IT Correspondent
New Delhi, Jan 20:
The Indian government on Tuesday said that based on request it will be supplying indigenously made COVID-19 vaccines to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday onwards in a phased manner.
The Union Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said India will supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner keeping in view the domestic requirements. “Domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad,” the ministry said adding that India is awaiting confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius for supply of the vaccines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his admiration in India’s efforts in the field of healthcare needs of the global community. Taking to twitter, he said, “India is deeply honoured to be a long-trusted partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community. Supplies of COVID vaccines to several countries will commence tomorrow (Wednesday) and more will follow in the days ahead.”
India has already rolled out a massive coronavirus vaccination drive under which two vaccines, “Covishield” and “Covaxin”, are being administered to frontline health workers across the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the vaccination programme covering the entire length and breadth of the country and urged people to show patience during the COVID-19 immunisation drive as they had shown till now in fighting the pandemic.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had earlier this month approved Oxford COVID-19 vaccine “Covishield”, manufactured by the Serum Institute, Pune, and indigenously developed “Covaxin” of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.
According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.
As of today, a total of 4,54,049 beneficiaries have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country, which is more than double the number of coronavirus active cases, the Union Health Ministry said.
In the meanwhile India crossed a crucial milestone in its fight against the global pandemic with the daily new cases touching a new low on Tuesday. 10,064 daily new cases were added to the national tally after seven months, compared to 10,956 daily new cases on 12 June, 2020. Besides India’s total active caseload dropped to 2 lakh (2,00,528) on Tuesday.
India’s present active caseload now consists of just 1.90% of country’s total positive cases.
The fall in the number of daily new cases is accompanied by a fast rising number of people getting vaccinated against COVID19 across all States and UTs. The total number of people vaccinated is more than double the number of active cases.
