More than four crore 20 lakh 63 thousand doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to the beneficiaries in the country so far. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has informed today that a total of 27 lakh 23 thousand 575 doses of vaccines have been administered to the beneficiaries in the last 24 hours.
 
Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate reached 96.12 per cent with a total recovery of 23 thousand 653 patients within 24 hours. The Health Ministry said more than one crore 11 lakh patients have already been recovered from this disease. However, the active caseload is continuously rising in the country due to a sudden spike in the cases reported from various States.
 
At present, there are 2 lakh 88 thousand 394 active cases in the country which comprises 2.49 per cent of the total positive cases. Amid the rising new cases, a total of 40 thousand 953 new cases have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative positive cases to over one crore 15 lakh. The Health Ministry said, 188 deaths have been reported within a day taking the toll to over one lakh 59 thousand across the country. Various laboratories have conducted more than 10 lakh 60 thousand tests of corona virus samples in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative testing to more than 23 crore 24 lakh.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin will arrive in India this evening. During the visit, he will meet Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior dignitaries of the government to discuss deepening the India US Major Defense Partnership. They will also discuss advancing cooperation for a free, prosperous and open Indo-Pacific Region. Discussions regarding defence cooperation would also focus on how both countries could consolidate military to military cooperation and defence trade and industry cooperation.
 
Mr Austin’s visit to India as part of his first overseas travel emphasizes the strength of the India-US strategic partnership.

The process of filing of nominations closes today for the third Phase of Assembly Elections in West Bengal, third and final phase in Assam. It also ends today for the assembly elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry, where the polling is being held in a single phase.
 
Electioneering for the Assembly Elections is gaining momentum in all the States, particularly in the constituencies where today is the last date for filing nominations. 
   
47 Assembly Constituencies in Assam and 30 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal go to polls on 27th of March din the First Phase. In the second phase polling will be held on first of April in 30 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal and 39 Assembly Constituencies of Assam. 40 Assembly Constituencies of Assam and 31 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal will go to polls on 6th of April in the third Phase.
 
Kerala, Tamil Nadu along with the Union Territory of Puducherry will go to polls on a single day on 6th of April. On that day polling would be held for all the 140 Assembly Constituencies of Kerala and 234 Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu along with 30 Assembly Constituencies in Puducherry. Polling would also be held for Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu and Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala simultaneously, where the by-elections are being held.

The Madhya Pradesh government yesterday announced a ban on the movement of passenger buses to and from Maharashtra from March 20.

AIR correspondent reports that in view of the alarming rise in COVID cases in the neighboring state Maharashtra, state government announced a ban on movement of passenger buses to and from Maharashtra. The restriction will be imposed from March 20. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation with municipal commissioners and district collectors.

The government has already advised officials in border districts to place the passengers arriving from Maharashtra in week-long quarantine. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh on Thursday reported 917 covid positive cases while the positivity rate increased to 5.0 percent.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the admission eligibility for Bachelor of Architecture, B.Arch. Degree Course has been relaxed for academic session 2021-2022.

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that the minimum requirement of 50 per cent in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and aggregate of 102 is relaxed to only pass in 12th Class with PCM subjects or 103 Diploma with Maths.

Union Health Ministry said that the country has administered over three crore 93 lakh vaccination doses in the country so far. More than 22 lakh two thousand people have been inoculated with Covid-19 doses in the last 24 hours.
 
Meanwhile, the country saw a spike in reported cases taking the total number of new infections to 39 thousand 726 in the past 24 hours taking the cumulative positive cases to over one crore 15 lakh. The Health Ministry said, 154 deaths have also been reported during the last 24 hours taking the toll to over one lakh 59 thousand across the country.
 
Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate is 96.26 per cent at present with the total recovery of more than 20 thousand patients in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that more than one crore ten lakh patients have already recovered from this disease. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is over two lakh 71 thousand which comprises only 2.36 per cent of the total positive cases.
 
The Indian Council of Medical Research said that various laboratories have conducted more than ten lakh 57 thousand tests of corona virus samples during the last 24 hours and more than 23 crore 13 lakh tests have been done in the country so far.

Government today said that Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh are reporting a steep rise in daily new Covid Cases. Maharashtra reported highest daily new cases at 25 thousand 833. It is followed by Punjab with two thousand 369 while Kerala reported one thousand 899 new cases.
 
Union Health Ministry said, Centre is actively engaging with all State and Union Territory governments, especially those showing an upsurge in daily new cases and with a high caseload of active cases. It said, centre is regularly reviewing the status of COVID containment and public health measures with them.
 
The Ministry said, States and UTs have been advised to improve testing in districts reporting reduction in testing. They have been also advised to carry out an average close contact tracing of minimum of 20 persons per positive case in the first 72 hours along with isolation and early treatment of the serious cases. It is also advised to focus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected districts which are seeing cluster of cases and focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths.
 
Recently, the Centre had deputed high level Public Health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in COVID-19 control and containment measures in view of recent spike in cases in these States. The Central Government had earlier deputed high-level teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir to support them in their fight against the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

In Cricket, India will face England in the fourth T-20 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today. The match will begin at 7.00 PM IST.

England are 2-1 up in the five-match series after a convincing win in the third T-20. Yesterday, England Yesterday defeated India by eight wickets. The Fifth and the final T-20 Match will be played on Saturday.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has passed away at a hospital in Dar es Salaam. He was 61. In a televised address, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said, the President died of a heart ailment that he has battled for over 10 years. She added that the president had been receiving treatment at Mzena hospital since Sunday. The Vice President announced 14 days of national mourning.
 
