COVID UPDATE on 22nd October : India’s Active Cases below 10% of Total Cases

India trend of steadily decreasing active cases continues unabated. The Active Cases have been sustained below 10% of the total cases for the last three days suggesting only 1 in 10 cases are active COVID19 patients across the country.Presently the active cases comprise merely 9.29% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 7,15,812.Registering another milestone, the daily Positivity Rate has also been maintained to less than 5% over the past three days.Today, the daily Positivity Rate is reported to be 3.8%. The decrease in the daily positivity rate is simultaneously mapped by the falling active cases, which continue to be under 7.5L today (7,15,812).The total recovered cases are close to 69 lakhs (68,74,518). The difference between active cases and recovered cases is consistently increasing and stands at 61,58,706 today.79,415 patients have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases are 55,839. The national Recovery Rate has progressed to 89.20%.81% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs.Maharashtra has contributed more than 23,000 to the single day recovery.55,839 new confirmed cases were recorded during the last 24 hours.78% of these are from 10 States and UTs. Maharashtra and Kerala are still reporting a very high number of new cases with more than 8,000 cases each followed by Karnataka with more than 5,000 cases.702 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, nearly 82% are concentrated in ten States/UTs.More than 25% of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra (180 deaths).

The Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan yesterday inaugurated the DME fired “AditiUrjaSanch” unit along with the DME-LPG blended fuel cylinders and handed them over for common public and CSIR-NCL (National Chemical Laboratory) canteen use on a trial basis at CSIR-NCL premises virtually through video-conferencing. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, in his address said, “The launch of this burner will also provide a significant boost to the ‘Make in India’ campaign as all the manufacturers of cylinders, gas stoves, regulators, and gas hose are domestic. This kind of activity may bridge the gap between demand and supply, and it can ensure energy security for the nation.” The new Burner is fully designed and fabricated by NCL for DME, DME -LPG blended mixtures and LPG combustion.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare virtually addressed the World Bank- IMF annual meeting, yesterday. The theme of the meeting was “Unleashing the South Asian Century through Human Capital for All “and “Investing in Covid-19 Vaccines and Primary Healthcare Delivery System”.Emphasizing India’s role during the pandemic, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “The inclusiveness of India’s response has led us to manage the pandemic currently. The COVID pandemic has created disruption in the normal life but has also provided a steep learning curve for all of us to be more resilient and prepared for the future.’’ These efforts have been a result of commitment from all stakeholders. “India has been following a pre-emptive, proactive, and graded response characterised by a “Whole of Society, Whole of Government” approach to manage the challenges posed by the global pandemic, he added.Lauding the support of private sector in India’s COVID-19 management, he stated, “Innovation, ability and agility of the private sector has supported the efforts to fight COVID in a big way. Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated that due to theunprecedented challenges faced by the world on account of the pandemic, India is making use of Information Technology in virtually every aspect of COVID management- AarogyaSetu app and ITIHAS, a cellular based tracking technology has been used for surveillance and identification of potential clusters, RT-PCR app for testing, facility app for managing information on admitted patients, all integrated with a single COVID portal.The Union Health Minister spoke at length about India’s preparedness to deal with pandemics and commitment to ensure affordable healthcare delivery to all.

In view of the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India had taken a series of steps to curtail the inward and outward movement of international passengers since February, 2020. The Government has now decided to make a graded relaxation in visa and travel restrictions for more categories of foreign nationals and Indian nationals who wish to enter or leave India. Therefore, it has been decided to permit all OCI and PIO card holders and all other foreign nationals intending to visit India for any purpose, except on a Tourist Visa to enter by air or water routes through authorized airports and seaport immigration check posts. This includes flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission, Air Transport Bubble arrangements or by any non scheduled commercial flights as allowed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. All such travelers will, however have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding quarantine and other health/COVID-19 matters.

About 11.58 lakh non-gazetted Railway employees have been granted bonus equivalent to 78 days wages for FY 2019-20.This Productivity linked bonus to railway employees has been estimated to be of Rs. 2081.68 crores. The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 21.10.2020 accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days’ wages for the financial year 2019-2020 for all eligible non-gazetted Railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel).

