Coronavirus vaccine: Progress going well on indigenous candidates, says Centre

Assuring that the government is gearing up preparations to ensure the availability of a Coronavirus vaccine, a senior NITI Aayog official said the progress on indigenous vaccine candidates is steady and going well.

"The PM had on Independence Day said that three vaccines are being developed in India and are in different stages. One of them will enter phase 3 trial today or tomorrow. The other two are in phase 1 and 2 trials. The progress is steady and going well," VK Paul, NITI Aayog told reporters on Tuesday.

After a successful vaccine candidate to fight Coronavirus is established, the government's goal will be to ensure everything needed for supply chain management, logistics, and other requirements for its availability is put in place.

"Additionally, the government has held consultations on the scientific aspect of vaccines, like the number of doses required for inoculation and the need for facilities like cold-storage. The government is in touch with vaccine manufacturers to monitor the progress and to take note of any facilitation they may seek," Paul further said.

The national expert group on vaccine administration for COVID-19 met representatives of leading domestic manufactures, including Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila, on Monday to take inputs about the present stage of various candidate vaccines as well as their expectations from the government, the Union Health Ministry said.

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Coronavirus situation in India

India's COVID-19 tally reached 26,47,663 on Tuesday with a spike of 57,981 cases, while the death toll climbed to 50,921 with 941 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.

The country achieved a new peak on Monday after it conducted nearly 9 lakh COVID-19 tests within just 24 hours taking the cumulative tests done in the country to over 3 crores. Under its 'test, track and treat' strategy, about 8.97 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted on Monday, and even with such a high level of testing, the positivity remained low at around 8.81% compared to the weekly national average of 8.84%, the Health Ministry said. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has so far conducted 3,00,41,400 Coronavirus tests,

India's recovery rate also continues to steadily improve. While the national average stands at about 71.61%, twelve states and union territories have reported their recovery rates above the national average. In 30 states and UTs, the COVID-19 recovery rate is more than 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Centre's ambitious National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his August 15 address under which every Indian will get a health ID that providing easy access to medical services has been rolled out on a pilot mode in six union territories.

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