Coronavirus India Update: Over 29 Lakh Vaccinated Amid Declining Active Cases
Track all developments around the Covid-19 outbreak in India here.
Active cases in India continued to decline at a time when authorities are struggling to assure health workers and citizens of the vaccination’s safety.
The country reported 18,855 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry’s data as of 8 a.m. on Friday. That’s lower than the 20,746 patients who recovered from the virus in the same time period, taking active cases below 1.72 lakh. India had over 10 lakh live infections in mid-September.
However, today’s fresh cases are the highest reported since Jan. 7.
Meanwhile, over 29 lakh health workers have been vaccinated under the world’s largest inoculation drive which began on Jan. 16. Of this, 5.7 lakh vaccine shots were administered on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that India administered 1 million Covid-19 vaccinations in six days, making it the fastest country to reach the milestone. The U.S. took 10 days, Spain 12, Israel 14, the U.K. 18, Italy 19, Germany 20 and UAE 27 days to achieve the goal.
A year has passed since India detected the first case of Covid-19 in Kerala. The virus since has infected over 1.07 crore people; 1.03 crore recovered (96.96%), while more than 1.54 lakh (1.44%) have succumbed to it.
Key Figures
- Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 10,720,048
- Active cases: 1,71,686
- Cured/discharged/migrated: 1,03,94,352
- Deaths: 1,54,010
- Number of fresh cases in the last 24 hours: 18,855
- One-day recoveries: 20,746
- One-day deaths: 163
Global Update
The coronavirus variant identified in South Africa has reached the U.S. with two cases diagnosed in South Carolina, the state reported. A new vaccine from Novavax Inc. was effective in big trials in both the U.K. and South Africa, but the effectiveness appeared to be reduced in South Africa where the mutation is prevalent.
Germany cast doubt on the effectiveness of AstraZeneca Plc’s shot for the elderly. The European Union is poised to tighten rules on the export of vaccines, risking a major escalation in the global battle to secure access to the life-saving shots.
Globally, over 101 million people have contracted the virus so far with more than 2.1 million dead.
PM Modi Promises More Types Of Vaccines To Fight Pandemic
India will soon make available many more Covid-19 vaccines to other countries after two Made-In-India jabs have already been introduced to the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday while emphasising the country's global responsibility in fighting the pandemic.
In a special address at the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda Summit, Modi also said he wants to assure the global business community that situation will now change rapidly on the economic front also and invited businesses from all over to participate in the country's growth journey.
Modi said that some had said in February-March 2020 that India would be the worst affected country by Covid-19 and would face a "tsunami of corona infections".
"Some had talked about 70-80 crore people expected to get infected in India, while some talked about over 20 lakh possible deaths but India did not let the disappointment get better of it," he said.
Source: PTI