COVID-19 cases in the country jumped from 10 lakh to 20 lakh in 21 days, while it had taken 59 days for the cases to cross the 10 lakh-mark.
Over 21 per cent of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19 in the Indian Council of Medical Research's latest national serosurvey, the government said on Thursday, noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the infection.
Active cases of infection fell below 9 lakh after a month comprising 12.94 per cent of the total caseload
'Those who had no participation in the freedom struggle and creating history are keeping out one of the heroes of the independence struggle. This act, done out of political vindictiveness, is not good and shows their narrow mindset. It is an insult of each and every freedom fighter,' Raut claimed.
The total COVID-19 tally includes 9,287 cases of the Omicron variant.
Safety and Efficacy results from the final analysis will be available in June, and the final report will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication.
Registering a steady increase for the 18th day in row, the active cases have increased to 4,86,310 comprising 4.06 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 94.58 per cent, the data stated.
An increase of 80,287 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
'The ICMR and Biological E Limited, Hyderabad, have developed highly purified antisera (raised in animals) for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19,' the apex health research body said on Thursday. The 'antisera' is yet to undergo human clinical trials to establish its safety and efficacy and Drugs Controller General of India would be approached soon in this regard, Dr Samiran Panda, the head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the ICMR said.
India registered 2,68,833 new Covid infections in a day taking the tally to 3,68,50,962, which includes 6,041 Omicron variant cases, according to the Union health ministry data on Saturday.
When several opposition MPs expressed their desire to ask questions about the Centre's vaccination policy such as increasing the gap between two doses, the BJP MPs strongly opposed it and few of them even demanded postponement of the meeting and walked out, the sources said.
This was the ninth day in a row that the COVID-19 tally increased by more than 50,000.
The active cases increased to 9,55,319, the highest in 211 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,84,655 with 442 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The joint secretary also said a high-level task force to work on frontiers of science related to vaccines and drug testing was formed on Sunday.
The active cases rose to 8,21,446, the highest in 208 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,84,213 with 277 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant.
The money sent home by Indians from West Asian countries took a beating in 2020-21 due to the pandemic. On the other hand, overseas Indians in advanced nations - the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore - emerged as important sources of remittance, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) survey. Indians working in informal sectors in West Asia seem to have been impacted the most due to the lockdowns and subdued crude oil prices as well as slower pace of migration in recent years.
The Union health ministry on Wednesday dismissed media reports claiming there was dissent from technical experts about increasing the gap between two Covishield doses and said the decision was based on scientific reason about the behaviour of adenovector vaccines.
In the trial, the vaccine will be given by the intramuscular route in two doses on day 0 and day 28.
The officials of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also said there are now 1,065 testing labs in the country -- 768 in the public sector and 297 in private.
Of the total cases, Maharashtra has the maximum at 797, followed by Delhi at 465, Rajasthan 236, Kerala 234, Karnataka 226, Gujarat 204 and Tamil Nadu 121.
Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of 568 Omicron cases, followed by Delhi (382), Kerala (185), Rajasthan (174), Gujarat (152), and Tamil Nadu (121).
Maharashtra has recorded the maximum number of 510 cases, followed by Delhi (351), Kerala (156), Gujarat (136), Tamil Nadu (121) and Rajasthan (120).
Raches Ella, project lead, Covid-19 vaccines at Bharat Biotech said in a series of tweets that he was 'surprised' that media and researchers were drawing conclusions based on non-peer reviewed work.
The Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture, a constituent of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is also in contact with entrepreneurs for commercial production of its innovative products and their marketing for enhancing efficiency of farm women.
The second wave is expected based on what is happening in Europe, the govt said.
A total of 1,525 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected across 23 states and Union Territories so far, out of which 560 have recovered or migrated, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Sunday.
Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on the coronavirus vaccines in India.
The daily COVID-19 cases have remained below one lakh for 14 consecutive days.
A total of 76,56,478 people have recuperated from the infection so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 92.09 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.49 per cent.
"The Indian Medical Association has requested all its 3.5 lakh members in 1,800 local branches to voluntarily come out to get vaccinated first to show the world that these vaccines are safe and efficacious," it said.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11 and crossed 80 lakh on October 29.
'SII has started stockpiling the vaccine and now has roughly 40 million doses ready. It is using some of the capacities it had for under development products for the COVID-19 vaccine and by January we will have a capacity to make 100 million doses per month and a stockpile of 200 million doses.'
A total of 74,91,513 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far taking the national recovery rate to 91.54 per cent while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.49 per cent.
Kiren Rijiju's exit from the coveted law ministry came in the midst of his frequent criticism of the judiciary, particularly on the system of appointment of judges to high courts and the Supreme Court.
The bulk of this money will, however, be spent on buying imported equipment, mainly from Europe and China.
There are 6,68,154 active cases of COVID-19 in the country as on date which comprise 8.50 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
ICMR Director General said some studies have suggested that antibodies last for three months while some others said they may last in the body for up to five months also.
The active Covid cases have declined to 9,94,891, comprising 2.35 per cent of the total infections.
A total of 1,660 fresh cases have pushed the country's COVID-19 tally to 4,30,18,032, while the number of active cases has fallen below 20,000, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.
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