Covid vaccination drive at Mumbai's Cooper Hospital. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)COVID-19 Vaccination India Live Updates: As many as 1.91 lakh people were inoculated across the country on day 1 of the world’s largest immunisation exercise against the coronavirus. Calling it a success, the Union Health Ministry said “no case of post-vaccination hospitalisation has been reported so far”, indicating there was no known incident of severe adverse reaction.
India on Sunday reported 15,144 new Covid-19 cases and 181 deaths in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said. The overall case tally touched 1,05,57,985, with 2,08,826 active cases and 1,52,274 deaths.
India will administer shots to three crore frontline workers in phase one. There are 3,006 session sites across the country, where 100 beneficiaries each will be given either of India’s two indigenous vaccines, Covaxin or Covishield. Every beneficiary will need to receive two doses of the same vaccine, 28 days apart.
On the break-up of Covishield and Covaxin, the Ministry data showed that while the first vaccine, developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by Pune’s Serum Institute, had been supplied to all states and Union territories, the indigenously developed Covaxin was administered in “clinical trial mode” in 12 states, including the national capital. Each session site could administer only one of the two vaccines.
During the vaccination drive, Maharashtra recorded 14 cases of adverse events, however, none of them were fatal. State officials currently studying them.
Since the pandemic hit India in early 2020, over one crore and 5.42 lakh people have been infected with the disease, while close to 1.52 lakh have died. At present, Kerala and Maharashtra are reporting the highest number of daily cases.
Austria is extending its lockdown until February 7 in an attempt to bring down still-high infection figures, as authorities worry about the possible impact of more infectious variants of the coronavirus. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Sunday that distancing rules will be toughened, with people asked to stay 2 meters apart instead of 1 meter. They will also be told to wear full protective masks in public transport and shops, rather than just fabric face coverings. Austria's current lockdown, its third, started on December 26 and had been due to end on January 24.
Kurz said Austria needs to get as close as it can to an infection level of 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over 7 days. The figure now stands at 131. He said the plan is to reopen shops. schools and other services such as hairdressers on February 8. But he said it wont be possible to reopen restaurants and hotels in February. (PTI)
People adopting a "wait and watch" approach, lack of communication and glitches in CoWin app are the major reasons why only 53 per cent people got the COVID-19 shots on the first day in Delhi, experts said on Sunday. In Delhi, 4,319 healthcare workers 53.3 per cent of those registered got the shots on Saturday, the first day of the world's largest vaccination drive against the pandemic.
"There is a little bit of apprehension (about the vaccine). Also, people in India adopt a 'wait and watch' approach in important matters, be it purchasing a new car or an appliance. People consider the experiences of others before taking a call," B L Sherwal, Medical Director of Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, said.
In his hospital, 45 people got the jabs on Saturday. "There is a need for creating more awareness and building confidence among people. No major vaccine-related side effects were reported on Saturday, which is going to encourage others to take the shots," he said.
An AIIMS security guard had developed an allergic reaction after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. He was kept under observation of doctors at the hospital, an official had said on Saturday. (PTI)
Senior Congress leader and former UP legislator Pradeep Mathur on Sunday said it would have been better had Prime Minister Narendra Modi taken the coronavirus vaccine shot on the first day of the inoculation drive, thereby injecting confidence among people.
"It would have been better had Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented an example like that of Joe Biden, the president-elect of the US, by getting himself vaccinated. By taking the COVID-19 vaccine shot, he would have injected confidence among people of the country. People are still feeling hesitant in getting themselves vaccinated," Mathur said here on Sunday. Sharpening his attack on the Centre over the farmers'' protest, Mathur said, "Even Lord Ram will not be able to save them. They have incurred the curse of farmers.”
He said the Modi government will have to bear the consequences of insensitivity towards farmers. “They have been speaking about doubling the income of farmers but now it seems they are acting at the behest of the capitalists," Mathur said.
Mizoram on Sunday reported eight new COVID-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 4,322, an official said. Of the eight cases, seven were reported from Aizawl district and one from Kolasib district, he said.
