Starting from one test in January 2020 through a single lab in Pune, India has exceeded cumulative tests of more than 3.5 crore today. Consistently testing more than 8 lakhs tests since the last six days, with 8,01,147 COVID-19 tests in the past 24 hours, the total has touched 3,52,92,220.

The steep rise in the testing is a result of effective implementation of the aggressive testing strategy of the Centre through a focussed and graded approach.

The rising average daily tests during the past three weeks present a strong depiction of the progress made in enhancement of COVID-19 tests across the country.

A consistently increasing number of recoveries has pushed India’s Recovery Rate amongst the COVID-19 patients to nearly 75%.

With the recoveries of 57,989 COVID patients in the last 24 hours, the total number of recoveries has reached 22,80,566 today.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has sent letters to States Governments/UTs to include all eligible disabled persons under the National Food Security Act 2013. Section 38 of the Act mandates that the Central Government may from time to time give directions to the State Governments for effective implementation if the provisions of the Act. The Department advised all States/UTs to ensure that all disabled persons, who are eligible as per identification criteria of beneficiaries under NFSA, are covered under the National Food Security Act 2013 and they get their entitled quota of food grains under NFSA & PMGKAY as per provisions of the Act.

It is stated that those not already covered should be covered with fresh ration cards to be issued as per the eligibility criteria. It is also reiterated that disability is one of the criteria for inclusion of beneficiaries under AAY households and as disabled persons are vulnerable section of the society. The letter further advised that it is imperative that they are also covered by States/UTs under the priority households as per the criteria of identification evolved by them

The Section 10 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 provides for coverage of persons under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana in accordance with the guidelines applicable to the said scheme and the remaining households as priority households in accordance with such guidelines as the States Government may specify.

The Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package of the Government of India is for the persons, who are not covered either under NFSA or any States Scheme PDS Cards. Hence, the disabled persons without ration cards are also eligible for getting benefits under Atma Nirbhar Bharat package. Since this scheme would lapse on August 31,2020 and there is still one week left for this, the Department requested to all States/UTs, that they may identify such disabled persons who do not have ration cards and provide them benefits under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package. The letter also mentioned that the scheme started in May 2020 and it was presumed that all eligible beneficiaries without ration cards including the disabled should have been covered. It is understood that the ration lifted so far has been utilized by the States for distributing to eligible beneficiaries without ration cards including the disabled. States are requested to undertake proactive steps in this regard.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has sent letters to States Governments/UTs to include all eligible disabled persons under the National Food Security Act 2013. Section 38 of the Act mandates that the Central Government may from time to time give directions to the State Governments for effective implementation if the provisions of the Act. The Department advised all States/UTs to ensure that all disabled persons, who are eligible as per identification criteria of beneficiaries under NFSA, are covered under the National Food Security Act 2013 and they get their entitled quota of food grains under NFSA & PMGKAY as per provisions of the Act.

It is stated that those not already covered should be covered with fresh ration cards to be issued as per the eligibility criteria. It is also reiterated that disability is one of the criteria for inclusion of beneficiaries under AAY households and as disabled persons are vulnerable section of the society. The letter further advised that it is imperative that they are also covered by States/UTs under the priority households as per the criteria of identification evolved by them

The Section 10 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 provides for coverage of persons under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana in accordance with the guidelines applicable to the said scheme and the remaining households as priority households in accordance with such guidelines as the States Government may specify.

The Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package of the Government of India is for the persons, who are not covered either under NFSA or any States Scheme PDS Cards. Hence, the disabled persons without ration cards are also eligible for getting benefits under Atma Nirbhar Bharat package. Since this scheme would lapse on August 31,2020 and there is still one week left for this, the Department requested to all States/UTs, that they may identify such disabled persons who do not have ration cards and provide them benefits under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package. The letter also mentioned that the scheme started in May 2020 and it was presumed that all eligible beneficiaries without ration cards including the disabled should have been covered. It is understood that the ration lifted so far has been utilized by the States for distributing to eligible beneficiaries without ration cards including the disabled. States are requested to undertake proactive steps in this regard.

Indian Railways has generated more than 6,40,000 mandays of work under Gareeb Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan in 6 States viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. 

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry is closely monitoring the progress made in these projects and generation of work opportunities for the migrant labours of these states under this scheme. Around 165 Railway infrastructure projects are being executed in these states. 

Till 21 August, 2020, 12,276 workers have been engaged in this Abhiyaan and the payment of Rs 1,410.35 crores has been released to the contractors for the projects being implemented. 

Railway has appointed nodal officers in each district as well as in the States so that a close coordination is established with the State Government. 

Railway has identified no. of railway works which are being executed under this scheme. The works are related to (i) construction and maintenance of approach roads for level crossings, (ii) development & cleaning of silted waterways, trenches and drains along the track, (iii) construction and maintenance of approach road to railway stations, (iv) repair and widening of existing railway embankments / cuttings, (v) plantation of trees at extreme boundary of railway land and (vi) protection works of existing embankments/ cuttings/bridges. 

