‘78% Decline In Daily Covid Cases,’ Claims Govt; Directs States To Focus on Second Dose For HCW, FLW

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Friday said there has been a 78 per cent decline in the daily cases has been noted in the country since the highest peak in daily cases reported on May 7. 

Speaking at the weekly press briefing over the current coronavirus situation in India, the health ministry officials also stated that the weekly Covid-19 positivity rate has declined by 74 per cent since the highest such rate was reported at 21.6 per cent between April 30 – May 6. 

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Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog told the reporters that preparation for national serosurvey done and the ICMR will begin work for next serosurvey within this month. The official noted that breaking chain of transmission ensures lesser strain on health infrastructure, better quality of care. 

Paul however marked that, “if we want to protect our geographies we won’t have to depend on national serosurvey alone, we’ll have to encourage states for serosurveys too.” 

Clarifying over the reports of of US FDA rejecting emergency use authorisation for Covaxin, Dr Paul said that India respects it as every country might have some similar and some different regulatory system. 

“Scientific framework is same but its nuancing is as per context. All of these are scientific considerations & keeping those in mind, the nuancing might be different, especially in those countries where science is strong. Our manufacturing is strong. They have decided this, we respect it. It has no impact on our own program. Our regulator has approved it. We have so much data on safety,” the Niti Aayog member said. 

The Health Ministry during the media conference further directed the states to focus on administering the 2nd dose to healthcare workers and frontline workers. 

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“States/UTs have performed well in administering the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine to their HCWs and FLWs. Now our major focus should be administering the 2nd dose. Timely administration of 2nd dose to HCWs and FLWs is crucial,” the official said. 

India reported 91,702 COVID-19 cases, 1,34,580 discharges and 3,403 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Health Ministry. The total number of cases mounted to 2,92,74,823 and the death toll climbed to 3,63,079.