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India to start export of domestically manufactured ventilators

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): India will now export indigenous ventilators as the country continues to maintain low case fatality rate of COVID-19 patients, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today said.

The Group of Ministers (GOM) on COVID-19 have considered and agreed to the proposal of the Health Ministry allowing the export of made-in-India ventilators.

This decision has been communicated to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) for further needed action to facilitate the export of domestically manufactured ventilators.

“This significant decision comes on the heels of India continuing to maintain a progressively declining low rate of case fatality of COVID-19 patients, which currently stands at 2.15 percent, which means that fewer numbers of active cases are on ventilators. As on July 31, 2020, only 0.22 percent of the active cases were on ventilators across the country,” said a statement from Union health ministry.

Additionally, there has been substantial growth in the domestic manufacturing capacity of ventilators. Compared to January 2020, there are presently more than 20 domestic manufacturers for ventilators, it added.

The export prohibition or restriction on ventilators was imposed in March 2020 to ensure domestic availability to effectively fight COVID-19. All types of ventilators were prohibited for export from March 24. Now with export of ventilators having been allowed, it is hoped that domestic ventilators would be in a position to find new markets for Indian ventilators in foreign countries.

The gap between recovered patients and active covid-19 cases currently stands at 5,29,271. Active cases stand at 5,65,103 and are under medical supervision while the number of recovered cases have reached 10,94,374.

-CHK

MP Amar Singh passes away

New Delhi (NVI): Rajya Sabha member and former Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh, died today at a hospital in Singapore. Singh had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for several months and had lately been admitted to its intensive care unit.

Singh, 64, had undergone kidney transplant in 2011 and was not keeping well for a long time.

The flamboyant businessman-politician, who was once counted as India’s most influential icons from industry, politics and Bollywood among his closest friends, had been a key player in the cut and thrust of Indian politics till about a decade ago.

His Twitter handle remained active till hours before the news of death emerged, as he paid tributed to Bal Gangadhar Tilak and also wished people on Eid.

Leaders across the political spectrum condoled Amar Singh’s death and said he was one of those politicians who had friends in all parties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Amar Singh Ji was an energetic public figure. In the last few decades, he witnessed some of the major political developments from close quarters. He was known for his friendships across many spheres of life. Saddened by his demise. Condolences to his friends & family. Om Shanti.”

“Deeply saddened to learn that Shri Amar Singh, a dear colleague and member of Rajya Sabha is no more. I have been enquiring about his well-being and we were in constant touch during his treatment in Singapore. I was hoping that he would recover and return home soon,” Vice President Venkaiak Naidu tweeted.

-CHK

Smart India Hackathon: NEP will transform job seekers into job creators, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): The New Education Policy (NEP) is not just a policy but a compilation of aspirations of all the Indians. It will convert job seekers into job creators, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi while interacting with the finalists of the Smart India Hackathon via video conferencing.

The hackathon, being held from August 1 to 3, is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing problems people face in daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem-solving.

PM Modi interacted with the students and inquired about their projects ranging from women’s hygiene products to crime detection technologies to water harvesting.

“This Hackathon is not the first problem you have tried to solve. Nor is this the last. I want you, and youngsters like you to not stop doing three things: Learning, Questioning, Solving. When you learn, you get the wisdom to question,” he said.

The Smart India Hackathon, held by All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), was inaugurated by HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

Each winning team across the themes will get Rs 1 lakh. The competition will take place virtually this year. It had started in 2017 and this is its fourth edition. This year, over 4.5 lakh entries were received for the competition.

The Prime Minister during his address also spoke about the New Education Policy that was launched on July 29. He said that it took 5 years to plan and draft the NEP 2020. Opinions and suggestions were taken from people in different sectors, before drafting the policy.

He further added, “The NEP is keen on keen on inclusion, right from primary education. In higher education, the aim is to increase gross enrolment ratio to 50 percent by 2035.”

-CHK

These countries most at risk from falling tourism due to COVID-19

Barcelona, the cosmopolitan capital of Spain’s Catalonia region

New Delhi (NVI): The global travel restrictions put in place to reduce the coronavirus pandemic have had a devastating effect on countries depending on tourism industry.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) data shows countries that stand the most to lose from a downturn in tourism are Italy and Spain – which have been among the countries hit earliest and hardest by the coronavirus crisis.

Both the countries are among the most vulnerable to the economic fallout of the pandemic as they are highly dependent on tourism.

