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Cumulative Vaccination Coverage exceeds 9.43 Crores with over 36 Lakh doses given in the last 24 hours,10 States show an Upward Trajectory of Daily New Cases; Just 5 States contribute 73% of Active Caseload.

The cumulative number of COVID19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 9.43Cr today. Cumulatively, 9,43,34,262 vaccine doses have been administered through 14,28,500 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today. These include 89,74,511 HCWs who have taken the 1st dose and 54,49,151 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 98,10,164 FLWs (1^stdose), 45,43,954 FLWs (2^nddose), 3,75,68,0331^st dose beneficiaries and 13,61,3672^nd dose beneficiaries more than 60 years old and 2,61,03,814 (1^st dose) and 5,23,268(2^nd dose) beneficiaries aged 45 to 60.Eight states account for 60% of the total doses given so far in the country.Over 36 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the last 24 hours.As on Day-83 of the vaccination drive (8^thApril, 2021), 36,91,511 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 32,85,004 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 49,416 sessions for 1^st dose and 4,06,507 beneficiaries received 2^nd dose of vaccine.In terms of the number of daily doses administered globally, India continues to remain at the top with an average of 37,94,328 doses administered per day.India’s daily new cases continue to rise. 1,31,968 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.Ten States including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan have shown a rise in the COVID daily new cases. 83.29% of the new cases are reported from these 10 states. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 56,286. It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 10,652 while Uttar Pradesh reported 8,474 new cases. India’s total Active Caseload has reached 9,79,608. It now comprises 7.50% of the country's total Positive Cases. A net incline of 69,289 cases recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours. The five states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradeshand Kerala cumulatively account for 73.24% of India’s total active cases. Maharashtra alone accounts for 53.84% of the total active caseload of the country.
India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,19,13,292 today. The National Recovery Rate is 91.22%. 61,899 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours. 780 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Ten States account for 92.82% of the new deaths.These are Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.TwelveStates/UTs have not reported any COVID19 deaths in the last 24 hours.

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Dr Harsh Vardhan chairs 24^th meeting of Group of Ministers (GOM) on COVID-19

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare chaired the 24^th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 through video-conference, today. He was joined by Dr S. Jaishankar, Union Minister of External Affairs, Sh. Hardeep S. Puri, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways (I/C), & Chemical and Fertilizers, Sh. Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health & Family Welfare and Sh. Nityanand Rai, Minister of State, Home Affairs. Dr. Vinod K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog was present virtually. Detailing the achievements of the world’s largest Vaccination Drive, the Union Health Minister said, “More than 3 crore vaccinations have been administered to 60 plus beneficiaries, and more than 9.43 crore doses have been given till 9 am today. India has also supported the global community through Vaccine Maitri, under which 6.45 Crore doses of COVID-19 Vaccine have been exported to 85 Countries. 3.58 Crore doses have been supplied to 25 countries under commercial contracts, 1.04 Crore to 44 countries as grants and 1.82 Crore to 39 Countries under COVAX.” He added that there have been no fresh COVID cases in the last 7 days in 149 districts. 8 districts have reported no new COVID Cases in the last 14 days; 3 districts in last 21 days and 63 districts in the last 28 days. Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that with renewed focus on collective efforts for effective adherence of the Health Ministry’s SOPs for containment and management of COVID, and individual discipline in following oft disseminated COVID Appropriate Behaviours, India shall be able to overcome the recent surge.

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PM interacts with the Chief Ministers on Covid-19 situation; The country has crossed the peak of the first wave and the growth rate is much faster than the earlier: PM

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi interacted with the Chief Ministers of various states yesterday regarding the COVID-19 situation via video conference. Union Home Minister outlined the efforts undertaken by the government in the battle against Covid. He also gave an overview of the progress in the vaccination drive in the country. Union Health Secretary gave a presentation on the Covid situation in the country, focussing on states that are experiencing high caseload at present, and emphasized the need to increase testing in these states. He also shared details of vaccine production and supply in the country. The Chief Ministers thanked the Prime Minister for leading the collective fight against the virus. They gave feedback about the Covid situation in their states. They said that the timely initiation of vaccination drive is resulting in saving lakhs of lives. Issues of vaccine hesitancy and vaccine wastage were also discussed. The Prime Minister stressed few clear facts before the Chief Ministers.First, the country has crossed the peak of the first wave and the growth rate is much faster than the earlier. Second, many states, including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have crossed the peak of the first wave. Many other states are moving in that direction. This is a serious concern, he said. Third, this time people have grown much more casual, in some states even administration too. In such a situation, sharp rise of the cases has created difficulties. The Prime Minister emphasized, that despite the challenges, we have better experience, resources and, also the vaccine. People’s involvement along with hard working doctors and health care staff has contributed a lot in managing the situation and they are still doing so.

