Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the country would be gearing up for a roll out from January 16. The first beneficiaries will be 3 crore healthcare workers and sanitation workers and followed by those above 50, and those younger with co-morbidities. The plan is to have 30 crore people inoculated by July.
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30 crore people have to be vaccinated: PM Modi
Public representatives not part of 3-crore corona-warriors, frontline workers to be vaccinated first, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an interaction with CMs on vaccination rollout.
About 30 crore people have to be vaccinated and we are working on this. As we have the mechisum under universal immunisation, we have the experience of vaccination... which can be used for COVID while using technology, he says.
I appeal to the people to use cowin platform, upload your data. The certificate generated digitally is valuable, he adds.
COVID has not spread in India on the scale, on which it spread anywhere else in the world. All miscommunication about the vaccination should not be promoted. All citizen should work for it, he says.
Nine states have reported bird flu — people have to follow the guidelines issued by the animal husbandry ministry. We have to be alert. We have to keep a close watch on areas such as water bodies, zoo, poultry market etc.
From 16th January we are starting the world's largest vaccination programme. Two 'Made in India' vaccines have been given emergency use approval. We will review the vaccination plan after the first phase and and redraw our plans accordingly, he adds.
PM interacts with CMs over COVID-19 situation, vaccination drive
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with chief ministers of all states to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the vaccination roll-out in the country, kicking off on January 16.
This is Modi's first interaction with chief ministers following the recent approval of two coronavirus vaccines for restricted emergency use by India's drug regulator and the announcement of January 16 as the date for the rollout.
IMA requests its 3.5 lakh members to voluntarily get vaccinated
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Monday requested its 3.5 lakh members to voluntarily get the COVID-19 vaccine to show to the world that these shots are safe and efficacious.
In a statement, the doctors' body said after an extensive review of scientific data, indexed articles, expert panel reports and discussion with ICMR and WHO experts, it has decided to actively take part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme rolled out by the government.
"The Indian Medical Association has requested all its 3.5 lakh members in 1,800 local branches to voluntarily come out to get vaccinated first to show the world that these vaccines are safe and efficacious," it said.
Telangana to reopen schools from Feb 1
Telangana government has ordered reopening of educational institutions from class nine upwards from February 1.The decision was announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at the Collectors conference today.He asked officials to make the necessary arrangements for class room lectures, roll out of COVID 19 vaccination and filling up of vacancies in government departments. - N. Rahul
4 passengers on AI's London-Delhi flight test positive
Four passengers travelling on Air India's London-Delhi flight tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival, a top official of Genestrings Diagnostic Centre said on Monday.
Genestrings runs a lab at the Delhi airport to test incoming passengers for COVID-19.
All flights connecting the UK and India were suspended from December 23 to January 7 by the central government as a new variant of coronavirus emerged in that country.
Air India's AI162 flight landed at the Delhi airport at 10.30 pm on Sunday.
"All testing completed within three hours and passengers released within 7.5 hours, even with positive cases," Gauri Agarwal, the founder of Genestrings Diagnostic Centre, said.
"There were total 186 passengers on AI162 London-Delhi flight. Four of them have tested positive for COVID-19," she added.—PTI
People should listen to scientists: Delhi’s 1st COVID patient
Days ahead of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, the city’s first coronavirus patient urged people on Monday to get immunised without hesitation and listen to the scientific community, and not get swayed in by naysayers or those “spreading misconception” about it.
The massive drive, whose first phase will begin from January 16 with healthcare workers to be the top priority group to receive the dose, will comprise 89 vaccination centres in Delhi.
With final preparations underway and the vaccine set to arrive in the national capital in the next couple of days, Rohit Datta, who was the first person to be diagnosed with coronavirus infection on March 1, said “it feels surreal”.
“Till a few months ago, we were struggling, people were dying in large numbers and fear of an unknown virus was at its peak. But our doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers fought a tough battle in 2020. And the first dose is rightfully to be given to all those corona warriors,” he said.
India reports less than 170 daily COVID deaths in the past 24 hours
India has reported less than 170 daily COVID deaths in the past 24 hours, after 229 days, said the Health Ministry on Monday stating that the decline in new COVID cases and high rate of recovery have in tandem has resulted in continuous fall in the country’s active caseload on a sustained basis.
India reported 161case fatalities in the past 24 hours with six states /UTs account for 69.57% of the daily deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (34) followed by Kerala (23) and West Bengal (19).
Data released by the Ministry added that the country’s total active caseload has fallen to 2.25 lakh (2,22,526) currently and that the present active caseload consists of 2.13% of India’s total positive cases.
Health Ministry meets State officials on CoWIN use
Union Health Ministry adivsed the officials from States to ensure that there were ‘no proxies’ at all, and all beneficiaries would have to be uniquely and undeniably identified. Beneficiaries would have to be sending in their adhaar number as well as their mobile numbers to access their vaccination-related communication.
We were in the dark, say Bhopal vaccine volunteers
Several persons in Bhopal who had volunteered for Bharat Biotech’s ongoing trial of Covaxin , one of the two COVID vaccine candidates approved in India, alleged that the medical managers of the trial didn’t inform them that they were test subjects.
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Speaking at an online press conference on Sunday, the volunteers said they were led to believe that they were getting vaccines as part of a government vaccination drive and were also promised ₹750 each for participating.
SOP for immunisation emergencies issued
The Union Ministry of Health and Welfare (Immunisation Division) has issued a Standard Operating Procedure for the Ministry of Home Affairs in case of Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).
Delhi Police has instructed all DCPs to educate the SHOs about the norms. “We held a meeting with SHOs and instructed them to read the guidelines and pass it on to other officers who will be the first to respond to any adverse situation during immunisation,” said the officer.
It will be two months before general public can be vaccinated: Sudhakar
It will take about two months to vaccinate the public, after vaccinating healthcare workers in the first round, said Health & Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar. Speaking to reporters after inspecting a vaccine storage facility in Bengaluru, he said that experts’ opinion will be sought to decide whether every person should be vaccinated or not.
Over 10 lakh COVID tests conducted: Health dept.
As many as 558 people newly tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in Kozhikode district on Sunday and there were 511 recoveries.
According to the District Medical Officer, there were 540 locally acquired infections, 11 had returned from other States, and three from abroad.
(With inputs from our Correspondents and agencies)
