India Coronavirus: India’s cases tally crosses 93 lakh mark, serosurvey indicates over 70% of people to have contracted the virus

Last updated on February 21st, 2023 at 12:12 pm

Serosurvey: By Friday morning India had crossed 93 lakh mark of Covid-19 cases and added 43,082 new cases in 24 hours. Death tally reached 1,35,715 with 492 new fatalities being added. Recovered patients have reached 87.18 lakh tally. 

ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) conducted a second national serosurvey that shows over 70% of Indian population below 10 years of age have been exposed to Covid-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2. This means that by August over 74.3 million of people had been infected with coronavirus infection. Furthermore, an overall seroprevalence of below 10% indicates that still a large portion of population is still prone to contract the infection. 

Recent acknowledgement by AstraZeneca of making an error in dosage regulation during trials has raised suspicion and raised questions regarding efficacy of the vaccine. But Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which is carrying out trials and manufacturing of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in India, has said that even with an efficacy of 70% the Covid-19 vaccine would be viable against the coronavirus. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit the Serum Institute on Saturday to review the vaccine manufacturing and distribution process by the institute. 

Indian government has extended the ban on international flights till 31^st December as rampant increase in new cases across the countries. The notification was issued by Civil Aviation Ministry. The restriction however is only applicable to all passenger flights, and all-cargo flights will operate which have been approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). 

In order to address the increase in new Covid-19 cases, Uttar Pradesh government has brought in a new set of regulations and guidelines. Under this, if any new case is detected, area in 50 m radius will be marked as containment zone; a group of cases detected then area within 100 m radius will be marked as containment zone; number of people for group activities has been capped at 100.  

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