Overall spread was 42 days during third COVID-19 surge, 117 days during second surge in India: Govt

The overall spread during the third surge was for as many as 42 days as compared to the overall spread of 117 days during the second surge of COVID-19 in India, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

The Health Ministry today presented an analysis of the cases reported during the second and third surge of COVID-19 in India.

Addressing a press conference today, Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, "The overall spread during the third surge was 42 days as compared to the overall spread of 117 days during the second surge of COVID-19."

The Health Ministry said that the second wave was reported during the time period of March 20, 2021-July 14, 2021 and the third wave was reported during the time period of January 4, 2022 to February 14, 2022.

The Health Ministry highlighted that the average weekly COVID-19 positivity rate in India is 0.99 per cent as of date.

"The average weekly COVID-19 positivity rate in India is 0.99 per cent. The number of active cases in the country is around 77,000. In the last 24 hours, only 6,561 cases were reported in the country," said Agarwal.

In a move to curb the spread of the pandemic, the ministry mentioned that more than 178.02 crore total Covid vaccine doses have been administered so far.

"More than 178.02 crore total doses have been administered so far. In the population aged 18 years and above, 90.96 crore (97 per cent) were given first dose and 76.66 crore (82 per cent) were given second dose. Precaution dose has been administered to 2.03 crore of the population. In the population aged 15-18 years, 5.50 crore (74 per cent) have been given first dose and 2.87 crore (39 per cent) the second dose," he said.

The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination started on January 16, 2021. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them COVID vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.

( With inputs from ANI )

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