Coronavirus: 17,072 people vaccinated on second day in six states, says health ministry

9.19 pm: Maharashtra reports 3,081 new cases on Sunday, taking its tally to 19,90,759. The state’s toll rises by 50 to 50,738.

9.18 pm: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will meet officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Pharmaceuticals on Monday to discuss the export of the vaccines, ANI reports.

7.16 pm: The health ministry says as many as 17,072 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Sunday.

7.13 pm: The health ministry says 447 adverse events following immunisation or AEFIs have been reported so far, of which only three required hospitalisation.

7.06 pm: The government says 2,24,301 people have been vaccinated so far.

7.05 pm: The health ministry says six states held vaccination sessions on Sunday.

7.02 pm: The Centre is now giving details about how many days of a week the states will hold vaccination sessions.

7.00 pm: The health ministry begins its press briefing on the vaccination programme.

5.50 pm: Experts say lack of communication and glitches in the Centre’s mobile application, CoWIN, are the major reasons why only 53% people got the coronavirus shots on the first day in Delhi, reports PTI.

“There is a little bit of apprehension about the vaccine,” says BL Sherwal, Medical Director of Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital. “Also, people in India adopt a ‘wait and watch’ approach in important matters, be it purchasing a new car or an appliance. People consider the experiences of others before taking a call.”

Suresh Kumar, medical director of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, says technical glitches in CoWIN app could be a reason why many people could not take the shots on the first day.

5.37 pm: The Centre says the number of those infected with the new strain of the coronavirus in India is still 116, same as Saturday, ANI reports.

5.35 pm: The health ministry will hold a media briefing at 7 pm today on the coronavirus vaccination programme.

4.44 pm: Pakistan has approved the emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, reports PTI. The country has so far recorded 5,19,291 coronavirus infections and the toll stands at 10,951.

3.38 pm: “The positivity rate in Delhi has remained below 0.5% for the last few days,” says the health minister. “We can comfortably say that the third wave is on the wane. Cases have decreased. Still, I want to appeal to people to take precautions and use masks.”

3.35 pm: Delhi coronavirus tally rises to 6,32,429 with 246 new cases, reports PTI. With eight more deaths, the toll stands at 10,746.

This is the 14th time when the daily count is below the 500-mark in January, and the eight consecutive day since January 10 when the figures have stood below the 400-mark.

3.33 pm: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation says those not wearing masks inside their private vehicles will not be fined, reports The Indian Express. But, not wearing masks while using public transport is still a offence.

2.25 pm: Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain says that there have been 51 cases of minor complications and one serious adverse event reported in the national Capital after the pan-India roll out of the coronavirus vaccines on Saturday, reports ANI. He adds that 4,317 health workers received vaccine shots at 81 centres in Delhi yesterday.

1.50 pm: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation postpones the coronavirus vaccination drive in the city by two days, after technical glitches were reported in the government’s Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network, or CoWin app, reports The Indian Express. The Mumbai civic body said that efforts were underway to fix the problem.

As the Covid-19 vaccination drive kicked off in the city on Saturday, most centres relied on manual handling of the process after multiple glitches made it impossible to use CoWin, the new portal created by the Centre to monitor and record vaccine distribution, the BMC said in a statement.

“However, the government has directed that all further entries should be made through the app,” it added. “In view of this, Covid 19 vaccination has been postponed for two days in Mumbai i.e., on Sunday 17th January 2021 and Monday 18th January 2021. Vaccination will resume as soon as the glitches are resolved.”

12.16 pm: Arunachal Pradesh’s Covid-19 tally mounts to 16,808 on Sunday as six more people test positive for the infection, reports PTI.

12.14 pm: Telangana registered 299 new coronavirus cases and two deaths on Saturday, taking the state’s tally of infections to 2,91,666, and the toll to 1,577, reports ANI.

9.54 am: In Telangana, 3,530 people received the vaccine shot on Saturday, with the state achieving 84% of its target for the day, reports News18. While no adverse reactions were reported, the state health department recorded 20 instances of minor reactions to the vaccines.

These reactions consisted of swelling, mild redness and pain where the vaccine injection was given, said Telangana’s Director of Public Health Dr G Srinivasa Rao. Rao said the beneficiaries will be monitored for the next few days.

9.50 am: A security guard who was administered a shot of Covaxin at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi on Saturday was admitted at the hospital after he developed an allergic reaction, reports PTI.

AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria said the the security guard, who is in his 20s, complained of palpitations and developed an allergic skin rash within 15-20 minutes of being inoculated.

“He was immediately managed with appropriate treatment and he improved,” Guleria added. “He is stable. As a precautionary measure he has been admitted for overnight observation and his condition is being monitored. He is likely to be discharged in the morning [Sunday].”

9.45 am: India registers 15,144 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count to 1,05,57,985. The country’s toll rises by 181 to 1,52,274. India’s active cases stood at 2,08,826, while the number of recoveries reached 1,01,96,885.

9.42 am: Norway on Saturday expressed concern about the safety of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on elderly people with serious underlying medical conditions, after at least 29 of them died within days of receiving the shot.

Also read:

Coronavirus: Norway raises concern over Pfizer vaccine as 29 elderly people die after receiving shot

9.40 am: A total of 1,91,181 beneficiaries were vaccinated on the first day of India’s coronavirus vaccination drive as the country kick-started its inoculation campaign with two locally manufactured shots, the Union health ministry said on Saturday. No case of post-vaccination hospitalisation was reported as of Saturday evening, it added.

Also read:

Coronavirus: No case of post-vaccination hospitalisation reported on day 1, says Health minister

Here are the top updates from Saturday

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi  launched India’s vaccination drive against the coronavirus. The Union Health Ministry said that 1,91,181 people were vaccinated across India on the first day.
• Resident doctors of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital demanded that they be given the Covishield vaccine instead of Covaxin as the former has completed its Phase 3 trials. Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, is yet to complete its last stage trials.The doctors also said that they would not participate in the vaccination process if they are administered the Bharat Biotech vaccine.
• A war of words ensued between Congress MP Manish Tewari and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan  after the former again raised questions on the efficacy of the Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin.