Covid-19 - Devastating Second Wave in India - Updates and Discussion
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PM Narendra Modi: India ready to save world with 2 locally made vaccines | India News - Times of India
India News: India is ready to help protect the world with not one but two ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he asserted t
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
India ready to save world with 2 locally made vaccines: Modi
TNN & Agencies | Jan 10, 2021, 01:46 IST
PM Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI: India is ready to help protect the world with not one but two ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he asserted that the world was watching how the country conducts the globe’s biggest vaccination programme.
In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, Modi said: “In the corona era, today India is among the countries with the lowest mortality and highest recovery rate in the world. Today, India is ready to protect humanity with not one, but two Made in India corona vaccines.”
He also said India has the most vibrant democracy, days after the violence on Capitol Hill shocked the US and much of the world.
In his virtual address on the theme of ‘Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, he said: “Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world in the past and is also doing so now.”
“When India got Independence it was said that such a poor and under-literate country will disintegrate and democracy was impossible here. Today’s truth is that India is united and if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India,” he said.
Modi said he felt very proud about the praise for Indian diaspora and also lauded them for their contributions to the PM-CARES Fund, which has been used to boost health infrastructure in the country.
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India make the vaccine, but raw material comes from US.PM Narendra Modi: India ready to save world with 2 locally made vaccines | India News - Times of India
India News: India is ready to help protect the world with not one but two ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he asserted t
India ready to save world with 2 locally made vaccines: Modi
TNN & Agencies | Jan 10, 2021, 01:46 IST
PM Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI: India is ready to help protect the world with not one but two ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he asserted that the world was watching how the country conducts the globe’s biggest vaccination programme.
In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, Modi said: “In the corona era, today India is among the countries with the lowest mortality and highest recovery rate in the world. Today, India is ready to protect humanity with not one, but two Made in India corona vaccines.”
He also said India has the most vibrant democracy, days after the violence on Capitol Hill shocked the US and much of the world.
In his virtual address on the theme of ‘Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, he said: “Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world in the past and is also doing so now.”
“When India got Independence it was said that such a poor and under-literate country will disintegrate and democracy was impossible here. Today’s truth is that India is united and if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India,” he said.
Modi said he felt very proud about the praise for Indian diaspora and also lauded them for their contributions to the PM-CARES Fund, which has been used to boost health infrastructure in the country.
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LOL, whichever troll started this thread, now suck it and save your own country.
India ready to save world with 2 locally made vaccines: Modi
TNN & Agencies | Jan 10, 2021, 01:46 IST
PM Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI: India is ready to help protect the world with not one but two ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he asserted that the world was watching how the country conducts the globe’s biggest vaccination programme.
In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, Modi said: “In the corona era, today India is among the countries with the lowest mortality and highest recovery rate in the world. Today, India is ready to protect humanity with not one, but two Made in India corona vaccines.”
He also said India has the most vibrant democracy, days after the violence on Capitol Hill shocked the US and much of the world.
In his virtual address on the theme of ‘Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, he said: “Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world in the past and is also doing so now.”
“When India got Independence it was said that such a poor and under-literate country will disintegrate and democracy was impossible here. Today’s truth is that India is united and if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India,” he said.
Modi said he felt very proud about the praise for Indian diaspora and also lauded them for their contributions to the PM-CARES Fund, which has been used to boost health infrastructure in the country.
PM Narendra Modi: India ready to save world with 2 locally made vaccines | India News - Times of India
India News: India is ready to help protect the world with not one but two ‘Made in India’ coronavirus vaccines, PM Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he asserted t
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PM Modi at Davos: Despite doomsday predictions, India defeated Covid and helped 150 other countries
Despite the prediction of a Covid tsunami, India not only managed to fight the pandemic but also helped 150 countries along the way, PM Modi told WEF on Thursday.
India Today Web Desk New DelhiJanuary 28, 2021UPDATED: January 28, 2021 18:45 IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India not only managed to beat the Covid-19 crisis it has also helped over 150 countries in the process, despite predictions for the worst.
Addressing the World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing, PM Modi said that at the beginning of the pandemic, global experts had predicted that India will face a tsunami of Covid-19 cases. "While some experts said 7-8 million Covid cases, others said more," PM Modi said.
But, he said, with the use of public participation and technology for testing and tracking, India was able to turn the fight against Covid-19 into a mass movement. "Today, Covid cases are declining rapidly in India," PM Modi said at the global platform.
"India's stats cannot be compared with one country as 18 per cent of the world's population lives here and yet we not only solved our problems but also helped the world fight the pandemic," PM Narendra Modi said.
"In these tough times, India has been undertaking its global responsibility from the beginning. When airspace was closed in many countries, India took more than 1 lakh citizens to their countries and delivered essential medicines to more than 150 countries," PM Modi said.
The prime minister further promised the world that India's role in solving the Covid crisis globally will increase with the rollout of more "Made in India" Covid-19 vaccines.
"Right now there are two made in India vaccines. World Economic Forum will be relieved to know that in the time to come many more vaccines will come from India. These vaccines will enable other countries to speed up their vaccination process," he said.
PM Modi said that India has been able to achieve rapid immunisation on the domestic front as well. "In just 12 days, India has vaccinated more than 2.3 million health care workers. In next some months, we will achieve our target of vaccinating 300 million elderly people and people with comorbidities," he said.
On the economic front, PM Modi said, the situation will also rapidly evolve as India works toward its goal to achieve self-reliance.
"Even during Covid times, India kept the economic activity going by investing millions in infra and created jobs. India is marching ahead with a pledge to become self-reliant. India's drive to become self-reliant will strengthen globalisation and Industry 4.0," the PM said.
www.indiatoday.in
Despite the prediction of a Covid tsunami, India not only managed to fight the pandemic but also helped 150 countries along the way, PM Modi told WEF on Thursday.
India Today Web Desk New DelhiJanuary 28, 2021UPDATED: January 28, 2021 18:45 IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India not only managed to beat the Covid-19 crisis it has also helped over 150 countries in the process, despite predictions for the worst.
Addressing the World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing, PM Modi said that at the beginning of the pandemic, global experts had predicted that India will face a tsunami of Covid-19 cases. "While some experts said 7-8 million Covid cases, others said more," PM Modi said.
