New Delhi: Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Sunday expressed confidence that the country’s COVID-19 count will be “under control” on Diwali this year.
Opening the ‘Nation First’ webinar series, organized by the Anathkumar Foundation, he noted that the country was far ahead in the fight against the pandemic.
“COVID-19 will be significantly under the control of the Deepavali this year. Leaders and ordinary people worked together effectively to combat the pandemic. He inaugurated the first series of Nation webinars organized by the Ananth Kumar Foundation,” the press release said.
“But, the virus has taught us a certain lesson, it has taught us that there has to be a new normal and we must be more diligent, more cautious with our lifestyle …”, he added.
Vardhan also expressed hope to have a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of this year.
“We are not falling behind anyone around the world in our efforts to contribute to the COVID vaccine … In India we have around 7-8 vaccine candidates, three of them in the clinical trial phases and the rest in pre-clinical trials and by the end of this year we hope to be able to obtain a vaccine against COVID, “he said.
The minister said there was only one laboratory in February, which has now risen to 1,583 nationwide, and of this more than 1,000 are government laboratories.
The country is conducting about 1 million tests per day, which is well ahead of the target, he said.
He noted that compared to before, now there is no shortage of PPE equipment, fans and N 95 masks
“The shortage of N 95 PPE equipment, ventilators and masks no longer exists. Every day, five lakhs of PPE equipment are produced in the country while 10 manufacturers produce N95 masks. 25 producers manufacture ventilators,” he added.
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