NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday that the government aims to reduce India’s Covid-19 death rate to less than 1 percent from the current 1.64 percent, which is still the lowest in the world.
Responding to a discussion in Rajya Sabha, he said that the country’s recovery rate of 78 to 79 percent is one of the highest in the world, adding that while total cases may have exceeded 50 million, active cases they are less than 20 percent.
Deaths in India due to the coronavirus pandemic are lower than in many nations in Europe and the government was determined to improve the US testing rate, he said.
Vardhan said there is a chance that a vaccine will arrive in the country early next year, but until then it was necessary for people to follow social distancing and wear masks.
The minister said that despite the number of cases, the death rate in the country remains one of the lowest in the world. He said steps like testing, isolating infected people and other steps can be attributed to this lower death rate.
Citing the examples of Spain and Brazil, he said that the death rate in those countries was more than 11 times that of India.
“We want to bring it (the death rate) down to less than one percent. We have 50 lakh of cases right now, but of these, only 10 lakh are active cases in the country at the moment,” Vardhan said.
He said that several international experts had predicted that cases in India will rise to 300 million between July and August, resulting in the death of 5-6 million people.
“In the country of 135 million million people, we are now doing 11 billion tests and we are in second place after the United States. It has only been possible thanks to the united fight against the disease,” he said.
On the development of a vaccine, he said that the Ministry of Science and Technology, ICMR and pharmaceutical companies have come together to find a solution.
Even this matter is also being personally monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.
“Vaccines may come in the future. Extensive planning is underway to execute how to handle the scenario,” Vardhan said.
During this time, his response was interrupted for a few minutes when the sound system failed and the Rajya Sabha members were unable to hear. Vardhan was speaking from his assigned seat in Lok Sabha.
Continuing after a few minutes of interruption, he said that there are three vaccine candidates that have reached the level of phase one, two or phase three.
“Under the command of the prime minister, a group of experts is studying this. We hope that by early next year we can have a vaccine in the country. In this sense, we are also coordinating with the WHO and global organizations,” he said.
India is one of the few countries in the world that has been able to isolate the virus, Vardhan noted.
He noted that since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, the central government has worked closely with state governments.
The minister said that all decisions during the period were made after relying on state governments.
He said that for the past 8 months, the central government, in partnership with state governments, has worked tirelessly to combat the pandemic.
“I want to say that the entire country in the last eight months, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has fought against the pandemic,” he said.
He said that the first case in the country emerged on January 30 and by then the Ministry of Health had already sent notices to state governments about the disease.
The warnings were issued on January 17 and since then the government has been working tirelessly to combat the disease.
History will remember Prime Minister Modi for continuously monitoring the situation on a personal level and coordinating efforts with state governments over the past eight months, Vardhan said.
“He (PM) did not make a single decision without consulting experts and senior ministers of state. All decisions were made after ensuring full consensus from the entire country,” he said.
Calling the shutdown a historic step, he said the move taught people to fight the pandemic.
Saluting the Covid warriors and their families, Vardhan said that the central and state governments have fought the battle against the disease with full dedication under Modi’s leadership.
He said that the central government from day one helped state governments with billions of rupees given to fight the pandemic.
Vardhan said from a lab (for Covid-19) that the figure has now risen to 1,700 with the help of ICMR.
He said that even the cost of test kits has come down with local manufacturing.
There was no one here making PPE equipment, but now there are 110 manufacturers. Similarly, there are now 25 fan manufacturers in the country, Vardhan said.
The central government helped all states without thinking about which political party is in power, he added.
Best practices from each state were gathered and shared across the country, he noted.
The minister noted that even in a difficult economic situation, the prime minister allocated Rs 15,000 crore for health, a package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for the poor and Rs 20 lakh crore for the self-reliance initiative.
He said that millions of rupees were also given under various government plans during the period.
On the issue of migrant workers, the minister said: “There is no doubt that for some time migrant workers faced problems … during the Covid period, 64 lakh of our migrant workers were sent to their places of origin by trains, buses “.
In response to a query from Anand Sharma (Congress) about the benefits of imposing the lockdown, Vardhan said the government had derived the figures from the findings of five scientific bodies, including the Boston Consulting Group, PHFI, and the Ministry of Statistics and Implementation of Programs.
On Wednesday, Sharma had questioned the government how it had obtained the figures that the closure decision prevented approximately 14-29 lakhs of cases and 37-78 thousand deaths in the country.
“These agencies did five studies and based on that we prepared these data,” Vardhan said.
