India’s tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) soared to more than 2.52 million after 65,002 fresh cases and 956 deaths were reported in a single day, the Union health ministry data showed on Saturday.
The surge in numbers came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said three indigenous vaccine candidates are at different stages of testing in the country and that the government is waiting for a nod from researchers. PM Modi said the government will produce the potential vaccine on a large scale.
He also praised healthcare professionals who are at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
There are 668,220 active cases of Covid-19 and the number of people who have been cured of the viral disease has crossed the 1.8 million mark. With more than 57,000 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, India’s recovery tally is at 1,808,936 and rate is now 71.60%. The death toll in India, the third worst-hit country has climbed to 49,036.
Union health and family welfare minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has said the Covid-19 recovery rate is improving in the country with each day and also expressed hope that the war against the coronavirus pandemic will be won soon.
“Remember the press conference when I said the recovery rate was 9%. Since then, there had not been a single day when the day’s recovery rate was not better than the previous day’s. Also, fatalities have also been decreasing with each passing day,” Vardhan said on Friday.
He added that more than 800,000 patients, compared to 6,000 in April, have been tested so far. “Our Covid warriors are fighting very hard to control the pandemic. Am sure in the next two months the situation will be far better.”
India is inching closer to its target of conducting a million tests a day even as infections of the viral disease have continued to mount steadily. According to experts, aggressive testing is crucial to control the outbreaks.
India has seen 830,204 Covid-19 cases since the beginning of this month and has been reporting over 60,000 cases every day since August 7.
India in July exported 23 lakh personal protection equipment (PPE) kits to five countries, including the US, UK and UAE, Senegal and Slovenia. “This has substantially aided India to position itself in the global export market of PPEs. The “Make in India’ spirit embedded in the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan has resulted in providing resilience and self-sufficiency to the country for various medical equipment including PPEs,” the health ministry said on Friday.
This was one of the points raised by PM Modi in his Independence Day speech on Saturday. PM Modi said that during the coronavirus pandemic, India started making this equipment while earlier these were not made in the country as the demand of ventilators and PPE kits surged.
“India is now exporting ventilators and PPE kits while we were not even making these earlier. This is how we are becoming Atmanirbhar Bharat. Independent India should be vocal for local and stop our dependence on imports,” said PM Modi.
