Data shows India managed Omicron wave better than others, says govt | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Average daily Covid-19 cases in India declined by 98.9% in around seven weeks (from Jan 19-25 to March 9-15 ), against a global average of 50.3% during the same period, official data show, indicating that India managed the Omicron surge better than most countries globally.
The government said the country’s strategies on public health response, including massive vaccination coverage, resulted in better management of the Omicron surge. India’s management of Covid-19 pandemic, especially the recent Omicron surge, has strongly demonstrated to the world the power of strong political will, self-reliance, technology-powered innovation and collaborative efforts, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday. He was delivering the keynote address at a webinar titled ‘India’s Public Health Response to Manage Covid-19’, organised by Niti Aayog and more than 200 NGOs and civil society organisations.
While many countries are still experiencing a surge in cases, which is higher than the previous surges, India experienced a much lower peak and cases declined much faster in merely 24 days during the third surge, as against 68 days during Delta wave.
Average daily Covid cases in India dropped sharply from 3.11 lakh during January 19-25 to 3536 cases during March 9-15. Mandaviya underlined that despite the large population combined with geographical and sociological diversities, India has set global standards of vaccination.
Over 180 crore doses of Covid jabs have been administered across the country. India had already vaccinated 90.8% of the eligible population with first dose and 65.4% with second dose when initial signs of the third surge powered by Omicron started emerging. This proved pivotal in saving lives during the third surge, Mandaviya said.
Speaking about the challenges India faced during the pandemic, he said timely and prompt decisions for containment, management, treatment and vaccination were taken by India under the leadership and guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mandaviya highlighted the crucial role played by technology and how it was leveraged for increased accessibility of healthcare services during the pandemic through e-Sanjeevani, CoWin portal for vaccination, Arogya Setu App.