India overtakes the United States in terms of the number of people who have received at least one jab of the Covid-19 vaccine. The Centre on Friday said that in the coming days, the vaccination campaign would be further boosted.
NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul, addressing a press conference, said 43 percent of the 60 plus population have been jabbed with at least one dose and over 45 years, 37 percent of the population has been jabbed.
Citing the ourworldindata updated on Thursday, India, has administered 17.2 crore doses in terms of the number of people who secured at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and the US, which was leading, is only 16.9 crore doses.
“I want to appeal to enhance the pace of their vaccination and I want to appeal to senior citizens to get themselves vaccinated. Let us hope to make it to 50 percent in the coming few weeks,” Paul said.
Paul said the second wave is decreasing in regards to the global data, it may be worth stating that Covid-19 cases per 10 lakh population in India are 20,519, while the world average is still exceedingly high at 22,181.
He added that the overall burden experienced, adjusted for population, is relatively modest even with the second wave. In India, the Covid-19 deaths per million are 245 per million population, while the world average is 477.
While this situation was accomplished due to intense efforts by the people of India, states, UTs, municipalities, districts, villages, panchayats and families, Paul urged the people to maintain order even when the restrictions are lifted.
It is working that the testing is more generous and the government has imposed restrictions in many districts, which is making it difficult for the virus to reach other people.
He added the virus does not wish to forget us, but we are making it difficult for the virus to travel. The implication is when we reverse this process, the situation can once again become inappropriate and we need to keep that in mind.
He stated if containment measures, appropriate Covid-19 behaviour or vaccination pace subsides, the situation can go into a difficult phase once again.
Paul highlighted the need to buy time in order to achieve high vaccination coverage. He urged people to remember that the journey is still challenging and they must be responsible. This situation is a result of endeavors and they need to be continued in a measured way for us to open up and not to allow the virus to overtake us.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry said there has been a continuous decline in the daily new Covid-19 cases. “Almost 68 percent decline in Covid cases has been noted since the highest reported peak of cases on May 7.”
He added there has been a decline in active cases by more than 21 lakh since the peak of active Covid-19 cases on May 10. Recording a decrease of 56 percent after almost 50 days, active cases have been reported at 16,35,993. And the number of districts recording more than 100 average daily fresh Covid-19 cases has declined from 538 to 257.
Agarwal stated that there has been a steady decrease in weekly case positivity even while testing soaring multifold since the last four weeks. The number of districts registering less than 5 percent case positivity has increased from 92 to June 3.
