War rooms launched for 100% Covid-19 vaccination in Delhi
Covid cases decline: City records 2,779 new cases, 38 deaths in 24 hours
With an aim to achieve 100 per cent vaccination against Covid-19 in the city, the Delhi government has launched war rooms in each district to ensure that all eligible residents are fully inoculated, officials said.
These war rooms comprise a dedicated workforce whose primary role is to remind people about their impending second dose by telephoning them and ensuring that they get jabbed.
According to officials, the workforce in each district calls up around 10,000-15,000 people every day. A senior official of the west district administration said the war room in the district has yielded good results. He said staffers in the war room check records and call up those beneficiaries that are yet to take the second dose and request them to get inoculated on priority.
“Earlier, there were nearly 5 lakh people who had not taken the second jab and now, this number has come down to just around 1 lakh. This was achieved because of continuous monitoring. Every day, we call up about 15,000 such people and ask them to take the second dose which is overdue,” the official said. He said the second dose will be administered to the remaining eligible population soon as the drive is being carried out on a “war footing”.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had on January 25 said 100 per cent of the population in Delhi had been administered the first dose while 82 per cent of them had received the second jab too.
District Magistrate (South) Sonalika Jiwani said the war room in her district makes over 10,000 phones every day. She said the administration, with the help of IT cell, prepares a chart of the location of those who haven’t yet received the second dose and a ground workforce is sent to such addresses to remind and convince the people.
“Not only through calls, but our teams also visit their houses to persuade them to get the second dose administered. We also arrange special vaccination camps for their convenience,” Jiwani said.
She said the administration receives help from Asha workers and civil defence volunteers among others in the groundwork. Special vaccination camps are being set up with the help of NGOs, she mentioned.
District Magistrate (Southeast) Vishwendra said a similar strategy is adopted in his jurisdiction. He said a considerable size of the population is still hesitant to take the vaccination because of various reasons and that special teams are being dispatched to their houses to persuade them and clear their apprehensions.
Delhi on Monday continued a declining streak in its fresh Covid-19 tally with the capital recording 2,779 new cases of the coronavirus disease, the health bulletin data showed. At least 38 people succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate in the national capital fell to 6.20 per cent, while 5,502 people recovered in the span of a day.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been falling rapidly since January 13, when it had touched a record high of 28,867 infections. Active cases in the capital now stand at 18,729.