforts of DBT in “the relentless war for mitigation of this Pandemic”.

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Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi interacts with the participants of Grand Finale of the largest ever online hackathon in the world

Speaking at the Grand Finale of Smart India Hackathon, Prime Minister said that students are working on several solutions to the challenges being faced by the country. Along with providing solutions to the problems, it also strengthens India's aspirations regarding Data, Digitization and Hi-tech Future. On the New education policy, the Prime Minister said it was drafted keeping in mind the thoughts, needs, hopes and aspirations of 21st century youth. This is not just a policy document but also a reflection of aspirations of more than 130 crore Indians, he added. PM said while the Policy focuses on Local, equal emphasis has been laid on global integration. Top Global Institutions have been encouraged to open campuses in India. Earlier, Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated the Grand Finale of 4th edition of Smart India Hackathon (Software) – 2020. He said that Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, envisages a Digital India to bridge the digital divide in our country and further promote digital literacy in order to make development a comprehensive mass movement and put governance within everyone’s reach in India. We all are witnessing dividends of Digital India initiatives in the current COVID 19 Pandemic.

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JNCASR scientists devise adaptive model to estimate & strategize critical resources in pandemic

Healthcare in a country faces a catch-22 situation in the early stages of an epidemic – specific and accurate tests are required to trace and isolate the infected, and to scale up the novel tests, one needs to have estimates of the expected number of infections weeks to months in advance. And then, these numbers need to be used to predict healthcare inventory requirements in every district of the nation. How does one use models for these estimates when the inputs to the models could be rampant with uncertain parameters? Scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute under Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have developed a model to address this problem using an adaptive strategy and the early phase of COVID-19 as an example.

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Shri Nitin Gadkari approves a New Scheme to Make India Aatmanirbhar in Agarbatti production

Union Minister for MSME, Shri Nitin Gadkari has approved a unique employment generation program proposed by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to make India Aatmanirbhar in Agarbatti production. The program named as “Khadi Agarbatti Aatmanirbhar Mission” aims at creating employment for unemployed and migrant workers in different parts of the country while increasing domestic Agarbatti production substantially. The scheme has been designed in wake of the two major decisions – import restriction on Raw Agarbatti and increase in import duty on Bamboo sticks.

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In a first, Ministry of Railways organizes Virtual Retirement Function for 2320 superannuating officials

In a first event of its kind, Ministry of Railways organized a virtual retirement function for the Indian Railways officers/staff superannuated on 31st July, 2020. This was an event where all the Zones/Divisions/Production Units were connected on a single platform along with the officers and staff. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Piyush Goyal said, “It is a day of Happiness and Sadness. It is a happy occasion because the employees have served long period in different areas, capacities, responsibilities. In past few years, Railways have shown improvement in their style of working. In COVID phase, freight trains, parcel trains, Shramik Special trains were moved. Railways have put in best efforts to serve the nation during the pandemic. Railway employees are no less than Corona warriors. I would like to compliment the staff for putting best efforts during the fight against COVID.”

