India recorded 19,740 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours following which the country’s active count dropped to its lowest in 206 days, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Saturday (October 9, 2021) morning. The active coronavirus caseload now stands at 2,36,643 and accounts for less than 1% of the total infections.
The health ministry stated that the weekly positivity rate has now declined to 1.62%, while the daily positivity rate is currently at 1.56%.
There were also 248 fresh fatalities that pushed India’s total death toll to 4,50,375.
On the other hand, 23,070 people recovered in the last 24 hours and took the total number of recoveries to 3,32,48,291. The recovery rate has now improved to its highest since March 2020 and stands at 97.98%.
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Meanwhile, 79,12,202 were administered the COVID-19 vaccine doses and so far, 93.99 crore doses have been given under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive that commenced on January 16 this year. As per the health ministry, more than 8.51 crore balance and unutilized vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.
Earlier on Friday, India informed the UN that it will ramp up its production capacity as new Indian COVID-19 vaccines come on stream, emphasising that the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open as vaccines need to reach every corner of the globe. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador TS Tirumurti said that India has provided medical-related assistance and subsequently, vaccines to numerous countries all over the world.
“We meet at a time when the COVID-19 crisis is nowhere near the end. However, with the introduction of vaccines, there is hope that we will finally be able to turn the corner,” he said.
“As Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi mentioned, we will resume this and work closely with other partners to end this pandemic. For this, the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open. We will ramp up production capacity as new Indian vaccines come on stream,” Tirumurti added.
This is to be noted that India will resume the export of surplus COVID-19 vaccines in the fourth quarter of 2021 under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative and to meet its commitment to the COVAX global pool. The Centre had stopped the export of vaccines due to the second wave of the pandemic that hit the country in April. India has so far exported over 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries through grants, commercial shipments and the COVAX facility.
