The central government said on Thursday it had curbed an increase in Covid-19 infections as a fifth of its districts had reported not a single new new cases for a week. The flattening of the curve comes as India started its vaccination programme two weeks ago, with 24 lakh frontline workers being covered till now.
The country has recorded the highest number of cases in the world after the United States, though the rate of infection has come down significantly since a mid-September peak. Some studies have suggested pockets of India have attained herd immunity through natural infection.
“India has successfully contained the pandemic,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday, noting that fewer than 12,000 cases were reported in the past 24 hours. He said 146 of India’s 718 districts have had no new cases for a week and 18 districts for two weeks. “India has flattened its COVID-19 graph,” Vardhan added.
The world’s second most populous country started its COVID-19 immunisation programme on Jan. 16, with the aim to reach 300 million people by July-August.
India has carried out the fifth highest number of vaccinations by inoculating 2.03 million people till January 26, said the Health Ministry, stressing the number of beneficiaries who have received the shots has crossed 25 lakh till Thursday afternoon. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India was the fastest country to reach 1 million COVID-19 vaccinations in six days, while the US took 10 days, Spain 12, Israel 14, the UK 18, Italy 19, Germany 20 and UAE 27 days.
“As per our world data till January 26, India, which launched its nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, had carried out the fifth highest number of vaccinations in the world by vaccinating 2.03 million people. The important point is many other countries are showing their progress for over 50 days while India is showing its vaccination on January 26 after just 11 days,” Bhushan said.
Till January 26, the US had administered 23.54 million doses, the UK 7.64 million doses, UAE 2.76 million doses, Germany 1.99 million doses, Italy 1.58 million dose, Spain 1.36 million doses and France 1.14 million doses. Bhushan said that the number of beneficiaries who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in India since the nationwide drive was rolled out has reached 25,07,556 till Jan 28 at 2 pm.
India has so far reported 1.07 crore infections and 1,53,847 deaths – one of the world’s lowest fatality rates from the disease, attributed partly to its younger population.
Thyrocare Technologies Ltd, one of India’s top-three diagnostic chains, told news agency Reuters antibody tests it had done on more than 700,000 people showed that 55 per cent of the country’s population may have already been infected.
The World Health Organization says at least 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the population needs to have immunity to break the chain of transmission.
A top Indian vaccine official told Reuters he did not think India had reached that level yet, but that even a smaller percentage could help slow the spread of the virus. “Most of our highly populated districts and cities have had their run of the pandemic by now … and may have what you like to call herd immunity, to an extent,” Vinod Kumar Paul, who heads a committee on vaccine strategy, said earlier this month.
(With inputs from agencies)
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