Latest COVID UPDATE of 13th November 2020

India’s active cases today stand at 4,84,547, much below the 5-lakh mark. This is the third day of the active cases being sustained below the 5-L mark. Their share in the total Positive Cases stands at only 5.55%. In contrast to 44,879 new reported cases, 49,079 cases have recovered in the last 24 hours which continues India’s trend of having daily high recoveries that outnumber the daily new cases. This trend has been observed for the 41st day today. The total recovered cases stand at 81,15,580 which translates to a Recovery Rate of 92.97%. The gap between Recovered cases and Active cases continues to grow and presently stands at 76,31,033. 77.83% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Maharashtra reported the maximum number of single day recoveries. 7,809 new recoveries have pushed up the State’s total recoveries to 16,05,064. 76.25% of the new cases are concentrated in 10 States and UTs. Delhi reported the maximum daily new cases numbering 7,053 in the last 24 hours. Kerala recorded 5,537 new cases while Maharashtra reported 4,496 new cases yesterday. Ten States/UTs account for about 80% (79.34%) of the 547case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. 22.3% of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra which reported 122 deaths. Delhi and West Bengal follow with 104 and 54 new deaths, respectively.

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi dedicated two future-ready Ayurveda institutions to the nation on the 5th Ayurveda Day today via video conferencing. These are the Institute of Teaching & Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar and the National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur. Both the Institutes are premier institutions of Ayurveda in the country. The former has been conferred the status of an Institution of National Importance (INI) by an Act of the Parliament, and the latter is an Institution Deemed to be University by the University Grants Commission. The Ministry of AYUSH, since 2016, has been observing ‘Ayurveda Day’ every year on the occasion of Dhanwantari Jayanti (Dhanteras).Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Shri Shripad Naik, Chief Minister of Gujarat Shri Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Shri Ashok Gehlot, Governor of Rajasthan Shri Kalraj Mishra, Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat, were present on the occasion andDirector General of World Health Dr TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus gave a video message on the occasion and praised the Prime Minister’s commitment to the universal coverage under Ayushman Bharat and evidence-based promotion of traditional medicines to achieve health related objectives. The Prime Minister thanked WHO and the DG for choosing India for the Global Centre of Traditional medicineThe Prime Minister said today, on one hand, India is testing vaccines, on the other, it is also increasing international cooperation on Ayurvedic research to fight COVID.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today participated in the 17thASEAN-India Summit at the invitation of H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Vietnam, the current Chair of ASEAN.The Summit, which saw the participation of all ten ASEAN Member States, was conducted in virtual format.Speaking at the Summit, Prime Minister underlined the centrality of ASEAN in India’s Act East Policy. He noted that a cohesive, responsive and prosperous ASEAN is central to India’s Indo-Pacific Vision and contributes to Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). On COVID-19, the Prime Minister highlighted India’s response and broader support to the international community, and welcomed ASEAN’s initiatives to fight the pandemic. Prime Minister announced a contribution of US$ 1 million to the COVID-19 ASEAN Response Fund.The Prime Minister also underscored the importance of greater physical and digital connectivity between ASEAN and India and reiterated India’s offer of US$ 1 billion Line of Credit to support ASEAN connectivity. On trade and investment, he underlined the importance of diversification and resilience of supply chains for post-COVID economic recovery.

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has said that yesterday’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat package is a continuation of the government’s effort to help all sections of the society. In a tweet Shri Narendra Modi said “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package continues our efforts to help all sections of society. These initiatives will help in creating jobs, alleviate stressed sectors, ensure liquidity, boost manufacturing, energise real-estate sector & support farmers. “

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi unveiled a statue of Swami Vivekananda in JNU Campus, New Delhi yesterday through video conferencing.Addressing the JNU students and the youth of the country, the Prime Minister expressed his views on harms of prioritizing ideology over national interest. He said this is one thing that has done great harm to the democratic system of our country. “Because my ideology says this, so in matters of national interest, I will think in the same framework, I will work on the same parameter, this is wrong”, said Shri Modi. It is natural to be proud of one’s ideology still, on the subjects of national interest, our ideology should be seen standing with the nation not against it, he stressed.The Prime Minister put forward the framework of the reform agenda of his government before the students. He added the idea of ​​AtmaNirbhar Bharat has become the collective consciousness of more than 130 crore Indians, has become part of our aspirations. Continuing about the Reforms in India, the Prime Minister urged JNU students to ponder on how the notion of Good Reforms as bad politics changed to good reforms as good politics

