Wearing a wide grin, beneficiaries between 15-17 yrs throng vaccination centres as inoculation drive kicks off for them
A girl takes a selfie with her friends after being administered with Covid-19 vaccine in Ranchi on Monday. Pic/PTI
Amid rising cases of Covid and its variant Omicron, teenagers heaved a sigh of relief after they received their first dose of vaccination as the inoculation drive for the 15 to 18 age group began in the city on Monday. The national capital reported 4,099 new Covid cases on Monday, 28 per cent more than on Sunday, and one death due to the disease as the positivity rate rose to 6.46 per cent, according to data shared by the Health Department.
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The vaccination drive for the 15 to 18 age group began across India on Monday. Over 12.3 lakh children had been administered doses across states/UTs till 3 pm, said authorities. “This was long awaited. The third wave is already here and considering how aggressive the second wave was, we were all afraid,” said Ritesh Ghosh, a 17-year-old student.
An AAP event in Patiala of poll-bound Punjab, on Dec 31
Reema Dutta, a 15-year-old girl said, “We can heave a sigh of relief and can go outdoors while following Covid protocols once we have received the vaccination. The Omicron wave is already scaring us.” As per Health Ministry guidelines, which came into effect on Monday, those aged 15 and above will be able to register on CoWIN. In other words, all those whose birth year is 2007 or before, shall be eligible. Private hospitals too have geared up for this phase of the exercise.
“Whenever schools reopened, I was hesitant to send my son to school because of Covid. It will be a relief now that he has received the vaccine,” said Savita Devi, whose son was waiting to get the jab at a Delhi government school. Trisha Jain said she and her friends have registered on the COWIN portal and will be getting their jabs later this week.
100 Kolkata docs test +ve
Meanwhile, over 100 doctors across Kolkata have tested positive for Covid-19 in 24 hours, a senior health official said on Monday. The patients include at least 70 doctors of Calcutta National Medical College. “The doctors have been asked to go for institutional quarantine,” he said.
Speed up vaccination: EC to five poll-bound states
Days after assessing the Covid-19 situation in the five poll-bound states, the Election Commission (EC) has asked them to step up the inoculation drive against the viral disease and ensure that the personnel to be deployed on election duty are “double vaccinated”.
In a recent letter to the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab, the EC has also reminded the five states that polling personnel come under the category of frontline workers and are eligible for the “precaution dose” of the Covid vaccines, sources said.
The commission has said the polling personnel to be deployed in these states should be fully vaccinated and those eligible for the second dose of the vaccines should be administered the jabs on a priority basis, the sources said citing the letter.
While the tenure of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly ends in May, the terms of the legislative assemblies of Goa, Manipur and Punjab end on different dates in March. The EC is likely to announce the poll dates for the five states in the first half of this month.
Omicron in 81% samples in Delhi
New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said the latest genome-sequencing report shows that Omicron was found in 81 per cent of the samples tested for Covid-19 in the city and the new variant of concern is the reason behind the surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the capital. Of the latest 187 Covid samples tested, 152 (81 per cent) had Omicron and 8.5 per cent had Delta, Jain told the Delhi Assembly.
3,49,22,882
Total no. of Coronavirus cases in India so far
4,81,893
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far
1,45,582
Total no. of active cases in India
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