But, he said, with the use of public participation and technology for testing and tracking, India was able to turn the fight against Covid-19 into a mass movement. "Today, Covid cases are declining rapidly in India," PM Modi said at the global platform.
"India's stats cannot be compared with one country as 18 per cent of the world's population lives here and yet we not only solved our problems but also helped the world fight the pandemic," PM Narendra Modi said.
"In these tough times, India has been undertaking its global responsibility from the beginning. When airspace was closed in many countries, India took more than 1 lakh citizens to their countries and delivered essential medicines to more than 150 countries," PM Modi said.
The prime minister further promised the world that India's role in solving the Covid crisis globally will increase with the rollout of more "Made in India" Covid-19 vaccines.
"Right now there are two made in India vaccines. World Economic Forum will be relieved to know that in the time to come many more vaccines will come from India. These vaccines will enable other countries to speed up their vaccination process," he said.
PM Modi said that India has been able to achieve rapid immunisation on the domestic front as well. "In just 12 days, India has vaccinated more than 2.3 million health care workers. In next some months, we will achieve our target of vaccinating 300 million elderly people and people with comorbidities," he said.
On the economic front, PM Modi said, the situation will also rapidly evolve as India works toward its goal to achieve self-reliance.
"Even during Covid times, India kept the economic activity going by investing millions in infra and created jobs. India is marching ahead with a pledge to become self-reliant. India's drive to become self-reliant will strengthen globalisation and Industry 4.0," the PM said.
PM Modi at Davos: Despite doomsday predictions, India defeated Covid and helped 150 other countries
Despite the prediction of a Covid tsunami, India not only managed to fight the pandemic but also helped 150 countries along the way, PM Modi told WEF on Thursday.
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Americans advised against travel to India
AFPPublished April 21, 2021 - Updated about an hour ago
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People walk along a deserted road in Hyderabad during a night curfew imposed by the government of Telangana state amidst rising coronavirus cases.—AFP
NEW DELHI: The United States has warned against travel to India, where authorities on Tuesday imposed tighter restrictions to combat an explosion of Covid-19 cases.
India has recorded more than three million new infections and 18,000 deaths this month, bringing its caseload to the world’s second-highest, after the United States.
The updated US travel advisory comes after the State Department announced Monday it would apply “do not travel” guidance to about 80 percent of countries worldwide, citing the unprecedented risk posed by the pandemic.
“Even fully vaccinated travelers... should avoid all travel to India,” the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Singapore also boosted restrictions on arrivals from India on Tuesday, adding a week to the previously required 14-day quarantine period.
These moves follow Britain’s decision on Monday to add India to its “red list”, and Hong Kong’s ban on all flights from the country.
India has been struggling to rein in its raging outbreak, with hospitals running out of beds and the government forced to reimpose economically painful restrictions.
Its capital and worst-hit city New Delhi entered a week-long lockdown on Monday, with parks, cinemas and malls closed.
“Delhi’s health system is at a tipping point,” said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who on Tuesday went into self-isolation after his wife tested positive.
The lockdown announcement prompted tens of thousands of migrant workers to flee Delhi, in scenes reminiscent of the national shutdown a year ago that inflicted economic and human misery.
Mumbai’s home state of Maharashtra, the epicentre of the recent surge, on Tuesday further tightened restrictions on grocery shops and home deliveries.
All non-essential shops and malls in the western state are currently shut until May 1.
Uttar Pradesh, home to some 240 million people, on Tuesday announced a weekend lockdown from Friday evening, whilst Telangana state in the south became the latest to impose a night curfew.
Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, 88, was admitted to hospital with the virus on Monday. Officials said Tuesday that his condition was stable.
In a sign of how dangerously overstretched the hospitals are, people are using social media to appeal for medical supplies for their relatives.
On Monday night, a special “Oxygen Express” train left Mumbai to the industrial southern city of Visakhapatnam, carrying seven empty tanker trucks that should return full in four days.
Experts have warned that religious festivals and packed state election rallies in India have become “superspreader” events — and some have said mass vaccinations are the only long-term solution.
India kicked off its inoculation drive in mid-January and has administered more than 127 million shots so far to a population of 1.3 billion people.
From May 1, all adults will be able to get vaccinated, the government announced on Monday.
“It’s about time! I think this should’ve been done much sooner,” Mumbai-based screenwriter Nisha Kalra, 28, said.
“Knowing we can get vaccinated has immediately reduced the stress, panic and horror of the last few weeks.” Some local authorities have however been running short of supplies, and India has put the brakes on exports of the AstraZeneca shot.
Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2021
Pakistan imposed two-week travel ban to India and will be extended after reviewing the situation.
AFPPublished April 21, 2021 - Updated about an hour ago
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Twitter Share
2
People walk along a deserted road in Hyderabad during a night curfew imposed by the government of Telangana state amidst rising coronavirus cases.—AFP
NEW DELHI: The United States has warned against travel to India, where authorities on Tuesday imposed tighter restrictions to combat an explosion of Covid-19 cases.
India has recorded more than three million new infections and 18,000 deaths this month, bringing its caseload to the world’s second-highest, after the United States.
The updated US travel advisory comes after the State Department announced Monday it would apply “do not travel” guidance to about 80 percent of countries worldwide, citing the unprecedented risk posed by the pandemic.
“Even fully vaccinated travelers... should avoid all travel to India,” the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Singapore also boosted restrictions on arrivals from India on Tuesday, adding a week to the previously required 14-day quarantine period.
These moves follow Britain’s decision on Monday to add India to its “red list”, and Hong Kong’s ban on all flights from the country.
India has been struggling to rein in its raging outbreak, with hospitals running out of beds and the government forced to reimpose economically painful restrictions.
Its capital and worst-hit city New Delhi entered a week-long lockdown on Monday, with parks, cinemas and malls closed.
“Delhi’s health system is at a tipping point,” said chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who on Tuesday went into self-isolation after his wife tested positive.
The lockdown announcement prompted tens of thousands of migrant workers to flee Delhi, in scenes reminiscent of the national shutdown a year ago that inflicted economic and human misery.
Mumbai’s home state of Maharashtra, the epicentre of the recent surge, on Tuesday further tightened restrictions on grocery shops and home deliveries.
All non-essential shops and malls in the western state are currently shut until May 1.
