India's COVID-19 recoveries cross the historic peak of 1.5 million

India's COVID-19 recoveries have crossed the historic peak of 1.5 million today. Recovery of 15, 35,743 patients has been made possible because of the policy of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively & TREATING efficiently. Better ambulance services, focus on Standard of Care and use of non-invasive oxygen have given the desired results. With the highest ever single day recoveries of 54,859 in the last 24 hours, the Recovery Rate amongst the COVID-19 patients has scaled another high of almost 70%.The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases has reduced and currently comprises only 28.66% of the total positive cases. India has posted more than 9 lakh recoveries than the active cases (6, 34,945).The coordinated efforts of Centre and State/UT governments on early detection through aggressive testing and efficient clinical management of hospitalized cases have shown results with continuously regressing Case Fatality Rate. It is 2%, as on date, and steadily declining. Early identification of cases has also led to steeply falling percentage active cases.

Former president Pranab Mukherjee infected with Covid-19 urges contacts to get tested

Former president Pranab Mukherjee on Monday revealed that he had tested positive for novel corona virus and urged all his recent contacts to self-isolate and get tested as a precautionary measure. Taking to Twitter, Mukherjee said: “On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for COVID19 today. I request the people who came in contact with me in the last week, to please self isolate and get tested for COVID-19.” Among other top leaders, Home Minister Amit Shah, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and former chief minister Siddaramaiah tested positive for the virus recently. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin wished his former Indian counterpart a speedy recovery. “Sending our best wishes and prayers for the speedy recovery of former President Pranab Mukherjee,” Rivlin tweeted in English and in Hindi.

 

EPFO ensures hassle free service delivery through UMANG during COVID-19 

The Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) has been a big hit among Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscribers, enabling them to utilize services during COVID-19 pandemic from the comfort of their homes in hassle free manner. Presently a PF member can access 16 different services of EPFO on their mobile phone using UMANG App. On UMANG app, a member can raise claim, track claim and know the status of claim raised. During the COVID-19 pandemic period from April to July 2020, a total of 11.27 lakhs claims were filed online through UMANG App. UMANG has enabled members overcome the mobility restriction induced by COVID-19 pandemic in accessing EPFO’s services and thereby reduced the need to physically visit the offices of EPFO. During the COVID-19 pandemic period from April to July 2020, 18.52 lakhs API hits were received on View Pensioner Passbook service while 29,773 API hits were recorded on updating Jeevan Pramaan Patra service.

Centre Advisories / Policies / Updates

Spike in cases due to high daily tests, trend may continue for 45 days: Govt

With daily testing hitting a new high of 7.2 lakh a day, the government said more testing will result in a high number of daily positive cases even as officials said detection was helping manage the disease and the current trend of cases was expected to continue over the next month and a half or so. A doubling rate of 20 days was helping ensure medical facilities were not overwhelmed and government sources said there was greater focus on tier II and III cities and towns where cases were being detected in increasing numbers. Efforts are on to work with high case load states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka to implement containment strategies and step up testing of sections of population seen to be at risk of exposure to the virus.

India’s trajectory a worry as world nears 20 million Covid-19 cases

India’s trajectory of daily cases of Covid-19 is now ahead of that of the United States’, making it the country with the highest number of daily infections, as total cases globally appear set to breach the 20 million-mark on Sunday night with the US, India and Brazil leading the surge in infections. As the pandemic accelerates in some of the world’s most populous regions, 19,922,762 total cases of the corona virus disease had been recorded across the world till late Sunday night with 731,747 fatalities — reflecting a global case fatality rate of 3.7%. Of these, 2,212,737 cases and 44,462 deaths have been reported in India (CFR of 2.01%), which is the third worst-hit nation in the world after the US and Brazil.

Global Advisories/Policies/Updates

WHO renews call for countries to join its COVAX platform

The World Health Organization has renewed its invite to countries to join its COVAX facility, an international alliance aimed at accelerating the development and manufacture of novel Corona virus vaccines, and ensuring equitable access to all.  The COVAX facility, launched in the last week of April, is stitching together agreements with developers and manufacturers of vaccine candidates it thinks are most likely to succeed. The facility is trying to raise funds to support the rapid development of promising candidates, and the quick expansion of manufacturing capacities, so that the vaccines once approved, could be produced on mass scale. According to its initial estimates, US$ 18.1 billion were required to cover the costs of research and development, manufacturing, and delivery of vaccines to different countries. The facility aims to procure at least two billion doses of a novel Corona virus vaccine by the end of next year, for deployment and distribution mainly in the low and middle income countries.

