India records only 0.7% of global COVID cases; over 97% adults received first vaccine dose

India continues to witness a sharp decline in the daily coronavirus cases, as the COVID curve continues to subside across the country. While addressing the Health Ministry’s briefing on Thursday, Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry informed that even as the western countries continue to record an enormous uptick in COVID cases, India on the other hand has significantly curbed the infection spread. 

During the address,  he informed that globally, around 15,00,000 cases are being reported on a daily basis, and in some countries, the increase in the COVID-19 trajectory continues. However, India on the other hand only accounts for 0.7% of the daily cases with a significant decline recorded in the daily infections. 

Coronavirus Curve continues to subside in India

The significant reduction in COVID cases is reflected in the lowered daily fresh cases and weekly average. India last week recorded a weekly average of 11,000 cases only. The weekly COVID positivity rate now stands at 0.99%.

Besides, the number of COVID fatalities has also observed a sharp decline. Since last month, India has reported around 615 COVID deaths on average. Last week, around 144 people lost their lives to COVID across the country. The figures are comparatively lower as they show a 76.6% decline from the peak of what has been recorded in the country.

COVID-19 vaccines to be credited for reduction in COVID fatalities 

Elaborating further on India’s COVID-19 scenario, Health Ministry stated that only a single state is having active cases of over 10,000 & 2 states are having active cases between 5,000 to 10,000. The remaining states have less than 5,000 active cases. As per the Ministry’s evaluation,  Kerala, Maharashtra and Mizoram solely account for 50% of total active cases of the country. On March 3, the number of active cases in the country is around 77,000. In the last 24 hours, only 6,561 fresh cases have been reported in India.

Apart from this, the significant drop in the COVID tally can be credited to a large scale vaccination coverage in adults. With the continuous efforts of the administration, over 97% of the nation’s eligible adult population has been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Crediting Vaccines for saving lives during Omicron-led third wave, Dr Balram Bhargava, DG ICMR informed that the vaccine’s effectiveness in mortality prevention has been measured and it was found that the first dose is responsible for 98.9 % vaccine effectiveness and if both doses are given then it is 99.3 % effective to prevent fatality due to COVID.

Image: PTI/ Pixabay