India on verge of approving first set of Covid-19 vaccine: Govt

NEW DELHI: India is on the verge of approving its first set of Covid-19 vaccine, health minister Harsh Vardhan said while emphasising the need for an expeditious vaccination drive to cover the priority population, estimated at around 30 crore.

Speaking at the 22nd meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on Covid-19 on Saturday, Vardhan stressed on the need to ensure that people continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour, including wearing of masks, maintaining physical distancing, hand hygiene and getting themselves tested in case symptoms persist.

On Saturday, the total case-load of infections in India crossed the one crore mark, though Covid-19 growth has dropped to 2% and case fatality rate is among the lowest in the world at 1.45%. “India’s recovery rate has peaked to 95.46% while the strategy of testing one million samples has decreased the cumulative positivity rate to 6.25%,” Vardhan said.

The minister also underlined that despite festivals in October and November, no new surge in cases was observed due to the comprehensive testing, tracking and treatment policy implemented on the ground. The meeting was also attended by external affairs minister S Jaishankar, civil aviation minister Hardeep S Puri, ministers of state Ashwini Kumar Choubey (Health) and Nityanand Rai (Home). Niti Aayog member – health VK Paul, who also attended the meeting, apprised the GoM that 12 countries have requested India for supply of Covid-19 vaccines.