The High Level Committee (HLC) under the Chairmanship of the Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, has approved additional Central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to six States, which were affected by cyclone/ floods/ landslides during this year. HLC has approved additional Central assistance of Rs 4,381.88 crore to six States from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). For cyclone ‘Amphan’, Rs 2,707.77 crore has been approved for West Bengal and Rs.128.23 crore for Odisha. For cyclone ‘Nisarga’ Rs 268.59 crore has been approved for Maharashtra. For floods and landslides during the South-West monsoon, Rs.577.84 crore has been approved for Karnataka, Rs 611.61 crore for Madhya Pradesh, and Rs 87.84 crore for Sikkim. In addition, during the financial year 2020-21, till date, the CentralGovernment has released Rs 15,524.43 crore to 28 States from the SDRF.

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman has announced 12 key measures, as part of Government of India’s stimulus to the economy, under AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0. The net stimulus announced yesterday amounts to ₹ 2.65 Lakh crore. While addressing the Press Conference yesterday ,SmtSitharaman also informed that the total stimulus announced by the Government and Reserve Bank of India till date, to help the nation tide over the COVID-19 pandemic, works out to ₹ 29.87 lakh crore, which is 15% of national GDP. Out of this, stimulus worth 9% of GDP has been provided by the government.₹900 Crore is being provided to Department of Biotechnology for Research and Development of Indian COVID Vaccine.

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Professor Ashutosh Sharma, highlighted that a policy on Scientific Social Responsibility (SSR) would be in place in the next few months to create new interfaces between science and society, at a webinar organised on the occasion of World Science Day. “Connecting science to society can make S&T one of the strongest pillars for peace and development. Communication of science to society at large is a major challenge. Science needs to reach the masses so that it can be used as a major tool for peace and development,” he pointed out at the webinar on World Science Day for Peace and Development organised jointly by DST and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). .

In a major decision to help the trade and industry in the newly formed Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir and UT of Ladakh, the Central Government has decided to extend the period for availing the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) (SVLDR) Scheme (SVLDRS), 2019 to 31st December, 2020 for eligible taxpayers from these UTs. This decision would come as a major relief to taxpayers of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh who faced genuine difficulties in availing the Scheme during the original period of operation. The extension gives these taxpayers a fresh opportunity to settle their past tax disputes. This decision to extend the period for availing the Scheme for the taxpayers of the UT of Jammu & Kashmir and UT of Ladakh would provide them a level playing field with the thousands of other taxpayers across the country who took the advantage of the Scheme. The detailed guidelines shall be issued shortly.