Election Commission has constituted a committee comprising Sh. Harish Kumar, Ex. IRS and DG (Investigation), Sh. UmeshSinha, Secretary General and DG (Expenditure) to examine the issues concerning expenditure limit for a candidate in view of increase in number of electors and rise in Cost Inflation Index and other factors. Considering the factor of COVID-19, the Ministry of Law & Justice on 19.10.2020 has notified an amendment in Rule 90 of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 enhancing the existing expenditure limit by 10%. This increase of 10% will be applicable with immediate effect in ongoing elections. Expenditure limit for a candidate was last revised in 2014 vide notification dated 28.02.2014, while in respect of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana it was revised vide notification dated 10.10.2018. In last 6 years the limit was not increased despite increase in electorate from 834 million to 910 million in 2019 to 921 million now. Further, Cost Inflation Index during this period has increased from 220 to 280 in 2019 to 301 now.

With an eye on the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, sporting activities are being resumed in SAI training centres across the country from November 1. In view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation and to protect athletes from exposure to the virus, the Sports Authority of India has decided to make transport arrangements for the athletes of NCOEs/SAI Training Centres who have to join their training facility. This is due to the sudden situation that had emerged in March this year when athletes had to be sent back home due to the coronavirus. It has been decided that athletes who have to travel beyond 500 km will be provided with an air ticket while those athletes who are stationed less than 500 km may travel by Train in 3rd AC. Further, in order to create a bio-bubble for resumption of training in SAI centres, it has been decided to provide accommodation to all coaches and support staff of the NCOEs/STCs. The regular and contractual staff will be provided accommodation at government cost.

Union MoS (I/C) DoNER, MoS (PP) DrJitendra Singh yesterday presided over the 317th Executive Council meeting of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) as its new Chairman.In his first Executive Council Meeting after taking over as Chairman, DrJitendra Singh made the important announcement that the Life Membership of IIPA will be thrown open w.e.f. 1st January 2021. He also called upon more number of serving officers to take up the membership of IIPA and noted that the government service rules do not forbid a serving official to become a member of IIPA. Appreciating the hard work of IIPA faculty and officials, DrJitendra Singh said, the best evidence of their commitment and diligence came out during the difficult times of COVID pandemic when IIPA established a digital classroom for conducting online classes and did not allow the curriculum to be disrupted. He said, it is not a small achievement that IIPA conducted as many as 14 online training programmes for officers from different services during the lockdown and post-lockdown period.

