Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, today chaired the 22nd meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 by a video-conference in New Delhi today. During the meeting, Dr Vardhan informed that India’s COVID 19 Pandemic Growth has dropped to 2 per cent and Case Fatality Rate is amongst lowest in the world which is at 1.45 per cent .He said, India’s Recovery Rate has peaked to 95.46 per cent while the strategy of testing one million samples has decreased the Cumulative Positivity Rate to 6.25 per cent.The Minister observed the fact that despite festivals in the month of October and November, no new surge of cases were observed in this period due to comprehensive testing, tracking and treatment policy implemented on the ground. The Health Minister reiterated his concern and appeal to diligently maintain COVID Appropriate Behaviour even at a time when the country is at the cusp of authorizing the first set of vaccines. He also expressed the need for an expeditious vaccination drive to cover all the target populations estimated to be around 30 crores.Through a detailed presentation, Dr. Vinod K Paul, Member NITI Aayog apprised the GoM on three critical aspects of vaccination as well as the details of the six vaccine candidates undergoing trial in India He also briefed the GoM about requests for vaccines received by the Ministry of External Affairs from 12 other countries.Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan noted the importance of Health Seeking Behaviour among the population as a key driver in checking fatality.During the meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar, Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey, and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai was also present.