• Assam: In Assam, 202 cases detected out of 24,350 tests conducted today, with positivity rate of 0.83%, 771 patients discharged. Total cases- 209835, recovered- 97.25%, active cases- 2.29%.
• Mizoram: Mizoram reports 25 new cases of COVID-19.
• Nagaland: With 37 new cases, Nagaland’s COVID-19 total reaches 9,615. Active cases comes down to just 786 cases.
• Sikkim: 25 new cases take Sikkim’s COVID caseload to 4,368.
• Kerala: Amidst fears that the ensuing civic body polls may trigger another Covid-19 wave in Kerala, State Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said that the candidates, political activists and the public should be cautious while campaigning for the elections. She pointed out that even though the daily number of cases is coming down, there are high chances of spread in many places. Only a maximum of five people, including the candidate should go for house visits during the campaign. No handshakes to be made and under no circumstances the masks should be lowered. The Minister also urged to include messages in their campaign materials that voters should adhere to Covid appropriate behavior. Meanwhile the test positivity rate dropped below 10% after the state touched 77,183 active cases on Thursday. The current Covid death toll in the state stands at 1797.
• Tamil Nadu: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami flagged off ambulances with Rs 24 crore equipment; CM flagged off a total of nine 108 ambulances as a token of launching as many vehicles, from the Secretariat.
• Karnataka: Health and Medical Education Minister Dr.K. Sudhakar said that new improved Primary Health Care Centres will be set up in the state with the help of World Bank which will be functioning 24*7; necessary policy changes will be made to implement the project. High Court of Karnataka on Friday allowed to burn green crackers during Deepavali. Karnataka Government has decided to reopen all the medical, dental, AYUSH, paramedical, nursing and pharmacy colleges affiliated to RGUHS from 1st December adhering to Covid guidelines.
• Andhra Pradesh: State has issued orders revising the rates being charged for Covid-19 tests in private laboratories approved by NABL and ICMR. The lab managements have been instructed to charge only Rs 800 for the samples sent by the government. The government has made it clear in its orders that up to Rs 1,000 can be charged for incoming samples. Meanwhile, 1728 positive cases were reported on Thursday bringing the total number of cases to 8,49,705. A total of 8,22,011 covid affected patients have been discharged after treatment. So far 8 9,40,488 people have undergone corona diagnostic tests. There are currently 20,857 active cases in the state. The number of fatalities climbed to 6837 with the addition of 9 more yesterday.
• Telangana: 997 new cases, 1222 recoveries & 04 deaths reported in the last 24 hours; 169 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 2,55,663; Active cases: 17,094; Deaths: 1397; Discharges: 2,37,172.
• Maharashtra: The state government has requested the railways to allow teachers and school staff to travel by local trains. The move comes days after the Maharashtra education department made 50% attendance mandatory for teachers and non-teaching staff in schools. Mumbai’s local trains may be thrown open to all commuters about a fortnight after Diwali festival, if there isn’t a significant spike in Covid-19 cases. Officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that daily Covid-19 cases will be closely monitored for two weeks following which a final call on resuming local trains will be taken.
• Gujarat: Gujarat recorded 1,120 new cases during the last 24 hours. Recovery rate has improved to 91.29 percent. Ahmedavad Municipal Corporation has appealed to the citizens not to go for a free Coronavirus test unnecessarily. AMC said that only those in need should go for the Coronavirus test. It is found that a lot of citizens are queuing up at AMC facilities for free Coronavirus tests only for curiosity.  AMC has also started using indelible ink in order to identify those who have already undergone Coronavirus tests. Meanwhile,
• Rajasthan: Rajasthan reported 13 more COVID-19 fatalities on Thursday, taking the death toll to 2,032 as 2,176 new cases pushed the state”s infection tally to 2,19,327. According to a Health department bulletin, 17,352 patients are currently undergoing treatment in the state, and the number of recoveries stands at 1,99,943. In Jaipur, the death toll from the coronavirus infection stands at 391, followed by 199 in Jodhpur, 151 in Ajmer, 149 in Bikaner, 116 in Kota, 97 in Bharatpur and 78 in Pali.  Among the new cases reported in the state, 475 are in Jaipur, 366 in Jodhpur, 258 in Bikaner, 131 in Ajmer, 111 in Alwar, 95 in Kota and 71 each in Sikar and Udaipur, besides those reported in other districts of the state.
• Madhya Pradesh: The five-day Diwali festival started on a dull note under the shadow of COVID-19 on Thursday in Chitrakoot – a holy place in Madhya Pradesh closely associated with Lord Ram. Devotees in small numbers turned up at the banks of the Madakani river in Chitrakoot to do deep daan (offering of lighted lamps) on Dhanteras evening to mark the start of the five-day-long festival. In contrast, the place saw visits by more than 35 lakh devotees during the festival of lights last year, most of them coming on the day of Laxmi Pujan.
• Chhattisgarh: Multiplexes and cinema halls have been allowed to reopen with 50 per cent of their seating capacity in areas outside containment zones in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur. Raipur is the latest addition to the list of districts where screening of films has been allowed by the state government. Screening of films is expected to start by Saturday, the Diwali day, or Sunday in Raipur.