Gurgaon: The city received 85,480 doses of
Covishield and another 11,400 of
Covaxin, the vaccines against
Covid-19, from Kurukshetra on Thursday amid tight security. They are being stored at the Pataudi district vaccine store and will be administered to healthcare workers on Saturday.
The Oxford Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India, and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be part of India’s Covid vaccination drive.
The Covishield vaccines — of 5ml each — were transferred to the city in a refrigerator van with nine cold boxes and then moved to an ice-lined refrigerator at the district vaccine store in Pataudi. Gurgaon transferred 40,530 of the Covishield doses to four other districts by vans — 22,620 to Faridabad, 7,120 to Nuh, 5,090 to Palwal and 5,700 to Rewari. The remaining 44,950 doses will be kept for the city.
So far, the state has received 2.41 lakh doses of Covishield and another 20,000 of Covaxin, which are of 10ml each. While 4,200 of the Covaxin doses will be for Gurgaon, the rest will be distributed in five districts — 2,200 in Sonepat, 3,000 in Palwal, 4,200 in Faridabad, 3,200 in Yamunanagar and 3,200 in Karnal. These districts will choose one or two session sites where the vaccine will be given to health workers. The sites will not keep Covishield as doses cannot be mixed.
“We have received both the vaccines, which will be administered to healthcare workers on three days, ie. Monday, Thursday and Saturday. We will decide the plan of action on Friday after holding a meeting with the district task force,” said Gurgaon chief medical officer Virender Yadav.
In Gurgaon, phase one of the vaccination drive will be held over two weeks and cover 36,105 healthcare workers, 600 of whom will be administered the first dose on Saturday. According to the health department, the vaccine will be effective for six to eight months.
Of the six session sites in the city, the one in Wazirabad will have a two-way interactive communication with the Prime Minister. The other sites at Bhangrola, Daultabad, Medanta, Chauma and SGT Medical College will hold webcasts of the national Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
Meanwhile, Gurgaon on Thursday reported 34 new Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 57,701. The health department said 89 patients also recovered on the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 56,672. The city has 680 active cases and 618 of the patients are in home isolation. The recovery rate stands at 98% while the positivity rate is 1.5%.
On Thursday, one person was sent to an institutional quarantine facility. So far, 7,09,128 people have been put under surveillance in the city. In the past 24 hours, the health authorities collected 2,268 samples for antigen and RT-PCR tests. So far, 7,05,542 samples have been sent for testing, of which 6,45,573 returned negative while the results of 1,153 are awaited.
Meanwhile, Haryana on Thursday registered 187 Covid-19 cases and six deaths. With this, the total number of cases in the state has reached 2,65,803 and the toll has climbed to 2,972.
While 2,60,565 patients in the state have been discharged after treatment, 2,266 cases are currently active. With this, the recovery rate in the state is a little over 98%.