Covishield’s 2nd dose appointment booked already still valid: Govt
CO-WIN PORTAL RECONFIGURED TO REFLECT THE EXTENSION OF INTERVAL FOR 2 DOSES OF COVISHIELD TO 12-16 WEEKS
The Union health ministry on Sunday clarified that already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield vaccine will remain valid and the same will not be cancelled on CO-WIN platform. It, however, said requisite changes have now been done in the CO-WIN digital portal, as a result of which further online or on-site appointments will not be possible if the period after first dose date for a beneficiary is less than 84 days.
The Centre had on May 13 extended the gap between the first and second doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks based on the recommendations by the COVID Working Group chaired by N K Arora.
“The Government of India has communicated this change to states and UTS. The CO-WIN digital portal has also been reconfigured to reflect this extension of interval for two doses of Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) to 12-16 weeks,” the ministry said.
“However, there have been reports in a section of the media suggesting that people who had pre-booked their appointments for the second dose in less than 84 days on CO-WIN are being turned back from vaccination centres without getting the second dose of Covishield,” it said.
“Additionally, already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield will remain valid and are not being cancelled by CO-WIN. Further, the beneficiaries are advised to reschedule their appointments for a later date beyond the 84th day from the date of first dose of vaccination,” the ministry added. The Union government has reiterated to the states/uts that online appointments booked for second dose of Covishield prior to this change of the interval between the two doses of Covishield, must be honoured.
It advised the states/uts that the field staff may be instructed that, if such beneficiaries do come for vaccination, “the second Covishield dose must be administered and they must not be turned away”.
They have also been asked to undertake awareness activities to inform the beneficiaries about this change.
INDIA’S SECOND COVID-19 WAVE STARTS TO RECEDE
– Delhi, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh – had started seeing a steady drop in infections in the past few weeks, with another three – Bihar, Gujarat and Jharkhand – exhibiting early signs of a plateau.
This trend, however, is not uniform across the country. While new infections are dropping in a majority of the country, a handful of regions, particularly in the country’s south, east and northeast, continue to defy the larger trend. The seven-day average of cases is still increasing through the northeast the most – in Meghalaya the number has risen most in the country (58%), followed by 53% in Tripura and 49% in Manipur.
Unsurprisingly, states that saw elections over the last two months are among the regions that are outliers. Tamil Nadu, for instance, is the state with the fastest rising outbreaks among India’s most populous regions – the seven-day average of new infections have gone up 29% in the past month (from 23,574 new cases a day a week ago to 30,525 for the week ending Saturday). In Puducherry, the rate of new cases has gone up 24%, while it has gone up 11% in Assam and 10% in West Bengal in the past week. Kerala is the only state with recent elections where the outbreak has shrunk – though it has done so marginally, with a 3% drop in new infections.
An analysis by HT on May 3 showed that in the four states and one Union territory that went to the polls, Covid-19 cases started rising much later than the rest of the country, but a steeper curve in these regions pushed them ahead in terms of new cases per capita.
DELHI LOCKDOWN
next one week,” Kejriwal said.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) issued the official order regarding the lockdown extension around 12.30 pm.
“The situation of Covid-19 in Delhi has again been reviewed and [it has been] observed that Covid-19 positive cases and positivity rate is still high and [the] bed occupancy (oxygen beds/icu beds) in the dedicated Covid-19 government and private hospitals and nursing homes is also on higher side,” said the order explaining the rationale for extending the lockdown.
Dr Lalit Kant, former head of the division of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said: “Delhi is still facing a shortage of hospital beds, ICUS, ventilators. The government has to implement policies to ensure minimum interaction of people and make sure that there are no gatherings. So the lockdown is essential. We cannot let guards down at this point.”
As on Sunday, 15,340 (66%) of 23,213 total oxygen beds in the city’s Covid-19 wards were occupied. Of the 6,415 total ICU beds, 5,728 (89%) were occupied, the government’s app on hospital beds showed.
While no new restrictions have been imposed this week, no existing restrictions have been lifted.
General movement of people and economic activities are prohibited in the lockdown with exemptions for those engaged in essential services and the supply chain of essential goods.
Metro services are suspended and public buses have been asked to cater only to essential service providers. When asked if Delhi metro service would resume, the chief minister said: “Restrictions will remain as it is this week.”
He said his government has written to the Centre and two companies in the country for Covid-19 vaccines but there is no indication yet that doses will be arriving.
The Delhi government will take all necessary precautions and measures to deal with ‘Black Fungus’ infections reported in Covid patients, the chief minister said.
The Punjab government also extended all existing Covid restrictions in the state till May 31, amid a high positivity and fatality rate due to the disease.
The announcement in this regard was made by chief minister Amarinder Singh. He also gave directions for strict enforcement of all the curbs.
The CM said deputy commissioners will continue to determine the opening hours of shops in a staggered manner and enforce other restrictions to check the Covid-19 spread, especially in rural areas.
They can also make suitable amendments based on local conditions as long as these do not dilute the state’s overall restrictions, Chief Minister Singh said in an official statement here.