NITI Aayog member (health) Dr. V.K. Paul said this was an adult vaccine, which would be administrated at such a large scale for the first time and didn’t begin from the hospital setting. “This will need extra caution,” he noted.
“The countries where vaccination has already begun, especially in the UK , adverse events took place on the very first day. So, it is essential that the States and UTs [Union Territories] prepare for this too,’’ he 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:
Telangana gears up to inoculate 80 lakh people in first phase once COVID-19 vaccine ready
Telangana is in the process of creating the required infrastructure for administering COVID- 19 vaccine initially to about 80 lakh people, including front-line warriors,once the preventive medicine is available for the state, official sources said on Wednesday.
Training programmes for almost 10,000 vaccinators were underway and storage facilities for the doses being set up at strategic locations.
“Even if one vaccinator administers 100 people a day, on an average 10,000 vaccinators can vaccinate 80 lakh people in eight or ten days, a Health department official told PTI.
191 total cases at IIT Madras
Eight more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras), taking the total number of cases on campus to 191.
At Anna University, of the 550 tested, six were found to be positive for COVID-19.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has set up teams in various places such as entry points of hostels and shopping complexes.
Flattening curve wasn’t enough for New Zealand
New Zealand this year pulled off a moonshot that remains the envy of most other nations: It eliminated the coronavirus.
But the goal was driven as much by fear as it was ambition, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern revealed Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press. She said the target grew from an early realization the nation’s health system simply couldn’t cope with a big outbreak.
And there have been plenty of bumps along the way. When a handful of unexplained cases began cropping up in August, Ms. Ardern found herself defending wildly exaggerated claims from President Donald Trump, who told crowds at rallies there was a massive resurgence and “It’s over for New Zealand. Everything’s gone.”
“Was angry the word?” Ardern said, reflecting on Trump’s comments. She said while the new cases were deeply concerning, “to be described in that way was a misrepresentation of New Zealand’s position.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New Zealand’s response to the virus has been among the most successful, together with actions taken by China, Taiwan and Thailand early on in the pandemic. The country of 5 million has counted just 25 deaths and managed to stamp out the spread of COVID-19, allowing people to return to workplaces, schools and packed sports stadiums without restrictions.
When the virus began hitting Europe early in the year, Ardern said, the only two options countries were considering were herd immunity or flattening the curve. She opted for the latter.
“Originally, that’s where we started, because there just simply wasn’t really much of a view that elimination was possible,” she said.
US vaccinations ramp up as 2nd COVID-19 shot nears
Hundreds more hospitals around the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots to their workers in a rapid expansion of the US vaccination drive Tuesday, while a second vaccine moved to the cusp of government authorisation.
A day after the rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus shots, the Food and Drug Administration said its preliminary analysis confirmed the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health.
A panel of outside experts is expected to recommend the formula on Thursday, with the FDA’s green light coming soon thereafter.
The Moderna vaccine uses the same technology as Pfizer-BioNTech’s and showed similarly strong protection against COVID-19 but is easier to handle because it does not need to be kept in the deep freeze at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius).
Another weapon against the outbreak can’t come soon enough: The number of dead in the U.S. passed a staggering 300,000 on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University, with about 2,400 people now dying per day on average.
The devastating toll is only expected to grow in the coming weeks, fueled by travel over Christmas and New Year’s, family gatherings and lax adherence to mask-wearing and other precautions.
Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites.
The first 3 million shots are being strictly rationed to front-line health workers and nursing home patients, with hundreds of millions more shots needed over the coming months to protect most Americans.
Caution urged in victory celebrations
Victory celebrations involving large crowds and vehicle rallies should be avoided once the results of the local body polls are out on Wednesday, District Collector Navjot Khosa said.
The votes polled in the district will be counted at 16 centres. The COVID-19 protocol should be strictly followed in the victory celebrations. The celebrations should not feature more than 50 people. Processions and vehicle rallies, especially those involving two-wheelers, also should be avoided, the Collector said on Tuesday.
Look into overcharging by private hospitals, HC directs govt.
The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the State government to ensure that private hospitals designated to treat COVID-19 patients display the rates fixed by the State government in June 2020 and look into the allegation that some private hospitals are charging higher rates to treat COVID-19 patients.
TTD conducts ritual to tide over COVID-induced financial crisis
When the entire globe is trying to wriggle out of the financial crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has found a spiritual answer to overcome it.
‘Dhanaprada Sri Maha Vishnu Yagam’ was performed at the TTD-run Sri Venkateswara Vedic University (SVVU) campus here on December 15, to ward off misfortune and bestow wealth to mankind.
Olympics will not be cancelled: Tokyo Governor
Tokyo governor can see “no circumstances” under which the virus-postponed 2020 Olympics will be cancelled, despite rising COVID-19 infections in Japan and continued public scepticism.
Yuriko Koike warned on Tuesday that the fate of the Tokyo Games would impact future Olympic events, including the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Photo ID must for COVID-19 vaccination
The procedure for receiving COVID-19 vaccination dose in phase-I will be similar to the kind followed for voting in elections. Those on the priority list of the immunisation drive will have to furnish a photo identity card before entering the vaccination booth.
Before the vaccination, those on the list will receive a text message on their registered phone numbers with details about the location of the vaccination centre, the time slot and and identity of the vaccinator. Most of the vaccination centres will be hospitals. After reaching the centre, they have to show any one of the nine government-issued photo ID cards as proof of identity.
(With inputs from our Correspondents and agencies)
