(Contains Press releases concerning Covid-19, issued in last 24 hours, inputs from PIB Field Offices and Fact checks undertaken by PIB)

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At less than 4% of Total Cases, India’s Active Caseload of 3.78 lakh continues to retreat, Daily Positivity Rate stands at 3.14%, 19 States/UTs have weekly Positivity Rate more than the national average

The ongoing trend of contraction of India’s total active cases continues. The active caseload of the country stands at 3,78,909. The share of Active Cases in the total Positive Cases has further shrunk to 3.89%.The daily recoveries exceeding the daily new cases have ensured a total net reduction of the Active Caseload. A net decline of 4,957 cases has been recorded in the total active cases in last 24 hours.India has reported more daily recoveries than the daily new cases during the past 24 hours. While 32,080 persons were found positive in the past 24 hours, India has registered 36,635 new recoveries during the same period.India’s total cumulative tests are nearing 15 Cr (14,98,36,767). Keeping in line with its commitment to conduct more than one million tests every day, 10,22,712 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The testing capacity of the country has grown to 15 lakh tests per day.India’s testing infrastructure has seen a significant boost with 2,220 labs across the country.An average of more than 10 lakh tests are conducted daily. The cumulative national Positivity Rate stands at 6.50% today. The daily positivity rate is just 3.14%. Higher volumes of testing eventually lead to low Positivity Rate.19 States/UTs have weekly positivity rate more than the national average.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest cumulative testing with more than 2 Cr tests. Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh are among the States with highest cumulative testing with more than 1 Cr tests.The Recovery Rate has also increased to 94.66%. Total Recoveries have surpassed 92 lakhs today (92,15,581).76.37% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 6,365 newly recovered cases. 4,735 people recovered in Kerala in the past 24 hours followed by 3,307 in Delhi.75.11% of the new cases are from 10 States and UTs.Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 5,032. It is followed by Maharashtra with 4,026 new cases.402 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours.Ten States/UTs account for 76.37% of new deaths.

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PM to lay foundation stone of New Parliament Building on December 10, 2020

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the New Parliament Building at Sansad Marg, New Delhi on December 10, 2020. The new building is an intrinsic part of the vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ and will be a landmark opportunity to build peoples’ Parliament for the first time after independence, one which will match the needs and aspirations of ‘New India’ in the 75th anniversary of independence in 2022. The New Parliament Building will be modern, state-of-the-art and energy efficient, with highly non-obtrusive security facilities to be built as a triangular shaped building, adjacent to the present Parliament. Lok Sabha will be 3 times of the existing size and Rajya Sabha will be substantially bigger. The interiors of the new building will showcase a rich blend of Indian culture and diversity of our regional arts, crafts, textiles and architecture.

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Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding between India and Suriname on Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Republic of Suriname on Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine. The bilateral Memorandum of Understanding will encourage cooperation between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Republic of India and the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Republic of Suriname through joint initiatives and technology development in the health sector. It will strengthen bilateral ties between India and Suriname. It leads towards achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) by way of sharing of expertise in public health system, and by promoting mutual research in various relevant areas.

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Reform linked borrowing permissions lead to various citizen centric reforms in the States

In view of the challenges posed by the COVID 19 pandemic for mobilisation of financial resources, the Government of India has strengthened the hands of the States through multiple measures. These included grant of additional borrowing permission of 2% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in the year 2020-21. This has enabled the States to mobilise additional financial resources to fight the pandemic and maintain the standards of service delivery to the public. However, to ensure long-term debt sustainability and prevent any adverse impact on future, a part of the additional borrowing was linked to the States carrying out reforms in the sectors critical for service delivery to the citizens. One of the sectors identified for reforms is the Public Distribution System. Out of the additional borrowing limit of 2% of GSDP, 0.25% is linked to implementation of “One Nation One Ration Card system”. This was aimed to ensure that the beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other welfare schemes, especially the migrant workers and their families, get ration from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) across the country. Other aims of the intended reform were to better target beneficiaries, elimination of bogus/ duplicate/ ineligible ration cards and thus enhance welfare and reduce leakage.

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Cabinet approves Atmanirbhar Bharat RojgarYojana (ABRY)

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for Atmanirbhar Bharat RojgarYojana (ABRY) to boost employment in formal sector and incentivize creation of new employment opportunities during the Covid recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0.Cabinet has approved an expenditure of Rs. 1,584 crore for the current financial yearand Rs.22,810 crore for the entire Scheme period i.e. 2020-2023.

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Dr. Harsh Vardhan digitally addresses the Inter Ministerial Conference by Partners in Population and Development (PPD)

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed the Inter-Ministerial Conference by Partners in Population and Development (PPD), yesterday,

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Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually addresses the Curtain Raiser function of IISF 2020 Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & family Welfare has said that organising the India International Science Festival -2020 this year on a virtual platform due to COVID-19, signifies the indomitable spirit of nurturing and celebrating scientific temperament amongst all the stakeholders of Science, Technology and Innovation. He was addressing the audience through video-conferencing as the Chief Guest at the Curtain Raiser function of IISF-2020 organised by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ladakh yesterday.

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Ministry of AYUSH and AIIMS decides to work together to set up a Department of Integrative Medicine

Ministry of AYUSH and AIIMS have decided to initiate work on setting up a Department of Integrative Medicine at AIIMS. This was decided in a joint visit and review by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH and Dr. RandeepGuleria, Director, AIIMS of the Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR) at AIIMS, New Delhi. The CIMR receives notable support through the Centre of Excellence Scheme of the Ministry of AYUSH. Dr. Gautam Sharma, Head, CIMR and senior officers of AYUSH Ministry were also present during the visit. The cutting edge research activities being held by CIMR in the Yoga and Ayurveda disciplines were reviewed and the research outcomes were seen to be impressive. Considering the research work, other activities and accomplishments of CIMR, it was felt that setting up a dedicated OPD and IPD beds for CIMR could be the next steps in the growth and development of CIMR. Secretary AYUSH assured that the Ministry of AYUSH will strive to continue its support to CIMR till the dedicated Department is developed.

