Govt points out 68% dip in daily cases, says India has to buy time to ensure high vaccination coverage

NEW DELHI: Talking about the present Covid-19 situation in the country, Lav Agrawal, Union health ministry joint secretary, on Friday said that there has been a continuous decrease in number of districts reporting more than 100 average daily new cases besides a consistent increase in the recovery rate.
"If we analyse data in comparison to May 7, the highest reported peak, we are currently recording a 68% decline in daily cases. Also, 66% of new cases are being reported from from five states, while the rest are coming from 31 states or Union Territories. This indicates that we are able to control the virus locally", he said.
Agarwal said 257 districts are currently reporting more than 100 new cases daily, while the current recovery rate is 93.1%. As many as 377 districts are reporting less than 5% case positivity at present, he added.
The health ministry, however, said that if the containment measures, Covid-appropriate behaviour or the pace of vaccination slackens, number of cases can rise again.
Dr. VK Paul, member-health, NITI Aayog, meanwhile, said that the number of people who have received at least one dose of vaccine in India stands at 17.2 crore. "We have overtaken the United States in terms of the number of people in our country who have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine," he claimed.
India has to buy time to ensure high coverage of vaccination against Covid-19, the health ministry also said. It pointed out that about 43 per cent of population aged above 60 has been vaccinated, while 37 per cent people above 45 years has been inoculated so far.
Speaking on recognition to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, the government said data-sharing is on with the World Health Organization, adding that India has been pursuing it and wants to achieve the milestone as soon as possible.