President Ram Nath Kovind is administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Army R&R Hospital in New Delhi (Twitter/@rashtrapatibhvn)India Coronavirus Live Updates: India recorded 14,989 new Covid-19 cases and 98 deaths on Tuesday, taking the country caseload to 1,11,39,516, while its toll increased to 1,57,346. At present, India is reporting 1,70,126 active cases, according to data released by the Union Health Ministry.
President Ram Nath Kovind was administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Army R&R Hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his daughter. The President thanked doctors, nurses, health workers and administrators who were implementing India’s vaccination drive, and urged other eligible citizens to get inoculated.
A number of top political leaders are set to receive their first shots today. Earlier in the day, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was administered the vaccine at a Primary Health Centre in Sanquelim.
With over 50 lakh beneficiaries registering for Covid-19 vaccination since the second phase of the inoculation drive started on Monday, the Centre on Tuesday directed states to utilise all private hospitals, including those that are not empanelled under government health insurance schemes, for the vaccination exercise.
The Centre has also permitted hospitals to extend their vaccination sessions in consultation with state governments. States and hospitals have been directed to “open vaccination slots for 15 days to a month”. Currently, beneficiaries applying on the Co-WIN portal can only find slots for a week.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in Thiruvananthapuram today.
Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad and his wife received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today at STNM Hospital in Gangtok.
President Ram Nath Kovind was administered the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Army R&R Hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday. He was accompanied by his daughter. The President thanked doctors, nurses, health workers and administrators who were implementing India’s vaccination drive, and urged other eligible citizens to get inoculated.
The health minister of Canada's most populous province said Tuesday Ontario seniors won't receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine since there's limited data on its effectiveness in older populations. Health Minister Christine Elliott said Ontario plans to follow the advice of a national panel that's recommended against using the newly approved vaccine on people aged 65 and older. She said anyone over that age is recommended to receive either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine.
Canada's regulator approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca last week for all adults including seniors, but the National Advisory Committee on Immunisation said this week that the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are preferred for seniors due to "suggested superior efficacy."
Health authorities in France and Germany and other countries have also raised concerns that AstraZeneca didn't test the vaccine in enough older people to prove it works for them, and indicated they would not recommend it for people over 65. Belgium has authorized it only for people 55 and under. (PTI)
A day after the Covid vaccine was made available to those over 60 and those between 45 and 59 with comorbidities, many people who wanted the shot opted for walking into vaccination centres without registering beforehand on the Aarogya Setu app or the COWIN portal.
Hospital authorities helped them with the manual registration process, with many saying they found this easier as they weren’t able to register on the app or the portal.
On Tuesday, 21,277 people received the Covid shot in Delhi. On Monday this figure was 15,521.
At Fortis, Vasant Kunj, many who were in queue said they completed the registration process at the hospital, which gave them forms to fill and asked for their identification before giving them the shot. Read the full report here.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant took his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at a Primary Health Centre (PMC) in Sanquelim today. "I appeal to all those eligible to come forward and get vaccinated. This will help us eradicate COVID19 from Goa," he told ANI.
India, which has shipped critical supplies of Covid-19 vaccines to nations globally, has said it stands ready to work with the United Nations and its agencies to ensure the doses are delivered to people of Syria facing dire situation compounded by the pandemic, winterisation and food insecurity.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly high-level panel on the human rights situation in Syria on Tuesday, India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu said India continues to stand with the people of Syria in the grave hour of need. "The 10-year long Syrian conflict has brought about much suffering to the Syrian people. The country is facing a dire situation compounded by COVID-19, winterisation and food insecurity which is putting into peril the future of 17 million Syrians, including 6.2 million displaced people," he said.
India has extended 12 million dollars in humanitarian assistance through bilateral and multilateral channels and last July, more than 10 MT (metric tonnes) of medicine supplies have been delivered to help Syria cope with the pandemic. Earlier this month, more than 2000 MT of food supplies were delivered. (PTI)
In a bid to intensify the crackdown on people not wearing masks, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has asked the city police force to collect fine from at least 1,000 such violators per day in each zone, an official said on Wednesday.
Mumbai is divided into 12 police zones and the city police are authorised to collect a fine of Rs 200 from people not wearing masks, as mandated under COVID-19 norms. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the metropolis, Singh hasasked the city police force totake strict action against those not wearing masks in public places, the official said. He said Singh recently asked all senior inspectors to improve the performance of their respective police stations and achieve the zonal target of 1,000 such cases per day. (PTI)
India recorded 14,989 new Covid-19 cases and 98 new deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the country's caseload rose to 1,11,39,516, while the death toll surged to 1,57,346.