Uttar Pradesh, home to some 240 million people, on Tuesday announced a weekend lockdown from Friday evening, whilst Telangana state in the south became the latest to impose a night curfew.
Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, 88, was admitted to hospital with the virus on Monday. Officials said Tuesday that his condition was stable.
In a sign of how dangerously overstretched the hospitals are, people are using social media to appeal for medical supplies for their relatives.
On Monday night, a special “Oxygen Express” train left Mumbai to the industrial southern city of Visakhapatnam, carrying seven empty tanker trucks that should return full in four days.
Experts have warned that religious festivals and packed state election rallies in India have become “superspreader” events — and some have said mass vaccinations are the only long-term solution.
India kicked off its inoculation drive in mid-January and has administered more than 127 million shots so far to a population of 1.3 billion people.
From May 1, all adults will be able to get vaccinated, the government announced on Monday.
“It’s about time! I think this should’ve been done much sooner,” Mumbai-based screenwriter Nisha Kalra, 28, said.
“Knowing we can get vaccinated has immediately reduced the stress, panic and horror of the last few weeks.” Some local authorities have however been running short of supplies, and India has put the brakes on exports of the AstraZeneca shot.
Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2021
Pakistan imposed two-week travel ban to India and will be extended after reviewing the situation.
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‘We are being lied to’ — PM Modi faces criticism for holding rallies as Covid deaths mount
India now has the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 caseload, adding 273,810 new infections and 1,619 deaths Monday, leaving it behind only the US in terms of total numbers.
MUNEEZA NAQVI and RUTH POLLARD 19 April, 2021 6:09 pm IST
https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php...holding-rallies-as-covid-deaths-mount/642396/
Nurses checking the reports of COVID-19 patients at Ramakrishna Hospital, in Raipur | Photo: Suraj Singh Bisht | ThePrint
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New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces growing criticism across the political spectrum for holding large election rallies as the country’s health system reels from a deadly wave of Covid-19 cases, forcing citizens to beg for oxygen and hospital beds on Twitter.
Modi avoided wearing a mask at a campaign rally on Saturday, saying “I’ve never seen such huge crowds” at an event in West Bengal. That night he said “India had defeated Covid last year and India can do it again” following a virtual meeting with health officials who spoke of critical shortages of drugs, vaccines and other supplies in a nation that has seen a string of new daily records in the past two weeks.
Leaders of key states lashed out at Modi over the weekend, while the opposition Congress party called off campaigning in West Bengal due to the virus surge. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose state includes India’s financial center, said on Saturday he tried calling Modi to address shortages of oxygen and the drug Remdesivir — but was told the prime minister was too busy addressing rallies.
Even a former finance minister in Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party blasted him. The prime minister’s “delight” at the large crowd on Saturday “could have come only from a person who is completely insensitive,” Yashwant Sinha, now chairman of the newly created United Democratic Alliance party, said on Twitter over the weekend. “I deplore his remarks.”
A spokesman for the prime minister’s office wasn’t immediately available for comment.
India now has the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 caseload, adding 273,810 new infections and 1,619 deaths on Monday, leaving it behind only the U.S. in terms of total numbers. India’s benchmark stock index slumped the most in Asia on Monday as investors worried the high infection rate would hurt the economy and corporate profits, while the capital was set to go into a weeklong lockdown from Monday night in an attempt to curb the spread.
The growing gap between Modi’s optimism in fighting the virus and the reality on the ground is particularly evident in Delhi, one of the hardest hit places in India. “They killed my son,” one man sobbed outside a crematorium in the capital Saturday.
It’s not yet clear whether the grim scenes will dent Modi’s enduring popularity with voters, who re-elected him in a landslide for a second term in 2019 and have largely stuck with him after he imposed a sudden country-wide lockdown last year that pushed the economy into its first recession in decades. Five states, including West Bengal, will count votes in elections on May 2.
While it’s “too early to say” if Modi will get hit at the polls this time, “certainly many more people are expressing their dissatisfaction than was the case even two months ago,” said Neerja Chowdhury, a New Delhi-based journalist and political commentator who has written about Indian politics for three decades. An India Today survey released in January found Modi retained a 74% approval rating, down from 78% in August 2020.
Either way it amounts to an abrupt change in fortunes for India, which had only last month been hailed for providing vaccines to poorer neighboring countries. Now the world’s biggest manufacturer of vaccines is looking to import shots to mitigate a surge that occurred shortly after Modi’s government allowed large election gatherings and gave the green light to a religious festival that attracted a million devotees.
Also read: New human challenge trial in UK to study immune response that can prevent Covid reinfection
‘Shameless politics’
In Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh criticized Modi for sending millions of doses to other nations while India’s own immunization program has administered nearly 123 million jabs — enough so far to give the full two doses to only 1.2% of the country’s 1.4 billion people. Singh also condemned the federal government for failing to approve four oxygen plants in his state since applications were submitted last year.
Modi’s government has also lashed out at state chief ministers from other parties over the pandemic response. Over the weekend, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal blasted Thackeray, the leader of Maharashtra, for “shameless politics” in requesting more oxygen and said state leaders should manage oxygen demand.
“The demand-side management is as important as the supply-side management,” Goyal said. “Controlling Covid is the responsibility of state governments.”
The army has stepped in to help treat sick patients, with the military’s Medical Corps running a 250-bed hospital established in New Delhi. Still, outside hospitals and across social media, the desperate search for life-saving treatment and the wail of ambulance sirens punctuated the quiet of the capital’s weekend lockdown.
‘We are being lied to’
“Urgently need a bed in Mayur Vihar Phase 1 for friend … His oxygen level is coming down alarmingly, need immediate hospitalization. Please help if possible,” Niranjan Sahoo, an analyst at a government-funded research group, tweeted on Saturday.
The calls for help on Twitter, echoed across the country, reflected the pain of well-to-do Indians who have usually been able to bypass the disarray of the public health system and pay for better care. Meanwhile, images and reports from government hospitals showed the fear and distress sweeping through the country’s lower-income families.
Kamal Kumar took his 53-year-old mother to six hospitals across Delhi as her breathing became more and more labored in a frantic bid to find an intensive-care bed with a ventilator. In the end it was too late, he said while standing at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium on the banks of the Yamuna River. He waited to perform Hindu rites over her body before it was set to burn.
