Covid roundup: India’s second wave on downswing, no local trials for foreign vaccines & more – Times of India

NEW DELHI: India’s second Covid wave is on a downswing after a steady decline in fresh infections for the last 20 days, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.
In a media briefing, the ministry said that as many as 24 states are witnessing a dip in active cases.
Earlier today, India reported over 2.11 lakh new Covid cases in a slight rise from Wednesday’s 2.08 lakh. The death toll remained high with 3,847 new fatalities.
Here’s a roundup of the latest Covid-related developments …
Cases maintain downward trend
The health ministry noted that India is on a downswing of the devastating second wave, which has already led to over 1 lakh deaths in the month of May.
The ministry said that while Covid-19 testing has increased manifold, a steady decline in weekly Covid-19 positivity rate has been seen since the last three weeks.
It added that the trend is expected to continue even when restrictions are significantly relaxed. Almost every state in the country has imposed some of restrictions to curb the Covid cases. These wary from stringent lockdowns to night curfew.
India scraps local trials of foreign vaccines
In an effort to boost the vaccination programme, India has decided to scrap the local trials for “well-established” foreign coronavirus vaccines.
India pledged last month to fast-track imports, but its insistence on local trials and a dispute over indemnity stalled discussions with Pfizer.
“The provision has now been further amended to waive the trial requirement altogether for the well-established vaccines manufactured in other countries,” the government said in a statement.
Pursuing Pfizer, J&J and Moderna since mid-2020: Govt
Meanwhile, the government also defended its vaccine procurement policy and said it has been pursuing Pfizer, J&J and Moderna since mid-2020 for the earliest possible imports. .
It was responding to accusations of delay in placing orders for foreign vaccines.
“Buying vaccines internationally is not similar to buying ‘off-the-shelf’ items,” the government said in a statement titled ‘Myths & Facts on India’s Vaccination Process’.
The statement said the Central government has proactively eased entry of vaccines approved by USFDA, EMA, UK’s MHRA and Japan’s PMDA, and WHO’s Emergency Use Listing into India in April.
‘Vaccination pace to pick up in July’
Amid the vaccination programme slowing down due to low availability of shots, the Centre has said that the situation is likely to improve by July.
“We have a total of 51.6 crore doses, a large proportion of it is available and has to be used in an efficient manner even as we build our efforts to build our stockpile in the time to come. I would like to state that Bharat Biotech which started with 90 lakh capacity is ramping up and it is well within our expectation that it can reach ten times the production level to 10 crore per month in the next few months,” Niti Aayog member V K Paul said.
He said the Serum Institute of India is also ramping up vaccine production from 6.5 crore per month to 11 crore or even more in months to come. Other vaccines in the pipeline are also moving close to increase supplies such as Sputnik, Zydus and Genova vaccines so steady progress is being made.
Covid guidelines to stay in force till June-end
The Centre on Thursday directed states and union territories to continue the ongoing Covid-19 guidelines till June 30.
In its fresh order, it also asked them to go for intensive and local containment measures in districts with a high number of cases to check the spread of the deadly disease.
According to the guidelines, the home ministry told the states to take necessary action to ensure sufficient oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds, ventilators, ambulances including creation of makeshift hospitals, oxygen, as needed, besides sufficient quarantine facilities.
The home ministry, however, did not mention anything about the imposition of lockdown anywhere in the country in the fresh guidelines issued in view of the pandemic.
Centre trashes NYT report on Covid toll
The government on Thursday also rejected a report published by The New York Times on India’s Covid death toll and called it “completely baseless and false”.
In its report, the NYT estimated that India’s “real” Covid death toll could be way higher than what has officially been reported.
It claimed that in the more likely scenario, India’s Covid-related deaths could be up to 1.6 million compared to 3.15 lakh that has been reported.
During a media briefing today, the government said the NYT report is based on distorted estimates and not backed by any real evidence.
Railways transports 1,195 tonnes of oxygen, highest in a day
Oxygen Express trains delivered 1,195 tonnes of the life-saving gas across India on May 26, their highest single-day load so far. They surpassed the previous high of 1,142 tonnes transported three days earlier.
Amid the second wave of the coronavirus infection, the railways has delivered over 18,980 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in more than 1,141 tankers to 15 states on Oxygen Express trains which started operations last month.
Over 5,000 tonnes of oxygen has been delivered to Delhi till now.
While 284 Oxygen Express trains have completed their journey and brought relief to various states, four trains are on the run with more than 392 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in 20 tankers.
Vaccinations cross 20.54 crore-mark
India has so far administered at least one shot of the Covid vaccine to over 20.54 crore people.
According to a 7pm provisional report, the Union health ministry said that the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded stood at 20,54,51,902.
On Wednesday, India became the second country after the US to have crossed 20 crore cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage, taking 130 days to achieve the milestone.