Seniors, etc to get Covid vaccine jab from today
At a time when Covid-19 cases are going up in six states, India is all set to begin the second phase of the coronavirus vaccination drive, to cover 10 crore people across the country from Monday. The second phase will cover people above 60, and individuals above 45 having co-morbidities against the deadly virus. The second phase will also include armed forces and police personnel.
With 16,752 new cases detected in the past 24 hours, the total Covid-19 caseload in the country has gone up to 1,10,96,731. The death toll has risen to 1,57,051, with 113 new fatalities in 24 hours. The country’s case fatality rate is 1.42 per cent.
Of the new cases, 86.37 per cent of the infections are from Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. This comes as much of India is reporting a sharp fall in cases — with daily infections for the county falling to less than 20,000 from a peak of over 90,000 in September.
The Centre has told states reporting a hike in Covid-19 cases to follow effective surveillance strategies in respect of potential “superspreader” events. They have been advised to go for effective testing, comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation of positive cases and quick quarantine of close contacts.
The Centre has already deputed high-level multidisciplinary teams to Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir to ascertain the reasons for the surge and coordinate with the state health departments in Covid-19 control and containment measures.
India now has 1,64,511 active cases. This was 1,59,590 on Saturday, 1,55,986 on Friday, 1,51,708 on Thursday, 1,46,907 on Wednesday and 1,47,306 on Tuesday.
The number of those who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,07,75,169, which translates to a national Covid19 recovery rate of 97.10 per cent.
On the vaccination front, a total of 1,43,01,266 doses have so far been administered through 2,92,312 sessions. These include 66,69,985 healthcare workers (first dose), 24,56,191 healthcare workers (second dose) and 51,75,090 frontline workers (first dose).
To ramp up the vaccination capacity, the government has roped in 20,000 private hospitals and 10,000 government centres.
Other private hospitals empanelled under state governments’ health insurance schemes can also participate as Covid19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs).
People who have at least one of the 20 co-morbidities, including diabetes and heart failure with hospital admission in the past one year, will be prioritised in the second phase.
The prioritised co-morbidities include post-cardiac transplant, moderate or severe valvular heart disease, end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis, a severe respiratory disease with hospitalisation in the last two years, primary immunodeficiency dieases/HIV infection and angina and hypertension/diabetes on treatment.
Vaccination will be free of charge at government vaccination centres. Those taking the vaccine at any empanelled private health facility will have to pay a pre-fixed charge. All that one will need to get vaccinated is a simplified one-page certificate signed by any registered medical practitioner. The certificate can either be uploaded on Co-WIN 2.0 by the beneficiary while self-registering, or a hard copy can be carried by the beneficiary to the Covid Vaccination Centres (CVC).
The first is advance self registration, under which beneficiaries will be able to self-register in advance by downloading the COWIN 2.0 portal and through other IT applications like Aarogya Setu. This will show the government and private hospitals serving as Covid vaccination centres with the date and time of available schedules.
The beneficiary will be able to choose the CVC of his/her choice and book an appointment for vaccination.