News Analysis India

Tag: Health Ministry

  • COVID vaccines are disease-modifying, don’t prevent infection, says Centre as cases surge

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: All COVID vaccines do not prevent infection and are primarily disease-modifying, said Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday.

    Briefing media persons, DG, ICMR said, “All COVID vaccines, whether they are from India, Israel, US, Europe, UK or China, are primarily disease-modifying. They do not prevent infection. The precautionary dose is primarily to mitigate the severity of infection, hospitalization and death.”

    “Use of masks before and after vaccination is a must and mass gatherings should be avoided… The treatment guidelines for the earlier and the currently circulating strains of coronavirus remain the same. Home isolation remains an important pillar,” added Dr Bhargava.

    With the administration of 63,91,282 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 143.83 crore (1,43,83,22,742) as per provisional reports till 7 am today, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

    As per the ministry, this has been achieved through 1,53,47,226 sessions.

    Within the age group of 18 to 44 years, 49,76,01,405 1st doses have been administered along with the administration of 32,67,56,163 2nd doses to the people in the category.

    Within the age group of 45 to 59 years, as many as 19,40,91,039 people have been vaccinated with the 1st dose while 14,90,18,597 people have been administered with the 2nd dose.

    As many as 12,11,54,096 elderly people, (above the age of 60 years) have been administered with the 1st dose of the vaccine while 9,43,50,863 doses of the 2nd dose have been administered.

    Meanwhile, India reported 13,154 new COVID-19 cases and 268 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

    The tally of Omicron COVID-19 variant cases in the country has gone up to 961 with maximum cases reported from Delhi (263) and Maharashtra (252).

    With this, the country’s COVID-19 tally has risen to 34,822,040 while the death toll has mounted to 4,80,860.

    The ministry informed that the active caseload in the country stands at 82,402 constituting 0.24 per cent of the total cases.

    As many as 7,486 patients recovered in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 3,42,58,778.

  • COVID-19 cases fall below 8,000 in country, lowest in 543 days

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: India logged 7,579 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 543 days, taking the country’s total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,26,480, while the active cases were the lowest in 536 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

    The death toll climbed to 4,66,147 with 236 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

    The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 46 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 149 consecutive days now.

    The active cases declined to 1,13,584 and comprise 0.33 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.32 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

    7,579 new #COVID19 cases, 12,202 recoveries & 236 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.Express Photo | @sanesh_TNIE pic.twitter.com/hcSHtoyrn2
    — The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) November 23, 2021
    A decrease of 4,859 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

    India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

    It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

    India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

  • Over 115 crore vaccine doses administered in India till now, says Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 115 crore on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry said.

    According to officials, over 80 per cent of the eligible population in India have received the first dose of the vaccine while more than 41 per cent have been fully inoculated.

    In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “The country is getting protected through vaccination every day.

    As India’s vaccination coverage crosses the 115 crore mark, PM Narendra Modi ji’s words ring true — once Indians decide to do something, nothing is impossible! “Har Ghar Dastak strengthening the world’s largest vaccination drive!” he said.

    The ministry had on Wednesday declared that the number of individuals fully vaccinated individuals against COVID-19 surpassed the partially vaccinated population.

    The government has recently launched a month-long ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign for house-to-house COVID-19 vaccination of those who are yet to take a dose and those whose second dose is overdue.

    Mandaviya had recently said that over 12 crore beneficiaries are due for their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and had urged the state health ministers to ensure that all adult population is covered with the first doses during the ongoing ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign, while those who are due for the second doses are also motivated to take the jab.

  • Serving food on flights of less than two-hour duration can be resumed: Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Serving food on flights with a duration of less than two hours can be resumed, the Union health ministry is learnt to have informed the civil aviation ministry after the latter sought inputs from it for amending the existing regulations.

    The health ministry has also said the crew members on a flight need not wear coveralls but should continue to wear gloves, masks and face shields, according to sources.

    Under the existing guidelines, airlines are not allowed to serve meals in flights that have a duration of less than two hours.

    The ban came into effect from April 15.

    When the scheduled domestic flight services were resumed on May 25 last year after the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the ministry had allowed the airlines to serve in-flight meals under certain conditions.

    “The civil aviation ministry is reviewing the on-board meal services in domestic flights in view of a decline in the number of daily COVID-19 cases and has sought inputs from the health ministry for amending the existing guidelines.

    “The health ministry has now informed that serving food on flights of less than two hours can be resumed and that the crew members need not wear coveralls but should continue to wear gloves, masks and face shields,” a source said.

    With 11,850 fresh cases, India’s COVID-19 tally has shot up to 3,44,26,036, while the number of active cases of the infection has declined to 1,36,308, the lowest in 274 days, according to the health ministry’s data updated at 8 am on Saturday.

