COVID-19 count of deaths and recoveries in 24 hrs. in India.
Key points:
- India reported 16,504 cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 214 related deaths between Sunday morning and Monday morning.
- SII Adar Poonawalla informed Associated Press that the government would not allow multiple months of exports of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
- The vaccine will also be sold at Rs 1,000 in the private sector.
As per the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India reported 16,504 cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 214 related deaths between Sunday morning and Monday morning, taking the country’s total to 10,340,469.
On December 29 last year, there had been 16,432 coronavirus disease reports. At 243,953, the number of active Covid-19 cases stayed below the 250,000 marks for the second time in a row.
As per the Health Ministry report:
So far, 9,946,867 individuals have recovered, according to the Ministry of Health, with 19,557 Covid-19 patients healed or discharged from across the country in the last 24 hours.
The national rate of recovery has risen to 96.19 per cent. Data from the health ministry shows that the daily new recoveries were more than the last 38 days’ daily cases. The gap has further expanded between recovered as well as active cases and also now stands at 9,702,914.
VG Somani approved Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine on Sunday:
On Sunday, Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, and Bharat Biotech International Limited’s Covaxin were authorized for restrictive emergency use by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) VG Somani, paving the way for the government’s coronavirus disease vaccination drive in around ten days.
Nevertheless, the authorization of the Serum Institute of India (SII) Covid-19 vaccine created by AstraZeneca as well as Oxford University for emergency use and the “restricted use in emergencies” approval of the locally developed Bharat Biotech vaccine sparked a debate between experts.
SII Adar Poonwalla to Associated Press:
In the meantime, SII Adar Poonawalla informed Associated Press that the government would not allow multiple months of exports of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
Poonawall claimed that the vaccine was also barred from being marketed in the private sector by his company. “At the moment, we can only give (the vaccines) to the government of India,” Poonawalla informed AP, adding that the decision to prevent hoarding was also made.
Further Adar Poonwalla stated:
The Pune-based company’s chief executive also said that the first 100 million vaccine doses were being supplied to the government at a “special rate” of Rs 200 per dose, where prices will be higher.
The vaccine will also be sold at Rs 1,000 in the private sector. He added vaccines could be distributed between seven to 10 days of the company finalizing an agreement with the Centre to states where they were required.
