There has been considerable reduction in deaths during the ongoing third wave of coronavirus infections, compared to the deadly second wave. This has been possible largely because of the high vaccination coverage in the country, the Central government said on Thursday. 72% of the country’s adult population has received both doses of anti-Covid vaccines.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) head, Dr Balram Bhargava, in a health briefing, said, “Vaccines have remained beneficial in India. Deaths have considerably reduced due to COVID-19 vaccinations. In this third surge of COVID, we are currently not witnessing severe illnesses and deaths due to high vaccination uptake.”
Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary, said that the country has reported 317,532 new COVID-19 cases and 380 deaths in the past 24 hours. With this, the active caseload in India has gone up to 1,924,051. Comparing the third surge of COVID-19 with the second surge, Bhushan said, “In the last surge of COVID-19, on 30 April 2021, there were 386,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths, and over 31 lakh active cases reported in India.”
“Till now, 52% children in the 15-18 age group in the country vaccinated and a proportion of fully vaccinated people is 72% against COVID-19,” he added.
“As scientific evidence evolves, we will be expanding the coverage of vaccination. We will take decisions on the basis of scientific data of COVID-19 vaccination for those under 15 years of age,” the Health Secretary added.
Dr V.K. Paul, Member (Health) Niti Aayog explained, “COVID-19 vaccination for 12 years old is our next goal. These decisions will only be taken after scientific information and scientific decision. We are working on it also.”
So far, India has administered 3.45 crore first doses of COVID-19 vaccination to children in the age group of 15-18 years old. The country began vaccinating children between the ages of 15-18 years from 3 January after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement on December 25 last year. Notably, India may begin inoculating children in the age group of 12-14 years against COVID-19 in March this year, as per the statement given by Dr N.K. Arora who is the Chairman of the COVID-19 working group of NTAGI.
As Drugs Controller General of India’s (DCGI) subject expert committee (SEC) recommended the regular market approval to Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech for their COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield with conditions for the adult population, Bhushan said that a final decision of the national regulator is yet to be taken.
On Wednesday, the SEC recommended the upgrade of Covishield and Covaxin status from restricted use in emergency situations to grant new drug permission with conditions in the adult population, DCGI will evaluate the recommendations and give its decision.
The market authorisation for vaccines means that they can be authorized for use without reservation and conditions.
The subject expert committee during the meeting that was held last week asked both the companies to submit more data before granting market approval. Serum Institute of India had applied for market approval for Covishield in December 2021 and Bharat Biotech has also applied for the same.
STATES OF CONCERN
The Health Secretary also said that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi and Rajasthan are among the top ten states in terms of active cases.
He added that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are among the “states of concern”. “We have sent Central health teams to these states and are continuously reviewing the situation,” he added.
Kerala on Thursday recorded the highest single-day spike with 46,387 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, stated the State Health Department on Thursday.
In Delhi, 12,306 new cases were recorded in the past 24 hours with a test positivity rate of 21.48%.
According to the health bulletin of the Delhi government, 57,290 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours. The active caseload in the national capital has reached 68,730. Of these active cases, 53,593 COVID-19 infected patients are under home isolation and 2,539 patients are admitted to hospitals. Among the COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals, 844 are admitted in ICU, 903 patients are on oxygen support including 152 on ventilators.
In Delhi, 12,891 COVID-19 dedicated beds are still vacant out of a total of 15,589 beds.
There are 40,756 containment zones in Delhi at present, as per state government data.