US top 5 million confirmed virus cases, to Europe's alarm

With confirmed corona virus cases in the U.S. hitting 5 million Sunday, by far the highest of any country, and the failure of the most powerful nation in the world to contain the scourge has been met with astonishment and alarm in Europe. Perhaps nowhere outside the U.S. is America's bungled virus response viewed with more consternation than in Italy, which was ground zero of Europe's epidemic. Italians were unprepared when the outbreak exploded in February, and the country still has one of the world's highest official death tolls at over 35,000. But after a strict nationwide, 10-week lockdown, vigilant tracing of new clusters and general acceptance of mask mandates and social distancing, Italy has become a model of virus containment.

Inclusion, participation of indigenous people must be ensured in Covid-19 response: UN chief

Inclusion and participation of the world's 476 million indigenous people must be ensured in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and on the road ahead towards recovery, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday. Marking the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Guterres drew attention to the "devastating" impact of the pandemic on indigenous peoples around the world. "Throughout history, indigenous peoples have been decimated by diseases brought from elsewhere, to which they had no immunity," said the secretary-general in a video message.

State Advisories / Policies / Updates

Delhi reports 707 Covid-19 cases and 20 deaths today; tally rises to 1, 46,134

Delhi recorded 707 fresh corona virus cases on Monday, taking the tally in the city to over 1.46 lakh, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 4,131, authorities said. The number of tests conducted on Monday stood at 12,323. Twenty fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. From August 2 to 4, daily cases gradually dropped, showing a three-figure count: August 2 (961), August 3 (805) and August 4 (674). However, from August 5 to 9, the daily cases have been recorded in excess of 1,000, falling again to a three-figure count on August 10.

Jammu and Kashmir's Covid-19 caseload reaches 25,367

Jammu and Kashmir's COVID-19 caseload reached 25,367 with 470 more people testing positive for the infection on Monday, while six deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, officials said. The new deaths were reported from the Kashmir Valley, they said. The death toll in the union territory has mounted to 478, of which 443 were from the Valley and 35 from the Jammu region, the official said.

12 fresh cases push Mizoram's Covid-19 tally to 620

Twelve more people, including five Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the north-eastern state's caseload to 620 on Monday, a health official said. Five cases were reported in Lunglei district, four in Kolasib, two in Aizawl and one in Champhai, he said. A frontline worker from the state and four truck drivers and their helpers from Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Assam are also among the new patients, the official said. The BSF personnel were placed under quarantine after they returned from other states.

51 more Covid-19 deaths in Uttar Pradesh; state tally rises to 126,722

Uttar Pradesh on Monday reported 51 more deaths due to COVID-19, pushing the fatalities due to the disease to 2,120. The total number of infected persons has now gone up to 1, 26,722 with 4,113 fresh cases reported in the state in the last 24 hours, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said. The number of fatalities in the state has gone up to 2,120 while the number of those cured and discharged from hospitals after treatment was 76,724, he added. Among the 47,878 active cases, he said, 19,635 are in home isolation,1,500 in private hospitals and 196 in semi-paid facilities, he said.

Industry Updates

Can't be pressured to launch corona virus vaccine, says Bharat Biotech CMD

As the world rushes to develop corona virus vaccines, Krishna M. Ella, Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Biotech International, has said that testing the COVID-19 vaccine for safety and quality is of paramount importance. During an interaction with members of the Chennai International Centre on 'COVID-19 Endgame Scenarios', Ella said there is pressure on the company to come out with a vaccine quickly in the midst of the pandemic but can't rush into it.  "The current pandemic is putting pressure on the company to come out with a vaccine quickly, but we cannot rush as safety and quality are paramount.’’ Last month, Bharat Biotech started phase-1 clinical trials for "India's first Indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin". The vaccine is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. 

Russia to register world's first vaccine on Wednesday

Russia’s all set to register world’s first Covid-19 vaccine on August 12, according to reports. The vaccine is being jointly developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry. Russia’s Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev on Saturday confirmed the development. “The vaccine developed by the Gamaleya centre will be registered on August 12. At the moment, the last, third, stage is underway. Medical professionals and senior citizens will be the first to get vacci­nated,” Gridnev had said. The country plans to begin mass production of the vaccine from October 2020.

Prepared by Impact Health Research Team

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