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

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Exponential rise in India’s testing, Cumulative tests nearing 13.5Cr, Consistent fall in cumulative Positivity Rate as Testing increases

India has demonstrated a consistent increase in the COVID-19 testing infrastructure since Jan 2020 resulting in an exponential increase in its testing numbers.With 11,59,032 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the cumulative tests are nearing 13.5 crore (13,48,41,307).The cumulative positivity rate has been steadily falling and has touched 6.84% today.The daily positivity rate stands at 3.83% as of today.With 2,138 testing labs in the country including 1167 Government laboratories and 971 Private laboratories, the daily testing capacity has got a substantial boost.As a result of this, tests per million per day in India is five times more than the WHO standard. India’s present active caseload (4,44,746) is 4.82% of the total Positive Cases, and has been sustained below the 5% mark. The Recovery Rate continues to be above 93% as 93.72% of all cases have recovered as of date. In the last 24 hours, the country registered 37,816 new recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total recovered cases to 86,42,771. The gap between Recovered cases and Active cases is steadily increasing and presently stands at 81,98,025. 77.53% of the new recoveries are contributed by ten States/UTs. Kerala leads the tally with 5,149 persons recovering from COVID. Delhi reported 4,943 recoveries, while Maharashtra registered another 4,086 new recoveries in the last 24 hours. 44,376 new confirmed cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. Ten States/UTs have contributed 76.51% of the new cases. Delhi has reported the highest with 6,224 cases in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra recorded 5,439 new cases while Kerala reported 5,420 daily cases yesterday. 74.22% of the 481 case fatalities reported in the past 24 hours are concentrated in Ten States/UTs. Delhi with 109 deaths reported the maximum new fatalities. West Bengal saw a fatality count of 49 followed by Uttar Pradesh with 33 deaths.

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MHA Guidelines for Surveillance, Containment and Caution

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an Order today with Guidelines for Surveillance, Containment and Caution, which will be effective from December 1, 2020 and to remain in force upto31.12.2020.The main focus of the Guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains that have been achieved against the spread of COVID-19 which is visible in the steady decline in number of active cases in the country. Further, keeping in view the recent spike in new cases in few States/ UTs, ongoing festival season and onset of winter, it is emphasised that to fully overcome the pandemic, there is need to maintain caution and to strictly follow the prescribed containment strategy, focussed on surveillance, containment and strict observance of the guidelines/ SOPs issued by MHA and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW).Local district, police and municipal authorities shall be responsible to ensure that the prescribed Containment measures are strictly followed.States and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may impose local restrictions, with a view to contain the spread of COVID-19.

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English rendering of PM’s closing remarks at virtual meeting with Chief Ministers on COVID-19

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PM to inaugurate RE-Invest 2020 on 26 November

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the virtual 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo (RE-Invest 2020), on 26 November 2020 at 5:30 PM. The summit is organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and will be held from 26 – 28 November 2020.The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’. It will feature a 3-day conference on renewables and future energy choices, and an exhibition of manufacturers, developers, investors and innovators. It is expected to be attended by over 75 international Ministerial delegations, over 1000 global industry leaders, and 50,000 delegates.

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7th Meeting of the Joint Trade Committee between India and Myanmar

The 7th Joint Trade Committee Meeting between India and Myanmar was held through virtual mode yesterday. The Meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Than Myint, Union Minister for Ministry of Commerce, Myanmar and Shri Piyush Goyal, Commerce and Industry Minister of India. During the consultations, both sides reviewed various bilateral issues ranging from trade, investment, banking, connectivity, capacity building and upgradation of border infrastructure. Both sides reviewed their preparedness to meet the COVID-19 challenges and expanding cooperation in pharma and health sector including traditional medicines. Shri Piyush Goyal highlighted the strong cultural and commercial ties between India and Myanmar and the priority India attaches to its partnership with Myanmar in accordance with India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ and ‘Act East’ policies. He reiterated India’s commitment in enhancing its multifaceted cooperation with Myanmar, in several areas including trade and investment, Oil & Gas, Power, Insurance, Pharmaceutical and Infrastructure and expressed satisfaction on the increased investments by India in Myanmar in these sectors.

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Shri Piyush Goyal has called upon the Indian industry to focus on improving Quality and Productivity

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Shri Piyush Goyal has called upon the Indian industry to focus on improving Quality and Productivity. Interacting with the Office bearers of various industry associations yesterday, he called upon them to designate a few days next month, to do brainstorming on these aspects so that the Country starts getting recognition as high quality, efficient manufacturer, trader and service-provider. The Minister said that this could be done sectoraly or regionally, so that there is knowledge sharing among the stakeholders, andthese two aspects are focussed. Shri Goyal said that the results of the second quarter of major companies show that profitability of most of them has gone up, indicating that the Indian industry has utilized the Covidperiod to do the belt-tightening, improve the product-mix, and focus on quality and productivity. Calling upon the industry’s support to take them into mission-mode, Shri Goyal said that Quality and Productivity can help in converting the crisis into an opportunity.Shri Goyal said that the Indian industry has shown resilience and confidence during the difficult times, which has helped the country fight the pandemic. He said that the economy is showing strong signals of comeback, and even in the international arena, India’s reputation has gone by several notches and it is being seen as a trusted partner. He expressed confidence that India will make up the for the time, and emerge stronger and victorious. He told the gathering, to continue to maintain health precautions, as relaxations at this stage can create problems.

