IT relief on COVID treatment, ex-gratia received

Union Health Ministry has said that continuous decline in daily cases of Covid -19 and further improvement in recovery from infection is being noticed in the country.Addressing media in New Delhi on Friday evening, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said that continuous decline in daily cases is being noticed since India reported a peak with nearly four lakh 14 thousand cases on May7.He said, now almost 88 per cent decline in such cases has been seen since the highest reported peak in daily new cases.  Agarwal also informed that till May 4, there were 531 districts in the country which were reporting over 100 cases daily, now the number has come down to 125 districts.He said, there are currently 565 districts in the country where the case positivity rate is less than 5 per cent.

-Secretary Department of Biotechnology, Dr Renu Swarup has said that the first Covid variant of concern was the one identified in UK and subsequently four variants, which WHO labelled as Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. During the media briefing Dr. Renu said that Delta variant is the one that was identified in India and in fact it was Indian scientists who indentified it and put it on the global data base. She said as the genomic surveillance was done within India, it helped many other countries to identify on the global data base and then it was noted that this variant was found in many countries. She said, one more mutation has been noticed in Delta which is called Delta Plus which is an additional mutation to the Delta variant. Dr Swarup said that scientists would continue to track the mutations. She also reiterated the point that it should not be forgetten that our public health intervention and covid appropriate behavior are very important aspects and they do not change even if the variants change.

-Government on Friday announced tax exemption for expenditure on COVID-19 treatment and ex-gratia received on death due to COVID-19.Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur said, many taxpayers have received financial help from their employers and well-wishers for meeting their expenses incurred for treatment of Covid-19.He said, in order to ensure that no income tax liability arises on this account, it has been decided to provide income-tax exemption to the amount received by a taxpayer for medical treatment from employer or from any person for treatment of Covid-19 during Financial Year 2019-20 and subsequent years. The exemption will be allowed without any limit for the amount received from the employer and the exemption shall be limited to Rs. 10 lakh in aggregate for the amount received from any other persons. Thakur also said that another relief to income-tax payer is that the time to invest in a residential house, for tax deduction, has been extended for more than three months. He added that for PAN and Aadhaar linking, extension has been granted till 30th September.He said, the government has also decided to provide income-tax exemption to ex-gratia payment received by family members of a person from the employer of such person or from other person on the death of the person on account of Covid-19 during 2019-20 and subsequent years. Thakur also announced that for filing TDS statements, time limit extended from 30 June to 15 July.For issuing tax deduction certificates, it has been extended from 15 July to 31st  July and for filing foreign remittance certificate, it has been extended from 15 th to 31st July.

-In Jammu and Kashmir, one terrorist was killed in an encounter that erupted Friday between terrorists and security forces in Hanjipora area of Shopian district. According to police, the encounter broke out after a joint team of security forces launched a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) based on a specific input about the presence of terrorists in the area.As the joint team approached towards the suspected spot, the terrorists fired upon security forces who in retaliation killed the terrorist.The identity of the slain terrorist is being ascertained.The second terrorist of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terror outfit surrendered alongwith AK 56 rifle before the security forces during the live encounter.

- India and China have agreed on the need to find an early resolution to the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh keeping in view the agreement reached between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries last year.In this regard, the two sides agreed to maintain dialogue and communication through the diplomatic and military mechanisms to reach a mutually acceptable solution for complete disengagement from all friction points.During the 22nd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs today, they also agreed that in the interim, the two sides will continue to ensure stability on the ground and prevent any untoward incident.