India Coronavirus Dispatch: Daily cases retreat to lowest in 111 days

Study finds four in 10 adults above 70 years of age show vaccine hesitancy, facial recognition being used to verify vaccine beneficiaries, and more-news relevant to India's fight against the pandemic

Over 34,700 fresh cases reported

India reported 34,700 fresh coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the cumulative caseload to 30.6 million, according to central health ministry data. The daily cases are the lowest in 111 days. The country saw 553 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 403,281. The active caseload is at 464,357, while the total recoveries have surged to 29.7 million. As many as 357 million vaccine shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 4.5 million were given on Monday. Read more

India to get 7 mn doses of Moderna vaccine, but indemnity waiver puts question mark on when

As many as seven million shots of mRNA Covid vaccine manufactured by US drugmaker Moderna will be given to India through the Covax agreement, but there is no clarity on when they might arrive as the indemnity waiver is yet to be decided, a report in ThePrint said citing top government sources. While so far only vaccines made in India have been a part of the national Covid vaccination programme, an exception will be made for Moderna and it will be a part of the programme, the report said. Read more

Four in 10 adults above 70 show vaccine hesitancy: Study

A survey commissioned by the government has found that four in 10 unvaccinated adults above the age of 70 were hesitant to take the Covid vaccine, a report in the Hindustan Times said. The survey highlights the need for effective messaging among vulnerable groups. The findings show that 57% of the unvaccinated in the 70-plus age group were concerned with the safety or efficacy of the vaccine and 29% thought they were too old to receive the vaccine. The survey was conducted over the phone with 4,000-plus participants. Read more

Study links mild Covid to prior encounters with similar, less virulent coronaviruses

New research has found that Covid patients whose symptoms were mild were more likely than sicker patients to have signs of prior infection by similar, less virulent coronaviruses, a report in The Indian Express said.

People with Covid may experience milder symptoms if certain cells of their immune systems “remember” previous encounters with seasonal coronaviruses — the ones that cause about a quarter of the common colds children get, according to the findings. The study, by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine researchers, has been published in the journal Science Immunology. Read more

Facial recognition used to verify vaccine beneficiaries: Health ministry

The health ministry has failed to provide any legislative or legal order that authorised the use of facial recognition technology for online verification of beneficiaries at vaccination centres, a report in The Hindu said. “Facial recognition authentication is used as one of the methods for Aadhaar Authentication for online verification of beneficiary prior to Covid-19 vaccination wherein facial template is captured and send to UIDAI for verification of image of beneficiary,” the ministry said in response to an RTI filed by the not-for-profit Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF). Read more