The COVID-19 virus has mutated 223 times globally and its harmful effects have come down substantially over time, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in Lok Sabha on Friday.
He also said that COVID-19 will continue to remain like influenza and its present variants are not deadly.
"When a virus gets mutated over 100 times, its harmful effects get reduced. Covid also got mutated. So far, the Covid virus has mutated 223 times," he said during the Question Hour.
He said that like influenza, which hits people once or twice a year, "Covid is with us and will remain."
"Covid sub-variants are not that deadly and there are no negative effects," he said.
Mr Mandaviya said health is such an issue where all stakeholders and countries should come together and work. "We have seen the positive results during the pandemic when we worked together," he said.
The Minister said India has a robust medicine production infrastructure and the world has recognised that. "We are now the producer of 70 per cent of HIV/AIDS medicines in the world. Similarly, we produce many medicines which the world considers as good," he said.
Speaker Om Birla said when he was travelling in Africa, he saw the demand for Indian medicines and the people's admiration for them due to their effects.
Mr Mandaviya said that due to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, under which free medical treatment up to Rs 5 lakh is provided to the poor, 13 crore benefited and moved above the poverty level since they did not have to spend for treatment.
Similarly, during the tenure of the previous government, 5.5 crore people came under the poverty line as they had to spend a large amount of money for medical care, he said.
The Minister said the Modi government is now spending 1.35 per cent of the GDP in comparison to 1.13 per cent spent by the earlier government.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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