New Delhi: India has passed 10 million coronavirus cases as it waits for a vaccine for the highly infectious virus that has affected more than 75 million people worldwide.

In November, the United States became the first country to cross the grim mark. In India, more than 145,000 patients have died so far after contracting the virus while the death tally in the US is almost double at 313,588.

India’s recovery rate of 95 percent is “one of the highest globally,” the government said on December 19.

It took India 325 days to cross 10 million cases. In the last 24 hours, 25,152 fresh infections took India’s Covid tally to 10,004,599, the government data showed. 347 deaths linked to Covid were recorded, taking tally to 145,136.

A dip in daily cases has helped the country’s fight against Covid. In mid December, 22,065 new cases were reported in a day- lowest one-day figure in five months. “Recoveries are more than 30 times the active cases (currently only 3.14% of total cases),” the Union Health Ministry said this morning.

A “steep rise” has been observed in recoveries – from 50,000 in May to over 95 lakh in December, the Union Health Ministry tweeted this morning. “Central government’s calibrated strategies through a ‘Whole of Government’ approach have sharply focused on high Recovery Rate and low Fatality Rate on a sustained basis,” the Health Ministry said in one of the tweets.

Across India, more than 160 million coronavirus tests have been conducted so far, the government data shows. The death rate stood at 1.45 percent, while the positivity rate stood at 2.14 percent.

The government has said Covid vaccines would be voluntary while underlining that the vaccine introduced in India will be as effective as any vaccine developed by other countries. The government is geared to launch a vaccine for Covid-19 soon, the Health Ministry said.

Six vaccines, including those developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Pune-based Serum Institute of India – are undergoing clinical trials in India.

India has enough capacity to produce Covid-19 vaccines for its needs and also export it to other countries that need its help, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said December 18.

In India, three vaccine makers – Pfizer, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India – have sought emergency approval from the drug controller.

Source: ndtv.com