In 2022, 92% of COVID deaths have been in unvaccinated individuals, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Dr. Balram Bhargava said on Thursday. He added that it’s evident that vaccines and the wide vaccination coverage have played a very important role in protecting hundreds of lives.
Dr. Bhargava was speaking at the weekly Health Ministry press conference on COVID .
Also addressing the press, Ministry spokesperson and Joint Secretary, Luv Aggarwal said, “All required support will be given to students and other people returning to India from Ukraine.’’ Dr Bhargava added that all students coming from Ukraine must get vaccinated immediately if they had not already done so. Stating that COVID vaccine has protected the nation from a surge in the number of cases, member, NITI Aayog member, Dr V.K. Paul said India is in a vaccine-protected, low corona stage and hence it is rational to open schools, businesses etc.
“Responsibility to ensure surveillance is intact and to wear masks,’’ he added.
The Health Ministry noted that the India currently is in a positive stage when compared to other countries. Mr. Aggarwal said, “With 11,302 average cases reported in the week ending March 1, India contributed to only 0.7% of global cases. Only a single State has over 10,000 active cases and two States have between 5,000 to 10,000 active cases. Remaining States have less than 5,000 active cases. Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram accounts for 50% of active cases of the country,’’ he said. He further explained that a continuous decrease in cases across the world has been recorded and India reported a sharp decline of 96.4% in the number of cases as compared to the world average of 55.7%.
“The overall spread during the third surge was 42 days as compared to the overall spread of 117 days during the second surge of COVID. India reported a sharp decline in deaths reported (76.6%) as compared to the world (22.8%),’’ said Mr. Aggarwal.
