The government said that ramping up of testing as well as containment at the district level 'has worked' in bringing down the cases.
The government has asserted that India will have enough Covid-19 vaccine doses to inoculate up to one crore people per day by mid-July or early August. It underlined that there is no shortage of vaccines and called for patience citing the country's large population.
Noting that the ferocious second wave is on the verge of abating, the government said that ramping up of testing as well as containment at the district level "has worked" in bringing down the cases.
NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said, “Whatever we know from possible scenarios presented by eminent people, it (COVID) will decline and June will be much better but the concerns are when we open up how we behave because the virus has not gone anywhere.”
Addressing a press conference, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said India's vaccination is being ramped up and "by December we hope to have the whole country vaccinated". He mentioned that India is one of the five countries which are producing바카라 웹사이트vaccines and asserted that "there is no shortage of vaccines".
"Shortage is what you feel if you want to vaccinate the country within a month.바카라 웹사이트The total number of vaccinations done in the country is nearly equivalent to the total number done in the United States and바카라 웹사이트our population바카라 웹사이트is four times the population바카라 웹사이트of the USA. We have to have some patience. By mid-of year, mid-July or early August, we will have more than enough doses to vaccinate up to a crore per day," he said.
The government cautioned that while the easing of lockdown is imperative, it has to be done very slowly.
Joint Secretary in Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said 4,03,49,830 vaccine doses were supplied from the Centre to states free of cost in May while 2,66,50,500바카라 웹사이트 doses were directly바카라 웹사이트procured by states and 1,24,54,760 doses were directly procured by private hospitals.
바카라 웹사이트In the past month, a total바카라 웹사이트of 7,94,55,090 doses were available,바카라 웹사이트of which 6,10,57,003 doses have been administered.
바카라 웹사이트The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered바카라 웹사이트in the country has reached 21,60,46,638, according to the ministry data updated this morning.
바카라 웹사이트Bhargava바카라 웹사이트said in the first week of April there were less than 200 districts바카라 웹사이트that had more than 10 percent case positivity which in the last week of April rose to nearly 600 districts.
바카라 웹사이트India ramped up testing as well as containment which worked but still바카라 웹사이트239 districts have more than 10 percent positivity, 145 districts have a positivity바카라 웹사이트between 5 to 10 percent while바카라 웹사이트350 districts, which is nearly half of India, have less than 5 percent case positivity, he said.
바카라 웹사이트"We are moving in the right direction. Testing has been ramped as well as the containment at the district level has worked. However, it is not a sustainable solution and we have to find a mechanism on how to ease our containment or lockdown and that has to be done very gradually.
바카라 웹사이트"The opening up revolves on three pillars, the test positivity바카라 웹사이트rate in that particular바카라 웹사이트district has바카라 웹사이트to be바카라 웹사이트less than 5 percent for over a week, at least 70 percent of vulnerable population should be vaccinated and community ownership for this바카라 웹사이트 COVID-19-appropriate behaviour as well as care should be taken바카라 웹사이트up by the community in a big way," he said.
바카라 웹사이트Paul said the peak rose very fast driven by highly transmissible variants and a pool of vulnerable people available to virus.
바카라 웹사이트"It went beyond estimates. It is coming down but change happened because of restriction-based containment was implemented intensively," he said.
바카라 웹사이트Agarwal said there has been a continuous decrease in daily cases since India reported a peak on May 7.
바카라 웹사이트There has been an almost 69 percent decline in COVID-19 cases since the highest바카라 웹사이트peak, he said.
바카라 웹사이트Also, there has been a바카라 웹사이트consistent decline in active cases which presently stand at 18.95 lakh.
바카라 웹사이트A decrease in active cases by more than 18 lakhs since the peak on May 10 (a decline of almost 50 percent)바카라 웹사이트has been observed.
바카라 웹사이트The daily positivity rate reported on Tuesday is 6.62 percent,바카라 웹사이트the lowest since April 1.
바카라 웹사이트Paul said mixing of COVID-19 vaccines is not in protocol and clarified that there is no change in the schedule of two-dose vaccines Covishield and Covaxin.
바카라 웹사이트On COVID-19 among children, Paul cautioned that even though the coronavirus infection has not taken a serious shape among children till now, its impact can increase among them if there is a change in virus behaviour or epidemiology dynamics, and said preparations are on to deal with any such situation.
바카라 웹사이트"We reassure you that the needs of the paediatric population will be arranged and no gaps will be left," he said, adding "we will do an audit of what is required and would be required in the worst-case scenario and be put into action."
바카라 웹사이트Paul said multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) has been seen post-COVID among children and a national group has been formed to look into the pediatric complications related to the infection.
바카라 웹사이트He refused to comment on the doctors' protest on a statement by yoga guru Ramdev on allopathy.
With PTI inputs