Latest News Today: From the airport, the vaccines are being dispatched to 13 cities.
The first consignment of Covishield vaccines reached Delhi from Pune today, four days ahead of the launch of a nationwide drive against the coronavirus.
A SpiceJet flight carrying the vaccines landed at the Delhi airport around 10 am. It had left for the national capital around 8 am, three hours after three trucks with the maiden consignment of the vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India (SII) facility, 15 km from the Pune airport.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said four airlines will operate nine flights to transport 56.5 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pune to 13 cities across the country on Tuesday. Vaccine movement has started, he said on Twitter, adding that first two flights operated by "SpiceJet and GoAir from Pune to Delhi and Chennai have taken off".
Here are the Live Updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases:
The first consignment of the COVID-19 vaccine arrives at Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
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Telangana posted 301 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total infection count to over 2.90 lakh, while two fatalities pushed the toll to 1,568. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 58, followed by Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri with 27 and 16 respectively, a government bulletin said on Tuesday providing details as of 8 pm on January 11.
"5.56 lakh vaccine doses have been dispatched from Pune. We'll be receiving the vaccines at around 10.30 today. The dispatch details of remaining 20,000 doses of COVAXIN are yet to be received," said Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan on COVID19 vaccine distribution process.
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India saw the lowest single-day jump in coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours since mid-June with 12,584 fresh infections taking the tally to 1,04,79,179, the government data this morning showed. 167 deaths linked to the highly infectious disease since yesterday took the total number of deaths to 1,51,327.
Read Here First Consignment Of Covishield Vaccine Arrived In Delhi
The first batch of Covishield, the Serum Institute of India's coronavirus vaccine which left Pune early this morning has reached the Delhi Airport.
India Preps To Vaccinate 300 Million, Size Of US Population, By July
India aims to begin vaccinating its 1.3 billion people against coronavirus from Saturday, a colossal and complex task compounded by safety worries, shaky infrastructure and public scepticism.
"I am happy to share that SpiceJet has carried India's first consignment of Covid vaccine today. The first consignment of Covishield consisting of 34 boxes and weighing 1088 kg was carried from Pune to Delhi on SpiceJet flight 8937. We will be carrying multiple vaccine consignments to different Indian cities including Guwahati, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Bengaluru, Patna and Vijayawada through the day today. SpiceJet is fully committed and prepared to transport the Covid vaccine both within and outside India. Today marks the beginning of a long and decisive phase in India's fight against the pandemic and SpiceJet is proud to assist in the biggest vaccination drive in the history of mankind," said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet.
"Short Notice, Different Time Zone": Pfizer On Delay In Vaccine Approval
American pharma giant Pfizer, whose coronavirus vaccine has a 95 per cent efficacy rate but has yet be approved, told NDTV on Monday it had been "unable to participate in previous meetings (to present safety and efficacy data to an expert panel) due to extremely short notice" and time zone differences.
Read Here The first flight carrying coronavirus vaccine 'Covishield' has departed from Pune International Airport to Delhi.
Serum Institute Sends Out First Vaccines As India Readies For Covid Shots
The first consignment of Covishield vaccines left Serum Institute of India for Pune airport early this morning, four days ahead of the nationwide inoculation drive against COVID-19. Three temperature-controlled trucks rolled out of the Serum Institute gates shortly before 5 am and left for Pune airport, from where the vaccines will be flown across India. The trucks carried 478 boxes of the vaccines, each box weighing 32 kg, news agency PTI reported quoting an unnamed official.
Read Here China reports drop in new COVID-19 cases, but new curbs continue
China reported a drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours amid a flurry of new measures in Hebei province surrounding Beijing, ranging from home quarantines starting on Tuesday in one county and a lockdown of the provincial capital. The National Health Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that a total of 55 new COVID-19 cases were reported, down from 103 a day earlier. Hebei accounted for 40 of the 42 local infections, with Beijing and northeastern Heilongjiang province reporting one local case each.
Trucks carrying Covishield vaccine reached Pune airport from Serum Institute of India's facility in the city, earlier this morning. From the airport, the vaccine doses will be shipped to different locations in the country. The vaccination will start on January 16.
Not Looking For Someone To "Blame", Says WHO Ahead Of Covid Probe In China
The World Health Organization insisted Monday that the international investigation into the Covid-19 pandemic's origins, set to start this week in China, was not looking for "somebody to blame".
Read Here "Not Going To Achieve" Herd Immunity This Year Despite Vaccines: WHODespite vaccines against Covid-19 being rolled out in a number of countries, the World Health Organization warned Monday that herd immunity would not be achieved this year.
Countries across the globe are looking forward to vaccines finally allowing a return to normality in the months ahead.
But the WHO's chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan warned that it will take time to produce and administer enough doses to halt the spread of the virus.
"We are not going to achieve any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021," she told a virtual press briefing from WHO's headquarters in Geneva, stressing the need to continue measures like physical distancing, hand washing and mask wearing to rein in the pandemic.
Portuguese president tests positive for coronavirusPortugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has tested positive for coronavirus and cancelled all public engagements, his office announced late Monday just two weeks before a presidential election he is expected to win.
The 72-year-old head of state was "asymptomatic" and isolating in the presidential palace in Lisbon, his office said in a statement.
Last Wednesday, he had spent a few hours in "administrative isolation" after a member of his entourage tested positive, but the president then tested negative and had not been placed in quarantine because his contact with the person concerned had been considered "low risk".
Coronavirus update: First consignment of Covishield vaccines reaches Pune airport
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