Covid-19 Bulletin: Total recoveries cross 14 lakh, Over 6 lakh samples/day tested for 4th successive day

New Delhi: The recovery rate from COVID-19 infection has improved further and it has now reached 68.32 per cent. Union Health Ministry, in a statement said that with 48,900 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the country’s total recoveries from COVID-19 has reached 14,27,005.

At present, the active cases are 6,19,088 which account for 29.64 per cent of total positive cases. Such persons are under medical supervision either at hospitals or in home isolation.

Recovery rate improves to 68.32%, fatality rate dips to 2.04%

Compared globally, India has one of the lowest cases per million at 1469 as against the global average of 2425. the CFR has been low when compared to the global scenario and it has continued to fall progressively. The Case Fatality Rate stands at 2.04% today. With focused efforts to reduce mortalities due to COVID-19, India has registered one of the lowest deaths per million at 30 as compared to the global average of 91 deaths per million. There has been a sharp increase in COVID-19 recoveries. With 48,900 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, India’s total recoveries from COVID-19 has reached 14,27,005.

The recovery rate, on a steady upward rise, stands at 68.32%. The active cases, which are the actual case load for India at 6,19,088 today account for 29.64% of total positive cases. Expanded diagnostic lab network & facilitation for easy testing across the country has resulted in India testing total of 2,33,87,171 samples for COVID-19 infection. 5,98,778 tests were conducted in last 24 hours. The Tests Per Million has seen a sharp increase to 16947 today. With 936 labs in the government sector and 460 private labs, India has 1396 labs for COVID-19 testing.

Centre directs states to focus all efforts on reducing COVID-19 mortality

Coordinated, graded and pro-active management of COVID-19 by the Union and State/UT governments has ensured the national Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is on the slide. It currently stands at 2.04%. As part of the continuous process of review and handholding of States/UTs for collaborative management of COVID-19, two high level virtual meetings were chaired by Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary on 7th and 8th August to engage with the States reporting with high case load and higher CFR than the national average, in order to advise and support them on efforts to prevent and reduce mortality due to COVID-19.

Today’s meeting focused on 13 districts concentrated in eight States/UT. These are Kamrup Metro in Assam; Patna in Bihar; Ranchi in Jharkhand; Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala; Ganjam in Odisha; Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh; 24 Paraganas North, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata and Maldah in West Bengal; and Delhi. These districts account for nearly 9% of India’s active cases and about 14% of COVID deaths. They also report low tests per million and high confirmation percentage. The States were advised to address the issues of low lab utilisation i.e. less than 100 tests per day for RT-PCR and 10 for others; low tests per million population; decrease in absolute tests from last week; delay in test results; and high confirmation percentage among the health care workers. They were advised to ensure timely referral and hospitalization in view of reports from some districts of patients dying within 48 hrs of admission.

Health Ministry engages with districts reporting Higher COVID-19 mortality

Those districts that are reporting COVID-19 mortality higher than the national and states’ average are a cause of concern. As part of Centre-State coordinated strategy for effective containment and management of the COVID-19 pandemic, a high level virtual meeting was chaired by Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary yesterday to engage with the district and State administration to analyse the factors driving the high COVID-19 mortality in these districts and devise ways and means to reduce the mortality.

These include 16 districts in four States viz. Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat; Belagavi, Bengaluru urban, Kalaburagi and Udupi in Karnataka; Chennai, Kanchipuram, Ranipet, Theni, Thiruvallur, Tiruchirappalli, Tuticorin and Virudhnagar in Tamil Nadu; Hyderabad and Medchal Malkajgiri in Telangana. Apart from the higher case mortality, these districts account for 17% of India’s active cases, high daily new cases, low tests per million, and high confirmation percentage. The districts were advised to ensure that the advisories, guidelines and clinical treatment protocols issued by the Health Ministry are adopted and effectively implemented to reduce the mortality among COVID-19 patients and other preventable deaths among all sections of the people.

For 4th successive day, India tests more than 6 lakh samples in 24 hours

India continued its track record of testing more than 6 lakh COVID-19 samples each day for the fourth successive day on Thursday. Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country have given a boost, and with 6,39,042 tests conducted in last 24 hours, India has done 2,27,88,393 tests presently. The Tests Per Million (TPM) has seen a sharp increase to 16513. The 7 day moving average in daily tests conducted has significantly improved from around 2.69 lakh on 14th July 2020 to around 5.66 lakh on 6th August 2020. While the cumulative testing rose from 1.2 crore on 14th July 2020 to 2.2 crore on 6th August 2020, the positivity rate has seen a rise from 7.5% to 8.87% in the same period. To keep up with this strategy, the testing lab network in the country is continuously strengthened which as on today consists of 1383 labs in the country; 931 labs in the government sector and 452 private labs.

21 ESIC hospitals turn dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, 2400 isolation beds added

Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour & Employment and Manohar Lal Khattar, Chief Minister of Haryana inaugurated Plasma Bank at ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad (Haryana) through video conference. Shri Gangwar said that in this crisis Covid situation, 21 ESIC Hospitals across India have been converted into Dedicated Covid-19 Hospitals.

More than 2400 Isolation beds, 550 ICU/HDU beds with 200 ventilators have also been made available in these Hospitals. Quarantine facility (approx. 1300 Beds) has been made functional in 04 ESIC Hospitals at Alwar (Rajasthan), Bihta, Patna (Bihar), Gulbarga (Karnataka) and Korba (Chhattisgarh). Besides, Covid-19 testing facility has been made available at ESIC Hospital, Faridabad (Haryana), Basaidarapur (New Delhi) and Sanathnagar, Hyderabad. Plasma therapy is also being provided at ESIC Hospitals, Faridabad and Sanathnagar, Hyderabad for the treatment of serious patients of COVID-19.

Construction of nearly 10.28 Lakh houses approved under PMAY

The 51st Meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) was held on 7th August, 2020 in New Delhi. The Meeting was attended by 19 States/UTs. n the meeting, 1589 proposals from participating States were approved for the construction of nearly 10.28 Lakh houses. These houses are proposed to be constructed across Beneficiary Led Construction and Affordable Housing in Partnership verticals. This was the first CSMC meeting during the COVID-19 pandemic. This reflects the importance the Government has attached to the objective of providing pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries of Urban India by 2022 with the vision of ‘Housing for All’.

Webinar on New Technologies for various Products related to COVID 19 for MSMEs

Prof (Dr.) Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI and Vishwa Mohan Jha, Director, MSME-DI, Patna, deliberated upon the latest CSIR-CMERI developed COVID 19 technologies with focus on Water Purification Technologies in an engaging Webinar held on 7th August 2020. The main objective of this Webinar was to make the industries/ entrepreneur under MSME aware about the technologies developed by CSIR-CMERI, provide total engineering solution and the facilities available in CSIR-CMERI.