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Text of PM’s remarks at meeting with CMs of all states and UTs to take stock of the COVID-19 situation

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DAY-NRLM promotes appropriate behaviours, health seeking and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination among rural population through its network of Self Help Groups

The recent rapid surge in COVID-19 cases, including in tier 2 and 3 towns, requires immediate action to contain spread of the virus. DeendayalAntoyaday Yojana- National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Ministry of Rural Development has initiated online trainings, in a cascading mode, for its vast network of over 69 lakh Self-Help Groups (SHG). This is to spread awareness through key messaging on COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 appropriate behaviours, health seeking behaviour and immunity building. The trainings were rolled out from 8^th April, 2021 at the national level and will be followed by the ground level trainings of the SHG members. They are in continuation to earlier trainings on preventive measures against COVID-19 led by the Ministry of Rural Development in June, 2020. All master trainers and key staff of state, district and block level will be trained by national level resource persons and the trained master trainers will in turn train cluster level federation office bearers, social action committee members, Community Resource Persons (CRPs) and Community Cadres. The trained CRPs will train all SHG members and other community members at village level. Key messages will further be disseminated by SHG leaders in the community through various mediums. These will include pamphlets, announcements, wall writings, rangolis and meetings in small groups with adherence to physical distancing norms.

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Two day conference to be organized on ‘Homoeopathy - Roadmap for Integrative Medicine’

Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH) under Ministry of AYUSH is organizing a conference on Homoeopathy - Roadmap for Integrative Medicine on 10^th -11^th April 2021, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on the occasion of World Homoeopathy Day to commemorate birth anniversary of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homoeopathy. The objective for this conference would be exchange of experience by policy makers and experts to identify strategic actions towards an effective and efficient inclusion of Homoeopathy in integrative care. E-library of CCRH would also be launched on the occasion. Publications of CCRH enhancing translation of research to clinical practice and education would also be released. A Panel discussion following the inaugural session will take place for policy makers on Scope and opportunities for Homoeopathy under the ambit of Integrative medicine in India, the deliberations of which will be attended by policy makers and experts of Homoeopathy. There will be an exclusive session dedicated toHomoeopathy for COVID – 19 treatment &prevention: research experience where researchers on COVID studies and prominent academicians will be giving insights into the role of Homoeopathy in treatment and prevention of COVID 19.

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Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman attends Plenary Meeting of International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) of IMF through video-conference
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday attended the Plenary Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the virtual Spring Meetings 2021. The meeting was attended by Governors/Alternate Governors representing 190 member countries of the IMF. The discussions at the meeting were based on IMF Managing Director’s Global Policy Agenda (GPA) titled, “Bolstering the Recovery, Countering Divergence”. The members of the IMFC updated the committee on the actions and measures taken by member countries to combat COVID-19 pandemic and facilitate economic recovery. Finance Minister Smt. Sitharaman emphasised that the GPA’s suggestion to hasten the transition to a low-carbon economy for promoting growth that benefits all needs to be viewed in the context of its implications for the Emerging Market and Developing Economies and low-income economies. The Finance Minister endorsed the view of the IMF that the key priority remains to end the pandemic and the universal availability of vaccines and medical solutions need to be ensured. Smt. Sitharaman informed the Committee that the world’s largest vaccination drive is under way in India with 83.1 million doses administered as on 6^th April, 2021 and that India has supplied 65 million made-in-India COVID-19 vaccine doses to 80 countries, including 10 million vaccine doses as grant.

