New Delhi
In a significant achievement, India’s active caseload of Covid-19 patients slipped below 2 lakh after 6 months and 24 days as 1.97 lakh were left under treatment even while daily cases per million population in the last 7 days were the lowest.
About 72% of the active cases were concentrated in just 5 states — Kerala 35.74%, Maharashtra 25.16%, UP 4.14%, Karnataka 4% and West Bengal 3.44%. The caseload fell to 1.86% of the total 105.96 lakh infections while 102.46 lakh have recovered, 16,088 in 24 hours, giving the recovery rate of 96.70%.
As on Wednesday morning, total 6,74,835 people were vaccinated, 2,20,786 in 24 hours. Highest 82,975 were vaccinated in Karnataka, followed by Telangana 69,405, Andhra 65,597, Odisha 60,707, Bihar 47,395, Bengal 43,559, Maharashtra 33,484, Rajasthan 32,379, Haryana 28,771, TN 25,908, Kerala 24,007, UP 22,644, MP 18,174 and Delhi 12,902. Total 162 deaths were reported in 24 hours, highest 50 in Maha, followed by 26 in Kerala, 11 in Bengal and 10 each in Delhi and Chhattisgarh.
Now, a million doses of Covid vaccines to Nepal
A total of one million Covid-19 vaccines will be delivered by India to Nepal which will land in Kathmandu on Thursday, said the Nepalese Health and Population Minister Hrydesh Tripathi on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference along with Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Tripathi said the Government of India will hand over the Covid vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. "India will ship the first consignment of vaccines on Thursday", said Tripathi.
The first batch of vaccines will be administered to frontline workers and health professionals who are around one million in number.
Vaccines reach Bhutan, Maldives
Bhutan and Maldives on Wednesday became the first two countries to receive COVID-19 vaccines from India under grants assistance in sync with its 'neighbourhood first' policy.
It is learnt 2 million doses of Covisheild vaccines, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), will reach Bangladesh on Thursday.
On Wednesday, India sent 150,000 doses of Covishield vaccines to Bhutan and 100,000 doses to the Maldives.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar shared on Twitter photos of consignments reaching the two countries.
Bhutanese Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji thanked India for the "generous gift".
Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih thanked PM Modi for the vaccines. "A short while ago, a flight from India with a 100,000 doses of the CoviShield vaccine arrived in Maldives, renewing our hopes for a resolution to the Covid crisis soon. Our heartfelt thanks to PM @narendramodi," he said.
Nasal vax will be easy to give to kids: AIIMS director
A nasal COVID-19 vaccine will be easy to give to school-going children who bear a "very mild" load of the disease but they are infectious, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said on Wednesday.
The noted pulmonologist, who was interacting with the personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) during their 16th Raising Day celebrations here, also said people who have contracted coronavirus should also get the jab about 4-6 weeks after recovery.
"It (coronavirus infection) is very mild in children but they are infectious. They can spread the disease." "The vaccines that have come are not approved for children because there have been no studies conducted on children but this (vaccination) is a very important step and trials are being done," he said.
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