COVID UPDATE : Active Cases 12.10% of the total positive cases on 12th October 2020

India continues to report a trend of steadily decreasing active cases. For the fourth day after the active cases dropped below the 9L mark after a month, the decline continues unabated. Presently the active cases comprise merely 12.10% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 8,61,853. India is also reporting high number of recoveries. The total recovered cases are close to 61.5 lakhs (61,49,535). The difference between active cases and recovered cases is consistently increasing and stands at 52,87,682 today. 71,559 patients have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases are 66,732. The national Recovery Rate has progressed to 86.36%. 77% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs.  Maharashtra and Karnataka contribute more than 10,000 to the single day recovery. 66,732 new confirmed cases were recorded in last 24 hours. 81% of these are from 10 States and UTs. Maharashtra is still reporting a very high number of new cases with more than 10,000 cases followed by Karnataka   and Kerala with more than 9,000 cases each. 816 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, nearly 85% are concentrated in ten States/UTs. More than 37% of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra (309 deaths).

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare responded to a volley of questions fielded by his social media interactors on the fifth episode of Sunday Samvaad. Sternly squashing rumours and removing popular misconceptions regarding COVID, the Health Minister gave detailed information on the role of Ayurveda in the fight against COVID, ICMR’s upcoming study on cases of reinfection, the selection criteria for vaccination and other critical information regarding the much touted COVID Vaccine. Upon learning on the various difficulties faced by his constituents in ChandniChowk, Delhi, he shared his contact details in the public platform as a response and assured that all issues faced by people in his constituency would be resolved on priority. Warning people to stay away from large congregations and diligently follow the guidelines issued by the government regarding precautions to be taken, Dr. Harsh Vardhan requested people to celebrate upcoming festivals at home, with their loved ones, instead of going out to fairs and pandals. Reminding people that fighting against COVID is the foremost Dharma, he explained that his Dharma as the Health Minister of the country is to mitigate the virus and prevent deaths at any cost. Dr Harsh Vardhan shared the possibility of increased novel coronavirus transmission during winters as it is a respiratory virus and the transmission of respiratory viruses is known to increase during the colder weather. Adhering to the Covid appropriate behaviours of wearing masks/face covers, especially when in public places, regularly washing of hands and maintaining of respiratory etiquette ill help us to contain the spread of the diseases, he reiterated firmly.

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. NirmalaSitharaman today announced measures of Rs 73,000 crore to stimulate consumer spending in the economy in an effort to fight the slowdown due to COVID-19 pandemic following lockdown.While announcing the demand stimulus package, Smt. Sitharaman said, “Indications are that savings of government and organised sector employees have increased and we want to incentivise such people to boost demand for the benefit of the less fortunate.” The Finance Minister further said that if demand goes up based on the stimulus measures announced today, it will have an impact on those people who have been affected by COVID-19 and are desperately looking for demand to keep their business going. The Finance Minister said that the Government does not want to burden the common citizen with future inflation and also not put the Government debt on an unsustainable path. The proposals presented today by the Finance Minister are designed to stimulate spending in a fiscally prudent manner as some of the proposals are for advancing or front-loading of expenditure with offsetting changes later while others are directly linked to increase in GDP. The incentives include cash payment and leave encashment in lieu of one LTC during 2018-21 according to entitlement; Special Festival Advance Scheme revived as a one-time measure for both Gazetted and non-Gazetted employees; Special interest free 50-year loans to States for capital expenditure for Rs. 12,000 crore; and Additional budget of Rs. 25,000 crore, in addition to Rs. 4.13 lakh crore given in Union Budget 2020, for Capital Expenditure

Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi launched physical distribution of property cards under SVAMITVA scheme through video conferencing and interacted with the beneficiaries of the scheme on Sunday.Prime Minister wished the beneficiaries of ‘SVAMITVA Scheme’ who have got property cards of their houses and said now the beneficiaries will have a right, a legal document of owning their houses. The scheme is going to bring historical changes to the villages in the country. He added the country has taken another major step towards an AtmaNirbhar Bharat, as the scheme helps in making rural India self-reliant.He said one lakh beneficiaries from Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh have been handed over the legal papers of their houses and promised to give such property cards to every household in the next three – four years in every village of the country. Prime Minister said ‘SVAMITVA Scheme’ will help in strengthening the Panchayati Raj system for which efforts are underway for the past 6 years. He listed the initiatives taken for strengthening the Gram Panchayats in the past 6 years and said SVAMITVA Scheme will make village management easier for our gram panchayats, in a systematic way like municipalities and municipal corporations. He said in the last 6 years, continuous efforts were made to remove chronic shortages in the villages.