It may be noted that Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched a massive employment -cum- rural public works campaign named Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan to empower and provide livelihood opportunities in areas/ villages witnessing large number of returnee migrant workers affected by the devastating COVID-19 on 20th June 2020. The Prime Minister announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 crores would be spent for building durable rural infrastructure under the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan. 

This Abhiyaan of 125 days, is being undertaken in mission mode, and involves focused implementation of 25 categories of works/ activities in 116 districts, each with a large concentration of returnee migrant workers in 6 states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha. Public works is being undertaken during this campaign will have a resource envelope of Rs. 50,000 crores. 

The Abhiyaan is a convergent effort between 12 different Ministries/Departments, namely; Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Road Transport & Highways, Mines, Drinking Water & Sanitation, Environment, Railways, Petroleum & Natural Gas, New & Renewable Energy, Border Roads, Telecom and Agriculture, to expedite implementation of 25 public infrastructure works and works relating to augmentation of livelihood opportunities.

The 58th convocation of IIT Bombay was held today (August 23, 2020) from 1.30 pm onwards in Virtual Reality mode, keeping in view the safety measures during the ongoing pandemic. The Institute thought it best to arrange such a VR-convocation for the graduating students so as not to put their health at risk but at the same time, not deprive them of the sense of achievement and pride of passing out of India’s premier engineering Institute. The personalized avatar of each graduate received the degree certificate from the personalized avatar of the Director Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri. All medal winners received their medals from the personalized avatar of the Chief Guest. The entire event was telecast on DD India and DD Sahyadri channels as well as YouTube and Facebook live.

The convocation is normally a chance for students to socialize with their friends and faculty one last time. This year the institute provided an opportunity for students to do so via virtual presence, allowing students to roam around a virtual campus, visit their hostels and departments virtually, and bump into/meet their friends and faculty.

https://youtu.be/vLNhCaGDab4

On the day, India’s daily tests have scaled a new peak of 10 lakh 23 thousand,India has achieved another milestone as it recorded highest ever single day recoveries of 63,631 in the last 24 hours.

With this high number of COVID-19 patients recovering and being discharged from the hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), the Recovery Rate has reached 74.69%.This has also led to declining Case Fatality Rate, which stands at a new low of 1.87% today.

India’s total recoveries now exceed thetotal active cases (6,97,330) by more than 15 lakhs.The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 23.43% of the total positive cases. Early identification through aggressive TESTING, comprehensive surveillance & contact TRACING along with focus on timely and efficient clinical TREATMENT of patients have ensured speedy recovery.Higher number of recoveries and declining fatality have shown that India’s graded and pro-active strategyis delivering results on the field.

As we move on to the new normal of learning to live with COVID19, Aarogya Setu team has worked on a new innovative feature which is called ‘Open API Service’. In order to help businesses and economy to start functioning while being safe, the Open API Service enables organizations to check the status of Aarogya Setu and integrate it into its various Work from Home features. The Open API Service of Aarogya Setu, addresses the fear/risk of Covid-19 infections and help the people, businesses and the economy to return to normalcy.

Aarogya Setu has been powering India’s fight against COVID-19 since its launch on 2nd April 2020. Aarogya Setu has now emerged as the most downloaded contact tracing App in the world, with more than 15 crore Users. The overwhelming support of the people has enabled Aarogya Setu to aid the efforts of frontline health workers and the Government in COVID-19 mitigation and management efforts. More than 6.6 million Bluetooth contacts have been traced and percentage positive of those who have tested is almost 27%. Thus Aarogya Setu based Bluetooth contact tracing and testing is very efficient and effective. Similarly, many others have been advised for caution and quarantine and it has led to breaking the chain of spread and has been effective in early detection and ensuring that fatality rates in India are amongst the lowest. The Aarogya Setu ITIHAS interface which uses location data and Aarogya Setu analytics to predict emerging hotspots at Sub Pincode levels has been very effective in helping the health officials and administration to take necessary precautionary steps. More than 30,000 hotspots have been identified at a very granular level of 300 m X 300 m and shared with State Governments and Districts. 

Since its launch, Aarogya Setu has continuously innovated and introduced more novel features like e-pass integration, QR Code scanning, sharing of Health status with family/known persons – all of which have been very effective in keeping India and Indians safe in line with the motto of Aarogya Setu – Main Surakshit, Hum Surakshit, Bharat Surakshit.

Open API Service

The Open API Service of Aarogya Setu, can be availed by organizations and business entities, who are registered in India with more than 50 employees, and they can use the Open API Service to query the Aarogya Setu Application in real-time and get the health status of their employees or any other Aarogya Setu User, who have provided their consent for sharing their health status with the organization. The Open API shall only provide the Aarogya Setu status and name of the Aarogya Setu User (with User’s consent). No other personal data shall be provided through the API.