Coronavirus News : Rumours, fake news about COVID vaccination harming poor the most, says Harsh Vardhan

Coronavirus LIVE Updates : India reported 53,256 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 88 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases...

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India reported 53,256 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 88 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,99,35,221, while the active cases further reduced to 7,02,887, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 3,88,135 with 1,422 fresh fatalities, the lowest in 65 days. The active cases now comprise

 2.35 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.36 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed A net decline of 26,356 cases has been recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. As many as 13,88,699 tests were conducted on Sunday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 39,24,07,782. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 3.83 per cent . It has been less than 5 per cent for 14 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 3.32 per cent. Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for the 39th consecutive day.The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,88,44,199, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.30 per cent, the data stated

`        Qatar will only allow people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend next year's World Cup and is in talks to secure one million doses in case global immunisation efforts lag, the prime minister said. The Gulf Arab state hosts the four-week tournament in November 2022 and the president of global soccer body FIFA has said the matches would be held in full stadiums.

Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani told newspapers that while most countries were expected to have vaccinated their citizens by then, Qatar was still taking measures to ensure a successful event. "We are currently negotiating with a company to provide one million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in order to immunize and vaccinate some of those coming to Qatar," he said in remarks also carried by state news agency QNA late on Sunday, without identifying the firm.

It was not immediately clear how those vaccines would be offered. Most coronavirus vaccines require two doses administered weeks apart. Qatari officials had earlier said they hoped to hold a coronavirus-free tournament and planned to make vaccinations available to attendees not already immunized.

“Vaccine hesitancy poses a risk to ending the pandemic in India,” said retired virologist and pediatrician Dr. T. Jacob John. “The more the virus circulates, the more it can mutate into dangerous new variants that can undermine vaccines.” Delivering vaccines in the world’s second-most populous country was always going to be challenging. Even though India did relatively well at the beginning of its mammoth vaccination drive, the campaign hit a snag almost immediately due to shortages and a complicated vaccine policy, exacerbating existing inequalities.