Stating that there should be no hurry to declare ourselves COVID-19 free, the Health Ministry said the idea was to tackle the virus in a slow, steady manner.

Asserting that there is clear indication that pollution is a major contributor to COVID-19 mortality, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday that children who were earlier thought to be better protected against the virus were now showing some evidence of being spreaders or even super-spreaders.
This has been seen in Mizoram, where the number of active COVID cases is small. Children (under 17) form only a very small portion (8%) of the total active cases across India, ICMR Director-General Balram Bhargava said
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
No clarity yet on whether vaccine will be free for all in India
There is no clarity on whether a COVID-19 vaccine, whenever it is ready, will be free of cost for everyone in India and it being so would depend on the outcome of clinical trials underway to test the vaccine, said the head of the committee overseeing vaccine development as well as planning its distribution.
We’ll have more clarity in the weeks ahead when trial data from the ongoing trials (phase 3) of the Serum Institute of India (which is testing the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine) is available. The success of it and the other candidates will determine the availability and the dosage required and then we can discuss financing. The next three weeks will yield clarity on this, said Dr. V.K. Paul of the NITI Aayog, who heads the Centres expert committee on vaccines. He was speaking on the sidelines of a press briefing on Tuesday.
At the briefing, in response to a question from The Hindu, Dr. Paul said that for the foreseeable future it looked like resources wouldn’t be a problem in making vaccines available for free.
European Union warns not enough vaccines for all in Europe until 2022
Only part of the European Union population can be inoculated against the new coronavirus before 2022, E.U. officials said in an internal meeting, as the vaccines the bloc is securing may not prove effective or may not be manufactured in sufficient doses.
The 27-nation bloc, with a population of 450 million, has booked more than 1 billion doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines from three drugmakers. It is negotiating the advance purchase of another billion vials with other companies.
There will not be sufficient doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the entire population before the end of 2021, a European Commission official told diplomats from E.U. states in a closed-door meeting on Monday, a person who attended it told Reuters.
Testing drops over two days in Karnataka
For the second consecutive day, the number of COVID-19 tests conducted in Karnataka declined.
On Monday (reflected in Tuesdays health bulletin), as many as 66,701 tests were conducted in the State. As many as 3,691 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday. On Sunday, the total tests stood at 65,862. This is in contrast to previous days when the tests crossed the one lakh mark.
C.N. Manjunath, nodal officer, labs and testing, COVID-19 task force, said that the number of tests may have declined due to the holiday and the festive season. He however argued that the positivity rate was still around 5%. We will ensure that our testing is robust and rigorous in the coming days, he said.
Lab technician, ASHA worker fired for issuing false COVID-19 reports
The service of a lab technician and an ASHA worker, who were allegedly involved in issuing false COVID-negative certificate without any verification, have been terminated.
Medical Education and Health and Family Welfare Minister K. Sudhakar said that a police complaint will also be lodged against the lab technician who was working on contract basis.
Sources said that it was found that they were allegedly taking a bribe of 1,500 to 2,500 to issue false COVID-19 negative tests without conducting any test. Sources also added that it would be investigated if more people were involved in this racket.