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INYAS launches multipronged nationwide mass awareness campaign to bust myths about Covid 19 vaccination programme

Secretary Department of Science & Technology (DST) Prof Ashutosh Sharma launched a multipronged nationwide mass awareness campaign on April 6 with information packages to bust myths about COVID 19 vaccination in 11 languages, including English and Hindi, make the immunization programme successful.The COVID-19 vaccination awareness campaign organized by Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS)will be carried out through COVACNEWS android-based mobile app made by INYAS for ensuring information at the fingertips. A pan-India info-graphic video and audio competition with motivation to transform information into better readable and effective formats is also being organised along with the GYAN TEEKA webinar series dedicated to increase awareness about vaccines through eminent speakers and open statement on COVID-19 vaccination.The entries of the competition will be utilized to increase vaccine awareness by INYAS, and these competitions will be judged in three groups – school, college and professional.

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Indian Railways to continue running the trains as per demand

Indian Railways will continue to provide trains services as per demand. Presently, Indian Railways is running total 1402 specials train services on an average per day. Total 5381 Suburban train services and 830 Passenger train services are also operational. Apart from this, 28 special trains are being operated as clones of highly patronized trains with high patronage.Moreover, additional trains are being run during April-May 2021 to clear rush in Central Railway with 58 trains (29 pairs) and Western Railway with 60 trains (30 pairs).

