New Delhi/Toronto: India on Thursday earned a pat on the back from the WHO for its efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 as the global body said the number of infections in the country has been on the decline. “Over three months now, cases of Covid-19 in India have been consistently going down… Considering the magnitude of the population…it’s something the Government of India should be very, very proud of,” Roderico Ofrin, WHO’s India representative, was quoted as saying by ANI.
“Bringing that diligence, discipline and vigor into their response to the vaccination campaign, we have seen it’s been so successful. Around six million were vaccinated in 22 days. It’s the fastest as we see rates of vaccination happening,” Ofrin added.
According to the ministry of health, India reported only about 13000 new cases of Covid over 24 hours on Wednesday. There is a sustained decline in the number of cases reported daily since the reported peak in mid-September 2020.
India has also vaccinated more than 7 million people since the program began on January 16, in the world’s largest vaccination drive against Covid-19.
Meanwhile, news from Toronto said that the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) and many other Indo-Canadian organizations have welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to provide Covid-19 vaccine to Canada. Modi made this promise to his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau who called him this week to discuss various issues, including the pandemic, the economic recovery and climate change.
In a tweet, Modi said that he “assured him (Trudeau) that India would do its best to facilitate supplies of COVID vaccines sought by Canada”.
Trudeau is facing a public backlash because of the lack of the availability of vaccines as both Pfizer and Moderna have either cut or delayed shipments to Canada which has got only 1.1 million doses so far.
Indo-Canadian trade bodies welcomed the initiative by Trudeau to call Modi in the wake of the setback to bilateral relations after Trudeau issued a statement in December in support of the farmers’ stir in India.
Thomas said the phone discussion between the two Prime Ministers could be the beginning of a new partnership.
WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had also thanked India and PM Modi for their continued support to global Covid-19 response as the country supplied vaccines, being manufactured in the country, to neighboring countries.