The Vice President, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu has tested negative for COVID-19 today. He has been under home-quarantine after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on 29th September, 2020.As per today’s RT-PCR test conducted by a medical team from AIIMS, both the Vice President and his wife, Smt. Usha Naidu have tested negative for COVID-19.Shri Naidu is in good health and is expected to resume normal activities soon as per doctors’ advice. He thanked all those who prayed for his well-being.

GaribKalyanRojgarAbhiyaan (GKRA) launched to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages and similarly affected citizens in rural area, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, is taking action on mission mode to provide employment to migrant workers who have returned to their native villages of 6 states. The Abhiyaan is empowering villagers with livelihood opportunities in 116 districts of these states. By the 15th week, a total of about 32 crore mandays employment has been provided and Rs.31577 crore spent so far in the pursuit of objectives of the Abhiyaan. A large number of structures have been created

More than fifty two thousand electors belonging to Senior Citizen (above 80 years of age) and PwD categories, have opted to exercise the facility to vote through postal ballots in the forthcoming phase 1 of General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Bihar 2020. These electors will be provided postal ballots on pre-informed date(s) by the Returning Officers with proper security and videography arrangements to ensure secrecy, safety, and transparency in the process. This is the first time that postal ballot facility is being extended to both the categories in Bihar elections. Booth Level Officers of 71 Assembly Constituencies in Bihar have reached out to more than four lakh such electors. Remaining electors intend to visit the booth on the poll day for voting. In subsequent two phases of elections in Bihar and in bye-elections in all other States, this exercise will continue so that electoral process becomes more accessible, inclusive and SAFE for these categories during the period of COVID-19. BLOs will visit approximately 12 lakh such electors’ homes in Bihar in the next two phases for this purpose.

Shri SantoshGangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour& Employment has called for suitable global action especially by BRICs towards effecting a balance between labour and employer which will generate growth and create more jobs & greater labour welfare. Speaking at a BRICS Ministerial virtual meet on Friday, Shri Gangwar said safety, health, welfare and improved working conditions are essential for wellbeing of the workers. A healthy workforce, he said, in the country would be more productive and contribute to economic growth. BRICS Labour& Employment Ministers’ Virtual Meeting was held under Russian Presidency to discuss various issues including approaches to creating a safe work culture in BRICS countries. Director General ILO, Mr Guy Ryder, Representatives from Workers and Employers Organisations also attended. Minister underlined that the aspects of occupational safety and health measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 have also acquired significance.

The consistent and concerted efforts of the Government to boost agricultural exports are bearing fruit as despite of the on-going Covid-19 crisis, the export of essential agri commodities for the cumulative period of April-September, 2020 has increased by 43.4% to Rs 53626.6 crore as compared to Rs 37397.3 crore in the same period last year. Major commodity groups which have recorded positive export growth during April-Sept, 2020-21 vis-à-vis April-Sept, 2019-20 are Groundnut (35%), Refined Sugar (104%), wheat (206%), Basmati Rice (13%) and Non-Basmati Rice (105%) etc. Furthermore, balance of trade during April-September 2020 has been significantly positive at Rs 9002 Crore as against trade deficit of Rs. 2133 during the same period in 2019. On month to month basis (MoM), India’s agricultural export of essential agricultural commodities during September, 2020 has been of Rs 9296 crore against export of Rs 5114 crore during September, 2019, showing an increase of 81.7%.

