Covid-19 Bulletin: 5 states account for 62% active cases, 26 states & UTs have recovery rate higher than 70%

New Delhi: In an major milestone in conducting Covid-19 tests in the country, more than 11.70 lakh samples have been tested in last 24 hours. Also, today was yet another day of record recovery with 68,584 patients recovering from the disease in a day.

Health Ministry in a press conference, said that COVID case per million population in India is among the lowest in the world. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, India has 2,792 cases of Covid-19 per million population, while the world average is 3,359 cases. He said, India’s death per million population is also lowest among the world. India’s death per million population is 49 while the world average is 111.

Five states – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu account for 62 per cent of active COVID-19 cases in country. He said, five states Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra account for 70 per cent of total Covid-19 deaths in the country.

68,584 recover in last 24 hours; 26 States & UTs report higher than 70% recovery rate

India has registered the highest recoveries in a single day. 68,584 COVID-19 patients have recovered and been discharged in the last 24 hours. This has led to a surge in the total number of recovered patients which is nearly 30 lakh (2,970,492).With this, India’s Recovery Rate amongst the COVID-19 patients has crossed 77% (77.09%). The number of recovered patients has outpaced the active cases (8,15,538) by more than 21.5 lakh.The recovered patients have increased to more than 3.6 times the active cases, as on date. The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 21.16% of the total positive cases.India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is maintained below the global average (3.3%). Witnessing a decline every day, it stands at 1.75% today.

More than 11.7 lakh COVID tests conducted in 24 hrs, over 4.5 crore tests till date

Continuing the spree of conducting more than 10 lakh tests per day from the last two days, India has witnessed an unprecedented surge in daily testing today.Over 11.7 lakh (11,72,179) tests were done in the last 24 hours. With this achievement, the cumulative tests are more than 4.5 crore (4,55,09,380).This demonstrates an exponential increase in the daily COVID-19 testing in the country. From conducting merely 10 tests per day on 30th January, the daily average has crossed more than 11 lakhs today.This surge in testing has been made possible by an equally speedy expansion in the testing lab network across the country. India has today 1623 labs in the country; 1022 labs in the government sector and 601 private labs. Also, state-of-the-art high throughput machines including Cobas 6800/8800 are installed at 5 sites: ICMR-Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna; ICMR-National Institute for Cholera & Enteric Diseases, Kolkata; National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi; ICMR-National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health, Mumbai; and ICMR-National Institute for Cancer Prevention & Research, Noida. These can test around 1000 samples per day with minimum human intervention.

Union Minister invites US companies to partner in Aatmanirbhar Bharat

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan yesterday participated in the USISPF- 3rd Annual Leadership Summit. He talked about the unprecedented impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global economy and the consequent energy demand contraction. He added that with the gradual pick up of economic activity in India, energy consumption is anticipated to reach pre-Covid levels soon. Speaking about Aatmanirbhar Bharat campaign, Shri Pradhan said the campaign launched under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi calls for a self-reliant India, seeking to convert Covid-19 challenges into an opportunity, to merge domestic production and consumption with global supply chains, and aims to transform India into a global manufacturing hub of the 21st century.

Metro Operations to Resume in a Graded Manner from 7th September 2020

Hardeep S Puri, MoS, (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has announced the SOP guidelines for metro operations in a media interaction yesterday. SOP guidelines, prepared by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, have been concurred by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Broad features include resumption of Metro operations to be in graded manner, Metros having more than one line should open different lines staring from 7th September, 2020 onwards in a graded manner so that all corridors become operational by 12th September 2020, daily hours of operations may be staggered initially, which needs to be increased gradually with resumption of full revenue service by 12th September, 2020, Frequency of trains to be regulated to avoid passenger crowding at stations and in trains,Stations/ entry-exit gates in containment zones to be closed.In order to ensure social distancing, suitable markings at stations and inside trains will be done.Wearing of face mask to be mandatory for all passengers and staff. Metro rail corporations may make arrangements for supply of masks on payment basis to the persons arriving without mask.Only asymptomatic persons will be allowed to travel after thermal screening at entry into the stations.

India ranked among Top 50 nations in the Global Innovation Index

India has climbed 4 spots and has been ranked 48thby the World Intellectual Property Organization in the Global Innovation Index 2020 rankings. In midst of the Covid -19 pandemic, it comes as an uplifting news for India, and is a testament of its robust R&D Ecosystem. India was at the 52nd position in 2019 and was ranked 81st in the year 2015. The WIPO had also accepted India as one of the leading innovation achievers of 2019 in the central and southern Asian region, as it has shown a consistent improvement in its innovation ranking for the last 5 years.