<span style="color: #222222;">Health Ministry today said a sharp reduction of Covid cases is observed in India. Briefing media in New Delhi this evening, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, Lav Aggarwal said that on average, around 11 thousand Covid cases are reported on a weekly basis in India. He said only 0.7 percent of global cases are reported in India. He said huge Covid cases are being reported across many countries in many cases. In some countries, an increase in trajectory of cases continues.<br />''<br />''The Joint Secretary said there is a positive situation in number of deaths in India as compared to other countries. From 2nd to 8th February, India reported 615 deaths on average. In last week, 144 deaths were reported due to Covid. He said this is a decline of 76.6 percent from the peak of what India has seen.<br />''<br />''He said only a single state has active cases over 10 thousand and two states have active cases between 5 thousand to 10 thousand. Remaining states have less than 5,000 active cases. Kerala, Maharashtra, and Mizoram account for 50 percent of active cases of the country.<br />'' <br />''Member-Health, Niti Aayog Dr VK Paul said it is evident that vaccines and the wide vaccination coverage have played a very important role in protecting hundreds of lives. He said the vaccine has protected the nation from a surge in the number of Covid cases.<br />''<br />''DG ICMR Dr. Balram Bhargava said India is the second country which has a vaccine tracker. He said during 2022, 92 percent of deaths have been due to unvaccinated individuals. He said vaccine effectiveness in mortality prevention has been measured. The first dose is responsible for 98.9 percent vaccine effectiveness and if both doses are given, then it is 99.3 percent effective.</span>