A woman gets inoculated against COVID-19 as others wait their turn at a vaccination center in Mumbai. AP
Under the previous policy, the Central government procured 50 percent of vaccines for distribution for free vaccination of those above 45 years and frontline workers
A woman gets inoculated against COVID-19 as others wait their turn at a vaccination center in Mumbai. AP
Announcing a slew of decisions regarding the inoculation drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said that the Centre will provide free vaccines to all aged 18 years and above starting 21 June, reversing a policy under which states were running a part of it.
Under the previous policy, the Central government procured 50 percent of vaccines for distribution for free vaccination of those above 45 years and frontline workers. The state governments and private players had to buy the vaccines from the manufacturers to administer doses for a fee to people between 18-45 age group.
"No state will have to spend any money for vaccines. Those who wish to get vaccines at private hospitals, will be able to do so," Modi said.
The Centre will buy 75 percent of the vaccines produced by pharma companies, including 25 percent assigned to states. He said that private sector hospitals can continue to procure the remaining 25 percent and inoculate those willing to pay for their jabs, but will be allowed to charge Rs 150 per dose as service charge over fixed rates.
With 1.06 lakh cases, India registers lowest daily surge in 61 days
The announcement comes as India's chart has shown a declining trend with the country recording 1.06 lakh cases, a drop of 12 percent from Sunday's 1.14 lakh infections. The country on Monday reported the lowest single-day tally in 61 days, taking the cumulative total to nearly 2.9 crore.
The toll due to reached 3,49,186 with 2,427 new fatalities, the lowest in around 45 days, the data updated at 8 am showed.
A total of 96,982 new cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours on 6 April.
Also, 15,87,589 tests were conducted on Sunday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of in the country to 36,63,34,111, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 6.34 percent.
AIIMS Delhi starts screening of children for Covaxin trials
The screening of children for trial of Covaxin, India's first indigenously developed vaccine, among those aged between 2 and 18 started at the AIIMS Delhi on Monday.
The trial on children has already started at AIIMS Patna to see if the Bharat Biotech jab is suitable for children.
Participants would be given the vaccine after their screening report comes.
The trial is to be conducted on 525 healthy volunteers. In the trial, the vaccine will be given by intramuscular route in two doses at day 0 and day 28.
"The screening of children for conducting trial of Covaxin has started. Participants would be given the vaccine after their screening reports come," Dr Sanjay Rai, professor at the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS, said.
India's drug regulator had granted permission for conducting the phase 2/3 clinical trial of Covaxin in the age group 2 to 18 years on 12 May.
Covaxin is being used on adults in India's ongoing vaccination drive.
Punjab extends lockdown restrictions till 15 June
The Punjab government on Monday extended the lockdown restrictions due to till 15 June, but also gave relaxations including allowing shops to open till 6 pm while adopting a graded approach to reopening.
Night curfew will now remain in force from 7 pm to 6 am on weekdays, including Saturdays, but weekend curfew will continue on Sundays, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced. Earlier, the weekend curfew was imposed on Saturdays and Sundays.
With case positivity declining to 3.2 percent and active cases also coming down, the chief minister allowed gatherings of up to 20 people, including at weddings and cremations, according to a government statement.
Recruitment exams will be allowed to be held subject to adherence to social distancing and other appropriate norms, Singh said, but added that online mode should be preferred.
Lockdown in Andhra Pradesh to continue till 20 June
The Andhra Pradesh government also extended the partial lockdown imposed across the state until 20 June, and also announced revised relaxation timings.
The relaxation period has been extended from the earlier four hours in the morning to 8 hours (from 6 am to 2 pm) and the new timing will be implemented from 10 June.
The state has been under a lockdown since 5 May and earlier, the relaxation period earlier was from 6 am to 10 am. The government had on 31 May extended the lockdown to 10 June.
The state has been recording around 10,000 cases of infection every day. As per the latest medical bulletin issued on 6 June, among the 83,690 samples being tested, the state recorded 8,976 cases and 90 deaths.
Ten states account for 83% of active caseload: Centre
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan chaired the 28th meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Monday and said that India has 14,01,609 active cases. He added that the country's recovery rate is climbing and stood at 93.94 percent now.
"The daily positivity rate is declining and is at 6.34 percent, which is less than 10 percent for the 25 th consecutive day. There are 15 states where the positivity rate is greater than 10 percent. 83 percent of active cases are in 10 states. Seven states Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Gujarat have less than 1000 cases," he added.
Over 28,00 black fungus cases reported in 28 states/UTs: Health ministry
The health minister also said 28,252 cases of mucormycosis have so far been reported from 28 states/UTs in the country, of which 86 percent cases have a history of and 62.3 percent with a history of diabetes.
Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of mucormycosis cases (6,339) followed by Gujarat (5,486), he said after chairing the 28th meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on via video conferencing, a health ministry statement said.
Tamil Nadu govt allots Rs 25 cr from CM relief fund to procure Amphotericin B
Tamil Nadu has allotted Rs 25 crore from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (CMPRF) towards procurement of Amphotericin B drug and other medicines to treat black fungus-affected patients in the state.
The announcement on Monday comes in the backdrop of the state government declaring the black fungus as a notified disease. According to the Medical Minister M Subramanian, the number of those infected by it stands at 921 in the state as of Sunday.
Chief Minister MK Stalin has issued orders to allocate Rs 25 crore to procure Amphotericin B and other life-saving medicines towards treatment of black fungus, an official release said.
Stalin had urged the Union health ministry to allocate an adequate number of Amphotericin B drugs. "The emergence of mucormycosis or black fungus among the patients and sufficient supply of liposomal Amphotericin B, which is being allotted by the Central government, are increasingly becoming critical issues which need urgent intervention," Stalin had said in his letter to the Union health minister last week.
The government has already appealed to the public to donate to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund in its fight against the pandemic and several individuals, industrialists and corporates have been extending their support.
Delhi records 231 new cases, lowest single-day tally in over three months
The National Capital reported 231 fresh infections, the lowest since 2 March, with the positivity rate dipping to 0.36 percent, according to the health bulletin released on Monday.
Thirty-six more people succumbed to the disease in a day, pushing the toll to 24,627.
On Sunday, Delhi had recorded 34 fatalities, the lowest in around two months, and 381 cases with a positivity of 0.5 percent.
On Saturday, the city registered 60 fatalities and 414 new cases of with a positivity rate of 0.53 percent. The day before, it had recorded 50 deaths and 523 new cases with a positivity rate of 0.68 percent.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Saturday said the situation in Delhi was under control. "Bringing back the economy on track is crucial as the situation of is improving," he had said.
Delhi started the unlocking process from Monday after remaining under lockdown since 19 April in view of a massive surge in cases in the second wave of the pandemic.
Centre mulling domestic air travel without COVID-negative report post vaccination: Report
The Central government is considering a mechanism to allow air passengers who have got both doses of the vaccine to travel within the country without a negative test report, senior government officials told news agency PTI on Monday.
Central ministries, including the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, are currently discussing the matter with various other stakeholders, they added.
Currently, a number of states, including Odisha, Meghalaya and Maharashtra, ask passengers coming from outside to carry a COVID-negative report with them wherein the test sample was taken not more than 72 hours before the journey. Domestic airlines, which have already taken a major hit due to the pandemic, have told the civil aviation ministry that such state-level requirements are hampering the growth of air travel and the fully-vaccinated passengers should be allowed to travel without Covid-negative reports, the officials said.
With inputs from agencies