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Assam: In Assam, 157 more people tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. Total cases rise to 211839, total discharged patients 207646, active 3214 and 976 total death.
• Kerala: State Education Department has instructed teachers to return to schools from December 17. Teachers of classes 10 and 12 have been asked to return to schools with 50 percent attendance. The arrangements are being made in such a way that students of classes 10 and 12 will return to schools from January. The decision was taken at a meeting attended by the Education Minister and the Public Education Secretary. The guidelines for postal voting of Covid patients and those under quarantine in the local body elections have been issued. Meanwhile, Kerala has sent back over 30,000 rapid antigen test kits used for diagnosing Covid-19 due to its poor quality. 5,420 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the state yesterday. At the same time, 5,149 patients have recovered from the disease. The Covid death toll stands at 2095 and test positivity rate at 9.04%
• Tamil Nadu: Threat of Covid spread looms large over Karaikal cyclone relief camps; officials say if people test positive for virus, they will be shifted to Covid Care Centres. In order to ensure the safety of inmates of temporary shelters set up for evacuees in the wake of Cyclone Nivar, medical teams are holding fever camps at the rescue shelters and distributing masks in Tamil Nadu. 19 NDRF teams despatched to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for rescue operations ahead of landfall of Cyclone Nivar.
• Karnataka: The State’s Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) that met on Tuesday to discuss the State’s preparedness to deal with a second wave has recommended that the Education Department should consider promoting students from class 1 to 9 without exams. Highcourt of Karnataka observed that its time parties ensured workers adhere to Covid-19 norms at rallies. Data shows that over 71% of those who succumbed to Covid in the State are men.
• Andhra Pradesh: CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launches Rs 1,000-cr JaganannaThodu Scheme; interest-free loans up to Rs 10,000 will be provided to small and petty vendors in State under the scheme; 10 lakh applied so far. CM directs officials to devise action plan for Covid vaccine storage and distribution. Single-screen theatres in the State may reopen from December 11 if the government allows them to operate with 75 per cent occupancy. Governor BiswaBhusanHarichandan inaugurates Super Specialty facilities and state-of-the-art equipment at Sri Balaji Medical College, Hospital and Research Institute in Tirupati through video conference.
• Telangana: 993 new cases, 1150 recoveries & 4 deaths reported in the last 24 hours in Telangana. Total cases: 2,66,042; Active cases: 10,886; Deaths: 1441; Discharges: 2,53,715 with a recovery rate of 95.36 per cent, while the countrywide recovery rate is 93.7 per cent. Apollo Hospitals is gearing up to give one million vaccines a day once it is available across India through its hospitals, clinics, health centres, pharmacies and Apollo 24/7.
• Maharashtra: State government has formed task force to oversee all modalities for distribution of COVID-19 vaccine. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray informed that the task force will discuss issues related to availability of vaccine along with its effectiveness, if the said vaccine has any side effects, cost involved to vaccinate every person in the state and its proper distribution. The state is in constant touch with Serum Institute of India to track development of the coronavirus vaccine. The CM said that ‘My Family My Responsibility’ campaign has helped in bringing down the number of infections from about 24,000/day to around 5,000/day. The state has collected health data of over 11 Crore individuals through this campaign. Maharashtra is conducting up to 80,000 COVID-19 tests daily.
• Gujarat: 1510 new COVID cases have been reported in the state while 1276 people have recovered on the same day. More than 73.76 lakh COVID samples have been tested so far. Currently there are 14, 044 active cases in the state and 3889 people died due to COVID so far.
• Rajasthan: The state has recorded more than 25,000 active cases. So far, total number of Covid cases in the state has crossed 2.5 lakh and total recoveries have crossed 2.2 lakhs. 2200 people in the state have lost their lives due to COVID.
• Madhya Pradesh: Number of active cases is increasing again in Madhya Pradesh since Nov 3. Number of active cases now is 12,979. State's average positivity rate is 5.5 %. 59 % of the total corona patients in the state are in home isolation. Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Ratlam, Vidisha and Shivpuri have shown higher positivity rates since last week. CM has directed senior officers in-charge posted in each district to control the pandemic as COVID-19 infection is once again increasing.
• Chhattisgarh: General Administration Department of Chhattisgarh Government has issued revised instructions to conduct proper COVID screening of all passengers coming from outside at Raipur and Jagdalpur airports. It is mandatory for All Passengers coming from abroad to stay in paid quarantine for 14 days, at centers prescribed by Raipur Municipal Corporation.
• Goa: State recorded 167 new covid cases and 85 recoveries yesterday. Active covid count of the state which was consistently declining for the past several days increased to 1,221. Of the 2004 samples tested yesterday, 167 (8.33 %) were positive.  Recovery rate of the state is 96.96%.

FACT CHECK

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