NEW DELHI: India is expected to have the Covid-19 vaccine early next year, and possibly from more than one source, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Tuesday. He hoped to be able to provide doses of 40 to 50 crore to 20-25 crore of people in the country by next July.
The minister’s comments came as the Health Ministry said that there is a continued decline in the daily average of new Covid-19 cases in India for the past five weeks, and the doubling rate has increased to 74.9 days.
On Tuesday, the number of new coronavirus infections reported in 24 hours across the country fell below the 60,000 mark, with 55,342 new cases, while the death toll rose to 1,09,856 as the virus claimed 706. lives, according to ministry data. India has so far reported 71.75,880 coronavirus cases and total recoveries have exceeded 62 lakh, according to the data.
The country has been recording fewer than 75,000 new daily infections for the fifth day in a row and deaths below 1,000 for 10 days in a row, the ministry said.
“We hope that early next year we will have the vaccine in the country from perhaps more than one source. We are formulating strategies for the planned distribution of the vaccine in the country,” Vardhan tweeted.
In a tweet, he said that he also expects that by July next year, about 40-50 crore doses will be available for 20-25 crore people in the country.
Vardhan, who chaired the 21st High Level Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on Covid-19 via video conference here, said a strategy on how to provide vaccines to “priority groups” was also discussed.
The minister also called on everyone to observe appropriate Covid behavior during the upcoming festival season and winter months, “when the probability of an increase in the disease is high,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
During the meeting, he also said that with 62,27,295 recovered cases, India has the highest recovery rate in the world at 86.78 percent. “The mortality rate of 1.53 percent is the lowest in the world and the doubling time has been successfully raised to 74.9 days in the last three days,” he said.
He also dismissed skepticism about the slowness of testing, saying: “A total of 1,927 labs today have led to an increase in testing. India’s testing capacity has risen to 1.5 million tests per day. About 11 lakh of samples were analyzed in the last 24 hours. ”
Vardhan also told the meeting that while the global vaccine landscape is being mapped, only 9 vaccines have advanced from phase 2 to phase 3 trials, and of these 3 are in India.
Meanwhile, during a briefing, the secretary of the Ministry of Health told reporters that India continues to report a steadily decreasing trend of active cases and that currently active cases in the country amount to 8,38,729. Active cases have been below the 9 lakh mark for the fifth day in a row, he said.
“During the last five weeks, there is a continuous decrease in the daily average of new cases. The weekly average of new daily cases fell from 92,830 cases in the second week of September to 70,114 cases in the second week of October,” he said. India recorded a record single-day increase of 97,894 Covid-19 cases on September 17.
While the global number of Covid-19 cases per million is 4,794, India reports 5,199 infections. The United Kingdom (8,893), Russia (8,992), South Africa (11,675), the United States (23,072) and Brazil (23,911) are reporting a higher number of cases per million, the ministry said.
The ministry also stated that deaths / million in India are 79, while the world average is 138.
“When it comes to testing for Covid-19, India is one of the leading countries,” the ministry noted.
“With 10,73,014 tests carried out on Monday, the cumulative number of tests carried out so far is 8.89 crore (8,89,45,107). A sustained higher number of tests has helped early identification and timely treatment that leads to higher recoveries and lower fatality rate ”, the ministry stressed.
Providing data on the fatality rate between different age groups, the ministry said that about 47 percent of Covid-19 deaths have been among those under the age of 60, adding that about 70 percent of deaths. Deaths from Covid-19 have been of male patients while 30 percent of deaths have been reported in women.
According to the ministry, ten states account for 79 percent of the total active Covid-19 cases in the country. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala have the maximum number of active cases compared to other states and UT.
The minister’s comments came as the Health Ministry said that there is a continued decline in the daily average of new Covid-19 cases in India for the past five weeks, and the doubling rate has increased to 74.9 days.
On Tuesday, the number of new coronavirus infections reported in 24 hours across the country fell below the 60,000 mark, with 55,342 new cases, while the death toll rose to 1,09,856 as the virus claimed 706. lives, according to ministry data. India has so far reported 71.75,880 coronavirus cases and total recoveries have exceeded 62 lakh, according to the data.
The country has been recording fewer than 75,000 new daily infections for the fifth day in a row and deaths below 1,000 for 10 days in a row, the ministry said.
“We hope that early next year we will have the vaccine in the country from perhaps more than one source. We are formulating strategies for the planned distribution of the vaccine in the country,” Vardhan tweeted.
In a tweet, he said that he also expects that by July next year, about 40-50 crore doses will be available for 20-25 crore people in the country.
Vardhan, who chaired the 21st High Level Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on Covid-19 via video conference here, said a strategy on how to provide vaccines to “priority groups” was also discussed.
The minister also called on everyone to observe appropriate Covid behavior during the upcoming festival season and winter months, “when the probability of an increase in the disease is high,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
During the meeting, he also said that with 62,27,295 recovered cases, India has the highest recovery rate in the world at 86.78 percent. “The mortality rate of 1.53 percent is the lowest in the world and the doubling time has been successfully raised to 74.9 days in the last three days,” he said.
He also dismissed skepticism about the slowness of testing, saying: “A total of 1,927 labs today have led to an increase in testing. India’s testing capacity has risen to 1.5 million tests per day. About 11 lakh of samples were analyzed in the last 24 hours. ”
Vardhan also told the meeting that while the global vaccine landscape is being mapped, only 9 vaccines have advanced from phase 2 to phase 3 trials, and of these 3 are in India.
Meanwhile, during a briefing, the secretary of the Ministry of Health told reporters that India continues to report a steadily decreasing trend of active cases and that currently active cases in the country amount to 8,38,729. Active cases have been below the 9 lakh mark for the fifth day in a row, he said.
“During the last five weeks, there is a continuous decrease in the daily average of new cases. The weekly average of new daily cases fell from 92,830 cases in the second week of September to 70,114 cases in the second week of October,” he said. India recorded a record single-day increase of 97,894 Covid-19 cases on September 17.
While the global number of Covid-19 cases per million is 4,794, India reports 5,199 infections. The United Kingdom (8,893), Russia (8,992), South Africa (11,675), the United States (23,072) and Brazil (23,911) are reporting a higher number of cases per million, the ministry said.
The ministry also stated that deaths / million in India are 79, while the world average is 138.
“When it comes to testing for Covid-19, India is one of the leading countries,” the ministry noted.
“With 10,73,014 tests carried out on Monday, the cumulative number of tests carried out so far is 8.89 crore (8,89,45,107). A sustained higher number of tests has helped early identification and timely treatment that leads to higher recoveries and lower fatality rate ”, the ministry stressed.
Providing data on the fatality rate between different age groups, the ministry said that about 47 percent of Covid-19 deaths have been among those under the age of 60, adding that about 70 percent of deaths. Deaths from Covid-19 have been of male patients while 30 percent of deaths have been reported in women.
According to the ministry, ten states account for 79 percent of the total active Covid-19 cases in the country. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala have the maximum number of active cases compared to other states and UT.
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