India has administered 54,58,57,108 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in 61,54,235 vaccination sessions with 24 hours to 7 am today recording 17,43,114 doses. The current phase of vaccination that started in June 21 saw an acceleration of vaccine coverage across the country. The country reported 32,937 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. This is the 50th consecutive day to record less than 50,000 daily new cases. have been reported since fifty consecutive days. The current phase saw sustained collaborative efforts by the Union and state governments.
The number of active cases stood at 3,81,947 today. Active cases stand at a megre 1.18% of the total caseload so far. The country had ramped up testing capacity across states, with 11,81,212 tests being conducted in the last 24 hours . India has conducted close to 50 crore tests so far. Despite an increase in the number of tests conducted daily, the daily positivity rate stayed below 3% for the 21st consecutive day. The positivity rate for the last 24 hours was 2.79%.
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Kerala remains Covid-19 hotspot
While the second wave of Covid-19 is subsiding in other parts of the country, Kerala remains a hotspot accounting for more than half of the news cases in the country. Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya is in the state to review the pandemic situation with the caseload remains stubbornly high. Earlier this month Mandaviya had spoken to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan about the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
Kerala saw 3.67 million Covid-19 infections so far and 18,601 coronavirus deaths were registered in the state. The state had 18,582 new cases and 102 deaths on Sunday. At least 21,000 patients were discharged yesterday, taking total recoveries to 3,492,367. Around 122,970 samples were tested for Covid-19 yesterday and the test positivity rate (TPR) remained high at 15.11%.
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Covid-19 vaccine: Drive picks up speed
Four districts in Kerala — Malappuram, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Ernakulam — recorded more than 2,000 cases yesterday. The state has put more than 499,000 patients under surveillance. Of this, 27,636 patients are in hospitals, while the remaining patients are under home or institutional quarantine. Mandaviya will meet CM Vijayan and state health minister Veena George.
The state is lagging other large countries in terms of vaccination coverage. The Union government’s vaccination efforts will receive a booster shot with the first doses of Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot Covid-19 vaccines are expected to arrive in November or December. India is expected to get seven crore doses in the initial lot. Gennova’s vaccine is also expected in October.
The Union government said it was committed to raise the availability of Covid-19 vaccines throughout the country. Its nationwide vaccination drive has been supporting the States and Union territories by giving them Covid vaccine shots free of cost. Serum Institute of India, the Pune-based licensee of AstraZeneca vaccine, has agreed to supply around 15 crore doses of vaccine monthly. The government has asked SII to prioritise vaccination of Indian population. The government also expects one crore doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine monthly.
Anil Nair is Founder and Editor, Policy Circle.