• Himachal Pradesh: Governor BandaruDattatraya yesterday unveiled a cut-out prepared by Shimla Police for social awareness of COVID-19 at Raj Bhavan. The Governor appreciated the initiative and said that during the Corona pandemic, the police personnel have done an excellent job in fighting COVID-19 as frontline warriors. He said that the fight against the Corona pandemic was yet not over. Therefore, we have to be cautious until its medicine was available, he added and urged the people to wear masks and make a habit of washing hands with soap, maintain physical distancing in public places and like a responsible citizen, follow these guidelines and be a participant in the victory over Corona. He called for cooperation in the Prime Minister’s mass movement appeal against COVID-19.
• Maharashtra: Maharashtra reported 8,142 new cases on Wednesday, even as 23,371 patients recovered from the viral infection, bringing down the number of active cases to 1.58 lakhs. Mumbai reported 1,609 new Covid cases and the number of active cases in the city now stand at 19,245. Meanwhile, Nagpur has become the first district in the state to start post Covid care centres in Primary Health Centres.
• Gujarat: The recovery rate in Gujarat has reached up to 89.03 per cent.  The state recorded 1,137 new cases and 1,180 recoveries during the past 24 hours, taking the total number of active cases to 14,215.  Out of these 75 patients are on ventilator support. The state has registered 3,663 Covid deaths till date.
• Rajasthan: For eight days in a row, Rajasthan has reported more recoveries than fresh Covid infections.  The state reported 1,810 new cases against 2,865 recoveries.  The maximum new cases, that is, 349 were reported from Jaipur, followed by Jodhpur with 303 cases and then Alwar with 178 new cases.
• Chhattisgarh: A three-member Central team is on a visit to Chhattisgarh to assess the facilities to deal with the Covid-19 situation. The team visited Government Medical College and Hospital, Raipur and also various District Hospitals and COVID Care Centres in Raipur and Durg districts and assessed the government’s preparedness.  Chhattisgarh has 25,795 active cases as on date.
• Kerala: State is facing a record fiscal deficit following the economic crisis triggered by the Covid pandemic. During the evaluation made for the first quarter of the current financial year, it was found that that the state’s fiscal deficit stood at 112.9 per cent which comes to the tune of 10,578 crores. It also pointed out that if financial assistance from the Centre including GST compensation is not received immediately, the state could plunge into a deep financial crisis in the coming days. Meanwhile, in a major setback to the state government, the two-member commission entrusted to probe the Sprinklr deal has found lapses in it. The report says former Principal Secretary to Chief Minister M.Sivasankar showed undue haste in finalizing the deal in which the details of Covid-19 patients were transferred to Sprinklr Inc. 
• Tamil Nadu: The fatality rate of Covid-19 infection in the Union territory of Puducherry has crossed 2%, much higher than the national average of 1.6%. Metro trains and stations in Chennai are now being disinfected with aqueous-stabilised ozone instead of standard disinfectant to protect staff from harsh chemicals.The railways has announced festivalspecial superfast train servicesbetween Gandhidham and Tirunelveli via Madgaon, Ernakulam Junction, Thiruvananthapuram Central and Nagercoil Town to facilitate convenient travel during the festive season. For the fourth consecutive day, Tamil Nadu reported less than 4,000 Covid-19 cases with 3,086 people testing positive for the virus on Wednesday. The State also reported 39 deaths.
• Karnataka: Karnataka conducted 1,08,241 Covid tests across 155 labs in a single day yesterday, So far 69,52,835 tests were conducted with a positivity rate of 5.42%. 947 patients out of 1,00,440 active cases i.e. 0.94% cases are being treated in ICU. State’s case fatality rate stands at 1.49%, said Health And Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar in his tweet. Primary And Secondary Education Minister has directed the department to issue guidelines for online classes.
• Andhra Pradesh: State Educational Minister Adimulapu Suresh reiterated that schools will start from November 2 taking all precautions. He said classes for grades1,3,5,7,9 would be conducted on one day and classes for 2,4,6,8,10 will be held on another day on odd-even basis. The minister said the teachers have been trained through DMHO to implement and monitor Covid appropriate behaviour and protocol in schools. He said medical staff will be available for each school and a doctor will be available at PHC. Meanwhile, as part of Covid-19 awareness programme, district administrations have been organizing rallies to check spread of coronavirus.  Emphasis has been laid on the need to wear mask properly, maintaining social distance and washing of hands frequently as many times as possible. 
• Telangana: 1456 new cases, 1717 recoveries & 5 deaths reported in the last 24 hours in Telangana; out of 1456 cases, 254 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases: 2,27,580; Active cases: 20,183; Deaths: 1292; Discharges :2,06,105. Former Telangana minister NayiniNarsimha Reddy passes away due to post-Covid complications. The former Minister was diagnosed with Covid-19 about 24 days ago from which he had fully recovered after a spell of hospitalisation.
• Assam: In Assam, 701 more people tested positive for COVID-19 and 1664 patients discharged yesterday. Total cases rise to 202774, active 25807, discharged 176075 and 889 deaths.
• Meghalaya: In Meghalaya, 177 patients have recovered from COVID-19 in the State today. Total active cases 1870 and total recovered 6674.
• Nagaland: Nagaland’s 8139 COVID-19 cases, 3613 are armed personnel, 2512 traced contacts, 1617 returnees and 397 frontline workers.
• Sikkim: In Sikkim, 49 more people tested positive for COVID-19, active cases 252 and total discharged 3328.