• India
  • Jul 06

Daily Briefing / July 6, 2020

Delhi gets 10,000-bed COVID care centre

Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal inaugurated the 10,000-bed Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre, one of the “largest” such facilities in the world, at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas, saying it will play a crucial role in the fight against the pandemic. While the Delhi government has provided administrative support, the ITBP is the nodal agency operating it under the name ‘Operation Corona Warriors’. The centre is 1,700 feet long, 700 feet wide — roughly the size of 20 football fields combined — and have 200 enclosures with 50 beds each. “The total bed capacity at the centre may go up to 10,200 making it the largest COVID-19 care facility in India so far,” the ITBP said in a statement, adding that it is also the “largest such facility envisaged worldwide”. It has two segments — COVID Care Centre (CCC), where asymptomatic positive cases will be treated, and Dedicated COVID Health Care (DCHC) which will treat symptomatic cases and will have an oxygen support system. The CCC will have 90 per cent beds, while the DCHC will have the rest. More than 1,000 doctors, nurses and paramedics of the ITBP and other central armed police forces, and another 1,000 paramedics, assistants and security staff have been deployed at the facility for its smooth operation.

India becomes third worst-hit nation by COVID-19 

India went past Russia to become the third worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic with the country’s tally of infections crossing seven  lakh. Only the US and Brazil are ahead of India in terms of total coronavirus infections. The total number of tests for detection of COVID-19 crossed the one-crore mark in India, an ICMR official said. A single-day jump of 24,248 COVID-19 cases took India’s tally close to the seven-lakh mark, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 19,693 with 425 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry. States like Kerala, Assam and Karnataka imposed selective lockdown and tightening restrictions to check the rising infection. The worst affected Maharashtra crossed the grim milestone of two lakh COVID-19 cases, Tamil Nadu’s tally reached 1.11 lakh and Delhi too was nearing the one-lakh mark.

Australia’s Victoria to close borders for first time in 100 years

In a major step to contain the rising number of COVID-19 infections, Australia’s hard-hit state Victoria announced to close its borders with the country’s most-populous state New South Wales for the first time in 100 years. Officials last blocked movement between the two states in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic. The announcement came as Victoria registered yet another big jump of 127 new coronavirus cases — its highest daily increase since the pandemic began — and two deaths in the last 24 hours. The move will, however, likely be a blow to Australia’s economic recovery as it heads into its first recession in nearly three decades. Over the weekend, the state government has announced strict lockdown measures for nine public housing towers for five days in Melbourne’s inner north which house over 3,000 residents. 

Govt launches scheme to promote Indian apps

The government launched a programme for Indian tech entrepreneurs and startups to build a strong ecosystem to develop and promote indigenous world class apps. The ministry of electronics and IT in partnership with NITI Aayog announced that it will run the programme in two stages. “With an objective to support and build a strong ecosystem for Indian Apps, MeitY in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog launches Digital India Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge for Indian tech entrepreneurs and startups. This is to help realise the vision of PM Modi for building a Digital India and using digital technologies for building an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” Meity said in a statement. The programme will run in two tracks, which will be to promote existing apps and develop new ones. The programme will look at app development in eight categories which are social networking, e-Learning, entertainment, health and wellness, business — including agritech, fintech, news and games.

FAO sounds high alert for India over locust

India, which is tackling the worst locust attack in 26 years for the last three months, should remain on “high alert” during the next four weeks, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Meanwhile, the Indian government has stepped up efforts and is using the latest technology and equipment like drones and Bell helicopters for control of the menace. Rajasthan is the most affected state in the country. The other affected states are Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Bihar. In its latest update, the FAO said that spring-bred locust swarms that migrated to Indo-Pakistan border and travelled east to northern states, are expected to return back to Rajasthan with the start of monsoon in coming days. According to the Union agriculture ministry, swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts are active in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Dausa, and Bharatpur of Rajasthan, and Jhansi and Mahoba districts of Uttar Pradesh.

CBSE partners with Facebook for curriculum on digital safety

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Facebook have partnered to launch a curriculum on digital safety and online well-being and augmented reality (AR) for  students and educators, Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ announced. According to CBSE officials, the comprehensive curriculum is aimed at ensuring online well-being of students and preparing them for the future of work. The modules are for secondary school students. The curriculum is now available on the CBSE website. “This partnership is led by Facebook for Education, a global initiative by Facebook, to build diverse learning communities and bring the world closer together,” a senior board official said.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store

Notes