Unvaccinated account for 92% Covid deaths in 2022: ICMR

Unvaccinated account for 92% Covid deaths in 2022: ICMR

TNN | Mar 4, 2022, 03.17 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Unvaccinated people accounted for nearly 92% of Covid-19 deaths this year, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said on Thursday citing data from Covid vaccine tracker.

Among fully vaccinated people, only 10.2% succumbed to Covid-19 and 91% of these fully vaccinated who died had co-morbidities. Besides, 21.8% of the people who died were partially vaccinated and 83% had co-morbidities.

Underlining that vaccination aided Covid management in India while many countries are still reeling under the rising number of Omicron infected Covid-19 cases, officials said deaths reduced significantly during the third surge dominated by the Omicron variant.

The case fatality rate (CFR) dropped to 0.35% during third surge (from January 4 to February 14, 2022), against 1.29% during second surge (March 21 to July 14, 2021) led by Delta infection which was highly lethal while vaccination coverage was very low at that time.

At the start of the second surge in 2021, only 10.1% of eligible population were partially vaccinated while 2.1% were fully vaccinated with two doses. On the other hand, during the third surge, 90.83% of adults were partially vaccinated and 65.4% were fully vaccinated against the infection.

“We are in a vaccine-protected low corona stage. That is why it is rational to open schools and businesses and carry on the affairs of society. However, the responsibility is to ensure that surveillance is intact and we are prepared, and to wear masks,” NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said.

According to government data, the second wave lasted 117 days, from 21 March to 14 July, 2021, in the country with a total of 1.94 crore cases and 2.52 lakh deaths — a case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.29%.

During the third wave, which lasted 41 days — from 4 January to 14 February, 2022 — India reported 77.42 lakh cases and 27,118 deaths, a CFR of 0.35%.

“The relentless efforts of healthcare and frontline workers coupled with vaccination coverage have yielded results for effective containment of the recent surge,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry.

According to government data, it took 49 days to reach the peak of over 4.14 lakh cases during the second surge, whereas it took 18 days to reach the peak during the third surge which was powered by the highly transmissible Omicron strain.

New Delhi: The government has made it mandatory for police to investigate all road accident cases that occur on and after April 1 and ordered that cops will have to intimate about accidents to motor accident claim tribunals (MACTs) and insurance companies within 48 hours. The road transport ministry also made it mandatory to incorporate validated mobile numbers in the insurance certificates.

The rules, aimed at faster disposal of cases and quick disbursal of compensations, have set the mandatory procedure for investigation of road accidents, preparation of detailed accident reports, and fixing timelines for different stakeholders for quick settlement of claims by the MACT.

As per the notification, the police will have to visit the accident spots, collect evidence and intimate to the MACT about the accidents so that the process starts quickly. The investigation officer (IO) will be duty bound to inform the victims or their legal representatives about their rights and claims. The changes have been made following a Delhi HC order which had directed the Centre to adopt the model, which has been successfully done in Delhi. This has drastically cut the time period for getting the compensation.

The rules have specified the responsibility and timeline that all the stakeholders to give the medico-legal and postmortem reports.