New Delhi: The decline in daily Covid-10 cases continues for over 5 weeks now. The tally of daily new cases has been hovering around 60,000-65,000 new cases in 24 hours.

Sharp decline in number of new Covid cases has brought the cumulative figure to 8.04 lakh.

With 70,000 recoveries in last 24 hours, now only 10.92% of the total reported cases remain under hospitalisation or home isolation.

Lowest deaths per million, less than 1100 deaths for last 14 days

India continues to report one of the lowest deaths per million population which stands at 81 today. Less than 1100 deaths have been reported continuously since 2nd October. These results are boosted by 22 States/UTs which had demonstrated better performance and are reporting even lower deaths per million compared to the national average. Case fatality rate has been on the downslide continuously. At the current figure of 1.52%, it is the lowest since 22nd March 2020. Maintaining the spree of registering more recoveries than the new confirmed cases, 70,338 single day recoveries were registered in last 24 hours as against 63,371 new confirmed cases. The total recovered cases stand at 64,53,779.

The gap between Recovered cases and Active cases has crossed 56 lakh (56,49,251). The recovered cases are 8 times more than the active case now. The Active Cases are sliding continuously. Presently the active cases comprise merely 10.92% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 8,04,528. Higher number of recoveries has aided the national Recovery Rate to further improve to 87.56%. 78% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Maharashtra alone has contributed the maximum with more than 13,000 single day recovery. 79% of the new cases are from 10 States and UTs. Maharashtra continues to be the State reporting a very high number of new cases with more than 10,000 cases followed by Karnataka with more than 8,000 cases. 895 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, nearly 82% are concentrated in ten State/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha and Delhi. More than 37% of new fatalities are reported are from Maharashtra (337 deaths). 13 States/UTs are reporting deaths/million population more than the national average.

Covid fight: Central teams sent to Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has deputed high level Central teams to Kerala, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. These States have been reporting a surge in the number of new COVID cases in the recent days.Each team comprises of a Jt. Secretary (nodal officer for the respective State), one public health expert to look after the public health aspects, one clinician to look after infection prevention practices, clinical management protocol being followed by the State.The teams will support the State efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of the positive cases.

Dr Harsh Vardhan chairs event on ‘World Food Day’ organized by FSSAI

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare today presided over an event to celebrate ‘World Food Day’. The event was organized by FSSAI. This year’s theme is Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that due to the unprecedented challenges faced by the world on account of the pandemic, there has been a renewed focus on food, nutrition, health, immunity and sustainability. He added “FSSAI’s Eat Right India movement targets to promote safe and healthy food for everyone in an environmentally sustainable way. It is a part of its mandate to provide safe and wholesome food for all citizens. This will improve the food safety ecosystems and lift the hygiene and health of our citizens.” A key focus this year is elimination of Trans Fats from the food supply chain. A food toxin present in Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (PHVOs) (e.g. vanaspati, shortening, margarine, etc.), baked and fried foods, Trans Fat is a major contributor to the rise in non-communicable diseases in India. Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated, “Trans fat is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Eliminating CVD risk factor is especially relevant during COVID-19 as people with CVD are predisposed to have serious conditions having an impact on mortality.”

Dr. Harsh Vardhan urges all to join Jan-Andolan against COVID

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in his capacity as Chairman joined the Annual General Meeting of Indian Red Cross Society and St. John’s Ambulance through video conference, yesterday.Thanking Hon’ble President of India and President of Indian Red Cross Society & St. John Ambulance (India) Sh. Ram NathKovind for his continued encouragement and support to IRCS, he noted, “This is for the first time that a meeting of this kind in IRCS has been organized virtually. However and as we all know, this is the ‘new normal’ of our life these days.”Congratulating all members of IRCS as it completes its 100 years of existence saving innumerable lives and improving the quality of life of a large section of people, he brought attention of the members to the present pandemic which is in its tenth month currently. He continued, “Almost every country is trying its best to minimize this impact in its own way. In India, the central government got into action much earlier and since then has launched a slew of measures to minimize the overall impact of the pandemic.” He said our collective efforts have helped save many lives. We will continue the momentum and protect our citizens from the virus.

Raksha Mantri’s Trophy for Best and Second Best Command Hospitals

The Raksha Mantri Trophy for the Best and Second Best Command Hospitals of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) for the year 2019 were presented by Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’bleRaksha Mantri, on 16 Oct 2020. Command Hospital (Air Force) Bengaluru and Command Hospital (Eastern Command) Kolkata were judged as the Best and Second Best Command Hospital for the year 2019 respectively. Raksha Mantri, while complementing the two hospitals on their outstanding performance, acknowledged the commendable services being rendered by the AFMS, ranging from combat medical support to troops deployed in operational roles to state of the art healthcare services at mid-zonal, zonal and tertiary care hospitals of the AFMS.