India: 400,000 Covid deaths recorded as vaccination drive slows down

India has become the third country worldwide to cross a death toll of 400,000 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a result of the country’s vaccination drive being slowed down.

According to statistics provided by the health ministry, so far the total death count of the country is 400,312 – a little behind United States and Brazil. Almost 30.5 million Corona cases have been reported in total.

The catastrophic spread of the virus in April and May caused India’s death toll to rise to more than 1 million as experts suggest. The Delta variant is behind the sudden spike in cases paired with the government’s easy-going attitude when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared triumph against the virus earlier this year in January.

However, the daily numbers recorded have come to a significant low resulting in restrictions on various activities being lifted which in turn has also raised fears of the spread of the virus in the near future.

Authorities had aimed to vaccinate the 1.1 billion adult population in India this year but due to various obstacles about 5% have been given both doses so far.

India opened up free Covid-19 inoculations on 21st June for all adults in an attempt to boost its immunization drive on Monday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off a muted International Yoga Day greeting the practice’s “protective” possessions against the virus. This led to an increase in the demand for the vaccine as more than 9 million shots were administered each day.

India approved the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday for national use. Indian drugmaker Zydus Cadila said on Thursday that it had requested for approval for its plasmid DNA-based vaccine after trials showed an efficacy rate of 67 percent.

The pharmaceutical company’s chief Sharvil Patel said in a news conference that he hopes to make 50 million vaccines by the end of 2021, by producing 10 million doses every month.