India Coronavirus Dispatch: Serum sitting on a stockpile of 55 mn shots

IN NUMBERS: 11,713 new infections reported nationwide

11,713 new coronavirus infections were recorded in the last 24 hours nationwide, taking the cumulative caseload to 10.81 million, according to a report in Deccan Herald. 95 deaths were reported, taking the total death toll to 1,54,918, according to central health ministry data updated on Saturday. With 14,488 people making recoveries in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries have surged to 1,05,10,796. The national recovery rate has climbed to 97.16 per cent. Read more here

SII sits on a stockpile of 55 mn shots awaiting Centre's call

Pune-based vaccine maker Serum Institute of India is sitting on a stockpile of 55 million shots of Covishield and has temporarily halted production as there is no offtake from the central government, according to a report in The Wire. Trade association Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is actively lobbying the Centre to take the unused Covishield stock. The delay persists despite a need for more doses even by the government’s own goal of administering 3.33 million a day, the report said. Read more here

Indians locked out of Saudi Arabia upset over export of vaccine to the kingdom

India's move to export Covid-19 vaccine to Saudi Arabia has caused resentment in its expatriate community who are locked out by the kingdom's months-long flight ban, according to a report in Al Jazeera.

While India ramps up its "vaccine diplomacy" through worldwide shipments of the shots developed by AstraZeneca together with Oxford University, the Saudi flight ban has become an irritant. Indian officials have pointed out, in vain, that the active caseload in Saudi Arabia has fallen steadily. The kingdom has even allowed flights from other worse-affected countries prompting some workers to question if the ban is a strategy to reduce the expatriate workforce in the kingdom. Read more here

India’s R-value remains steady at 0.92 this week

India’s effective reproduction value (R) for Covid-19 remained the same as last week, at 0.92, according to a report in ThePrint. The R-value is a key measure of how quickly the virus is spreading. In simple terms, it is the average number of people who become infected by an infected individual. If the R-value is above 1, the virus will spread quickly. If it is below 1, the virus will slow. The overall R-value has been steady for India since the past several weeks. Kerala, which has the biggest active caseload, saw a fall in the R-value for the second week in a row. Last week, the R was at 0.99, but the value dropped to 0.94 this week. Read more here

India fastest to inoculate 5 million people

Since the Covid-19 vaccination programme began on January 16, India has inoculated over 5 million people, according to a report in HindustanTimes. The health ministry said India is the fastest to hit the milestone so far. To date, total hospitalizations after the vaccination amount to 27. Read more here