Trial run for Covid-19 vaccination drive underway at Rosa Garden in Thane on Friday. (Photo: Deepak Joshi)Covid-19 India Live Updates: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday announced that the state government is making arrangements to make Covid-19 vaccines available to its citizens free of cost. “I am happy to announce that our government is making arrangements to facilitate the administration of covid-19 vaccine to all the people of the state without any cost,” ANI quoted Banerjee. Several states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have announced free vaccines for their citizens once the roll out starts.
India is set to commence its Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16, the central government announced in a press release on Saturday. In its first phase, priority will be given to about 3 crore frontline workers, followed by around 27 crore people above the age of 50 and others with co-morbidities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed this as a “landmark step” in India’s fight against the virus. Before this, India conducted two dummy vaccination drives to understand the best way to administer vaccines and detect any logistical loopholes in their distribution.
India recorded 18,645 new Covid cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the total number of infections to over 1 crore and 4.5 lakh. Active cases further dropped to 2.33 lakh, while recoveries continued to rise and stand at 1,00,75,950. A total of 201 deaths were reported on Saturday, the toll currently stands at over 1.51 lakh. Kerala reported 5,528 new cases, while Maharashtra had 3,581 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the number of Indians infected with the new UK variant of the coronavirus went up to 90 on Saturday.
Every Indian should be administered the Covid-19 vaccine for free, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the Centre on Saturday. “Corona is the biggest pandemic of the century. It is important to protect our people from it. I appeal to the Centre to vaccinate every citizen for free. The expenditure towards carrying this out will save a lot of lives,” he tweeted.
The Delhi government also announced that teachers will be considered frontline workers as part of the vaccination drive. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted Saturday, “Delhi’s teachers have played a very significant role in supporting the government in fighting the pandemic. Quarantine centre, containment zone, surveys, duty to check face mask adherence, online teaching – they have taken the lead across sectors. Hence, the government has kept teachers in the category of frontline workers.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday announced the state government’s arrangements to make Covid-19 vaccines available to its citizens free of cost.”I am happy to announce that our government is making arrangements to facilitate the administration of covid-19 vaccine to all the people of the state without any cost,” ANI quoted Banerjee.
India recorded 18,645 new Covid cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the total number of infections to over 1 crore and 4.5 lakh. Active cases further dropped to 2.33 lakh, while recoveries continued to rise and stand at over 99.27 lakh. A total of 201 deaths were reported on Saturday, the toll currently stands at over 1.51 lakh.Kerala reported 5,528 new cases, while Maharashtra had 3,581 on Saturday.
A 45-year-old daily-wage worker, who participated in the Phase 3 trial for Bharat Biotech-ICMR’s Covaxin in Bhopal at the People’s Medical College and Hospital, died December 21, nine days after he got the first jab, according to hospital records.
The postmortem report of Deepak Marawi, a father of three, suspected “poisoning” as a cause. Bharat Biotech, in a statement, said that the “serious adverse reaction” had been “thoroughly investigated” and was found “not related to vaccine or placebo”. A state government panel, too, ruled out any “lapses.”
Bharat Biotech said it couldn’t confirm if Marawi received the vaccine or the placebo since it was a double-blind study. It added that the volunteer, at the time of enrolment, “had fulfilled all the inclusion and exclusion criteria” and was reported to be healthy in all the “site follow up calls post seven days of dosing.” Read Iram Siddique's report here
Noting India's image as the world's pharmacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday it is ready with two locally manufactured COVID-19 vaccines to "protect" humanity, and asserted the world is not only waiting for them but also watching as to how the nation runs the globe's biggest vaccination programme.
In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention, Modi also said that if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India despite the grim forecasts about its survival in the country at the time of independence. He urged Indian diaspora to use more and more made-in-India products, saying it will inspire confidence among those living around them to use these items as well. (PTI)