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Ministry of AYUSH and ICCR to streamline and intensify joint efforts to promote Yoga worldwide

In a high level review meeting of collaboration activities between Ministry of AYUSH and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for promotion of Yoga globally yesterday at New Delhi, it was resolved to streamline and intensify the joint efforts to promote Yoga in various countries across the world. The review was jointly held by Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, President, ICCR and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH. It was also decided to utilise the certification framework of the Yoga Certification Board (YCB) as a means of promoting authentic Yoga across the world. The Yoga Certification Board (YCB) and Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), two institutions under the oversight of the Ministry of AYUSH in the discipline of Yoga, have forged separate partnerships with ICCR to spread Yoga around the globe.

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ESIC takes Major Policy Initiatives for better medical services to Workers

Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) during its 183^rd Meeting held yesterday under the chairmanship of Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State for Labour& Employment (I/C) has taken several significant decisions to improve its delivery of medical services and other benefits to workers. Medical services to the insured workers and their dependents under the ESI Scheme are provided primarily through hospitals and dispensaries run by the State Governments. There are, at present, around 1520 ESI dispensaries and 159 hospitals across the country, out of which 45 dispensaries and 49 hospitals are directly run by ESIC while remaining dispensaries and hospitals are run by the respective State Governments. Several representatives have been received about deficient services in ESI hospitals run by State Governments due to poor availability of equipment and doctors.   

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INPUTS FROM PIB FIELD OFFICES

• Assam: In Assam, 94 cases detected out of 19,955 tests conducted with positivity rate of 0.47% while 102 patients discharged. Total cases 2,14,019 out of which recovered are 97.86% & active cases are 1.67%.
• Sikkim: 13 new cases take Sikkim’s COVID-19 tally to 5,215.
• Kerala: With the second phase of local body polls  slated to be held in the state tomorrow, the health department officials have warned that the faults in maintaining COVID protocols in the first phase of voting held yesterday should be rectified. They point out that delinquency from the part of voters will definitely have an impact on the COVID situation which may lead the pandemic curve to climb for certain. Though the State Election Commission had mandated physical distancing and barred crowding, these were openly violated at many places in the polling held yesterday which recorded 72.67% voting. Meanwhile, for the third time in the month, the COVID deaths in a day crossed the 30-mark on Tuesday. A total of 5.032 fresh cases and 4735 recoveries were reported yesterday. The latest test positivity rate is 8.31%.
• Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported 1,236 new COVID-19 cases, taking the overall infection count to 7,92,788, while 13 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 11,822. Recoveries continued to outnumber the new infections with 1,330 people being discharged from health care facilities after getting cured, taking the aggregate to 7,70,378, a health department bulletin said.
• Karnataka: Karnataka government has amended the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act 2020 which makes provisions to impose penalties for violation of the act. As per amended law local authorities may impose fine for ₹ 5000 for non AC party halls, departmental stores and ₹ 10,000 for AC party halls and also organisations. State government further reduced the price of COVID test. A price of ₹ 800 was fixed for COVID test in private hospitals.
• Andhra Pradesh: 583 people have been admitted to hospitals so far due to illness. Of these, 470 were discharged and twenty patients were shifted to Vijayawada and Guntur hospitals for better treatment. One death has been reported so far. Health officials suspect food or water contamination. A preliminary report by a team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, has found traces of lead and nickel in some blood samples.
• Telangana: As the race for Covid-19 vaccine heats up, the government organised a visit for foreign envoys to biotech companies leading India’s effort to find an antidote to the virus.  MEA took more than 60 heads of mission (HoMs) to Bharat Biotech and Biological E in Hyderabad on December 9. Meanwhile, 721 new cases, 753 recoveries & 3 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours in Telangana; Total cases 2,75,261 Active cases: 7,661, Deaths 1480 Discharges :2,66,120 with a recovery rate of 96.67 per cent, while the countrywide recovery rate is 94.6 per cent.
• Maharashtra: The world-famous tourism sites in Aurangabad will be reopened for the visitors from tomorrow. District Collector, Sunil Chavan has directed the concerned agencies to take preventive measures in this regard, including the facility to conduct the COVID test for guides, shopkeepers, local artisans, hoteliers and transport professionals at the respective tourist spots. Mumbai's new cases continue to remain below the thousand mark. It was 585 new cases, apart from 565 recoveries and 7 deaths on Tuesday. Pune circle reported 749 new cases and 20 deaths on the same day.
• Gujarat: Maximum 294 new cases reported from Ahmedabad, while Surat recorded 214 new cases. The recovery rate has improved and reached 91.70 percent.
• Rajasthan: The recovery rate in the State has increased to 91.78 per cent. More than 100 cases have been reported in only four districts on Tuesday. A total of 465 new infections have been reported in Jaipur, 187 in Jodhpur, 140 in Ajmer and 134 cases reported from Udaipur. The number of active cases in Jaipur has dropped to 9,000. The number of new patients in 9 districts has been less than 10.
• Madhya Pradesh: Maximum cases on Wednesday were found in Indore district (509 new cases), followed by Bhopal district (317 new cases) and then Gwalior (74 cases).
•  Chhattisgarh: Maximum cases on Wednesday were found in Raipur district (179 new cases), followed by Durg district (135 new cases) and then Janjgir-Champa district (109 new cases).
• Goa: Recovery rate has reached up to 95.89 per cent in the state.

FACT CHECK

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