Modi: India set to mass-produce COVID-19 vaccine, launches digital health mission

India is ready to mass-produce COVID-19 vaccines when scientists give the go-ahead, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech on Saturday, also launching a national project to roll out health identities for each citizen.

Modi identified health and economic self-reliance as the key priorities for his government in annual celebrations held at the 17th-century Red Fort and scaled-down due to the pandemic.

Three coronavirus vaccines are being tested in India, according to Modi.

“Along with mass production, the roadmap for distribution of vaccine to every single Indian in the least possible time is also ready,” Modi said.

At the event, soldiers who ceremonially welcomed Modi had been under quarantine days before the event. Only around 4,000 guests were allowed at the event, and they made to sit six feet apart, while medical booths with ambulances were set up for any attendee showing COVID-19 symptoms during entry.

Modi also said it was important to raise India’s economy, emphasizing the need to cut imports and increase exports of value-added products.

More than 2.3 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus in India, the third-highest number in the world after the United States and Brazil, and more than 46,000 have died.

Besides the impact on public health, the spread of the virus in the countryside could dash hopes for what the central bank projects will be a “robust” recovery of the nation’s economy.

So far, India has had the highest share of the global caseload, reporting between 23 and 29 percent of new daily infections. It’s also an Asian nation’s second million cases that came within 21 days, faster than both the U.S. and Brazil.

India’s testing rate – about 18,300 per million – is significantly lower than other badly hit countries. There are also concerns that how serious the actual situation is in India was not being fully reported as the healthcare system is limited in its ability to map the trend, as the surges and peaks around various states and villages in recent months.