Covid-19 Bulletin: Recovery rate nears 54%, affordable diagnostic kit for Covid-19, ban on HCQ export lifted and more….
With 10,386 patients having recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the total number of recovered patients has gone up to 2,04,710 and the recovery rate has increased to 53.79 per cent from 52.96 per cent.
June 19, 2020 21:03
New Delhi: With 10,386 patients having recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the total number of recovered patients has gone up to 2,04,710 and the recovery rate has increased to 53.79 per cent from 52.96 per cent on Thursday.
The Health Ministry said in a release that the trend in daily numbers shows an increasing rate of recovery and an increasing gap between active and recovered cases. The increase in the proportion of recovered cases is a demonstration of India’s strategy of timely management of COVID-19, it said.
The number of government labs has increased to 703 and private labs to 257 taking the total number of labs in the country to 960.
More than 2 lakh persons cured of Covid-19 till now
With the confirmation of 10,386 patients having recovered from COVID-19 in the last 24 hrs, the total number of recovered patients is now 2,04,710. The recovery rate consequently rose to 53.79%. Currently, 1,63,248 active cases are under medical supervision.The trend in the daily numbers shows an increasing rate of recovery, and an increasing gap between active and recovered cases. The increase in the proportion of recovered cases is a demonstration of India’s strategy of timely management of COVID-19.
The number of government labs has been increased to 703 and private labs has been increased to 257 (A total of 960)
Centre Lauds Karnataka’s IT-based model of Comprehensive Contact Tracing
The Centre has lauded the best practice from Karnataka for COVID-19 management which includes the comprehensive contact tracing of COVID-19 positive cases and physical/phone-based household survey which has covered more than 1.5 crore households. The two initiatives taken by the State Government are developed as part of the ‘Whole of Government’ approach with the involvement of multi-sectoral agencies and supported by technology-based solutions and interventions. The Centre has asked the other States to adapt these best practices to their local context and replicate them for better management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Corona testing ramped up in Delhi
Demonstrating the Modi Government’s commitment to provide relief to the people of Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been personally monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Delhi, on the advice of the Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi.
As per directions given by Shri Amit Shah in a series of meetings chaired by him over last few days in regard to Covid-19 situation in Delhi, house-to-house health survey in 242 containment zones of Delhi has been completed yesterday. A total of 2.3 lakh people were surveyed. Further, on his directions to increase testing capacity & quick delivery of results in Delhi, testing via Rapid Antigen testing methodology was started yesterday. A total of 7,040 people have been tested in 193 testing Centres. Testing will continue with increased numbers in coming days.Sample testing has been doubled immediately following decisions taken by Shri Amit Shah. A total of 27,263 testing samples have been collected in Delhi from 15th to 17th June 2020 against the daily collection which varied between 4,000-4,500 earlier.
Special Micro-Credit Facility launched for Street Vendors
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), today, in order to engage SIDBI as the Implementation Agency for PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbharNidhi (PM SVANidhi) – a Special Micro-Credit Facility for Street Vendors.SIDBI will implement the PM SVANidhi Scheme under the guidance of MoHUA.
It will also manage the credit guarantee to the lending institutions through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises. It will develop and maintain a customized and integrated IT Platform providing end-to-end solutions, including documentation of all the processes and workflows for an end-to-end solution, through a Portal and a Mobile App, to ensure engagement and information flow between Urban Local Bodies, Lending Institutions, Digital Payment Aggregators and other stakeholders.
PM chairs review meet on development projects in Varanasi
Prime Minister today chaired a review meeting through Video Conferencing on various development projects which are undertaken in Varanasi. The presentation also highlighted the progress made in the KashiVishwanathMandir complex by using a drone video of the lay out. The efforts undertaken on effective management of COVID were also discussed. Prime Minister highlighted extensive and effective utilisation of AarogyaSetu App for testing, tracing and ensuring quality treatment of patients through this medium. Efforts made by the District Administration for providing food, shelter and quarantine services were also appreciated. He directed that appropriate skill mapping of the returning migrant workers being taken up on priority and they should be provided gainful employment on the basis of their skill sets. Feedback was also taken about the positive impact of PM GaribKalyanYojana and State Government led COVID relief schemes in time of distress.
PM Modi’s speech on International Yoga Day to be televised
A message from Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi will be the highlight of the main event for International Day of Yoga 2020. The Prime Minister’s remarks will be televised at 6:30 am on 21st June 2020. The IDY this year is being observed on a large scale through the electronic and digital platforms by the Ministry of AYUSH. The observation of IDY in the past years has been marked by thousands of harmonious mass demonstrations of Yoga in public places. Due to the current global health emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the focus this year is less on such celebrations and more on the people performing Yoga at their respective homes with participation of the entire family. Yoga is found to be especially relevant in the pandemic situation, since its practice leads to both physical and mental wellbeing, and increases the individual’s ability to fight diseases.
Rolling out ‘One Nation One Ration Card scheme’
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan held a meeting via video conference to review the progress of the implementation of National Portability of NFSA ration card holders through “One Nation One Ration Card” programme. The purpose of the meeting was to understand the readiness, action plans and a tentative timeline to implement the “One Nation One Ration Card” facility in these 14 States/UTs. Shri Paswan said that in the time of Covid-19 pandemic, the scheme proved immensely beneficial for migrant labourers, stranded and needy persons to access their quota of food grains through ONOC portability. He said by August 2020 three more States namely – Uttarakhand, Nagaland and Manipur will be added to the national cluster and Department is making all necessary arrangements to include remaining all 14 States under ONOC by end of this year. Shri Paswan said that sufficient food grains are available in buffer stock and assured no one would go hungry in this difficult time of Covid-19 pandemic.
IIT Guwahati develops affordable diagnostic kits for COVID-19
Accurate testing is important to get out of the clutches of novel coronavirus. Stepping up efforts in this regard, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, in association with RR Animal Healthcare Ltd and Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), has developed low-cost diagnostic kits. These are Viral Transport Media (VTM) kits, RT-PCR kits, and RNA isolation kits.
Ban on export of HCQ lifted
Government has lifted ban on export of anti-malerial drug Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) API and formulationwith immediate effect. Directorate General of Foreign Trade has issued a formal notification in this regards yesterday.An Inter-ministerial High-Level Empowered Committee meets regularly on fortnightly basis for assessing the availability of drugs in the country and will continue to meet to monitor the situation.
The requirement of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for Hydroxychloroquine has been fulfilled completely as12.22 Crore tablets of HCQ 200 mg Tablets have been given to HLL Lifecare Limited, a central public sector undertaking, for dealing with COVID-19. Presently, MoHFW is maintaining enough buffer stock of HCQ to cater to domestic demand.In addition, 7.58 Crore Tablets of HCQ 200 mg have been supplied to State Government, other Institutions and BPPI/Jan Aushadhi Kendras for fulfilment of their requirement. Further, around 10.86 Crore tablets of HCQ 200 mg has been supplied in local pharmacies for catering to the domestic demand.Thus, a total of 30.66 Crore tablets of HCQ 200 mg has been made available to domestic market to cater the demand of the country. There is no unfulfilled domestic demand for HCQ.