“We are being lied to — there are no hospitals, no beds, no oxygen,” said his uncle Vinay Kumar. “In the emergency room there were three-to-four people lying on a bed. People on the floor. One doctor was desperately running between patients.”
theprint.in
India now has the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 caseload, adding 273,810 new infections and 1,619 deaths Monday, leaving it behind only the US in terms of total numbers.
MUNEEZA NAQVI and RUTH POLLARD 19 April, 2021 6:09 pm IST
https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php...holding-rallies-as-covid-deaths-mount/642396/
Text Size: A- A+
New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces growing criticism across the political spectrum for holding large election rallies as the country’s health system reels from a deadly wave of Covid-19 cases, forcing citizens to beg for oxygen and hospital beds on Twitter.
Modi avoided wearing a mask at a campaign rally on Saturday, saying “I’ve never seen such huge crowds” at an event in West Bengal. That night he said “India had defeated Covid last year and India can do it again” following a virtual meeting with health officials who spoke of critical shortages of drugs, vaccines and other supplies in a nation that has seen a string of new daily records in the past two weeks.
Leaders of key states lashed out at Modi over the weekend, while the opposition Congress party called off campaigning in West Bengal due to the virus surge. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose state includes India’s financial center, said on Saturday he tried calling Modi to address shortages of oxygen and the drug Remdesivir — but was told the prime minister was too busy addressing rallies.
Even a former finance minister in Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party blasted him. The prime minister’s “delight” at the large crowd on Saturday “could have come only from a person who is completely insensitive,” Yashwant Sinha, now chairman of the newly created United Democratic Alliance party, said on Twitter over the weekend. “I deplore his remarks.”
A spokesman for the prime minister’s office wasn’t immediately available for comment.
India now has the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 caseload, adding 273,810 new infections and 1,619 deaths on Monday, leaving it behind only the U.S. in terms of total numbers. India’s benchmark stock index slumped the most in Asia on Monday as investors worried the high infection rate would hurt the economy and corporate profits, while the capital was set to go into a weeklong lockdown from Monday night in an attempt to curb the spread.
The growing gap between Modi’s optimism in fighting the virus and the reality on the ground is particularly evident in Delhi, one of the hardest hit places in India. “They killed my son,” one man sobbed outside a crematorium in the capital Saturday.
It’s not yet clear whether the grim scenes will dent Modi’s enduring popularity with voters, who re-elected him in a landslide for a second term in 2019 and have largely stuck with him after he imposed a sudden country-wide lockdown last year that pushed the economy into its first recession in decades. Five states, including West Bengal, will count votes in elections on May 2.
While it’s “too early to say” if Modi will get hit at the polls this time, “certainly many more people are expressing their dissatisfaction than was the case even two months ago,” said Neerja Chowdhury, a New Delhi-based journalist and political commentator who has written about Indian politics for three decades. An India Today survey released in January found Modi retained a 74% approval rating, down from 78% in August 2020.
Either way it amounts to an abrupt change in fortunes for India, which had only last month been hailed for providing vaccines to poorer neighboring countries. Now the world’s biggest manufacturer of vaccines is looking to import shots to mitigate a surge that occurred shortly after Modi’s government allowed large election gatherings and gave the green light to a religious festival that attracted a million devotees.
Also read: New human challenge trial in UK to study immune response that can prevent Covid reinfection
‘Shameless politics’
In Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh criticized Modi for sending millions of doses to other nations while India’s own immunization program has administered nearly 123 million jabs — enough so far to give the full two doses to only 1.2% of the country’s 1.4 billion people. Singh also condemned the federal government for failing to approve four oxygen plants in his state since applications were submitted last year.
Modi’s government has also lashed out at state chief ministers from other parties over the pandemic response. Over the weekend, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal blasted Thackeray, the leader of Maharashtra, for “shameless politics” in requesting more oxygen and said state leaders should manage oxygen demand.
“The demand-side management is as important as the supply-side management,” Goyal said. “Controlling Covid is the responsibility of state governments.”
The army has stepped in to help treat sick patients, with the military’s Medical Corps running a 250-bed hospital established in New Delhi. Still, outside hospitals and across social media, the desperate search for life-saving treatment and the wail of ambulance sirens punctuated the quiet of the capital’s weekend lockdown.
‘We are being lied to’
“Urgently need a bed in Mayur Vihar Phase 1 for friend … His oxygen level is coming down alarmingly, need immediate hospitalization. Please help if possible,” Niranjan Sahoo, an analyst at a government-funded research group, tweeted on Saturday.
The calls for help on Twitter, echoed across the country, reflected the pain of well-to-do Indians who have usually been able to bypass the disarray of the public health system and pay for better care. Meanwhile, images and reports from government hospitals showed the fear and distress sweeping through the country’s lower-income families.
Kamal Kumar took his 53-year-old mother to six hospitals across Delhi as her breathing became more and more labored in a frantic bid to find an intensive-care bed with a ventilator. In the end it was too late, he said while standing at the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium on the banks of the Yamuna River. He waited to perform Hindu rites over her body before it was set to burn.
“We are being lied to — there are no hospitals, no beds, no oxygen,” said his uncle Vinay Kumar. “In the emergency room there were three-to-four people lying on a bed. People on the floor. One doctor was desperately running between patients.”
'We are being lied to' — PM Modi faces criticism for holding rallies as Covid deaths mount
India now has the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 caseload, adding 273,810 new infections and 1,619 deaths Monday, leaving it behind only the US in terms of total numbers.
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Save India first from pandemic than come for save the world 
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The world's biggest vaccine producer is running out of Covid-19 vaccines, as second wave accelerates
By Jessie Yeung and Esha Mitra, CNN
Updated 0447 GMT (1247 HKT) April 18, 2021
(CNN)In India, the world's biggest vaccine producer, millions of people are waiting for Covid-19 vaccines amid a devastating second wave of infections.
India typically produces more than 60% of all vaccines sold globally, and is home to the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine maker. Its vast manufacturing capability is why the country signed on as a major player in COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative that provides discounted or free doses for lower-income countries. Under the initial agreement announced last year, SII would manufacture up to 200 million doses for up to 92 countries.
But the situation in India is markedly different from just a few months ago. Its second wave began in March, quickly surpassing the first, which had peaked last September at more than 97,000 coronavirus cases a day.