Six cases were confirmed at Zoram Medical College's RT-PCR laboratory and two were detected through Rapid Antigen Test from Aizawl and Kolasib district.
Mizoram now has 85 active COVID-19 cases, while 4,228 people have recovered from the virus and the coronavirus recovery rate in the state is 97.83 per cent, the official said. The CCOVID-19 death toll in Mizoram is nine so far. The state has tested 1,92,766 samples till date, of which 2.24 per cent was found positive for COVID-19.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said some people did not turn up for coronavirus vaccination at the last moment, adding that the government cannot ask anyone to compulsorily take the jab. He also said that the number of vaccination centres in Delhi will be increased from 81 to 175 soon. In Delhi, a total of 4,319 healthcare workers - 53.3 per cent of those registered - got the vaccine shots on the first day of the COVID-19 vaccination drive on Saturday, the minister said.
Jain noted that a similar trend was observed across the country, adding that around 50 per cent of those registered got the jabs on the first day. "Some people decided not to turn up at the last moment. The vaccination programme is completely voluntary. We cannot ask anyone to compulsorily take the shot even if the person has registered for it," he said.
One "severe" and 51 "minor" cases of AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) were reported among health workers who were administered the coronavirus vaccine in Delhi on Saturday, according to official figures. An AIIMS security guard had developed an allergic reaction after receiving the vaccine. He was kept under observation of doctors, an official had said on Saturday.
Delhi registered 246 new coronavirus cases, the lowest in around eight months, and eight more deaths on Sunday, as the positivity rate dipped to 0.36 per cent, the Health Department said. The infection tally rose to 6,32,429 and the death toll mounted to 10,746, according to a health bulletin.
This is the 14th time that the daily count stood below the 500 mark in January and the eight consecutive day since January 10 when the figures have stood below the 400mark. The 246 new cases came out of the 67,463 tests, including 40,102 RT-PCR and 27,361 rapid antigen tests. The active cases dropped to 2,544 from 2,691 the previous day, while the positivity rate dropped to 0.36 per cent, the department said.
As many as 6,18,754 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far.
Odishas COVID-19 tally on Sunday mounted to 3,33,310 after 183 more people tested positive for the virus, while a fresh fatality pushed the death toll to 1,900, a health department official said. Of the 183 new cases, 106 have been reported from different quarantine centres, while 77 detected during contact tracing.
Angul district recorded the highest number of 20 new cases, followed by Sambalpur (19) and Sundergarh (18). The Health and Family Welfare department expressed regret over the death of a 52-year-old male COVID-19 positive patient from Bhubaneswar, who was also suffering from diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and had undergone renal transplantation.
With this fatality, Odishas coronavirus death toll climbed to 1,900. Besides, 53 other COVID-19 positive patients have also died due to comorbidities, he said. Of the total 1,900 fatalities reported so far, Khurda district, of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, accounted for 334 deaths followed by Ganjam (248), Sundergarh (171), Cuttack (140) and Puri (1,171).
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said it will stop fining people for not wearing masks inside their private vehicles. However, those who don’t wear masks in public transport will be fined.
The share of India's active Covid-19 cases, which stand at 2,08,826, has fallen below 2 per cent of the total caseload for the first time, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, PTI reported.
The ministry attributed the fall to a steady decline in daily cases.
"For the first time, India's share of active cases within the total positive cases has shrunk below 2 per cent (1.98 per cent)," the ministry said in a statement.
As India kickstarted the world's largest vaccination drive against coronavirus yesterday, actor Amitabh Bachchan Sunday said he is hoepful the country will become Covid-19 free, PTI reported.
Bachchan said people of India will eliminate coronavirus from the country like polio."It was a proud moment when we made India polio free; it shall be just as proud a moment when we make India COVID-19 free #LargestVaccineDrive @MoHFW_India @UNICEFIndia #largestVaccinationdrive JAI HIND," the actor tweeted.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive in West Bengal began on Saturday, with 15,707 health workers receiving their doses. Among the first to receive the vaccine were two Group-D employees of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and Sagore Dutta Hospital in North 24 Parganas district.
