With 46,232 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 564 related deaths, India’s tally rose to 9,050,598, according to the Union health ministry on Saturday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the country’s preparedness of vaccine delivery, distribution and administration. The country’s death toll has mounted to 132,726 and the number of active cases of Covid-19 stands at 439,747. There were 45,522 Covid-19 cases and 584 deaths across the country on Friday.
According to the health ministry’s dashboard at 8am, there have been 8,478,124 recoveries from the viral disease so far with 49,715 new discharges in the last 24 hours. The national recovery rate improved to 93.67% on Saturday and the gap between recovered and active cases of the coronavirus disease widened to 8,038,377. The health ministry has said that 28 states and Union territories have less than 20,000 active cases and that 20 of them were reporting a cumulative positivity rate lower than the national average of 6.95% as on Friday.
Prime Minister Modi on Friday reviewed India’s procurement and delivery strategy of vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). “Held a meeting to review India’s vaccination strategy and the way forward. Important issues related to progress of vaccine development, regulatory approvals and procurement were discussed,” Modi tweeted after the meeting. “Reviewed various issues like prioritisation of population groups, reaching out to HCWs (health care workers), cold-chain Infrastructure augmentation, adding vaccinators and tech platform for vaccine roll-out,” he added.
The Prime Minister, according to officials who did not want to be named, was apprised of the progress on the research related to Covid-19 vaccine candidates within the country and also globally. “It was a review meeting of almost all departments that are involved in various stages — be it vaccine research, procurement, delivery and administration,” said a senior government official in the know of things.
Five vaccine candidates are at the human clinical trials stage in the country at the moment. The PM was informed about the trial results and what is expected in weeks to come and regulatory approvals, the official added. The progress of talks with other countries and foreign vaccine manufacturers was also discussed.
Meanwhile, the Centre is considering rushing expert teams to other states and Union territories (UTs) reporting a rise in new Covid-19 infections to assist the local administration in disease management. The ministry had announced on Thursday that it was sending teams to Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Manipur to take stock of the situation. “The teams will visit the districts reporting high number of COVID cases and support the State efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of the positive cases,” it said in a statement on Friday.
