Capital’s 8,100 warriors will take jabs on V-day
Delhi will kick off its Covid-19 vaccination drive with roughly 8,100 of its frontline medical warriors receiving doses, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, unveiling details of massive preparations that, along with similar arrangements around the country, will become the world’s largest coronavirus immunisation drive when it is launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday morning.
In all, 300,000 health care workers across India are set to be vaccinated for Covid-19 the first day, which will be a global record due to India’s unique position as having access to one the largest stockpile of doses in the world and having put in place massive grassroots preparations in recent weeks.
“This morning, I held a meeting with all concerned departments and officials to review the
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arrangements. The Delhi government is fully prepared to roll out the Covid-19 vaccination drive from January 16,” he said, while adding that vaccinations will be done four days a week between 9am and 5pm.
Kejriwal, who will be present at Lok Nayak Hospital on Saturday to oversee the inoculation drive, said the number of vaccination centres will gradually be increased to 175, and then 1,000 after a few weeks.
“Every day, 100 people will be vaccinated. So, nearly 8,100 people will be vaccinated every day from day one. As of now, the central government has given us a total of 274,500 vaccines which
Prasid Banerjee and Abhijit Ahaskar
Prices of television sets are set to rise sharply this quarter and possibly beyond as companies battle an increase in component costs. The price rise threatens to derail the sector’s growth momentum of 2020 when people cooped indoors ordered new and bigger TVS for their homes.
According to industry stakeholders, the cost of open-cell display panels has risen significantly, in addition to a global shortage of integrated circuits, and a general rise in prices of other raw materials. The sector is left with no choice but to pass on the burden to customers, they said. Jaipal Singh, associate research manager, client devices, at International Data Corporation (IDC), said prices of 32-inch TV panels have jumped from $33-35 a few months ago, to $60-65 currently.
Arjun Bajaj, CEO of Delhibased electronics brand Daiwa, said prices could go up by 20-30% due to market constraints. Brands such as Xiaomi, Samsung and Oneplus have already increased their TV prices by 10-15% in India. “The global market is currently witnessing a surge in inputs costs. i.e., OC (open-cell) panels used by TV manufacturers across the globe, and that has contributed to an increase in overall TV prices. Despite the new changes, we believe this will open up new avenues for the Smart TV manufacturing ecosystem in India,” said Eshwar Nilakantan, who heads the Mi TV Business for Xiaomi India.
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