According to officials, 20,700 workers were scheduled to be inoculated by the end of the day in 207 centres, but 25 per cent of those eligible did not turn up. Health officials said they were looking into why so many health workers were absent.
India on Sunday reported 15,144 new Covid-19 cases and 181 deaths in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said.
The overall case tally touched 1,05,57,985, with 2,08,826 active cases and 1,52,274 deaths. The Health Ministry data stated that active cases form 1.98 per cent of the total caseload.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolling out the vaccination drive against the pandemic that has caused 1,52,093 deaths and upended millions of lives in the country, experts — who have been spending hours ironing out creases ahead of the launch of the inoculation campaign — said they were ecstatic and relieved to execute the herculean task much ahead of time.
Dr Randeep Guleria, Director of AIIMS and a member of the Covid task force was among the first ones to take a shot of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at AIIMS on Saturday. Calling the vaccination programme “a game changer”, he said, “Before this, we did not have any definite treatment strategy. We were giving a lot of drugs but we didn’t have a good antiviral drug. This is one strategy which is going towards finding an end to the pandemic. The vaccination programme is something which has happened early. When the discussions were going on, people were even thinking of March for getting the vaccine. People have worked extra hard, both in terms of the manufacturers, trials and rolling out the whole process because there was a huge upscaling that was required.”
Of the 28,500 health workers who had been listed to get the vaccine on the inaugural day, Maharashtra recorded a turnout of 64.3 per cent. Of the 18,328 people vaccinated in Maharashtra on Saturday, 10 recipients suffered mild reactions including nausea, vomiting, and anxiety.
Jharkhand, meanwhile, conducted the vaccination drive accross 48 sites among 3,200 health workers. The state has 1.5 lakh health care workers. It faced several challenges in preparing for the vaccination process. Read on to find out more about the Covid-19 immunisation exercise in states and UTs.
Covid-19 vaccination has been temporarily suspended till January 18 in Maharashtra due to technical issues with CoWIN App, the State Health Department has said.
Nearly a year after India reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, which has so far sickened more than a crore people and killed more than 1.5 lakh, India on Saturday kicked off the world’s largest immunisation exercise against Covid-19.
On Day 1, over 1.91 lakh beneficiaries from the three crore priority group comprising healthcare and frontline workers were given the first shots of Covid-19 vaccines as part of the first phase. No case of post-inoculation hospitalisation was reported, the Union Health Ministry said.
Stating that the vaccination drive was successfully conducted on the first day, Additional Secretary in the Union Health Ministry Manohar Agnani said a total of 16,755 personnel were involved in organising 3,351 vaccination sessions. The 11 states and union territories where both Covishield and Covaxin were administered were Assam (65 sessions), Bihar (301), Delhi (81), Haryana (77), Karnataka (242), Maharashtra (285), Odisha (161), Rajasthan (167) Tamil Nadu (160), Telangana (14) and Uttar Pradesh (317). Read full detail here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi while monitoring the nationwide vaccination drive again Covid-19.
In the world's largest Covid-19 vaccination program, as many as 191,181 beneficiaries were vaccinated across the country today, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
Asha workers share their thoughts after taking Covid vaccine at District Hospital in Hyderabad's King Koti area. Vaccination drive was conducted at 144 centres in Telangana on Saturday with 30 people each slated to receive the shot there, the state health minister said.
Expressing her dissatisfaction over the "inadequate number of Covid-19 vaccines" supplied to West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said her government "strongly feels" that all people of the state should be inoculated free of cost.
The chief minister also said that her government was ready to bear the financial burden for providing the doses free of charge in the state, if need be.
According to a state government official, Bengal was supposed to receive over 10 lakh vaccines in the first phase, but have got 6.89 lakh doses so far.
The CM, while telephonically addressing all doctors, nurses, hospital support staff, students -- who were attending a virtual meet from the 207 centres where Saturday's inoculation process started -- said she "strongly felt that all people of West Bengal should get vaccines free of cost as early as possible", an official statement said. (PTI)