India reports new record of 103,558 daily Covid cases, as second wave and new lockdowns hit
On Sunday, the country reported 261,500 new cases -- its highest single-day figure so far, according to data from the Indian Ministry of Health. India added a million new cases in less than a week, surpassing 14 million total cases on Thursday.
States and cities are imposing new restrictions, including weekend and nighttime curfews in the capital region Delhi, home to 19 million people. Migrant workers are also leaving major cities en masse for their home villages, afraid any potential lockdowns will leave them stranded.
And through it all, vaccine supplies have dried up on the ground, with at least five states reporting severe shortages and urging the federal government to act.
In the face of crisis, the government and SII have shifted focus from supplying vaccines to COVAX to prioritizing their own citizens at home.
"Deliveries of doses from the Serum Institute of India will be delayed in March and April," said COVAX, which is run by a coalition including international vaccine organization Gavi and the World Health Organization, in a news release on March 25. "Delays in securing supplies of SII-produced Covid-19 vaccine doses are due to the increased demand for Covid-19 vaccines in India."
Boxes of the AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the COVAX global initiative, arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia on March 15.
India had provided 28 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine so far, and was scheduled to deliver another 40 million doses in March and 50 million in April, the release said, adding that COVAX and the Indian government "remain in discussions" about completing supplies.
It's not the first time India had to pause its COVAX contributions: in January, the government restricted the export of AstraZeneca vaccines produced by SII "because they want to prioritize for the most vulnerable and needy segments first," SII CEO Adar Poonawalla.
But these repeated delays have hit poor countries hard. The director of Africa's disease control body warned India's hold on exports could be "catastrophic" for the continent -- while Pakistan, one of the biggest program recipients, decided to allow private vaccine imports and sales to fill the gap.
Vaccination centers turning people away
India is administering two vaccines domestically: the Oxford-AstraZeneca one, also known as Covishield, and its homegrown Covaxin, developed jointly by Bharat Biotech and the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
The country started its vaccination program in January for health care workers and priority groups, with the goal of fully inoculating 300 million people by August. But the program had a sluggish start, facing logistical issues as well as vaccine hesitancy among the population -- especially towards Covaxin, which was approved for emergency use before the efficacy data of its third phase trial were released.
To date, only 14.3 million people have been fully vaccinated -- just over 1% of India's population of 1.3 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.
But public confidence rose as the government stepped up an awareness campaign to assuage concerns, and the vaccination program picked up speed. As new daily cases accelerated in March and April, several states began reporting major vaccine shortages.
A vaccination center in Mumbai, India, that had to turn people away due to a shortage of vaccines on April 9.
In Odisha, nearly 700 vaccination centers had to close last week due to shortages, wrote health authorities in a letter to the central government, warning the state would soon exhaust its available stock.
Rajesh Bhaskar, a health official in Punjab, told CNN last week the state had about 450,000 doses of Covishield and 30,000 doses of Covaxin. The state is home to more than 27 million people, according to the government's latest available statistics. "We want to vaccinate about 100,000 people per day at least, and the current supply is insufficient to meet that demand," he said.
Several districts in Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, had to temporarily suspend vaccination drives, including more than 70 centers in Mumbai that shut last week, according to the state's health minister, Rajesh Tope. Maharashtra had administered more than 11.1 million doses as of Thursday, the most of any Indian states, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.
"In both cities and villages, we have created teams ... to bring all those above 45 years old to take the vaccine," Tope said on April 7. "People are coming to the centers, but our healthcare workers have to tell them that they haven't received the vaccine so they should go home."
There are several challenges contributing to the shortages -- one being the supply of raw materials, said former ICMR director general Nirmal Kumar Ganguly.
https://www.cnn.com/specials/asia/coronavirus-outbreak-intl-hnk
India "has the capacity to produce," Ganguly added, but supply chains have been disrupted during the pandemic. The vaccine formulas and required materials "cannot be changed overnight, so we have to rely on the raw materials being imported."
The US has placed a temporary ban on exporting raw materials critical for vaccine production -- and the EU has similarly tightened restrictions around vaccine exports. India is now working to "adapt to the materials which are made at home or the neighboring countries like Singapore," but this will take time, said Ganguly.
An additional challenge is the country's reliance on SII, he added. There are other vaccine manufacturers in the country, such as Bharat Biotech, but SII remains the largest.
"The need has been glaringly brought out that we need to expand our capacity," Ganguly said. "We are one of the vaccine exporters but these are done by two or three Indian companies at the moment, the rest of them are not big players and some of them are totally new in vaccine production."
Government's mixed response
Several states have requested more doses from the central government -- but federal officials have pushed back, insisting the situation is under control.
Tope's complaints were "nothing but an attempt to divert attention from Maharashtra government's repeated failures to control the spread of pandemic," said Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in a statement last week. Home Minister Amit Shah also refuted states' claims, saying their information was "not true" and vaccines were available, "as much as is required."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point of praising India's vaccination effort as a success. During a meeting with state governors on Wednesday, Modi "highlighted that India has become the fastest nation to reach the landmark of 10 crore vaccinations (100 million doses)," according to a statement from his office.
India took 85 days to reach 100 million doses. By comparison, the US took 89 days and China 102 days, according to Modi's office.
And on Tuesday, Rajesh Bhushan, the health ministry's secretary, said the problem was poor planning and management -- not supply. "We are making doses available to states in a timely manner," he said, adding that states should "look at how many unutilized doses there are at each cold chain point."
Their statements were met with outrage from local and state leaders. Shah's assertion was "factually completely incorrect," tweeted Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on April 10.
And though a last-minute shipment from the central government had saved Uttarakhand from a complete shortage, it's far from a perfect solution and "the supply is unpredictable," said health department official Kuldeep Martolia on Monday.
Boxes of AstraZeneca vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India and donated by the Indian government, arrive in Kabul, Afghanistan, on February 7, 2021.
In a sign the federal government may be feeling the pressure, it took action this week to open the doors for vaccine imports. On Tuesday, it announced it would fast-track emergency approvals for vaccines already approved by the World Health Organization or authorities in the United States, Europe, Britain and Japan.
Companies still need to apply for approval in India, but they will be exempt from having to conduct local safety trials, expediting the process.