    The death toll due to the viral disease has climbed to 4,63,245 with 555 more fatalities.

    The number of fresh COVID-19 cases has been below 20,000 for 36 straight days and less than 50,000 fresh cases have been reported for 139 consecutive days.

  • India adds less than 20,000 new Covid cases for second day in a row, active infections lowest in 194 days

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The daily rise in coronavirus infections remained below 20,000 for the second consecutive day with 18,870 fresh cases recorded in a single day, while the active cases declined to 2,82,520, the lowest in 194 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

    With the fresh cases, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,37,16,451.

    The death toll climbed to 4,47,751 with 378 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

    The active cases comprise 0.84 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.83 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

    18,870 new #COVID19 cases, 28,178 recoveries, and 378 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.Express Photo | @shrirambn pic.twitter.com/HqsLUdZ130
    — The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) September 29, 2021
    A decrease of 9,686 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

    India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

    It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

    India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

  • Over 4.05 crore Covid vaccine doses still available with states, UTs: Health Ministry

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: More than 4.05 crore Covid vaccine doses are still available with states and Union Territories for inoculation, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

    Over 58.86 crore vaccine doses have been provided to the states and Union Territories so far and more than 17.64 lakh doses are in the pipeline, the ministry said in a statement.

    It said more than 4.05 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and Union Territories for inoculation.

    The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of Covid vaccination throughout the country.

    The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21.

    The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to the states and Union Territories for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain, the statement said.

  • Cumulative Covid vaccine doses administered in India exceed 43 crore: Health ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has achieved the landmark milestone of 43 crore with nearly 46 lakh vaccine doses administered on Saturday, the Union health ministry said.

    The 22,80,435 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 2,72,190 vaccine doses given as second dose in the age group 18-44 years on Saturday.

    “India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has achieved the landmark milestone of 43,26,05,567 with nearly 45,74,298 vaccine doses administered on Saturday,” the health ministry said in a statement.

    Cumulatively, 13,77,91,932 persons in the age group 18-44 years across 37 states or union territories have received their first dose and 60,46,308 have received their second dose since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.

    Three states namely Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have administered more than 1 crore cumulative doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the age group 18-44 years.

    Also, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have vaccinated more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of COVID vaccine, the ministry said.

  • 47 districts reported over 10% COVID-19 positivity rate for week ending July 15: Government

    The slow decline in number of coronavirus daily cases is a warning for the country that the situation is currently under control but it can deteriorate if Covid appropriate behaviour not followed.

  • Centre warns nation against Covid norm violations

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Continued gross violations of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour can nullify the gains made against the pandemic so far, the health ministry warned on Tuesday, even as it maintained  that there has been a consistent decline in coronavirus cases in the last few weeks. 

    At the health ministry’s briefing on Tuesday,  Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry, expressed concern over violations of protocol and said people have been talking about a third wave like it was a “weather update”. He added that many were failing to understand that adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour, or the lack of it, is what will prevent or cause any future waves.

    The health ministry’s remark comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced concern about people thronging tourists spots without masks. In a virtual meeting with administrators of states and Union Territories, the PM had said: “There’s a need to stay alert and act fast to check further spread of virus.”At the briefing on Tuesday, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said globally, a third wave of Covid-19 is being seen and called on people to make efforts to ensure that it does not happen.

    Agarwal said approximately 73.4 per cent of the new Covid cases reported so far in July are from Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. He said 55 districts reported a case positivity rate of more than 10 per cent in the week ending July 13.

    Central teams have been deputed to Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Meghalaya, Odisha, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura to support them in Covid-19 management. India’s Covid death toll climbed to 4,10,784 on Tuesday, with 2,020 new deaths recorded after Madhya Pradesh reconciled its fatality data. The  infection tally rose to 3,09,05,819, according to the health ministry.

  • Delta Plus still ‘variant of interest’, 40 cases reported so far in India, say govt sources

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: A total of 40 cases of Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 coronavirus has been detected in the country, government sources informed on Wednesday, adding that most of the infections were from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.

    Sources said that the Delta Plus variant is still a “variant of interest”.

    However, according to the Union Health Ministry, INSACOG has informed that the Delta Plus Variant is currently a “Variant of Concern (VOC)” and it has characteristics of increased transmissibility, stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response.

    Based on the recent findings of INSACOG, the Union Health Ministry has alerted and advised Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh regarding the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19.

    INSACOG, a consortium of 28 laboratories of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has informed that the Delta Plus Variant, currently a Variant of Concern (VOC), has the following characteristics: Increased transmissibility; Stronger binding to receptors of lung cells and Potential reduction in monoclonal antibody response. (ANI)