‘Supplied more vax globally than to own’ citizens’

A medic prepares to administer vaccine to a senior citizen during an inoculation drive, in Gurugram. Pic/PTI

At the forefront of the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, India has supplied more vaccines to people around the world than inoculating its own citizens, according to New Delhi's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, K Nagaraj Naidu.

Addressing the General Assembly, he said, "India will not only be vaccinating 300 million of its own frontline workers over the next six months, but in the process has also supplied vaccines to over 70 nations. In fact, as of today we have supplied more vaccines globally than have vaccinated our own people." He added that 2,00,000 doses of vaccine that India is gifting to UN Peacekeepers will be arriving in Denmark.

Naidu was speaking at an informal Assembly session on the "Political Declaration on Equitable Global Access to COVID-19 Vaccines" that was adopted by over 180 of the UN's 193 members. "While the vaccine challenge has been resolved, we are now confronted with ensuring the availability, accessibility, affordability, and distribution of vaccines." Naidu said, calling for collaboration on genomic surveillance to track virus mutations and variants.

3,176 cases in 24 hours: Punjab's highest single-day spike since March
In its highest daily caseload since the COVID-19 outbreak in March last year, Punjab has recorded 3,176 fresh cases and 59 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the state bulletin on Friday. The state's total tally has touched 2,26,059 cases till date. This is the second COVID wave being witnessed in Punjab after the single-day highest count of 2,896 cases was reported on September 17, 2020. Punjab government's health advisor and state's COVID-19 expert committee head, Dr K K Talwar, said that this time, the infection was spreading faster than the first wave, which came in September last year and the UK mutant strain found in samples from Punjab was the reason for the surge.

1,19,08,910
Total number of cases in the country as of Saturday

1,61,275
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India

1,12,95,023
Patients Recovered and discharged in India as of Saturday

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