They heavily rely on travel and tourism, which has come to a screeching halt in the past months and remains very limited to this day despite gradual reopening.

Moreover, both the countries have struggled economically even before the outbreak, with high levels of public debt and unemployment rates among the highest of all OECD countries.

According to the WTTC data, travel and tourism contributed 14.3 and 13.0 percent, respectively, to Spain’s and Italy’s GDP last year.

It included direct contributions from hotels, travel agents, airlines, restaurants and others as well as ripple effects from the billions of dollars or euros for that matter, that tourists bring to their shores.

Apart from this, in the United States, the total impact of travel and tourism was considerably smaller at 8.6 percent of GDP.

Even at that lower rate, travel and tourism directly supports more than 6 million jobs in the United States, with the total contribution to employment amounting to 16.8 million jobs in the US, according to WTTC data.

-RJV/CHK

2 Indian teens discover Earth-bound asteroid near Mars

Vaidehi Vekariya and Radhika Lakhani sharing the limelight after their discovery. (Image: SPACE Surat/Facebook)

New Delhi (NVI): Two teenage girls from India have discovered an Earth-bound asteroid, which is presently near Mars, by poring through images from a University of Hawaii telescope.

The asteroid orbit is expected to cross that of Earth in about one million years’ time, said SPACE India, a private institute where the two girls have received training.

Vaidehi Vekariya and Radhika Lakhani, both 14 and in 10th grade, belong to Surat in Gujarat, and were participants in a project sponsored by SPACE India and NASA. The project allows students to look at images from a telescope in Hawaii, a space education institute in India reported recently.

“I look forward to.. when we will get a chance to name the asteroid,” said Vaidehi Vekariya, who added that she wants to become an astronaut when she is older.

The asteroid, currently called HLV2514, may be officially christened only after NASA confirms its orbit.

Radhika Lakhani, the other student, said she was working hard on her education. “I don’t even have a TV at home, so that I can concentrate on my studies.”

The girls used specialised software to analyse the images snapped by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, and made the discovery in June, SPACE India said.

Asteroids and comets pose a potential threat to Earth, and scientists discover thousands of them each year. In 2013, an asteroid heavier than the Eiffel Tower exploded over central Russia, leaving more than 1,000 people injured from its shockwave.

-CHK

11 dead in Vizag crane collapse

New Delhi (NVI): Eleven persons were crushed to death when a giant crane collapsed at Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL) in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam city today.

The 70-tonne crane, which was built by the Mumbai-based Anupam Cranes two years ago but was yet to be made operational, had been undergoing load testing when the mishap took place.

The accident happened when the workers were carrying out an inspection of the crane used to carry equipment for shipbuilding. The massive crane suddenly crumbled and crashed to the ground with a massive sound.

Three bodies were retrieved from under the debris of the crane and the remaining were believed to be crushed, according to media reports.

Officials said that no one was injured in the incident and that all the 11 who were present in the crane have died.

-CHK

India’s Covid fatality rate lowest since first lockdown at 2.15%

COVID
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New Delhi (NVI): The Case Fatality Rate (CRF) in India stands at 2.15 per cent today and it’s the lowest since the lockdown first started.

The COVID-19 fatality rate has been continuously reducing from around 3.33 per cent in mid-June, Union Health Ministry said.

In an official statement, the ministry said that, “This is a testimony to the focused, coordinated, pre-emptive, graded and evolving “Test Track Treat” strategy and efforts of the Centre along with the State/UT governments.”

The emphasis on early detection through aggressive testing and effective clinical management of the hospitalized cases have resulted in the continuously falling fatality rate, the ministry said, adding that it indicates that India has been able to successfully contain the fatality rate of COVID-19.

Whereas, the successful implementation of effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on a comprehensive Standard of Care approach have resulted in a consistent addition of more than 30,000 recoveries per day, it added.

Meanwhile, the total number of recovered cases are nearly 11 lakh in India. With 36,569 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries have jumped to 10,94,374. The recovery rate stands at 64.53 per cent amongst COVID-19 patients.

The ministry further said that, “With such consistent increase in recoveries, the gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases currently stands at 5,29,271. Active cases (5,65,103) are under medical supervision.”

Currently, there are 1488 dedicated COVID Hospitals with 2,49,358 isolation beds, 31,639 ICU beds and 1,09,119 oxygen supported beds, 16,678 ventilators, it said.

