Latest Bulletin of COVID-19 UPDATE of 26th November

44,489 new confirmed COVID cases have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country. Of these, 60.72% is contributed by six States/UT i.e. Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Kerala leads the tally with 6,491 new COVID cases. Maharashtra has reported 6,159 new cases, while Delhi registered another 5,246 new cases in the last 24 hours. 60.50% of the 524 case fatalities reported in the past 24 hours are concentrated in six States/UTs- Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Delhi with 99 deaths reported the maximum new fatalities. Maharashtra saw a fatality count of 65 followed by West Bengal with 51 deaths. India’s present active caseload (4,52,344) is 4.88% of the total Positive Cases, and has been sustained below the 5% mark. 65% of the active cases are in the above mentioned 8 States/UTs which have contributed to the maximum daily new cases and the daily highest deaths. 61% of the total deaths are concentrated in these 8 States/UT. Case Fatality Rate (CFR) in these 8 States/UT as compared to the national average is (1.46%). Total recovered cases in India are nearing 87 lakhs (86,79,138). The national recovery rate stands at 93.66% today. 36,367 recoveries have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country. 15 States/UTs have Recovery Rate more than the national average. 20 States/UTs have reported Recovery Rate less than the national average.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the concluding session of 80th All India Presiding Officers Conference at Kevadia Gujarat today, via video conferencing. The Prime Minister said that it is a day to remember the inspiration of Gandhi ji and commitment of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He also remembered victims of the Mumbai terrorist attack which took place on this day in 2008. He paid tribute to the martyrs of the security forces and said that today India is fighting terrorism in a new way and paid his respect to the security forces. The Prime Minister said that the strength of our Constitution helps us in the time of difficulties. The resilience of Indian electoral system and reaction to the Corona pandemic has proved this. He praised the Members of Parliament for giving more output in recent times and taking a pay cut for helping in the fight against Corona.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the celebration of Centennial Foundation Day of University of Lucknow yesterday via video conferencing. The Prime Minister unveiled the University’s Centennial Commemorative Coin on the occasion. He also released a special Commemorative Postal Stamp issued by India Post and its Special Cover during the event. The Union Defence Minister and Member of Parliament from Lucknow, Shri Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath were present on the occasion. The Prime Minister exhorted the University to offer courses on the local arts and products and called for research to do value addition to these local products. Management, branding and strategy to make the products like Lucknow ‘Chikankari’, brass wares of Moradabad, locks of Aligarh, Bhadohi Carpets globally competitive should be the part of courses offered at the university. This will help in realizing the concept of one district one product. The Prime minister also called for continued engagement with subjects of arts, culture and spirituality to provide them a global reach.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi chaired the PRAGATI meeting yesterday. It marked Prime Minister’s thirty-third interaction through PRAGATI – the ICT based multi-modal platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation, involving Central and State governments. In PRAGATI meeting, multiple projects, grievances and programmes were reviewed. The projects taken up were of the Ministry of Railways, MORTH, DPIIT and Power Ministry. These projects, with a total cost of Rs 1.41 lakh crore, were related to ten states and union territories, including Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Prime Minister asked the concerned Secretaries of the Union Government and Chief Secretaries of the State Governments to ensure that they complete the work before time. During the meeting, grievances related to COVID-19 and to the PM Awas Yojana (Gramin) were taken up. PM SVANidhi, agriculture reforms and development of districts as export hubs were reviewed. Prime Minister also asked the States to develop a State Export Strategy.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu today called upon the universities and educators to re-evaluate our education system to make it more value-based, holistic and complete. Addressing the 13th e-convocation of ICFAI University, Sikkim, through video-conferencing today, the Vice President asked the educators to take inspiration from our holistic Vedic education and understand the vision behind New Education Policy. Describing the New Education Policy as “much needed reform”, he lauded it for its focus on multi-disciplinary method and efforts to reorient the research and the regulatory systems. Asking the Universities to prepare students to effectively deal with real-world challenges, the Vice President cited the example of COVID-19 pandemic which caught all nations off-guard and unprepared. “We have to learn lessons from this pandemic and experts need to come together and come up with solutions to meet such threats in the future”, he said. Shri Naidu told students that the COVID pandemic was the first big adversity in front of them. However, he asked them to leverage technology to create opportunities out of it instead of looking at it as a crisis. “For those of you seeking to become job creators, there cannot be a better place to implement your business ideas than India right now as we are following our Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat”, he said.

