Covid-19: ICMR testing efficacy of vaccine against new Coronavirus strains

The ICMR is making efforts to test the efficacy of the vaccine against the South African and Brazilian strains of the Covid-19 virus, Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR, said on Tuesday. Bhargava said four cases of South African strain and one case of the Brazilian strain have been found in the country so far. All travellers and contacts, he confirmed, have been tested and isolated.

Meanwhile, India has completed nearly nine million vaccinations and, at the current pace, would complete ten million vaccinations by Friday, data released by the government showed. Of those who received their first dose four weeks ago, only 37.5% have received the second dose, in the first three days.

The rollout of the programme has not uniform across the country with Bihar having covered 81% of its healthcare workers but Delhi having vaccinated only 42.36%. In Punjab and Tamil Nadu, the levels are below 40%.

“We have vaccinated 61% of our total health workforce and a quarter of frontline workers, but there is scope for increasing the pace of vaccination,” Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary, observed at the weekly press conference.

The health secretary highlighted that in states like Kerala and Maharashtra testing via RT-PCR tests has declined; FE had reported there has been a 25% fall in testing over the past month. Maharashtra and Kerala together account for 72% of India’s infections.