The first consignment of Covishield vaccine, containing 2.64 lakh doses, for the Capital reached the central storage facility at Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH) on Tuesday amid high security.
A SpiceJet flight carrying the vials landed at the Delhi airport around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, four days ahead of the vaccination drive on January 16.
Special Commissioner of Police (Operations and Licensing) Muktesh Chander said they ensured smooth passage of the vaccine from the airport to the hospital, where adequate police arrangements have been made.
A Delhi government official confirmed the development, adding: “Delhi received 22 boxes of the vaccine, each containing 1,200 vials. Each vial has 10 doses.” The Delhi government, however, did not officially share any information on the development. As of Tuesday evening, the vials had not been moved to the 89 hospitals where inoculation will begin on Saturday.
The police will ensure smooth transportation of the vaccine to designated sites when the immunisation drive begins. “It will be escorted smoothly and necessary security arrangements will be done at the 89 vaccination centres in Delhi,” Dr. Chander added.
Officials said three layers of security: CCTV cameras, Delhi Police personnel and the hospital’s own security staff are in place around the storage facility at RGSSH. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahadra) Amit Sharma said, “We have deployed the personnel at the storage area of RGSSH.”
From the hospital, the vaccine will be transported to immunisation centres in special vehicles under heavy security.
The police control room has been directed to respond promptly to calls from cold storage points, vaccination sites, and immediately pass on the information to PCR vans, local police, traffic police and any other agency.
The vaccine came on a day when the national capital reported 386 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 6,30,892, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Tuesday.
The death toll has risen to 10,707 with 16 more fatalities reported in a single day. A total of 75,913 tests were done in 24 hours.
Of the total cases, 6,17,006 people have recovered and there are now 3,179 active cases.
The test positivity rate of COVID-19 was 0.51% on Tuesday, the overall positivity till now is 6.62%.
Out of the total 12,018 beds available for COVID-19 treatment in the city, 10,664 are vacant. There are 2,702 containment zones in the city as of Tuesday.
