Covid-19 to be under control by Diwali, says Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

Guwahati: Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan today expressed hope that the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus shall be halted in the state by the holy festival of Diwali.

On Sunday, the Union Health Minister expressed confidence that the country's Covid-19 count will be "under control" by Diwali this year. Inaugurating the 'Nation First' webinar series, organized by the Anath Kumar Foundation, he said that India has trudged ahead in regards to tackling the pandemic problem.

"The Covid-19 will significantly come under control by the Deepawali this year. The leaders and common people effectively worked together to fight the pandemic," Vardhan opined. He further said that the health officials had held a meeting much before the first Covid-19 case was reported in India.

"There was only one laboratory by February, which has now been increased to 1,583 nationwide. Out of this, more than 1,000 are government labs. The country is conducting about 1 million tests per day which is way ahead of the target," the health minister said.

"Later on, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed a committee led by me which has already met 22 times until yesterday," he said, adding, "the scarcity of PPE kits, ventilators, and N 95 masks is no more now. Every day, five lakh PPE kits are produced in the country while 10 manufacturers are producing N95 masks. 25 producers are manufacturing ventilators.

He said that vaccine trials are in full swing, with three clinical trials and four pre-clinical trials underway.

"We are expecting vaccines to be ready by the end of the year. It is because of the farsightedness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that we could reach until here," he added.