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INPUTS FROM FIELD OFFICES

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• Punjab: Under Mission Fateh, the awareness campaign on Corona Prevention initiated by Punjab Government, the Department of Medical Education and Research is taking steps to combat COVID-19 through specialized training of medical colleges, district hospitals and frontline workers at the grass root level by adopting the latest approach instead of traditional methods.
• Kerala:  Six Covid deaths, including that of an 11-month old baby, have been reported in the state today. Contact cases are increasing unabated in the state capital with infections spreading out of clusters in the coastal areas. More than 50 people have been infected in one of the major colonies in the heart of the city in the past 3 days. A DYSP and another six policemen at Police headquarters have also been tested positive. 14 inmates of Kollam jail have also been confirmed of the infection. Meanwhile, according to organisers, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale would be held in line with the Covid-19 norms. As many as 1,129 new active cases were confirmed in the State yesterday of which 880 were through contact with 58 cases having unknown source. There are 10,862 active cases and 1.43 lakh people under surveillance in various districts.
• Tamil Nadu:  The School Education Department has recommended schools to invite Covid-19 survivors and frontline workers, including doctors, sanitary workers, paramedical staff and volunteers, as chief guests for this year’s Independence Day celebrations. TN Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who was under home quarantine, visits private hospital in Chennai. State records 2.5 lakh virus cases, Chennai crosses 1 lakh. 5,879 more test positive even as 7,010 are discharged on Saturday; State’s toll goes up to 4,034 with 99 deaths.
• Karnataka: Number of containment zones in Bangalore city crosses 20,000. A 110 year old woman who tested covid positive has successfully recovered in Chitradurga town. Karnataka State Human Rights Commission has booked case against the state government over alleged negligence in dealing with covid 19 patients based on complaint filed by former congress minister. 5172 new cases, 3860 discharges & 98 deaths reported yesterday; 1852 cases in  Bangalore city. Total cases: 1,29,287;  Active cases: 73,219; Deaths: 2412.
• Andhra Pradesh:  State Health Commissioner says the Covid-19 situation in Andhra Pradesh is not worrisome and the State is fully geared up to provide treatment to all those affected as there is a buffer in terms of infrastructure and medicines. At present, 2,800 ICU beds, 11,353 beds with oxygen support and 12,000 general beds are available; 26,153 beds remain unoccupied in government and private hospitals together, Health Commissioner said. 9276 new cases, 12,750 discharges and 58 deaths reported yesterday. Total cases reported: 1,50,209; Active cases: 72,188; Deaths: 1407.
• Telangana: Private hospitals in Hyderabad continue to insist on cash despite warning by IRDA. State government panel to crack the whip on private hospitals fleecing Covid-19 patients. Over 5,000 critically ill Covid-19 patients — many with multiple co-morbidities — have been treated and completely recovered from the state-run Gandhi Hospital. 1891 new cases, 1088 recoveries & 10 deaths reported in the last 24 hours; out of 1891 cases,  517 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 66,677; Active cases: 18,547; Deaths: 540; Discharges: 47,590.
• Arunachal Pradesh: Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Shri Pema Khandu met Governor Dr B D Mishra and discussed the developmental issues  and the status of the CoVID-19 management in the state.
• Assam: The COVID-19 mortality rate in Assam is 0.24%, the recovery rate is 75% and test per million is 27,544 tweeted Assam's Health Minister Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma.
• Manipur: The state of Manipur has recorded 2756 cases of Covid19 so far. There are 1051 active cases with a recovery rate of 61%.
• Maharashtra: As per Unlock 3.0 guidelines, Malls are gearing up to reopen in Maharashtra from August 5, after a gap of nearly four and a half months. Out of 75 large malls, half of them are located in the Mumbai Metropolitan region. Although allowed to remain open from 9 a.m to 7 p.m. the customer response is not likely to be very enthusiastic. Maharashtra has 1.49 lakh active cases and reported 15,316 deaths till date. The state reported 10,725 recoveries on Saturday while adding 9,761 new cases.
• Gujarat: The total number of covid-19 recoveries in Gujarat has crossed 45,000 mark with another 875 Covid-19 patients being discharged from various hospitals across the state on Saturday leaving the number of active cases at 14,327. The state saw 1,136 new Covid cases being reported during the past 24 hours, with Surat reporting 262 cases followed by Ahmedabad 146.
• Rajasthan: 561 new positive cases have been reported today morning. Maximum cases are from Kota (100 cases), followed by Jaipur (77 cases) and Pali (58 cases). The number of active cases is 12,391.
• Madhya Pradesh:  808 new positive cases came to light in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, which takes the state tally of COVID-19 to 32,614. The maximum cases on Saturday was reported from Bhopal (156 cases), followed by Jabalpur (125 cases) and then Indore (120 cases). With 698 recoveries on Saturday, the active cases count now stands at 8,769.
• Goa:   More than 25 days after the Goa Government permitted hotels to start operations, most hotels have decided to postpone re-opening till October- November this year. A majority of hoteliers said that it doesn’t make “business sense” to operate with minimal occupancy, and so have decided to wait till September to take a call. Goa has 1,705 active cases with 280 new cases reported on Saturday.

FACTCHECK

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