101-year-old woman takes vaccine in Delhi; crisis is far from over: WHO
NEW DELHI: Boosting the morale of those who are still sceptical about getting the vaccine shot against COVID-19, a 101-year-old woman on Friday received her first vaccine dose at a municipal hospital in New Delhi, said officials.
On Friday, the UAE Ministry of Health reported 3,072 new cases and 10 deaths.
Also the ministry of health also announced that 31,312 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours, taking the total of doses distributed so far to 6,235,316 with a rate of 63.04 doses per 100 people.
The woman, Sumitra Dhandia, received the COVID-19 jab at New Delhi Municipal Council’s Charak Palika Hospital in the Motibagh area.
Doctors said that the woman came for the inoculation all by herself from Jorbagh, which is around 7km from the hospital. “She was upbeat about getting vaccinated,” said C.K. Bakshi, Chief Medical Officer at the hospital.
The hospital staff said that the woman received the vaccine well and did not report any side-effects in the 30-minute observation period post vaccination.
“She chatted for a while with other people, thanked us and then left for her home,” Bakshi said.
The staff further said that Dhandia could possibly be the oldest citizen to receive the vaccine so far in the immunisation drive.
The biggest slice of the ongoing phase of repatriation flights for Indians affected by coronavirus disruptions worldwide has been set apart for the GCC countries, Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.
The latest phase of these repatriation flights, known as the “Vande Bharat Mission,” ( VBM) began on March 1 and will last till March 28. Slightly more than 1,350 international flights are scheduled to be operated from 28 countries in this phase, enabling an estimated 260,000 Indians to travel home.
Of these, nearly 920 flights accounting for 68 per cent of the total are from the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC) countries, Srivastava said.
Covax will distribute 14.4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to 31 more countries next week, the World Health Organisation ( WHO) said on Friday as it warned people not to waste, through complacency, the hope that vaccines bring.
The Covax global vaccine-sharing facility shipped more than 20 million doses to 20 countries as the scheme aimed at ensuring poorer nations get access to jabs took off this week.
But the WHO voiced fears that further waves of the coronavirus pandemic could be on the way if people think the roll-out of vaccines around the globe means the crisis is over.
“I really am very concerned that... we think we’re through this. We’re not,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.
“And countries are going to lurch back into third and fourth surges if we’re not careful.
“We should not waste the hope that vaccines bring... by dropping our guard in other areas.”
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the first full week of the Covax roll-out, but said wealthy countries were nonetheless still leaving others behind in the vaccination rush.
Within Africa, Angola, the DR Congo, The Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan and Uganda have now received their first doses through Covax.
Elsewhere, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Moldova, the Philippines and South Korea have also taken deliveries.
Women in Africa are less likely to die from COVID-19 than men, but more likely to succumb to maternal complications due to limited access to reproductive services since the pandemic started, the UN said citing reports.
Over 21 million people have now been given a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Britain, health authorities said on Friday.
Public Health England said that 21,358,815 people had received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while there had been 236 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported.
More than 27 million Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus will have to keep waiting for guidance from federal health officials for what they should and shouldn’t do.
The Biden administration said Friday it’s focused on getting the guidance right and accommodating emerging science, but the delays add to the uncertainty around bringing about an end to the pandemic as the nation’s virus fatigue grows.
“These are complex issues and the science is rapidly evolving,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said. “We are making sure and taking time to get this right and we will be releasing this guidance soon.”
Switzerland held a rare minute of silence on Friday in memory of its coronavirus victims, a year after the country’s first COVID-19 fatality.
The silent commemoration was held at 11:59 am after which church bells rang across the country.
Canada on Friday authorised a fourth COVID-19 vaccine, adding Johnson & Johnson to its approved list alongside Astrazeneca, Pfizer-biontech and Moderna shots.