The vaccination program in the country has entered its fourth week. (Archive)
New Delhi:
Fifteen states and Union territories have not reported any deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the government said today, highlighting the weakening of the virus in the country. While the number of new cases per day has steadily decreased, over the past five weeks there has been a 55% decrease in the average daily deaths. In the last week, seven states and Union Territories have registered no fatalities, the Union Ministry of Health said.
The seven states and Union territories that reported zero deaths in the past week are Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar, Tripura, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Nagaland, Mizoram and Lakshadweep.
The daily mortality figures per million people in India over the past seven days have been among the lowest in the world, said VK Paul of Niti Aayog.
“The number of (Covid) cases is also decreasing. So this is good news. In the last 24 hours, there have been no deaths in Delhi. So that is also good news,” Paul said.
However, it is important to continue with precautions, he said, noting that the national survey “tells us that more than 70 percent of our population is still vulnerable.”
The national sero-survey has shown that 25 percent of people carry antibodies against Covid, a much lower figure than in metropolitan areas such as Delhi and Mumbai. In Mumbai, the figure is over 75 percent.
In Delhi, the latest sero-survey had indicated that the city is moving rapidly towards herd immunity, with one in two people carrying Covid antibodies, meaning that at some point they have been infected. The official number of infected people when the survey was completed was over 6.34 lakh.
The decline in the death rate from the disease shows a corresponding drop in the daily increase and the number of active coronavirus cases. During the last week, the number of new Covid cases per million inhabitants was 58, the lowest in the world. Currently, the number of active cases is less than 1.50 lakh. The cumulative positivity rate is 5.35% and it also shows a decrease.
The drop in coronavirus cases and the Covid-related death rate comes as the country’s vaccination program entered its fourth week. Those who received the first shot of the vaccine on January 16 are expected to receive the booster dose on February 13.
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