India should be very, very proud: WHO’s praise amid falling Covid-19 cases

India on Thursday earned a pat on the back from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (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.

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“Bringing that diligence, discipline and vigour 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 Union ministry of health and family welfare on Thursday morning, India reported 12,923 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative count of people infected with the virus in the country to 10,871,294. There are 142,562 active cases and 10,573,372 recoveries as India’s death toll stood at 155,360 with 108 deaths in the last 24 hours. The country is witnessing a sustained decline in the number of Covid-19 cases reported daily since the reported peak in mid-September 2020, the government has said. India has also vaccinated more than 7 million people since the programme began on January 16, in the world’s largest vaccination drive against Covid-19.

Ofrin also added a word of praise for Gujarat. “Hats off to Gujarat government for taking the review amid pandemic for information and better evidence to tweak their responses, which they have, especially during the second wave that happened,” he said.

This is not the first time that the global health body has praised India. On February 6, it had said that the country has shown great progress in significantly driving down the number of Covid-19 cases. "This shows us that if we can do these simple public health solutions, we can beat the virus...With vaccines being added, we would even expect more and better outcomes," WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had said.

Last month, Ghebreyesus had thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for their continued support to global Covid-19 response as the country supplied vaccines, being manufactured in the country, to neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as other nations. "Thank you, India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for your continued support to global Covid-19 response. Only if we act together, including sharing of knowledge, can we stop this virus and save lives and livelihoods," Tedros had said.