India reported a smaller rise in daily coronavirus infections for a third straight day on Sunday, as the government said it was working to boost vaccine supplies to avert deaths beyond the pandemic toll of more than 270,000, report agencies.
The number of deaths in the past 24 hours rose over 4,000 for the fourth time in a week, with Sunday's 311,170 new infections representing the lowest single-day rise in more than three weeks.
Meanwhile, as Covid-19 cases keep rising day by day in the world, over 163 million people have so far been infected with the deadly virus.
According to Worldometers tally, the total caseload from the virus reached 163,261,106 while the death toll mounted to 3,385,567 as of Sunday evening.
Some 1,436,372, 607 doses of vaccines have been administered around the world till date, said JHU.
Indian Federal health officials warned against interpreting a "plateauing" in the rise as a sign for complacency, however, and urged states to add intensive care units and strengthen their medical workforce.
Even though India is the world's largest vaccine-producing nation, it has fully vaccinated only 2.9% of its population of 1.35 billion, or just over 40.4 million people, health ministry data shows.
India's supply of vaccine doses should rise to 516 million doses by July, and more than 2 billion between August to December, boosted by domestic production and imports, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a statement.
Vaccines were resulting in milder infections and preventing loss of life, states told Vardhan on Saturday, according to the statement.
But the average vaccination rate over seven days fell to 1.7 million, from 1.8 million a week ago, after Maharashtra, the richest state, and Karnataka in the south put vaccinations on hold for adults younger than 45.
Volunteers take a break during the cremation of people who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a crematorium ground in Giddenahalli village on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, May 13, 2021. REUTERS/Samuel Rajkumar
India could protect itself from future waves of the pandemic by vaccinating 510 million people, or more than 40% of its population, over the next few months, surgeon Devi Shetty told news channel India Today in an interview.
"There is no other solution and that is the cheapest solution," he added. "It is the best solution we have to save millions of lives."
Its Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened vaccinations for all adults from May 1, doubling the number of those eligible to an estimated 800 million, though domestic production will stay largely flat, at about 80 million doses a month, until July.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 cases in the US, which remained the world's worst-hit country, is approaching 33 million cases as a total of 32,923,613 people have been found infected with the virus in the country alone with 585,704 fatalities.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
