India, the report said, ”has been successful in bending the COVID-curve till now, with reducing weekly/daily infections, rising recovery rate (now at around 95 per cent) and one of the world’s lowest case fatality rates”. The downside risk, however, remains due to the spread of the UK variant and fatigue from social distancing guidelines, it said, adding the emphasis on continued observation of ‘COVID appropriate’ behaviour with the due exercise of caution and surveillance needs to be sustained.

The approval for Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN, developed with a government research body, faced criticism from industry experts and others as the company has yet to release efficacy and safety data, and it still has a Phase III trial underway.