 

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA),under Ministry of Commerce and Industry,facilitates export of its scheduled agricultural and processed products through several export promotional activities. During the Covid19 pandemic period, APEDA continued its endeavour to promote export of agricultural products through the virtual medium. Several virtual buyer seller meets were organised with the importing countries in association with the Indian Missions abroad. In this series, a virtual networking meet with German importers was organised on 25.11.2020 to promote export of fresh fruits and vegetables from the country. The event was organised by APEDA in collaboration with Embassy of India, Berlin and German Agribusiness Alliance.More than 70 participants participated in the event.

Shri Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State (IC), for AYUSH chaired an e-event organized by the National Medicinal Plant Board on 24th November, 2020 to celebrate its Establishment Day. On this occasion, a “Status Report of NMPB 2020” and “Ayur-veg” e-book were also released. The AYUSH Minister, Secretary (AYUSH) Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha and other members of the Board complemented NMPB for its progress, achievements and contribution made for growth and development of medicinal plants sector in the country. In recent years cultivation of medicinal plants has started gaining momentum. However, still a significant part of our requirements continue to be met from wild sources. To meet increasing demand for medicinal plants, the NMPB focuses on in-situ & ex-situ conservation and augmenting local medicinal plants and aromatic species of medical significance. The NMPB promotes research & development, capacity building through trainings, raising awareness through promotional activities like creation of Home/School herbal gardens.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare today visited National Health Authority (NHA) to conduct a high-level review of the implementation of the flagship health protection mission, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana(AB PM-JAY) and National Digital Health Mission (NDHM). The Health Minister also reviewed the implementation of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY which completed two years on 23rd September this year. Appreciating the progress of the scheme, Dr. Vardhan said, “In these unprecedented times, I am pleased to know that more than 1.4 crore cashless treatments worth over Rs. 17,500 crore have been provided to the poorest citizens under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY. During the height of the pandemic, Government of India has been careful to not lose focus away from critical illnesses and ensured that all those needing such essential healthcare were provided the same. This has resulted in savings of nearly Rs. 35,000 crore to the people. We understand that this health assurance and its delivery is a huge source of support and security for millions of families reeling under the extreme stress of serious illness amidst this pandemic.”

 

