PM Modi chairs high-level meeting to review COVID situation, vaccination status in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a high-level virtual meeting on Friday to review the COVID-19 situation and vaccination status across the country. The meeting was attended by various union ministers and officials of the health ministry among others.

The meeting was held amid fears of a possible third wave of COVID-19, that is likely to affect India by October-end this year. Several states including Maharashtra and Kerala have recently witnessed a sharp spike in daily infections and deaths. Earlier this week, a Maharashtra minister stressed that the third wave is the 'doorstep' since the daily infections have started rising in the state.

On Thursday, September 9, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India is still going through the second wave of the pandemic and it is not over yet. He had said 35 districts are still reporting a weekly positivity rate of over 10% while it is between 5 to 10% in 30 districts.

More than half of India's adult population has received at least one jab against Coronavirus while 18% have got received both doses, the Union government had said on Thursday. The total number of vaccines administered so far in India has crossed 72 crores.

India witnesses dip in COVID-19 Cases

Meanwhile, India recorded 34,973 fresh Coronavirus cases on Thursday, a 19% lower number of infections than the previous day. As per the Union Health Ministry, 260 lost their lives while 37,681 people recovered from the virus. The country's active caseload accounts for 1.18% of the total cases at 3,31,74,954. Of these, Kerala alone accounts for nearly 70% of the cases. 

At present, the recovery rate stands at 97.49% with a Weekly Positivity Rate of 2.31% and a Daily positivity rate of 1.96%. It is pertinent to mention that the marginal drop in India's fresh cases has been witnessed with a drop of cases in Kerala.