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

or COVID-19, in sufficient quantities and affordable prices

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India continues to be among the countries with lowest per million cases & per million deaths, and very high testing

With focussed strategy and proactive as well as calibrated measures of the Union Government along with the States and UTs, India has sustained its global position of being the country with one of the lowest cases per million population and deaths per million population. While the global figure for cases/million is 5,552, India is recording 5,790. USA, Brazil, France, UK, Russia, and South Africa are reporting much higher numbers. The deaths per million populations in India are 87, substantially lower than the world average of 148. In the matter of total tests conducted, India is one of the topmost countries. With 10,66,786 tests in the last 24 hours, the cumulative number of tests conducted has crossed 10.5 Cr (10,54,87,680). India continues to report a trend of steadily decreasing active cases. Presently the active cases comprise merely 7.64% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 6,10,803. The total recovered cases are 72,59,509. 43,893 new cases have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country whereas the new recovered cases stand at 58,439. 77% of the new recovered cases are in 10 States/UTs. 79% of new confirmed cases are from 10 States and UTs. Kerala has overtaken Maharashtra with the highest number of new reported cases. 508 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours.

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Union Health Ministry’s telemedicine service, eSanjeevani, completes 6 lakh tele-consultations

eSanjeevani, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s telemedicine initiative has completed 6 Lakh tele consultations. It took only 15 days to complete the last one lakh consultations. In what can be seen as a big push for the ‘Digital India’ initiative of the Prime Minister, the eSanjeevani digital platform has proved its usefulness and easy access for the caregivers and the medical community, and those seeking healthcare services in the times of COVID. States like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Gujarat run eSanjeevani OPD for 12 hours a day and 7 days a week. It is a testimony to the fact that eSanjeevani is gradually gaining traction with patients and doctors. eSanjeevani is accessible to the population in 27 States/UTs across India. The digital platform provides eHealth services through more than 6000 doctors who man 217 online OPDs in patient to doctor telemedicine model i.e. eSanjeevaniOPD.

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Shri Piyush Goyal calls upon the global community to ensure timely and equitable availability of vaccines and medicines for COVID-19, in sufficient quantities and affordable prices

The Union Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyalh as called upon the global community to ensure timely and equitable availability of vaccines and medicines for COVID-19, in sufficient quantities and affordable prices. In his intervention at the virtual informal meeting of WTO Ministers held yesterday, he said that India and South Africa have proposed TRIPS waiver to address the challenges that countries with limited manufacturing capacity will face, in accessing these medical supplies. He called upon all Members to support the proposal, in order to have a decision on it by MC12, if not earlier. Shri Goyal said that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the inherent weaknesses and inequalities in the global economic & trading system. The need of the hour is to take effective measures to address the immediate challenges, and also prepare a long-term roadmap on how to reform an ailing and imbalanced global trading system.

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Prime Minister inaugurates National Conference on Vigilance and Anti Corruption

The Prime Minister inaugurated the National Conference on Vigilance and Anti Corruption on the theme सतर्क भारत, समृद्ध भारत (Vigilant India, Prosperous India) yesterday through video conferencing. Addressing the Conference, the Prime Minister said Sardar Patel is the architect of United India as well the country’s administrative systems. As the first home minister of the country, he made efforts to build such a system which is meant for the common man of the country and where the policies are based on integrity. Shri Narendra Modi lamented that the following decades witnessed a different situation which lead to scams worth thousands of crores of rupees, establishment of shell companies, tax harassment and tax evasion. The Prime Minister stressed the necessity for the administrative systems to be transparent, responsible, accountable, answerable to the public. He added that the biggest enemy against this is any form of corruption. He said one hand corruption hurts the development of the country and on the other it destroys the social balance as well as the trust that people should have in the system. And therefore, he said tackling corruption is not just the responsibility of any single agency or institution but that it is a collective responsibility. He said corruption cannot be dealt with a stand-alone approach.

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Text of PM’s inaugural address at the National Conference on Vigilance and Anti-Corruption

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Dr. Harsh Vardhan highlights need for long term solutions for management of biomedical waste

The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has underlined the need for long term solutions for management of biomedical waste so as to ease the pressure on Health and Environment, specifically in a pandemic like situation. His message was read out at a recent webinar.  The high-level webinar on ‘The Future of Liquid Waste Management amidst COVID-19: What lies ahead?’ was jointly organized by the India Water Foundation (IWF) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) supported by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India and Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti recently. The webinar focused on the future of liquid waste management and effective management of biomedical waste.

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

Kerala: The Kerala State Higher Education Council has submitted a policy document to the state government recommending a complete overhaul of University and college examinations through computerized automation tools in view of the Covid-19 situation. The objective is to carry out evaluation and result declaration speedily and flawlessly with the help of an instant evaluation machine. Seven months after shutters were downed following the Covid outbreak, bars in Kerala are likely to open next week. The Excise, Police and Revenue department are tasked with ensuring that bars, when they open, strictly adhere to Covid protocols. The state reported 5457 positive cases yesterday, with the total tally crossing four lakh.

