Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the Delhi government plans to increase the Covid-19 vaccination speed. It will soon start vaccinating 1.25 lakh people every day.
He said: I appeal to everyone, who is eligible, to get themselves vaccinated. 30,000-40,000 vaccines are being administered per day, as of now. We will increase this to 1.25 lakh vaccines per day. In the next few days, we are increasing our capacity.
Vaccination is being done in about 500 centres in Delhi, it'll be doubled to 1000. In the centres, especially govt centres, vaccination is being done from 9 am to 5 pm. Now the hours are being increased from 9 am to 9 pm so that more and more people can be vaccinated, he added.
The number of cases dropped in the last few weeks, so a little leniency came into the system. Today orders have been given that tracking, tracing and isolation to be implemented strictly. Surveillance to be done strictly. Wearing a mask and social distancing to be strictly ensured, he further said.
I appeal to the Centre that their current guideline for vaccination centres is very stringent. We now have two months of experience in vaccination. So we're writing to the Centre to relax some parameters so that vaccination can be done at more centres. We'll take all precautions, he also said.
If Centre allows vaccination for everyone and we get a sufficient supply of vaccines then we can vaccinate everyone in Delhi within 3 months, we've made a plan today. The system should be decentralised and States should be allowed to vaccinate on a war footing, in their own way, he asserted.
Meanwhile, the city on Wednesday recorded 536 new coronavirus cases, the highest in about two-and-a-half months, while there more persons died from the pathogen, the Health Department said.
Delhi recorded 585 fresh COVID-19 cases and 21 new fatalities on 1 January, even as the positivity rate stood at 0.73%, authorities said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a review meeting here on Thursday. The meeting will be attended by the Health Secretary and other officials concerned of the health department.
As per a PTI report, Satyendar Jain said, "Yesterday Delhi reported 536 COVID cases and the positivity rate was 0.66 per cent. the positivity rate was below five per cent for several months and it went beyond one per cent in the last two months. The Delhi government has been keeping the people aware and we have been telling them to be alert, to wear masks and follow social distancing norms. Although the situation in Delhi as compared to other states is under control.
(With inputs from agencies)
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