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Even as India recorded the steepest increase in daily Covid-19 cases in 2021 in the last 24 hours, the drug regulator relaxed the conditions for use ofCovaxin, the indigenously-developed Covid-19 vaccine.
The number of new Covid-19 cases reported since Wednesday morning rose to 23,000, the highest since January 1. Six States, including Maharashtra and Kerala, accounted for 86 per cent of the new infections.
The decision to remove the ‘clinical trials mode’ condition for Covaxin — with interim Phase 3 clinical trials reporting 81 per cent efficacy — should accelerate the immunisation campaign in the country. Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech jointly with ICMR researchers, was given conditional emergency use authorisation in January.
This authorisation brings Covaxin on a par with Covishield for operational purposes, Vinod Paul, Member-Health, NITI Aayog, told media on Thursday. “Covaxin has already been administered to over 19 lakh people and has stood the test of safety. Only 311 individuals had some minimal side-effects. This is a triumph of India’s science and technology enterprise as well as our industry,” Paul said.
Now, Covaxin can be administered without an ‘informed consent’ from the recipient and this also removes the compensation provision in case of an adverse event under the clinical trial protocol, sources said. Compensation, if at all, can be awarded only under other rules, they said.
On the government’s vaccine-buying plan, however, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, also present at the briefing, refused to give details, saying the issue is sub judice. Last week, acting on a PIL, the Delhi High Court asked the government why was it restricting its vaccination drive to only a few sections, while it was either donating or selling vaccines to other countries. The court also asked the vaccine-makers to divulge their daily and weekly production capacities. India, which commenced its Covid vaccination drive on January 16, has administered 2.54 crore doses till date.
New cases shoot up
The vaccination is yet to have an impact on tempering Covid cases, which have been surging across the country. Maharashtra accounted for 60 per cent of the daily new cases at 13,659, followed by Kerala at 2,475 and Punjab with 1,393, a Health Ministry release said.
India’s total active caseload reached 1,89,226 on Thursday, up from the lows of 1.35 lakh in mid-February. The active case load now stands at 1.68 per cent of the total positive cases. Kerala reported the maximum decline in active cases while Maharashtra had the maximum increase in the last 24 hours.
Nearly 50 per cent of these cases are from 10 cities, including eight in Maharshtra. Maharashtra had 36,917 active cases as of February 11; today they have more than 1 lakh cases, he said. Punjab, which had 2,100 active cases a month back, is now touching 9,400. Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana are at tipping point, said Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.
Himanshu Negandhi, an Additional Professor at the Indian Institute of Public Health, which is a part of the New Delhi-based Public Health Foundation of India, however, said though there is a need to be cautious, the spike is not yet a cause for concern. “This can happen when we are opening up. But there is a need to watch out for clustering of cases,” Negandhi said.
In Tamil Nadu, which is witnessing a steady increase over the last fortnight, most new cases were being reported from Chennai, which accounted for 292 of 685 new cases reported in the State on Thursday. Though the increase is not alarming, there is a need to control the spread, say government officials.
Similarly, Gujarat reported 675 new cases in the last 24 hours. Most were reported from Surat (161) and Ahmedabad (141), and Vadodara (96).
The State authorities attributed the surge to the travellers coming to Gujarat from other States, particularly Maharashtra.
Telangana continued to report a low number of daily positive cases; 194 of the 38,000 tested on Wednesday. This took the total number of cases so far in the State to three lakh. The State has one of the highest recovery rates, at 98.83 per cent against the national average of 96.9 per cent.
With inputs from Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai bureaus
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