Once Vaccine Comes, Coronavirus Will Go From Here: Ramdas Athawale

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Monday said a COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the country within a month or two. Once the vaccine comes, "corona will go from here", Mr Athawale told reporters in Panaji.

A vaccine against COVID-19 will be introduced in the country in next one or two months, he said.

"The coronavirus will be there for another six-seven months, but it has to go one day. Once the vaccine comes, corona will go from here," the minister said.

Ramdas Athawale had in February this year coined the slogan "Go Corona, Go".

Referring to it, he said, "Corona is going down... it is going. I had raised the slogan of "Go Corona, Go" in February."

The minister said the number of COVID-19 cases has come down in Goa and also in neighbouring Maharashtra.

Till Sunday, Goa has reported 50,064 COVID-19 cases, while Maharashtra has recorded 18,96,518 cases of coronavirus.

The Drugs Controller General of India is currently examining the applications of Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India and Pfizer for emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccines in the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)