While around 4,36,997 doses of the vaccine for COVID-19 have been administered so far in the district, the drive has slowed down since Thursday considering the Good Friday and Easter holidays.
Of the 180 vaccination centres in the district, both private and government, only 40 conducted sessions on Friday, said Dr. M. G. Sivadas, the nodal officer for vaccination. The pace of the expanded vaccination drive, for all people over 45 years of age, would pick up only from Monday, he said.
A total of 5 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine arrived in the district on Thursday. The doses are for Ernakulam, Palakkad, Thrissur, Idukki, Alappuzha, and Kottayam. Going by figures available from Thursday, 78,744 health workers in the district have taken the first shot so far, and 55,635 people among them have taken the second dose. Among frontline workers, 14,445 people have taken the first dose and 9,837 people have taken the second. A total of 30,796 polling officials have taken the vaccine, while 2,47,393 people over the age of 60 and over the age of 45 with co-morbidities have taken the jab so far.
The vaccination drive slowed down at private hospitals as well on Friday. The family member of a 64-year-old, who arrived at a hospital for the vaccine on Friday, said that they were turned away despite having booked a slot nearly three weeks ago.
“Since it was a holiday and we were anticipating shortage of staff, we had not planned sessions for Friday,” said a spokesperson for the hospital, adding that they were low on stock of the vaccine.
278 new cases
The district recorded 278 new COVID-19 cases and 393 recoveries on Friday while the active caseload stood at 2,278.
One health worker tested positive. Sixteen cases were recorded from Thrikkakara, 13 from Alangad, and 12 each from Kadavanthra, and Thripunithura.
Meanwhile, with the drop in the district’s active caseload, the Fort Kochi Taluk Hospital will soon wind up operations as a COVID care centre, said Dr. N. K. Kuttappan, District Medical Officer. A few patients remain under treatment at the centre, but it is no longer accepting fresh admissions. Once the patients have recovered, the hospital will resume non-COVID treatment. It had been functioning exclusively as a COVID treatment centre since November last year. In this context, the District Hospital at Aluva is gearing up to increase admissions, Dr. Kuttappan said.