Tamil Nadu: For the first time since May, Covid cases in Chennai went below the 700-mark on Tuesday, with 695 testing positive. Meanwhile, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in the city recorded zero deaths due to Covid in 24 hours, for the second time in a span of four days. The State government has relaxed the ban on recruiting frontline staff for Covid relief work; the G.O. issued in this regard said departments concerned need not get the concurrence of the Staff Committee anymore to recruit frontline staff. Covid-19 positivity rate falls to 6.2 per cent in Coimbatore; death rate has come down to 1.28% in the district as against last month’s rate of 2.1%; fever camps help in early diagnosis.

Karnataka: With an aim of putting in place more stringent measures to ensure people to wear mask covering their mouth and nose and to maintain social distance, BBMP has formed four committees at ward, zonal, divisional and head office levels. For the second consecutive day the number of Covid tests conducted in the state declined due to festivals. A group of nutritionists, activists and lawyers petitioned state government to provide ration kits to students in government and aided schools. Voting begins for four seats to Karnataka Legislative Council following Covid guidelines.

Andhra Pradesh: The online certificate courses introduced by the National Sanskrit University (NSU), Tirupati have evoked a good response from students. As many as 414 students from India and abroad have evinced interest in pursuing the NSU online courses so far.  The NSU conducted Sanskrit and Yoga courses in 19 streams through online from April 5 to May 17 this year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. Uncertainty over Andhra-Telangana bus services continues; the scheduled meeting on Tuesday between the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) officials with their Telangana counterparts over entering into an agreement to resume interstate bus operations has been cancelled.

Telangana: 1481 new cases, 1451 recoveries & 4 deaths reported in the last 24 hours; out of 1481 cases, 279 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 2,34,152; Active cases: 17,916; Deaths: 1319; Discharges: 2,14,917 with a recovery rate of 91.78 per cent. Telangana has become the only State to have waived off crop loans amounting to Rs 27,718 crore, largest in the country since the formation of the State. Further, the State government spent another Rs 28,000 crore under Rythu Bandhu benefiting farmers directly during the corresponding period.

Maharashtra: The doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in all the 24 administrative wards of Mumbai has gone above 100 days. Whereas, the overall doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai has gone up to 139 days. The BMC is finding success in bending the curve of Covid-19 with all its administrative wards now able to slow down the spread of infection.  Along with Mumbai, Covid situation in rest of Maharashtra is also improving with the state reporting 7,836 recoveries on Tuesday against 5,363 new cases.  Total number of active cases in the state has come down to 1.31 lakhs.

Gujarat: Gujarat recorded 992 new cases during the last 24 hours marking the third consecutive day of under 1,000 cases.   At present total active cases in the state are 13,487, out of which 64 patients are on ventilator.  Five patients died yesterday taking the total deaths due to Covid19 up to 3,698.

Rajasthan: The State Education Department has readied a proposal to reopen schools in the state from November 2 in a phased manner.  In the first phase schools for senior classes will begin.  A detailed SOP that includes compulsory wearing of masks, sanitization and safe distancing norms.   For primary school children a proposal of odd-even is under consideration. Rajasthan on Tuesday reported 1,796 new cases.  The number of active cases is 15,949.

Madhya Pradesh:  For the first time in three months, Madhya Pradesh reported under 600 Covid cases, with 514 cases recorded on Tuesday.   112 new cases were reported in Indore while Jabalpur recorded 46 new cases.  The number of active cases in the state is 10,353.

Chhattisgarh: Chhattisgarh, which remained relatively unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic until early August, now finds itself grappling with an explosion in the number of cases. The State remained low on the positivity chart until early August, but since then its graph has remained almost vertical and there is no sign of the curve flattening as yet.  The state reported 2,046 new cases and 287 recoveries on Tuesday.  The active cases count is 21,693.

Goa: The Goa cabinet has decided to allow casinos to reopen in the state from November 1 by following the COVID-19 prevention guidelines. The coastal state has six offshore and around a dozen onshore casinos, which have been shut since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in March this year. The casinos will have to operate at 50 per cent of their capacity and follow all the standard operating procedures laid down by the state Home department.

Assam: In Assam, 403 more people tested positive for COVID-19 and 2443 patients discharged yesterday. Total cases rise to 204789, discharged 191027, active 12845 and 914 deaths.

Manipur: In Manipur, with 6 more deaths due to COVID-19, the toll reaches 150. Current recovery rate is 75 percent in the state.

Meghalaya: In Meghalaya, total active cases 1411 and total recovered 7643.

Mizoram:    In Mizoram, 80 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed yesterday, total cases rise to 2607. The State today reported first COVID-19 related mortality.

Nagaland:  In Nagaland, Union Home Ministry on Tuesday showed 14 States & Union Territories including Nagaland having COVID-19 fatality rate lower than 1%.

FACT CHECK

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