"If any of these regulators have approved a vaccine, the vaccine is now ready to be brought into the country for use, manufacture and fill-and-finish," Dr. VK Paul, a senior health official at the government-run think tank Niti Aayog, said at a news conference on Tuesday. "We hope and we invite the vaccine makers such as Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and others ... to be ready to come to India as early as possible."
The move is "a calculated step" by the government to "ensure we have more vaccines available," said Ganguly. The government could also expand its supply through the private market -- but this brings additional challenges too, he said, including the question of how to price vaccines to provide equitable access to the poor.
But even the possibility of importing foreign vaccines won't be a quick fix, since companies like Pfizer and Moderna have other orders to fulfill first, including supplying vaccines for the US. India just granted emergency use authorization for Russia's Sputnik vaccine -- but "by the time they build up manufacturing capacities and manufacturing requirements, it will be five to six months," Ganguly said.
In the meantime, the government is working to expand local production capacity -- a state-run biomedical institute in Maharashtra was given the green light to manufacture the Covaxin vaccine on Thursday, through a transfer of technology with Bharat Biotech.
A Sadhu wearing a face mask takes a holy dip in the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India, on April 12.
All the while, the second wave roils on, with cases climbing sharply every day. Millions of people are traveling across the country to the city of Haridwar in Uttarakhand for the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival and the largest pilgrimage on Earth. Despite warnings of the Covid risks, huge crowds are gathering to hold prayers, attend ceremonies and take holy dips in the Ganges River.
Already, cases in Haridwar are spiking -- prompting the state to impose new restrictions on Thursday. At least one religious group attending the festival, the Niranjani Akhada, has asked those from out of state to pull back amid the rise in cases.
"This surge is a very, very threatening sight which is happening at this given moment in India," said Ganguly. "We have never seen anything like this before."
edition.cnn.com
By Jessie Yeung and Esha Mitra, CNN
Updated 0447 GMT (1247 HKT) April 18, 2021
(CNN)In India, the world's biggest vaccine producer, millions of people are waiting for Covid-19 vaccines amid a devastating second wave of infections.
India typically produces more than 60% of all vaccines sold globally, and is home to the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine maker. Its vast manufacturing capability is why the country signed on as a major player in COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative that provides discounted or free doses for lower-income countries. Under the initial agreement announced last year, SII would manufacture up to 200 million doses for up to 92 countries.
But the situation in India is markedly different from just a few months ago. Its second wave began in March, quickly surpassing the first, which had peaked last September at more than 97,000 coronavirus cases a day.
India reports new record of 103,558 daily Covid cases, as second wave and new lockdowns hit
On Sunday, the country reported 261,500 new cases -- its highest single-day figure so far, according to data from the Indian Ministry of Health. India added a million new cases in less than a week, surpassing 14 million total cases on Thursday.
States and cities are imposing new restrictions, including weekend and nighttime curfews in the capital region Delhi, home to 19 million people. Migrant workers are also leaving major cities en masse for their home villages, afraid any potential lockdowns will leave them stranded.
And through it all, vaccine supplies have dried up on the ground, with at least five states reporting severe shortages and urging the federal government to act.
In the face of crisis, the government and SII have shifted focus from supplying vaccines to COVAX to prioritizing their own citizens at home.
"Deliveries of doses from the Serum Institute of India will be delayed in March and April," said COVAX, which is run by a coalition including international vaccine organization Gavi and the World Health Organization, in a news release on March 25. "Delays in securing supplies of SII-produced Covid-19 vaccine doses are due to the increased demand for Covid-19 vaccines in India."
Boxes of the AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the COVAX global initiative, arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia on March 15.
India had provided 28 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine so far, and was scheduled to deliver another 40 million doses in March and 50 million in April, the release said, adding that COVAX and the Indian government "remain in discussions" about completing supplies.
It's not the first time India had to pause its COVAX contributions: in January, the government restricted the export of AstraZeneca vaccines produced by SII "because they want to prioritize for the most vulnerable and needy segments first," SII CEO Adar Poonawalla.
But these repeated delays have hit poor countries hard. The director of Africa's disease control body warned India's hold on exports could be "catastrophic" for the continent -- while Pakistan, one of the biggest program recipients, decided to allow private vaccine imports and sales to fill the gap.
Vaccination centers turning people away
India is administering two vaccines domestically: the Oxford-AstraZeneca one, also known as Covishield, and its homegrown Covaxin, developed jointly by Bharat Biotech and the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
The country started its vaccination program in January for health care workers and priority groups, with the goal of fully inoculating 300 million people by August. But the program had a sluggish start, facing logistical issues as well as vaccine hesitancy among the population -- especially towards Covaxin, which was approved for emergency use before the efficacy data of its third phase trial were released.
To date, only 14.3 million people have been fully vaccinated -- just over 1% of India's population of 1.3 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.
But public confidence rose as the government stepped up an awareness campaign to assuage concerns, and the vaccination program picked up speed. As new daily cases accelerated in March and April, several states began reporting major vaccine shortages.
A vaccination center in Mumbai, India, that had to turn people away due to a shortage of vaccines on April 9.
In Odisha, nearly 700 vaccination centers had to close last week due to shortages, wrote health authorities in a letter to the central government, warning the state would soon exhaust its available stock.
Rajesh Bhaskar, a health official in Punjab, told CNN last week the state had about 450,000 doses of Covishield and 30,000 doses of Covaxin. The state is home to more than 27 million people, according to the government's latest available statistics. "We want to vaccinate about 100,000 people per day at least, and the current supply is insufficient to meet that demand," he said.
Several districts in Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, had to temporarily suspend vaccination drives, including more than 70 centers in Mumbai that shut last week, according to the state's health minister, Rajesh Tope. Maharashtra had administered more than 11.1 million doses as of Thursday, the most of any Indian states, according to the Indian Ministry of Health.
"In both cities and villages, we have created teams ... to bring all those above 45 years old to take the vaccine," Tope said on April 7. "People are coming to the centers, but our healthcare workers have to tell them that they haven't received the vaccine so they should go home."
There are several challenges contributing to the shortages -- one being the supply of raw materials, said former ICMR director general Nirmal Kumar Ganguly.
https://www.cnn.com/specials/asia/coronavirus-outbreak-intl-hnk
India "has the capacity to produce," Ganguly added, but supply chains have been disrupted during the pandemic. The vaccine formulas and required materials "cannot be changed overnight, so we have to rely on the raw materials being imported."
