India Coronavirus Dispatch: Govt may revive 'Vaccine Maitri' in July-August

Over 50,500 fresh cases reported

India reported 50,848 fresh coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 30 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 1,358 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 390,660. The active caseload is at 643,194, while the total recoveries have surged to nearly 29 million. As many as 294.6 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 5.4 million were given on Tuesday. Read more

Govt plans to revive ‘Vaccine Maitri’ in July-August

Indian envoys are regularly making assurances to the country's neighbours that the Modi government is keen on resuming vaccine supplies that had been halted in April, but that prospect could be months away as the national inoculation programme is the priority right now, a report in ThePrint said citing sources familiar with the matter. By July-end or August, the central government is looking to at least release those vaccines that have been ordered by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, depending on the scale of vaccine production. The supplies to Bhutan, which received vaccines from India as grants, will be prioritised too, the report said. Read more

70% of calls made to govt mental health helpline were from males

Seven in ten calls made to the Indian government's mental health helpline since September 2020 have been from males, a report in ThePrint said that cited government data. The helpline KIRAN was launched by the Modi government on September 16 last year. Between then and the end of May, the helpline received a total of 29,975 calls. Of these, 69.9 per cent calls were from males, while the remaining 30.1 per cent were from female callers, according to data maintained by the government. Also, most callers — 76.8 per cent — were in the 15-40 year age group, while 16.8 per cent were those aged between 41 and 60 years. Read more

One dose of vaccine 82% effective in preventing mortality: ICMR-NIE study

A single shot of Covid vaccine is 82% effective in preventing mortality, a report in The Indian Express said that cited a new analysis by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Epidemiology (ICMR-NIE). Vaccine effectiveness in preventing deaths after two doses was 95 per cent. The study, titled ‘Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness in preventing deaths among high-risk groups in Tamil Nadu, India’, was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research on June 21. The researchers examined the incidence of deaths due to Covid among vaccinated and unvaccinated police personnel in the state, the report said. Read more

Punjab: Covaxin hesitancy among those planning to go abroad

Health officials in Punjab are finding it hard to convince people to inoculate themselves with Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, a report in The Indian Express said. As the vaccine is yet to get approval from the World Health Organization, people who want to fly abroad — NRIs, and their families etc—have apprehensions that taking the vaccine might lead to complications with their NRI status in the future. Read more