NEW DELHI: The Health Ministry on Thursday said opting herd immunity in India cannot be a strategic choice and will lead to a large number of severe cases and can increase the number of deaths in coming future.
“At the present situation, following social distancing and safety measures till a vaccine comes is a viable and only option.”, Ministry stated.
Addressing the media, R Bhushan, Secretary in the Ministry of Health said, “Herd immunity in a country of the size & population of India can’t be a strategic option. It can only be achieved through immunisation. The Health Ministry thinks it’s possible in future but for now we’ve to follow COVID appropriate behaviour.”
Herd immunity is a strategy against a disease which means that in a nation, the whole population needs to get immune either by vaccine or previous infection.
“Herd immunity occurs when 80-90% of the population becomes immune to a contagious disease after being infected to it. But in a populous country like India this strategy can come out to be the worst because in India in every 5 people two are prone to any chronic disease which mainly includes diabetes, arthritis and many commonly known harmful diseases and people with severe symptoms are those with any pre-dominant disease.”, said Health ministry OSD.
Herd immunity will be a great option in small countries and people with good immunity.
The Ministry said “More than 1 million people have recovered from Covid-19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers.”
Moreover, India has the least fatality rate compared to other nations which is 2.21%.
R Bhushan also stated that the recovery rate of some states in nation is more than the national average Delhi has recovery rate of 88%, Ladakh 80%, Haryana 78%, Assam 76%, Telangana 74%, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat 73%, Rajasthan 70%, MP 69% and Goa 68%.
Whereas India records 55,078 cases, the biggest till date in the last 24 hour, 35,400 total deaths due to virus and active cases stands more than 5 lakh and 1million recovery till date.