31,991 discharged in 24 hours

31,991 discharged in 24 hours

Case fatality rate is 2.28% and recovery rate 64%, says Health Ministry 

COVID­19 case fatality rate is progressively falling and currently it is at 2.28%, making it one of the lowest in the world, said a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry on Monday. Continuing the streak of more than 30,000 recoveries a day for the fourth successive day, 31,991 patients were discharged in the past 24 hours. This had taken the total recoveries beyond 9 lakh and the number currently stood at 9,17,567. The recovery rate was now 64%, the Ministry said. Medical attention was being provided to all active cases in hospitals and home settings. The Central government attributed the falling case fatality rate and growing recovery rate to focused efforts on early detection and isolation through aggressive testing and efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases by it, the

State governments and the Union Territory administrations. Data released by the Ministry said that during the pandemic, through the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (ABHWCs), in the last week, 3.83 lakh individuals were screened for hypertension, 3.14 lakh for diabetes, 1.15 lakh for oral cancer, 45,000 for breast cancer and 36,000 for cervical cancer. “The AB­HWCs have been very useful in the pandemic as their population­based screenings for non­communicable diseases have provided the State health authorities a list of those with chronic diseases and the vulnerable, co­morbid population which has to be protected from COVID­19 on priority,” the Health Ministry said. It added that in the week starting from July 18 to 24, a total of 44.26 lakh people have benefited from the health and wellness services being provided by the ABHWCs. The cumulative total

footfall among the HWCs since their inception (i.e. April 14, 2018) consequently rose to 1,923.93 lakh. Responding to the Central government’s action to counter the COVID­19 outbreak that prompted disruptions in import of bulk drug and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to India, S. Sridhar, chair, FICCI Pharma Committee, and MD, Pfizer, said that the government’s ₹10,000­crore pharma package to boost manufacturing of APIs and reduce import dependence had come at a very right time. “We believe that this is a first step towards what must be a sustained effort to help create a thriving API industry in the country. In subsequent phases, we hope to see measures that enable access to easier loans, enhanced taxation benefits, priority issue resolution across Ministries and further improvement in access to infrastructure,” he said.

31,991 discharged in 24 hours

Case fatality rate is 2.28% and recovery rate 64%, says Health Ministry 

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI 

No rest for the weary:A health worker collecting details of a person at a screening camp in Mumbai on Monday.  * AFP

PM­CARES Fund is a “public charitable trust” to which “anyone can contribute”. It is a “misconception” that contributions received by a public trust like PM­CARES can be transferred to a statutory fund like the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF), the government maintained in the Supreme Court on Monday. The government was responding to a bunch of petitions, including one from the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Prashant Bhushan, to transfer funds from PMCARES to the NDRF to help fight the pandemic.  Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan, Mr. Dave argued that PM­CARES is not subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Contributions to it are “100% tax free”. The court reserved the case for judgment.

‘PM­CARES funds cannot go to NDRF’

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI 

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the government whether a mechanism can be devised by which nine foreign citizens facing trial for allegedly violating lockdown norms to attend a gathering in the national capital can file “affidavits of apology” as a precondition to close the cases against them. A Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said the

court would give priority to their right of liberty. The nine are the only ones left facing trial among the total 34 foreigners who had moved the Supreme Court. Appearing before a Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan, Solicitor­General Tushar Mehta said that of the 34 petitioners, two have no cases against them and had approached the apex court owing to some “misconcep

tion”. Trial was over for 23 of the remaining 32 of the petitioners. All the 23 had pleaded guilty under the plea­bargaining process and were set free by the magistrate court after paying a fine. Only these nine were left. Senior advocates C.U. Singh and Menaka Guruswamy said the nine were compelled to face trial because conviction or pronouncement of guilt, even by pleabargaining, would visit them

with serious consequences in their native countries. Justice Khanwilkar asked Mr. Mehta to respond to this suggestion, saying “we will prioritise the liberty issue. We will also address the issue of plea­bargaining having serious consequences [for the nine petitioners]”. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had clarified in an affidavit that visas of 2,679 foreigners were cancelled on a “case­to­case basis”.

Can affidavits of apology be used, asks SC

Court asks govt. to respond to suggestion for nine foreigners facing trial 

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

An Israeli team, led by a “high ranking” research and development (R&D) defence official, arrived in Delhi on Monday with a multipronged mission, codenamed “Operation Breathing Space”, to work with Indian authorities on the coronavirus response, said a statement issued by the Israeli Embassy in Delhi. Amongst the plans for the team, which will be coordinated by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Ministry of Health, are four different kinds of rapid tests, which will be jointly developed after trials on Indian COVID­19 patients, as well as high­tech equipment to minimise exposure of medical staff to the virus, advanced respirators and special sanitisers developed in Israel.

Possible game changer “If even one of the tests proves to be effective in testing for coronavirus in 30­40 seconds, this could be a game changer for the whole world and how we behave, at least until we have a vaccine,” Israeli Ambassador Ron Malka, who also flew to Delhi by the special flight from Tel Aviv with the team and medical equipment aid, told The Hindu on Monday. “Imagine how much easier it will be to operate flights, schedule conferences and meetings, if we can test so easily and quickly,” he explained.  The tests that the Israeli teams will be conducting trials for include an audio

test, a breath test, thermal testing, and a polyamino test which seeks to isolate proteins related to COVID­19, said officials. In the audio test, a patient’s voice would be recorded and evaluated through artificial intelligence and machine learning, while the breath test would involve making the patient blow into a tube, which would be analysed through specialised “highfrequency” methodology. The simple tests have been tried on a small sample of Israeli patients, and now would be tried in the next stage on a larger sample of Indian patients, after which they would be recalibrated depending on results, using “big data” analysis.  “These are not experiments on patients. We are just testing using samples from patients. They are completely safe and are not invasive, and will follow international standards and practices,” Mr. Malka said, adding that the trials in Israel thus far had yielded positive results.  The cooperation between Indian and Israeli scientists

will also include sharing the most effective treatment protocols for COVID­19 patients. The team, which will work initially at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), has also brought robotic equipment, and wrist monitors that will help doctors and nurses monitor a patient without increasing risks of infection to themselves. In addition, the team has brought 83 “advanced respirators” to help patients with severe symptoms. These have been banned for export in Israel, but have been allowed for Indian use by a special waiver, said the Ambassador.  The decision to cooperate on COVID­19 research and development, and to allow the Israeli team to conduct trials in India was decided between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, who have spoken thrice since the pandemic broke out. On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi called External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to brief him on details of the team’s plans in India.