• Maharashtra: Maharashtra School Education Minister VarshaGaikwad has announced that schools will not reopen before Diwali, as the Coronavirus cases continue to rise in the state.  State Higher and Technical Education Minister UdaySamant also said his department does not intend to reopen colleges until the COVID-19 situation is under control.   Maharashtra on Sunday, reported 10,792 new Covid cases taking the total number of active cases to 2.21 lakhs.
• Gujarat: The Gujarat government has, announced the Standard Operating Procedure for the upcoming festivities which include Navratri that begins October 17. The SOP has ruled out commercial or traditional street Garbas in the state for the current year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. This will be for the first time in the recent history of Gujarat that there will be no garba during the Navratri, which is its essential element and which the state government has branded as the ‘Longest Dance Festival of the World’.
• Rajasthan: With more Covid-19 patients getting admitted to hospitals complaining breathlessness and requiring oxygen support, the state government is setting up 38 oxygen generation plants in hospitals attached to government medical colleges and district hospitals.  The number of active Covid cases in Rajasthan is 21,412.
• Madhya Pradesh: Madhya Pradesh on Sunday saw 1,575 fresh coronavirus cases which pushed its total caseload to 1,46,820, while 25 deaths took the toll to 2,624. Of the new cases, Indore accounted for 429, Bhopal 256, Jabalpur 103 and Gwalior 45.
• Chhattisgarh: Chhattisgarh government has also issued guidelines regarding the upcoming Navratri and Dussehra festivals in the wake of spread of COVID infection. Besides, authorities in the tribal Bastar Division have appealed to the devotees not to be physically present during the various rituals of the famous BastarDussehra.  For RavanDahan, not more than 50 people can be present, even as the height of the effigies has been capped at 10 feet.
• Kerala: Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan has said that reopening of schools cannot be done at this juncture in the state. Declaring Kerala as the first state in the public education sector to become completely digital, he said the government’s aim is to make good education accessible to the poor. Meanwhile, the State Health Department today decided to permit bystanders for patients in Covid hospitals. The Government has decided to increase Covid-19 testing in the state. It has also asked the authorities concerned to install Covid 19 testing kiosks in public places. Covid-19 was confirmed in 9,347 persons in Kerala yesterday. The official death toll has breached 1000 and touched 1003. At present there are 96,316 patients undergoing treatment and around 2.84 lakh people under observation in various districts.
• Tamil Nadu:Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday signed 14 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) entailing investments to the tune of Rs 10,055 crore with potential to generate employment for over 7,000 people. In a major boost to rural economy, as many as 4,741 people were provided Rs 3.77 crore as Covid-19 special relief assistance under the Tamil Nadu Rural Rejuvenation Scheme in Coimbatore district.
• Karnataka: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Monday re-allocated the health and family welfare portfolio to Dr K. Sudhakar, the medical education minister, for better coordination between the two crucial departments in fighting Covid; B. Sriramulu, who previously held the health portfolio, has been allocated the social welfare department. Meanwhile public sector transport KSRTC chairman said after corona and lockdown, the corporation has suffered loss to the tune of Rs 1600cr. Covid-19 positivity rate in Bengaluru increases after two months; State task force member says this can be attributed to better contact tracing.
• Andhra Pradesh: Recovery rate in Andhra Pradesh, for the first time, reached 93.05 per cent.  Only 6.13 per cent cases, or 46,295 of the total cases reported so far, are active. The death rate continued to stay at 0.83 per cent.  Also, for the first time in more than three months, the daily positivity rate of the tests came down to 6.90 per cent as 75,517 samples were tested.  The overall positivity rate of the 65,69,616 samples tested so far remained at 11.50 per cent.  West Godavari reported the highest number of new cases and Chittoor and East Godavari followed it with more than 700 new cases each. Prakasam reported the highest number of new deaths.
• Telangana: 1021 new cases, 2214 recoveries & 6 deaths reported in the last 24 hours; out of 1021 cases, 228 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 2,13,084; Active cases: 24,514; Deaths: 1228; Discharges :1,87,342. Schools in Telangana likely to reopen on November 1, parents worried; scared for their kids’ safety, they ask govt to cancel academic year. Chief Minister K ChandrashekharRao has directed officials as well as people to remain vigilant and cautious in the wake of a heavy rainfall warning across the State for the next two days.
• Assam: In Assam during the last 24 hours 1227 COVID-19 patients were discharged after recovery. Total discharge patients in the state reached to 164579. While 28385 active COVID-19 cases are there in the state.
• Nagaland: With the detection of 70 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, Nagaland crossed the  7000 mark with a total of 7019 Covid positive cases. A total of 49 recoveries were also reported on Sunday.
• Meghalaya: In Meghalaya, total active case is 2355 and recovered 5142.

 

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