In addition to this, 3,231 dedicated COVID health centres with 2,07,239 Isolation beds, 18,613 ICU beds and 74,130 oxygen supported beds and 6,668 ventilators have also been operationalised. Moreover, 10,755 COVID Care Centres with 10,02,681 beds are now available to combat COVID-19 in the country.

The Centre has also provided 273.85 lakh N95 masks and 121.5 lakh personal protective equipments (PPEs) and 1083.77 lakh HCQ tablets to the States/UTs and central institutions so far, the ministry added.

-RJV

PM remembers Bal Gangadhar Tilak

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today paid tributes to one of the icons of India’s freedom struggle, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, on his 100th death anniversary, saying his intellect, courage and idea of “swaraj” continue to inspire people.

“India bows to Lokmanya Tilak on his 100th punya tithi. His intellect, courage, sense of justice and idea of Swaraj continue to inspire,” Modi tweeted.

 

PM Modi also shared a brief video from his twitter account of one of his Mann ki Baat programmes in which he had referred to Tilak’s efforts to unite people against the British rule.

Tilak, one of the most respected figures of India’s freedom struggle, whose most powerful slogan was ‘Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it’, caught the imagination of the entire country and inspired them in the fight against the colonial rule.

-CHK

Covid-19: Second round of sero-survey begins in Delhi

Delhi govt has begun monthly sero-survey in the city from today (Source: @CMODelhi)

New Delhi (NVI): The second phase of sero-prevalance survey for COVID-19 has commenced in Delhi from today. The five-day exercise is set to cover all districts in the national capital.

The exercise is being undertaken for a comprehensive assessment of the COVID-19 situation in Delhi.

Samples will be collected from four districts, including North Delhi and Northwest Delhi, to start with on Saturday.

Moreover, the authorities are targeting to cover nearly 15,000 people to analyse the prevalence of antibodies from all the 11 districts of the national capital.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said that the process is a technical one but is significant in the fight against the disease, adding that the coronavirus situation in the national capital is improving.

Taking over to twitter, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office wrote, “On the directions of Hon’ble CM Shri @ArvindKejriwal, the Delhi govt has begun monthly sero-survey in the city from today. The survey conducted in June showed 24% Delhi residents have developed antibodies. This will aid the govt to tailor it’s strategy to changing circumstances.”

Notably, Delhi’s first sero survey, conducted from June 27 to July 10, found that over 23 percent population in the national capital, had an exposure to the novel coronavirus.

On July 22, Satyendra Jain announced that after analysing the result of last survey, the administration will conduct sero survey across the national capital every month to determine better policies to tackle the COVID-19 situation.

In the last 24 hours, Delhi has registered 1,195 new cases of coronavirus, taking the tally to 1,35,598. It is now the country’s fourth worst-affected state.

-RJV

 

Air Marshal VR Chaudhari takes over as chief of IAF’s Western Air Command

Air Marshal VR Chaudhari, taking over Command of Western Air Command, at HQ WAC, Subroto Park, New Delhi.

New Delhi (NVI): Indian Air Force’s Western Air Command (WAC), whose responsibilities include the sensitive Ladakh sector, got a new chief today. Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari took over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief after Air Marshal B Suresh superannuated yesterday.

Air Marshal Chaudhari was commissioned into Fighter Stream of the IAF on Dec 29, 1982, as a Fighter Pilot.

The Air Marshal is a highly experienced fighter pilot and has flown a variety of aircraft. An experienced pilot, Chaudhari has logged more than 3,800 hours of flying on a variety of fighter planes such as MiG-21, Mig-29 and Sukhoi-30.

Air Marshal VR Chaudhari reviewing the Guard of Honour Parade at WAC headquarter.

He has commanded important fighter bases in his military career including one in Kashmir. He also flew air defence missions during the 1999 Kargil war with Pakistan.

During his illustrious career in the IAF, the Air Officer has held numerous important appointments. He was Commanding Officer of a frontline fighter squadron and has also commanded a frontline Fighter Base.

As an Air Vice Marshal, he has held the coveted appointments of Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Air Defence), Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Personnel Officers) at Air HQ Vayu Bhawan.

Furthermore, as an Air Marshal, he held the appointment of Deputy Chief of the Air Staff at Air HQ Vayu Bhawan. Prior to his present appointment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer, Eastern Air Command.

The Air Marshal is an alumini of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington.

Air Marshal Vivek Ram is a highly decorated officer having been awarded Vayu Sena Medal in January 2004 and the Ati Vishist Seva Medal in January 2015.

-CHK

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