Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan had a digital interaction with his Australian counterpart Gregory Andrew Hunt to discuss bilateral Health co-operation on July 14, 2020.
Elaborating on the role of India’s medical community in containment and management of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Vardhan noted that India’s medical professionals, paramedics, and scientists have played a pivotal role in containing COVID-19. He stated that they are helping in drug discovery and in repurposing of existing drugs. They have also isolated the virus in the early onset of diseases and are engaged in studying the virus using Genome sequencing.
“From just one lab to test the virus in January 2020, India now has more than 1,200 labs across the country facilitating the people in widespread testing,” Dr Vardhan added. India’s drug manufacturers have also enabled India to supply Hydroxychloroquin to 140 countries, he said. The Health Ministers agreed to continue to jointly work in the area of health and other common interests.
During the last 24 hours, 2,86,247 samples have been tested. The cumulative number of samples tested, as of now, is 1,20,92,503. The testing per million for India is consistently rising. Today it has touched 8,762.7. In the last 24 hours, a total of 17,989 people were cured of COVID, taking the total cumulative number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients to 5,71,459 and the recovery rate to 63.02% today. India’s fatality rate has further dropped to 2.62% owing to effective clinical management of COVID-19 patients, asccording to sa PIB release.
Punjab: Stepping up its fight against COVID, the Punjab government has put a complete bar on all public gatherings, while restricting social gatherings to five and marriages/other social functions to 30 instead of the current 50. Mandatory FIRs shall be filed against those found violating the curb on public gatherings, which now stand strictly disallowed.
Karnataka: Lockdown was enforced from 8pm on July 14, 2020, in Bengaluru urban and Bengaluru rural districts. In Dakshin Kannada, Dharwad, and Kalburgi districts lockdown will come into force from July 15, 2020. State has also banned all public celebration of festivals. Meanwhile, the state government warned private hospitals and medical college that criminal case will be filed for refusal of treatment to covid patients.