Harsh Vardhan said notices circulated before the first case of the coronavirus was detected in the country.
New Delhi:
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said a coronavirus vaccine is expected to be available in the country early next year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, was personally monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the country.
“India is making efforts like other countries,” Dr Harsh Vardhan told Rajya Sabha today. PM Modi, he said, handles the Covid-19 “meticulously”.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, an expert group is looking into the matter and we have put in place advanced planning. We hope that by the beginning of next year a vaccine will be available in India,” he said. he said in his speech in the High House concerning the coronavirus situation in the country.
Since January 8, the prime minister, state ministers and health ministers have looked into the situation, the health minister said.
“All the main ministers have fought this battle alongside the prime minister,” he said, adding that detailed advisories had been released even before the first case of the coronavirus was detected in the country on January 30.
“An in-depth contact tracing was undertaken for this case. For the first case, 162 contacts were found. This is how we began our contact tracing story,” added the Union Minister.
Responding to Congressman Anand Sharma’s question about his earlier statement that between 14 and 29 lakh cases were averted by the lockdown imposed in March, the minister said it was based on data provided by six scientific agencies .
On Monday, the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, the minister said India avoided a “major crisis” when the coronavirus epidemic began due to the country-wide lockdown imposed by the Prime Minister Modi. The lockdown prevented up to 29 lakh cases, “I congratulate Prime Minister Modi,” the minister said.
In the past 24 hours, India has reported a record daily jump of 97,894 fresh coronavirus infections, pushing the country’s total past the 51 lakh mark. With 51,18,253 infections, India is the second most affected country in the world, ahead of just the United States, which has a workload of around 66 lakh.
For the first time, the number of active cases in the country has crossed the 10 lakh mark, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
With 1,132 virus-related deaths in 24 hours, the total number of deaths stands at 83,198.