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Kerala: State Health Minister KK Shailaja has said that the state has prepared an action plan to prevent the new surge of Covid cases. Speaking after a review meeting today, she said facilities for the treatment of critically ill patients will be enhanced in medical colleges. Necessary ICUs and ventilators will be set up. As the number of patients increase, CFLTCs will be augmented. The Minister said more than 95 percent of health workers have been vaccinated. A mass campaign will be launched for enhancing the vaccination drive. Meanwhile the health condition of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and former CM OommenChandy who have been tested positive for Covid-19, are stable. The state confirmed 4353 Covid-19 cases on Thursday, with the death toll rising to 4728. The test positivity rate stands at 6.81.
• Tamil Nadu: Multiple restrictions will be reintroduced from April 10 to curb the steady increase in Covid-19 cases across Tamil Nadu, according to a government order issued. The Director of Government Examinations has issued guidelines for the conduct of practical examinations for students of Class 12 of State board schools. Chennai Corporation launches door-to-door fever survey in all localities. Health department has said Covid will reach its peak in April end in the State. As per Covid report on 08.04.2021, 4,276 persons contracted Covid-19 while 19 succumbed to the infection; 86,179 persons vaccinated. 1520 tested positive in Chennai.
• Karnataka: The state government on Thursday decided to impose ‘Corona Curfew’ in eight cities, including Bengaluru, for 10 days starting April 10, to contain the new wave of Covid-19. The night curfew will be in force on all days from 10 pm to 5 am. Health Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday said there is no shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in Karnataka, adding that about 25-30 lakh doses are still available in the state. Following the Union Government order, Health Minister tweeted that starting April 11, Covid-19 vaccinations will be carried out in all private and government workplaces which have at least 100 eligible beneficiaries above 45 years of age. Covid figures reported by State on 08.09.2021 are as follows: - New Cases Reported: 6570; Total Active Cases: 53395; New Covid Deaths: 36; Total Covid Deaths: 12767.
• Andhra Pradesh: State has reported as many as 2558 new Covid-19 infections taking the overall caseload to 9,15,832 cases; six more fatalities have been reported taking the toll to 7268 in the state. Upward trend of coronavirus cases has been witnessed in nine districts, each of which accounted for more than 130 new cases. Chittoor district topped the list with 465 new infections, followed by Guntur at 399.  Meanwhile, the recoveries stand at 8,93,651 including 915 on Thursday and active cases mounts to 14,913.  The state has conducted 1.53 crore tests till day including 31,268 in the last twenty-four hours. Health Minister Alla Nani said that at present there is no shortage of vaccine anywhere and informed that the government has put indent to the Centre for one crore vaccine doses.
• Telangana:   State issues orders instructing the officials to increase the number of RT-PCR tests – ensure 100 percent vaccination among all heath workers and frontline workers within a week, impose Rs.1000 fine on people who don’t wear mask in public places. The CM also announced that all teachers and other staff working in private schools in the state will be given Rs.2000 financial assistance and 25 Kgs rice per month till the schools are re-opened. Media reported that the number of daily positive cases in the state has been more than doubled within a week and mentioned that while the number of daily cases was 965 on 1st April and now it has increased to 2055.
• Assam:Even as the number of COVID-19 cases has again started increasing, Health Minister HimantaBiswaSarma ruled out the possibility of imposing either lockdown or night curfew but added that testing will be ramped up. The total number of positive COVID cases detected in the state on Thursday stood at 245, of which 128 are from Kamrup Metro. Altogether, 22,888 tests were done.
• Manipur:Mass Covid vaccination campaign to be conducted in Manipur from April 11-14.Chief Minister N Biren Singh urged all eligible for vaccination to get vaccinated during the campaign in order to prevent a second wave of the pandemic.Five more air passengers found COVID-19 positive at Imphal airport.Manipur recorded 16 new COVID-19 positive cases and one death on Thursday. 961 more people have been administered COVID-19 vaccine in the state. With it, the cumulative number of people vaccinated rose to 90,551, including 31,813 healthcare workers.
• Meghalaya:One person died after testing positive for COVID-19 taking the death toll in the state to 151. The State has also recorded 25 new COVID-19 cases and 1 recovery.The new cases include 20 from East Khasi Hills district, 2 from East Jaintia Hills district and 1 each from Ri Bhoi district, West Jaintia Hills district and West Khasi Hills District.So far,the State has detected a total of 14,165 COVID-19 cases out of which 131 are active cases, 13,833 recovered and 151 deaths. Amidst a slow but steady increase in COVID-19 cases in Meghalaya in what is being termed by many as a second wave, the Khasi Jaintia Deficit School Teachers’ Association (KJDSTA) has asked the respective school authorities in the state to assess the situation for themselves and shut down the institutes if it is deemed necessary instead of waiting for the state government to take a call on the issue.
• Tripura: 37 People tested positive in last 24 hours. Deputy CM of the state also tested positive. Total casesstand at 116. Classes for 1 and 2 suspended from today while classes upto 4 to be on alternative days.
• Sikkim: Daily cases calm down to 6 new cases in Sikkim; 5,537 receive vaccine jabs. In the meanwhile, the number of recovered cases of COVID-19 in Sikkim further improved to 5,980 with two more recoveries recorded in the State.
• Sikkim’s tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has now reached 6,323 and there arecurrently 97 active cases of coronavirus in the State.
• Nagaland:Nagaland reports 5 new Covid cases. Active cases are 147 & total 12,381. A total of 1,06,199 doses of Covid vaccine inoculated so far.
• Maharashtra: As per the latest data released today, Maharashtra has administered the highest 93.38 lakh  jabs, comprising 84.35 lakh first doses and 9.03 lakh second doses, making it the top performer in absolute numbers.  Maharashtra is followed by Rajasthan at 88.07 lakh vaccinations and Gujarat with 84.75 lakh vaccinations till date.  Maharashtra has asked the Centre to supply 40 lakh doses of Covid vaccines per week and demanded that its vaccine needs should be addressed on priority as it is the worst affected state with over 5 lakh active Covid cases.
• Goa: Unable to identify Covid-19 strains in patients testing positive during the second Covid-19 wave in Goa, the State Government has decided to set up its own Genome Sequencing Laboratory.  State Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said it is taking 10-15 days to get the samples tested at the Pune based National Institute of Virology, which is hampering treatment.  Goa Chief Minister Shri Pramod Sawant has said that ‘Tika Utsav’ will be held from 11-14 April at Panchayat levels to maximize vaccine coverage in the state.
• Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Pradesh government has planned to enforce a lockdown in four districts i.e. Ratlam, Betul, Katni and Khargone. While Ratlam and Betul will be locked down for nine days from 6 pm on Friday, Khargone and Katni will see restrictions for seven days beginning 9 pm and 6 pm respectively, from Friday.  The measure will be in addition to a 60-hour lockdown that has been put in place in all cities from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday. However, essential services will remain unaffected by the curbs.    The state on Thursday reported  4324 fresh covid cases and 27 deaths
• Chhattisgarh: Amidst rising Covid cases, the Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education has postponed the Class 10 examinations, scheduled to be held from April 15 to May 1.  No decision on Class 12 exams, scheduled from May 3-24 has been taken yet.  The new dates for Class 10 examinations will be announced in due course.  Chhattisgarh on Thursday reported 9,242 new Covid cases and the number of active cases in the state has gone up to 68,125.

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