• Maharashtra: In Maharashtra, as the SOPs for passengers travelling to the state from Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa are coming into effect, intense screening is being done at various checkposts and railways stations. A special healthcare centre has been set up in Nashik to screen passengers coming from the four states. The Nashik municipal corporation has set up a 24×7 screening centre for arriving passengers at the railway  station. Screening centres have also been set up at Manmad, Lasalgaon, Nandgaon, Deolali and Igatpuri.
• Gujarat: Gujarat Health Minister Kumar Kanani on Wednesday said all those traveling abroad or out of the state will now have to pay Rs 1,000 for a coronavirus test. For the second time this month, Gujarat reported a fresh peak with 1,540 cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours. This is also the third time that the single day tally went above the mark of 1,500. So far, Gujarat has reported 2,01,949 cases of Covid-19. With 14 more patients succumbing to the infection, the death toll rose to 3,906.
• Rajasthan: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has made an emotional appeal to wedding guests to follow Covid guidelines in view of the sudden spike in infections. The state witnesses an estimated 20,000 weddings including 6,000 in Jaipur this season, from November 25 to December 11. In a series of tweets, Gehot said, “As the wedding season begins from today, my appeal to all is to comply with rules & regulations put in place to contain the spread of Covid infection. All must wear a mask, maintain social distancing & not exceed the number of guests allowed in a function.” The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 26,320 in the state.
• Madhya Pradesh: In Madhya Pradesh, around a dozen districts of the state including Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Ratlam, Vidisha and Shivpuri have shown higher positivity rates since last week. The positivity rate for the last seven days in Bhopal is 12 percent, while that of Indore is 10 percent. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has instructed officials to ensure strict observance of mask wearing. Fines are also to be imposed for violating covid appropriate behavior of wearing masks. A review of Corona infection in Madhya Pradesh showed that active cases of COVID-19 have increased again in the state from November 3. The number of active cases has now reached to 12,979. The state’s average positivity rate has reached 5.5 percent.
• Chhattisgarh: In Chhattisgarh, preparations have begun for vaccination against COVID-19. Data of about 98 percent of the health workers of the state has already been collected for administering vaccine to them on priority. In Chhattisgarh, about two thousand eight hundred places and more than eight thousand vaccinators have been identified for COVID vaccination. According to the officials of Health Department, 630 cold chain points are already functioning in the state. Intensive Covid screening of all passengers will now be mandatorily done at airports. The 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.
• Goa: Goa on Wednesday reported 125 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections to 47,193.  With four more persons succumbing to the infection, the overall toll mounted to 683.
• Assam: In Assam, 182 cases detected out of 24,426 tests conducted with positivity rate of 0.75%. 117 patients discharged, total cases 2,12,021, recovered- 97.99%, active cases- 1.54%, tweeted State Health Minister.
• Nagaland; With 60 new cases, state’s COVID-19 total reaches 10,991 while active cases are 1,465.
• Sikkim: Sikkim’s tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reached 4,819 on Wednesday with 42 fresh cases of novel Coronavirus being reported in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, 44 more patients weredischarged from the facility and home isolation across the State on Tuesday, improving the figure of discharged patients to 4,395.
• Kerala: The State government has granted permission to carry out the funeral of Covid-19 victims without touching the body; As per the relaxations in the Covid-19 protocol, rituals like offering prayers and showering of holy water are allowed in the funeral of people who succumbed to Covid-19. The state on Wednesday achieved another landmark in the Covid-19 management as the total samples sent for testing crossed the six million-mark; however, reports of malfunctioning of rapid antigen test cards and RT-PCR kits from various parts of the state have raised serious questions on the accuracy of the results; the state had recently decided to return 32,122 rapid antigen test cards it procured from Maharashtra.
• Tamil Nadu: Covid-19 tests begin at Puducherry relief camps, fear of virus keeps people away; though the administration has set up 250 relief camps in schools and community halls to ensure safety of people in vulnerable areas, only 10 have been occupied so far. Chennai Corporation grapples with twin challenges of Cyclone Nivar and Covid-19; officials at the zonal level said Covid-19 test samples on Wednesday may not be on par with the usual samples collected on a daily basis, owing to Cyclone Nivar. Even as Tamil Nadu braces for the impact of Cyclone Nivar, the state reported 1,534 Covid-19 cases and 16 deaths on Wednesday, taking the tally to 7,74,710 and toll to 11,655.
• Karnataka: Night curfew unlikely in Karnataka as Covid-19 caseload continues to decline; “It is an option, but the situation at present doesn’t warrant it. As for new containment and surveillance guidelines, we are already implementing most of them,” Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey.  MSMEs fear loss of business as steel prices rise; as though battling the COVID related disruptions was not enough, the MSMEs in the state face serious trouble with the rising steel prices, the basic raw material for many micro and small enterprises in the manufacturing sector; Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has urged the government to subsidise the steel prices or impose price control.
• Andhra Pradesh: The third phase clinical trials of Covaxin began at the Government Fever Hospital in Guntur; District collector Samuel Anand Kumar after formally launching the third phase clinical trials said that the Government Fever Hospital was given 1,000 doses for clinical trials. With coronavirus cases declining steadily, the Prakasam district administration have de-notified all private hospitals as Covid-19 hospitals and all infected patients will be treated only at RIMS-Ongole, and other government hospitals.
• Telangana: BJP today released its manifesto for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, promising corona vaccine and testing to all as per the Central government stipulations. Telangana reported 862 new Covid-19 cases today, pushing the state’s tally to 2,66,904; three more persons succumbed to the virus taking the death toll to 1,444.