The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system, a digitised platform, will be used to track the enlisted beneficiaries and the COVID-19 vaccines on a real-time basis, according to the COVID-operational guidelines released by the Health Ministry recently.
The guidelines said the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections will be used to identify the priority population over the age of 50. The guidelines added that at the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated in accordance with the prioritisation, and there will be no provision for on-the-spot registrations.
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:
Overwhelming population of Indians are still vulnerable to COVID-19. We can’t take the situation for granted, says Member NITI Aayog, VK Paul.
We still cannot still exactly predict how the virus will turn out and we have to be careful. The situation can escalate rapidly, he warned.
Government's vaccine distribution plan
All 36 states have concluded meeting State steering committee as well as State task force. 633 districts have concluded meeting of district task force. 23 ministries and Dept are part of the vaccine programme.
There are 29,000 cold chain points, 250 walk in cooler, 70 walk in freezers, 45,000 ice lined refrigerator, 41,000 deep freezers and 300 solar refrigerators to be used for cold chain management.
All equipments have reached state government. States to identify at least one AEFI management centre in each block, says Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.
UK has reported adverse event on the very first day. So states have been warned. Detailed instructions on infection prevention and control during vaccination have been issued, he added. - Bindu Shajan Perappadan
'India’s recovery rate is one of the highest in the world'
At the weekly press briefing, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India continues to be amongst the lowest case per million population. India’s recovery rate is one of the highest in the world for countries with high caseload. This includes USA, Italy, Russia and Brazil.
Case fatality rate of India stands at 1.45%. It is 3.47 per cent in the UK.
India had 10 lakh active cases in September. Today, it is below 3 lakh. Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi are the top 5 states contributing to new cases on a week by week basis. - Bindu Shajan Perappadan
50 more residents of village in Uttarakhand’s Pauri test positive for COVID-19
Fifty more residents of a village in Pauri district of Uttarakhand have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the number of infected people in the village to 89.
Thirty-nine people from Sileth village had tested positive for the disease on Saturday, while reports of 50 more villagers came out as positive on Monday evening, nodal officer for COVID in Pokhda block Dr Mayank said.
The village has been declared a containment zone and sealed.
Villagers had started showing symptoms such as cough, cold and fever after visiting a local fair.
More samples are being collected from the village for testing, the nodal officer said.
79 more COVID-19 cases from IIT-M
Seventy nine more people have tested positive for coronavirus on the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras campus here, taking the tally in the institution to 183.
A majority of those affected were students and the rest being people like workers in canteens. All of them are being treated at the government-run King’s Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research.
Following the outbreak, the institute shut all its departments and classes were being held online.
Allaying fears over further spread of the virus in the area, the official told reporters that IIT-M was only a localised cluster.
India’s COVID-19 recovery rate crosses 95%, among highest in world
India’s active COVID-19 caseload has fallen below 3.4 lakh, a mere 3.43 per cent of the total infections, supplemented by an impressive recovery rate of over 95 per cent, which is among the highest in the world for countries with high caseloads, the Union Health Ministry said Tuesday.
The daily new cases recorded on Tuesday -- 22,065 -- were also the lowest in over five months. As many as 22,252 cases were reported on July 7, the ministry said.
The number of recoveries have crossed 94 lakhs (94,22,636), pushing the national recovery rate to over 95 per cent, which is “one of the highest in the world for countries with high caseload”, the ministry underlined.
Collaboration is the best response to pandemic, India tells U.N.
India has said its vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting the COVID-19 crisis, which has highlighted gaps in global cooperation and underlined the need for the international community to respond to the pandemic with collaboration and not confusion.
Addressing the UN General Assembly special session on COVID-19, Secretary (West) in India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup said on Monday the ongoing coronavirus crisis had “laid bare” the gaps that exist in global cooperation and governance structures of multilateral organisations.
“It is important that we make reformed multilateralism our guiding principle. It is imperative that we must join hands to show leadership, solidarity and collaboration to deal with the pandemic. We can respond best by collaboration, not confusion; preparation, not panic and coming together, not growing apart,” he said.
“As a responsible member of the international community, I want to reiterate that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis. India will also help all the countries in enhancing their cold chain and storage capabilities for the delivery of vaccines,” Swarup said at the resumed special session.
Telangana Transport Minister tests positive
Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar has tested positive for Covid-19. The Minister tweeted that he had been tested Covid-19 positive during the RTPCR tests and had gone into home isolation. He advised those who met him in the recent past to go for checkups.
Asking his friends and well-wishers not to try to contact him, he exuded confidence that he would recover soon and come out of home isolation.
Eswatini PM Ambrose Dlamini succumbs to of COVID-19
Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who was undergoing treatment for coronavirus in neighbouring South Africa, has died. He was 52.
The Prime Minister of Africa’s last absolute monarchy Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, was moved to South Africa on December 1, a fortnight after testing positive for COVID-19.
Delhi begins training of doctors for vaccination drive
The Delhi govt. has started training more than 400 doctors since December 13, 2020. File photo
The Delhi government has started training more than 400 doctors from different hospitals in the city for the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
“The government has started training more than 400 doctors since yesterday (Sunday). Doctors who were trained by the Central government last week are heading the training and it will be completed in three days,” a Delhi government official told The Hindu .
Doctors keep a close watch on post-COVID-19 symptoms
Fresh coronavirus infections may be on the decline but doctors continue to keep a close watch on post-COVID-19 sequelae in Chennai. From the commonest symptom of fatigue to the rarest complication involving the eyes, a cross-section of doctors is of the view that patients who had COVID-19 need follow-up for at least a year.
One of the first institutions to start a post-COVID Outpatient Ward (OP), the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), has so far received 1,074 patients since August. Of this, 292 persons were in the age group of 51 to 60 years and 255 aged 41 to 50 years.
Strict COVID regulations at Sabarimala
Taking a serious note of the sharp spike in COVID-19 cases at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam, a high-level committee has decided to intensify the activities to check the outbreak of the disease among employees of various departments including the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).
A meeting of the committee, held against the backdrop of 36 out of the 239 people on duty at the Sannidhanam testing positive the other day, decided to withdraw all primary contacts of the positive cases from the pilgrimage zone on an emergency basis and a list prepared by the Health Department will be handed over to the various departments. Steps have been initiated to ensure accurate reporting of the primary contacts to the health authorities.
Firm signs pact with CCMB for dry swab RT-PCR test
CSIR-Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) revolutionary dry swab direct Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, which allows for faster testing of COVID-19, is gaining fast acceptance.
SpiceHealth, a healthcare company founded by the promoters of SpiceJet, became the second lab to tie up with CCMB after Apollo Hospitals for conducting these tests in its mobile testing laboratories, on Monday.