According to the African country’s constitution, Ms Hassan will be sworn in as the new president and should serve the remainder of Magufuli’s five-year team which he began last year. While a date for her swearing in has not yet been announced, she will be Tanzania’s first female president.

Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has said that redevelopment of railway stations across the country is a priority agenda of his Ministry. He said, this agenda is being driven with full force by the Government with the participation of private players as a part of PPP projects. As part of this agenda, work on redevelopment of 123 stations is in progress.
 
As per current estimates, total investment needed for redevelopment of 123 stations along with real estate development is about 50 thousand crore rupees. Reviewing the progress of Habibganj and Gandhinagar Railway station. yesterday, Mr Goyal appreciated the work being done for redevelopment of these Railway Stations with facilities at par with Airports and as Multi Modal Hubs and commercial development harmonious with the city development.
 
Habibganj Railway Station is  being redeveloped under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. The redeveloped station will have features like ‘segregation of passengers based on arrivals and departures’ leading to congestion free movement at Concourse and Platforms. The station will have latest Safety, Security and Information features. Gandhinagar Railway Station is being developed by Gandhinagar Railway and Urban Development(GARUD). The project is first of its kind in India with an exclusive 5-star Hotel Building over Live Railway Tracks.  The station has been redeveloped with all modern amenities for better passenger experience.
 
At present, works for redevelopment of stations have been initiated including in Nagpur, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Ajni stations in Maharashtra, Habibganj and  Gwalior Stations in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhinagar and  Sabarmati station in Gujarat, Ayodhya and  Gomti Nagar stations in Uttar Pradesh and Safdarjung and  New Delhi stations in Delhi.

Italy has signed the International Solar Alliance under the amended ISA Framework Agreement. The amendments to the Framework Agreement of the ISA entered into force, opening its Membership to all Member States of the UN. The External Affairs Ministry said the Framework Agreement was signed by Italy’s Ambassador, Vincenzo De Luca. The signed copies of the Agreement were received by Additional Secretary (ER), as the representative of External Affairs Ministry, which is the depositary of ISA Framework Agreement. 

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla met Italian Ambassador to India Vincenzo De Luca and welcomed Italy’s accession to International Solar Alliance. They also discussed Italy’s G20 presidency and Vaccine Maitri. The International Solar Alliance was launched jointly by the Indian Prime Minister and the French President during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP21, in Paris. It aims to contribute to the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement through rapid and massive deployment of solar energy.

A total 520 Kashmiri Migrants have returned to the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 and nearly 2,000 more are expected to return by this year. The migrants have returned to Kashmir for taking up jobs that have been provided to them under the centre’s rehabilitation package.

This was stated by Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. Mr. Reddy said that additional 2,000 migrants will return to the valley upon successful completion of their selection process. 

The Government has asserted that the supply of vaccines abroad under the Vaccine Maitri initiative is based on the assessment of adequate availability in the country. The assessment of adequate domestic availability of COVID-19 vaccine is continuously monitored by an empowered committee which is also overseeing the requirements of the vaccination programme. External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar yesterday made a statement on Vaccine Maitri in both the Houses of the Parliament.
 
Terming the initiative as a people centric diplomacy, Dr. Jaishankar said that Vaccine Maitri has made the world see not just the selfless outlook of India but also the quality of its products and capabilities. He added that though COVID-19 has been a test of fire for the entire world, the unique initiative of deep friendship under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised India’s standing and generated international goodwill. The External Affairs Minister informed that Vaccine Maitri began in the immediate neighbourhood and the supply has been extended to other countries.
 
Dr. Jaishankar informed that the domestic producers of the vaccines have also entered into contracts with other nations either bilaterally or through the COVAX route. He added that till date Made in India vaccines have been supplied to 72 nations across the world. Referring to India’s humanitarian assistance and disaster responses in Yemen, Nepal, Mozambique and Fiji, Dr. Jaishankar said that in the last few years the country has developed a reputation of being the first and reliable responder in the region. The Minister also highlighted India’s bridging role in the Paris Agreement and the Prime Minister’s initiatives of International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
 
Dr. Jaishankar asserted that embodying the values of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, India also came to the fore as Pharmacy of the World even when the pandemic was in full fury. He informed that the country supplied 150 nations with medicines, 82 of them as grants. The Minister also mentioned that the country’s generous approach has also been extended through the Vande Bharat Mission. India brought back over 45 lakh people including nationals of other countries in addition to Indians stranded in other countries. 

Campaigning has intensified in poll bound States of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Union Territory of Puducherry for the upcoming assembly elections. West Bengal will go to the polls in eight phases while Assam will be witnessing three-phase elections this time.

47 Assembly Constituencies in Assam and 30 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal will go to polls on 27th of this month during the first phase. Senior BJP Leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam and West Bengal today and will address rallies there. In Assam, Mr Modi will address a rally in Karimganj.
 
In a tweet, Mr Modi said, Assam has witnessed positive changes across various sectors over the last five years and NDA seeks people’s blessings to continue the development agenda. In West Bengal, Mr Modi will address a rally in Purulia. He said, across West Bengal, there is a desire for change and BJP’s agenda of good governance is striking a chord among the people.