The US has placed a temporary ban on exporting raw materials critical for vaccine production -- and the EU has similarly tightened restrictions around vaccine exports. India is now working to "adapt to the materials which are made at home or the neighboring countries like Singapore," but this will take time, said Ganguly.
An additional challenge is the country's reliance on SII, he added. There are other vaccine manufacturers in the country, such as Bharat Biotech, but SII remains the largest.
"The need has been glaringly brought out that we need to expand our capacity," Ganguly said. "We are one of the vaccine exporters but these are done by two or three Indian companies at the moment, the rest of them are not big players and some of them are totally new in vaccine production."
Government's mixed response
Several states have requested more doses from the central government -- but federal officials have pushed back, insisting the situation is under control.
Tope's complaints were "nothing but an attempt to divert attention from Maharashtra government's repeated failures to control the spread of pandemic," said Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in a statement last week. Home Minister Amit Shah also refuted states' claims, saying their information was "not true" and vaccines were available, "as much as is required."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point of praising India's vaccination effort as a success. During a meeting with state governors on Wednesday, Modi "highlighted that India has become the fastest nation to reach the landmark of 10 crore vaccinations (100 million doses)," according to a statement from his office.
India took 85 days to reach 100 million doses. By comparison, the US took 89 days and China 102 days, according to Modi's office.
And on Tuesday, Rajesh Bhushan, the health ministry's secretary, said the problem was poor planning and management -- not supply. "We are making doses available to states in a timely manner," he said, adding that states should "look at how many unutilized doses there are at each cold chain point."
Their statements were met with outrage from local and state leaders. Shah's assertion was "factually completely incorrect," tweeted Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on April 10.
And though a last-minute shipment from the central government had saved Uttarakhand from a complete shortage, it's far from a perfect solution and "the supply is unpredictable," said health department official Kuldeep Martolia on Monday.
Boxes of AstraZeneca vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India and donated by the Indian government, arrive in Kabul, Afghanistan, on February 7, 2021.
In a sign the federal government may be feeling the pressure, it took action this week to open the doors for vaccine imports. On Tuesday, it announced it would fast-track emergency approvals for vaccines already approved by the World Health Organization or authorities in the United States, Europe, Britain and Japan.
Companies still need to apply for approval in India, but they will be exempt from having to conduct local safety trials, expediting the process.
"If any of these regulators have approved a vaccine, the vaccine is now ready to be brought into the country for use, manufacture and fill-and-finish," Dr. VK Paul, a senior health official at the government-run think tank Niti Aayog, said at a news conference on Tuesday. "We hope and we invite the vaccine makers such as Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and others ... to be ready to come to India as early as possible."
The move is "a calculated step" by the government to "ensure we have more vaccines available," said Ganguly. The government could also expand its supply through the private market -- but this brings additional challenges too, he said, including the question of how to price vaccines to provide equitable access to the poor.
But even the possibility of importing foreign vaccines won't be a quick fix, since companies like Pfizer and Moderna have other orders to fulfill first, including supplying vaccines for the US. India just granted emergency use authorization for Russia's Sputnik vaccine -- but "by the time they build up manufacturing capacities and manufacturing requirements, it will be five to six months," Ganguly said.
In the meantime, the government is working to expand local production capacity -- a state-run biomedical institute in Maharashtra was given the green light to manufacture the Covaxin vaccine on Thursday, through a transfer of technology with Bharat Biotech.
A Sadhu wearing a face mask takes a holy dip in the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India, on April 12.
All the while, the second wave roils on, with cases climbing sharply every day. Millions of people are traveling across the country to the city of Haridwar in Uttarakhand for the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu festival and the largest pilgrimage on Earth. Despite warnings of the Covid risks, huge crowds are gathering to hold prayers, attend ceremonies and take holy dips in the Ganges River.
Already, cases in Haridwar are spiking -- prompting the state to impose new restrictions on Thursday. At least one religious group attending the festival, the Niranjani Akhada, has asked those from out of state to pull back amid the rise in cases.
"This surge is a very, very threatening sight which is happening at this given moment in India," said Ganguly. "We have never seen anything like this before."
The world's biggest vaccine producer is running out of Covid-19 vaccines, as second wave accelerates | CNN
In India, the world's biggest vaccine producer, millions of people are waiting for Covid-19 vaccines amid a devastating second wave of infections.
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vi-va
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'India defeated Covid-19 last year, can do it again with faster speed’: PM Modi at review meet
By hindustantimes.com, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON APR 17, 2021 10:55 PM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that India can overcome the second wave of Covid-19 infections like it defeated the virus last year. “...together India had defeated Covid last year and India can do it again, with the same principles but faster speed and coordination,” PM Modi said at a review meeting with top officials.
“Reviewed preparedness to handle the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Aspects relating to medicines, oxygen, ventilators and vaccination were discussed. Like we did last year, we will successfully fight COVID with even greater speed and coordination,” PM Modi wrote on Twitter post the meeting.
The Prime Minister stressed that there is no substitute for testing, tracking and treatment and that early testing and proper tracking remains key to reduce mortality. He also said that local administrations need to be proactive and sensitive to people’s concerns, his office said in a statement.
Modi’s meeting comes against the backdrop of rising cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The daily case count has been surging past 200,000 for the past three days and the total infection tally of the country has reached 14.5 million.
During Saturday’s meeting, the Prime Minister also reviewed the status of the supply of Remdesivir and other medicines across states, and emphasised the need to utilise the full potential of India’s pharmaceutical industry to meet the rising demand for various medicines, his office said.
Amid reports of shortage of oxygen supply by several states, the Prime Minister on Friday chaired a meeting to ensure adequate supply of medical grade oxygen in the country. “PM Modi also took a detailed review of the current situation of oxygen supply and projected use in the coming 15 days across 12 high burden states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan). An overview of the district-level situation in these states was presented to the PM,” a government statement said.
On Saturday, PM Modi directed that the installation of approved medical oxygen plants should be sped up. “162 PSA Oxygen plants are being installed in 32 States/UTs from PM CARES. The officers informed that 1 lakh cylinders are being procured & they will be supplied to states soon, according to the PMO statement.