In response to another query about the use of the BCG vaccine against Covid-19, he said that six clinical trials have been registered and that ICMR is part of this study.
Responding to a discussion in Rajya Sabha, he said that the country’s recovery rate of 78 to 79 percent is one of the highest in the world, adding that while total cases may have exceeded 50 million, active cases they are less than 20 percent.
Deaths in India due to the coronavirus pandemic are lower than in many nations in Europe and the government was determined to improve the US testing rate, he said.
Vardhan said there is a chance that a vaccine will arrive in the country early next year, but until then it was necessary for people to follow social distancing and wear masks.
The minister said that despite the number of cases, the death rate in the country remains one of the lowest in the world. He said steps like testing, isolating infected people and other steps can be attributed to this lower death rate.
Citing the examples of Spain and Brazil, he said that the death rate in those countries was more than 11 times that of India.
“We want to bring it (the death rate) down to less than one percent. We have 50 lakh of cases right now, but of these, only 10 lakh are active cases in the country at the moment,” Vardhan said.
He said that several international experts had predicted that cases in India will rise to 300 million between July and August, resulting in the death of 5-6 million people.
“In the country of 135 million million people, we are now doing 11 billion tests and we are in second place after the United States. It has only been possible thanks to the united fight against the disease,” he said.
On the development of a vaccine, he said that the Ministry of Science and Technology, ICMR and pharmaceutical companies have come together to find a solution.
Even this matter is also being personally monitored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added.
“Vaccines may come in the future. Extensive planning is underway to execute how to handle the scenario,” Vardhan said.
During this time, his response was interrupted for a few minutes when the sound system failed and the Rajya Sabha members were unable to hear. Vardhan was speaking from his assigned seat in Lok Sabha.
Continuing after a few minutes of interruption, he said that there are three vaccine candidates that have reached the level of phase one, two or phase three.
“Under the command of the prime minister, a group of experts is studying this. We hope that by early next year we can have a vaccine in the country. In this sense, we are also coordinating with the WHO and global organizations,” he said.
India is one of the few countries in the world that has been able to isolate the virus, Vardhan noted.
He noted that since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country, the central government has worked closely with state governments.
The minister said that all decisions during the period were made after relying on state governments.
He said that for the past 8 months, the central government, in partnership with state governments, has worked tirelessly to combat the pandemic.
“I want to say that the entire country in the last eight months, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has fought against the pandemic,” he said.
He said that the first case in the country emerged on January 30 and by then the Ministry of Health had already sent notices to state governments about the disease.
The warnings were issued on January 17 and since then the government has been working tirelessly to combat the disease.
History will remember Prime Minister Modi for continuously monitoring the situation on a personal level and coordinating efforts with state governments over the past eight months, Vardhan said.
“He (PM) did not make a single decision without consulting experts and senior ministers of state. All decisions were made after ensuring full consensus from the entire country,” he said.
Calling the shutdown a historic step, he said the move taught people to fight the pandemic.
Saluting the Covid warriors and their families, Vardhan said that the central and state governments have fought the battle against the disease with full dedication under Modi’s leadership.
He said that the central government from day one helped state governments with billions of rupees given to fight the pandemic.
Vardhan said from a lab (for Covid-19) that the figure has now risen to 1,700 with the help of ICMR.
He said that even the cost of test kits has come down with local manufacturing.
There was no one here making PPE equipment, but now there are 110 manufacturers. Similarly, there are now 25 fan manufacturers in the country, Vardhan said.
The central government helped all states without thinking about which political party is in power, he added.
Best practices from each state were gathered and shared across the country, he noted.
The minister noted that even in a difficult economic situation, the prime minister allocated Rs 15,000 crore for health, a package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for the poor and Rs 20 lakh crore for the self-reliance initiative.
He said that millions of rupees were also given under various government plans during the period.
On the issue of migrant workers, the minister said: “There is no doubt that for some time migrant workers faced problems … during the Covid period, 64 lakh of our migrant workers were sent to their places of origin by trains, buses “.
In response to a query from Anand Sharma (Congress) about the benefits of imposing the lockdown, Vardhan said the government had derived the figures from the findings of five scientific bodies, including the Boston Consulting Group, PHFI, and the Ministry of Statistics and Implementation of Programs.
On Wednesday, Sharma had questioned the government how it had obtained the figures that the closure decision prevented approximately 14-29 lakhs of cases and 37-78 thousand deaths in the country.
“These agencies did five studies and based on that we prepared these data,” Vardhan said.
In response to another query about the use of the BCG vaccine against Covid-19, he said that six clinical trials have been registered and that ICMR is part of this study.
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