हिंदी
PIB’S BULLETIN ON CORONA VIRUS
April 22nd
The cumulative number of Corona vaccine doses administered in the country hascrossed 13.23 Cr as part of the world’s largest vaccination drive.Cumulatively, 13,23,30,644vaccine doses have been administered through 19,28,118 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.These include 92,19,544 HCWs who have taken the 1st dose and 58,52,071 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose. As on Day 96 of the vaccination drive (21st April, 2021), 22,11,334vaccine doses were given.15,01,704 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 35,499 sessions for 1st dose and 7,09,630 beneficiaries received 2nd dose of vaccine. 3,14,835new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.Ten States including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka,Kerala,Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat And Rajasthan reported 75.66% of the new cases.Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 67,468. It is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 33,106 while Delhi reported 24,638 new cases. India’s total Active Caseload has reached 22,91,428. It now comprises 14.38% of the country’s total Positive Cases. A net incline of 1,33,890 cases recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours.The five States of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala cumulatively account for 59.99% of India’s total Active Cases. India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,34,54,880 today. The National Recovery Rate is 84.46%.1,78,841 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours.
The National Mortality Rate has been falling and currently stands at 1.16%.2,104 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. 9 States/UTs have not reported any Corona deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Ladakh (UT), D&D & D&N, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Nagaland, A&N Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.
For details: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1713356
PM NarendraModi held a high-level meeting to review the oxygen supply across the country and discuss ways and means to boost its availability. The officials briefed him on the efforts undertaken in the last few weeks to improve the supply of oxygen.
PM spoke about the need to work rapidly on multiple aspects: increasing production of oxygen, increasing the speed of distribution and using innovative ways to provide oxygen support to health facilities. PM was told that an elaborate exercise is being done in co-ordination with the states to identify their demand for oxygen and ensure adequate supply accordingly. PM was briefed on how oxygen supply to states is steadily increasing. Against the present demand from 20 states of 6,785 MT/ day of Liquid Medical Oxygen, Government of India has from 21st April, allocated 6,822 MT/ day to these states. It was noted that in the last few days, availability of Liquid Medical Oxygen has been increased by about 3,300 MT/ day with contributions from private and public steel plants, industries, oxygen manufacturers as well as through prohibition of supply of oxygen for non-essential industries.
Officers informed the PM that they are working together with the states to operationalize the sanctioned PSA oxygen plants as soon as possible. PM directed the officials to ensure that oxygen supply to various states happen in a smooth, unhindered manner. He spoke about the need to fix responsibility with the local administration in cases of obstruction. He also asked ministries to explore various innovative ways to increase production & supply of oxygen.
For details:https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1713393
The Prime Minister will held high-level meetings to review the prevailing COVID situation tomorrow. Shri Modi Tweeted “Tomorrow, will be chairing high-level meetings to review the prevailing COVID situation. Due to that, I would not be going to West Bengal.”
For details: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1713420
The Indian Railway is running Oxygen Express trains in response to its fight against Covid-19. The first Oxygen Express with Liquid Medical Oxygen(LMO) tankers is going to start its journey for Mumbai from Visakhapatnam tonight. Tankers filled with LMO at Visakhapatnam are being transported through Ro-Ro service of Indian Railways.
Another Oxygen Express started its journey from Lucknow to Bokaro via Varanasi to fulfil the requirements of Medical Oxygen in Uttar Pradesh. For the movement of the train, a green corridor was created between Lucknow to Varanasi. The distance of 270 Km was covered by the train in 4 hours 20 minutes with an average speed of 62.35 kmph.
Transportation of Oxygen through Trains is faster over long distances than road transport. Trains can run 24 hours in a day but a truck drivers need to take halts etc.
It may please be noted that to facilitate loading/unloading of tankers in/from flat wagons, a ramp is required. Also, due to restrictions of height of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Over Head Equipment (OHE) at certain locations, out of the various specifications of road tankers, the model of road tanker T 1618 with height of 3320 mm was found feasible to be placed on flat wagons (DBKM) with height of 1290 mm.
For details:https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1713395
Various steps have been taken by Government of India to address the emerging issues for effective management of the recent unprecendented spike in COVID cases across various States and UTs. These pro-active measures taken by the Union Government under a ‘whole of government’ are also being regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
The escalation of serious COVID patients in hospitals for effective clinical management has also resulted in an increase in the demand of Remdesivir. While the States have been advised to promote judicious use of the drug which is listed as an Investigational Therapy by the Health Ministry, they have also been advised to take action against possible hoarding and black marketing of the drug. Keeping in mind the sudden surge in demand in the country for Remdesivir Injection required for Covid therapy, the manufacturing capacity of domestic Remdesivir manufacturers has been ramped up. All support is being extended to manufacturers by the government in this endeavour. The production capacity is being ramped up from current level of 38 lakh vials per month to 74 lakh vials per month, and 20 additional manufacturing sites have been approved. Export of Remdesivir has also been prohibited on 11th April,2021 in order to shore up domestic supplies.
To further address reports of shortages in certain regions of the country and facilitate smooth inter-state supply of Remdesivir, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in coordination with Department of Pharmaceuticals has made an interim allocation of Remdesivir for 19 States/UTs for the period up to 30th April, 2021.
For details: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1713329
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. NirmalaSitharaman, yesterday urged the industry to wait and watch for next few days to assess the situation amid the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The Finance Minister also assured the industry of full government support. Addressing the FICCI National Executive Committee Members through virtual mode, Smt. Sitharaman said that with the Prime Minister’s address to the nation, along with the new vaccination guidelines and with the five-fold strategy adopted in handling the COVID cases — i.e., test, track, treat, COVID protocols and vaccination — there will be a sense of reassurance.“With all these steps, we should hope to see a positive change in the way the second wave of COVID pandemic is moving. Industry is watching out and I would want you (industry) to keenly observe what is going on and we are together with the industry in (fighting) this (pandemic). I am sure all of us together will understand how best to now ramp-up and sustain the growth momentum which all of us are keen to see between the last quarter and this quarter,” Smt. Sitharaman added.
Smt. Sitharaman further stated that sectors like hospitality, aviation, travel, tourism and hotels faced great difficulty since the start of COVID pandemic. “We have extended the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECGLS 2.0) for these sectors and I will ensure the efficiency with which it was performing last year shall perform even for the aviation and tourism sector,” the Finance Minister said.
For details: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1713304