The Prime Minister also reviewed the status of availability and supply of ventilators and noted that a realtime monitoring system has been created. He directed officials to ensure that concerned state governments are sensitised to use the system proactively. On the issue of immunisation, Modi directed all officials to make efforts to utilise the entire national capacity, in public as well as private sector, to ramp up vaccine production, his office said.
www.hindustantimes.com
By hindustantimes.com, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
UPDATED ON APR 17, 2021 10:55 PM IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asserted that India can overcome the second wave of Covid-19 infections like it defeated the virus last year. “...together India had defeated Covid last year and India can do it again, with the same principles but faster speed and coordination,” PM Modi said at a review meeting with top officials.
“Reviewed preparedness to handle the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Aspects relating to medicines, oxygen, ventilators and vaccination were discussed. Like we did last year, we will successfully fight COVID with even greater speed and coordination,” PM Modi wrote on Twitter post the meeting.
The Prime Minister stressed that there is no substitute for testing, tracking and treatment and that early testing and proper tracking remains key to reduce mortality. He also said that local administrations need to be proactive and sensitive to people’s concerns, his office said in a statement.
Modi’s meeting comes against the backdrop of rising cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The daily case count has been surging past 200,000 for the past three days and the total infection tally of the country has reached 14.5 million.
During Saturday’s meeting, the Prime Minister also reviewed the status of the supply of Remdesivir and other medicines across states, and emphasised the need to utilise the full potential of India’s pharmaceutical industry to meet the rising demand for various medicines, his office said.
Amid reports of shortage of oxygen supply by several states, the Prime Minister on Friday chaired a meeting to ensure adequate supply of medical grade oxygen in the country. “PM Modi also took a detailed review of the current situation of oxygen supply and projected use in the coming 15 days across 12 high burden states (Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan). An overview of the district-level situation in these states was presented to the PM,” a government statement said.
On Saturday, PM Modi directed that the installation of approved medical oxygen plants should be sped up. “162 PSA Oxygen plants are being installed in 32 States/UTs from PM CARES. The officers informed that 1 lakh cylinders are being procured & they will be supplied to states soon, according to the PMO statement.
The Prime Minister also reviewed the status of availability and supply of ventilators and noted that a realtime monitoring system has been created. He directed officials to ensure that concerned state governments are sensitised to use the system proactively. On the issue of immunisation, Modi directed all officials to make efforts to utilise the entire national capacity, in public as well as private sector, to ramp up vaccine production, his office said.
'India defeated Covid-19 last year, can do it again with faster speed’: PM Modi at review meet
“Reviewed preparedness to handle the ongoing COVID-19 situation. Aspects relating to medicines, oxygen, ventilators and vaccination were discussed," PM Modi tweeted after the meeting.
not just raw material, but also equipment.
Indian vaccine makers decry US use of wartime powers to protect supplies
Indian vaccine makers decry US use of wartime powers to protect supplies An employee works on an assembly line for AstraZeneca/Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine at India’s Serum Institute in Pune © Punit Paranjpe/AFP via Getty Images Be the first to know about every new Coronavirus story Two of...
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N.Siddiqui
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India has far too many diseases, so it need the vaccines.
Cholera, TB, BCG vaccines for tuberculosis, India has high prevalence of HIV, malaria, you name it and India has it.
And they are all developed and researched in US or EU, India is just a producer...for the huge local population and economy of scale.
www.npr.org
Cholera, TB, BCG vaccines for tuberculosis, India has high prevalence of HIV, malaria, you name it and India has it.
And they are all developed and researched in US or EU, India is just a producer...for the huge local population and economy of scale.
Why Does India Lead The World In Deaths From TB?
TB is the world's deadliest infectious disease. And India has more deaths each year than any other country.
www.npr.org
masterchief_mirza
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Whadda wan*er!
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According to latest news from IndiaPM Modi at Davos: Despite doomsday predictions, India defeated Covid and helped 150 other countries
Despite the prediction of a Covid tsunami, India not only managed to fight the pandemic but also helped 150 countries along the way, PM Modi told WEF on Thursday.
India Today Web Desk New DelhiJanuary 28, 2021UPDATED: January 28, 2021 18:45 IST
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India not only managed to beat the Covid-19 crisis it has also helped over 150 countries in the process, despite predictions for the worst.
Addressing the World Economic Forum's Davos Dialogue via video conferencing, PM Modi said that at the beginning of the pandemic, global experts had predicted that India will face a tsunami of Covid-19 cases. "While some experts said 7-8 million Covid cases, others said more," PM Modi said.
But, he said, with the use of public participation and technology for testing and tracking, India was able to turn the fight against Covid-19 into a mass movement. "Today, Covid cases are declining rapidly in India," PM Modi said at the global platform.
"India's stats cannot be compared with one country as 18 per cent of the world's population lives here and yet we not only solved our problems but also helped the world fight the pandemic," PM Narendra Modi said.
"In these tough times, India has been undertaking its global responsibility from the beginning. When airspace was closed in many countries, India took more than 1 lakh citizens to their countries and delivered essential medicines to more than 150 countries," PM Modi said.
The prime minister further promised the world that India's role in solving the Covid crisis globally will increase with the rollout of more "Made in India" Covid-19 vaccines.
"Right now there are two made in India vaccines. World Economic Forum will be relieved to know that in the time to come many more vaccines will come from India. These vaccines will enable other countries to speed up their vaccination process," he said.
PM Modi said that India has been able to achieve rapid immunisation on the domestic front as well. "In just 12 days, India has vaccinated more than 2.3 million health care workers. In next some months, we will achieve our target of vaccinating 300 million elderly people and people with comorbidities," he said.
On the economic front, PM Modi said, the situation will also rapidly evolve as India works toward its goal to achieve self-reliance.
"Even during Covid times, India kept the economic activity going by investing millions in infra and created jobs. India is marching ahead with a pledge to become self-reliant. India's drive to become self-reliant will strengthen globalisation and Industry 4.0," the PM said.
PM Modi at Davos: Despite doomsday predictions, India defeated Covid and helped 150 other countries
Despite the prediction of a Covid tsunami, India not only managed to fight the pandemic but also helped 150 countries along the way, PM Modi told WEF on Thursday.
Spoke too soon
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