New Delhi: The Central government on Thursday said an early decline in Covid-19 cases has been noted globally, adding a consistent decrease in cases have been reported in India too.
Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Luv Aggarwal said the daily positivity rate on January 24 was recorded at 20.75%, which has now decreased to 4.44%.
“It indicates that now the rate of infection spread has come down significantly,” he told a media briefing, ANI reported.
The Joint Secretary said four states, including Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, have more than 50,000 active cases of Covid-19.
“11 states have active cases between 10,000 and 50,000,” he added.
Niti Aayog Member (Health) Dr V.K. Paul on his part said the overall Covid-19 situation is very optimistic.
“However, some states including Kerala, Mizoram, Himachal are still reporting a large number of cases. We cannot lower our guard,” Dr Paul said.
The government emphasized that there is a need to be vigilant and Covid appropriate behaviour has to be taken as new normal though there are a decline in cases.
“We have learned a great deal about his pandemic and the virus, but the world doesn't know everything about this virus,” said Dr Paul.
“The world should remain united to fight this virus and should continue to use the tools that are at our disposal,” he added.
The Niti Aayog Member (Health) also informed that India’s first homegrown Messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is currently under final clinical trials.
“We hope that we will be able to use it someday,” said Dr Paul.
Earlier in the day, the Union Health Ministry said India’s active caseload currently stands at 7,90,789, adding the active cases stand at 1.86%.
The Health Ministry said 67,084 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.
The ministry said the daily positivity rate is 4.44%, while the weekly positivity rate stands at 6.58%.
The Health Ministry said the recovery rate is currently at 96.95%.
The ministry said 1,67,882 people recovered in the last 24 hours, increasing the total recoveries to 4,11,80,751.