Coronavirus: Over six lakh healthcare workers vaccinated across India so far, says Centre

10.45 pm: The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated against the coronavirus till 6 pm on Tuesday is 6,31,417 through 11,660 sessions, as per a provisional report shared by the government. A total of 3,800 sessions were held till 6 pm, according to the health ministry press release.

It adds:

“A total of nine AEFI [adverse events following immunisation] required hospitalisation. In Delhi, three cases have been discharged, whereas one is under observation at the Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Shahdara. One case from Uttarakhand has been discharged. In Karnataka, one person is discharged and another person is stable and under observation at the District Hospital, Chitradurga. In Chhattisgarh, one person is discharged, while in Rajasthan, one case is of suspected anaphylaxis is fine and under observation at the District Hospital, Bangar.”

— Health ministry

9.30 pm: As many as 4,936 healthcare workers received coronavirus vaccine shots in Delhi on the third scheduled day of the immunisation exercise, a marked increase from the previous day, reports PTI, citing data shared by officials. However, the number of people who were vaccinated on Tuesday was only 48% of the targeted figure of 10,125, as per the data.

8.34 pm: Maharashtra reports 2,294 new cases and 50 deaths on Tuesday, reports ANI. Active cases in the state stand at 48,406

8.32 pm: The Ministry of External Affairs says India has received several requests for the supply of vaccines made in India from neighbouring and key partner countries, reports ANI. Supply of vaccines to other countries will begin from January 20, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

8.27 pm: Karnataka reports 645 new Covid-19 cases and six deaths, according to ANI. Active cases in the state stand at 7,865.

6.35 pm: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revises the total number of persons who have tested positive for the new strain of the coronavirus in India from 118 to 141, reports ANI.

6.33 pm: NITI Ayog member VK Paul says that non-Covid health care service will resume once the healthcare professionals are vaccinated, reports The Hindu. “In a matter of few days, all the non-COVID health care service will resume once the healthcare professionals are vaccinated,” he says. “I too have been vaccinated and there is no side effect.”

6.32 pm: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says that in case of any adverse event from the coronavirus vaccine, “whether severe or serious” the cost of treatment would be borne by authorities, reports The Hindu.

6.27 pm: United Kingdom’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock went into self-isolation on Tuesday after he revealed he had been pinged an alert by the National Health Service Covid19 app overnight that he had been in close contact with somebody who has tested positive, reports PTI.

6.21 pm: Delhi records 231 new coronavirus cases, 222 discharges, and 10 deaths in 24 hours, reports ANI, citing a health department bulletin. The total number of cases go up to 6,32,821, including 2,334 active cases. The toll in the Capital rises to 10,764.

5.37 pm: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan responds to social media users’ reaction to Bharat Biotech’s declaration on Covaxin. “Highly deplorable to over-react, entice fear and spread misinformation without performing an iota of due diligence,” he tweets. “These facts have been in public domain since the beginning.”

Also read:

Coronavirus: Those with fever, allergies shouldn’t take Covaxin, says Bharat Biotech in fact sheet

5.30 pm: NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul says a nasal vaccine candidate has been identified. “It has come for consideration for phase 1 and phase 2 trials. If it works then it could be a game-changer,” he adds, according to ANI.

5.26 pm: Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Punjab needs to improve and increase their vaccination coverage, says Union health secretary.

5.17 pm: The Union health ministry says the concerns related to adverse effects and serious problems due to Covid-19 vaccination “as of now seem to be insignificant”, reports ANI. “Data show that we are in a comfortable situation and we would like to reassure you that the two Covid-19 vaccines are safe,” a ministry official adds.

5.09 pm: Paul adds that we would not be fulfilling “our societal responsibility” if an assigned vaccine is not being taken. “The whole world is clamouring for the vaccine,” he says, according to ANI. “I request the doctors and nurses to accept the vaccine.”

5.08 pm: NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul says: “We would like to reassure with the data we have seen that the two Covid-19 vaccines are safe. The vaccine hesitancy should end. How will we defeat the pandemic then?”

4.55 pm: India has vaccinated the highest number of people in the world on the first day of vaccination, says the Centre. India had vaccinated 2,07,229 people on the first day.

4.53 pm: The Centre says 4,54,049 people have been vaccinated against the coronavirus so far. It says 0.18% adverse events were reported after the immunisation programme and 0.002% of people were hospitalised. The government stresses that these figures are fairly low and the lowest so far in the world in the first three days of the inoculation.

4.50 pm: Only Kerala and Maharashtra are the states with more than 50,000 active cases, says the health ministry.

4.48 pm: The health ministry says India’s cumulative positivity rate is 5.63%, adding that the positivity rate last week was recorded at 1.99%.

4.45 pm: The health ministry is briefing the media about the coronavirus situation in India and the vaccination programme.

4.30 pm: Amid a low turnout of healthcare workers on the first two days of the coronavirus vaccination drive, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain says the exercise is voluntary. He adds that it is a “personal decision” whether to get vaccinated or not, but all efforts are being made to boost their confidence.

Nearly 3,600 healthcare workers were inoculated in Delhi on Monday, a drop in the figures compared to that on the opening day of the immunisation drive. Citing sources, PTI reports that just eight medical staff got vaccinated at AIIMS.

“The target of the day in Delhi was 8,136, and 3,598 got vaccinated, which is 44% of the targeted figure,” Jain tells reporters.

4.28 pm: Haryana health department officials say that there were some minor technical glitches in CoWin app at some places in the state, but it has not stopped the coronavirus vaccination drive from achieving a good coverage in last two days, according to PTI.

4.25 pm: Odisha’s coronavirus caseload rises to 3,33,566 as 122 more people tested positive for infection, while one more fatality pushes the toll to 1,902, reports PTI.

2.44 pm: Home Minister Amit Shah says around 8,000 personnel have been infected with Covid-19 infected, and 30 succumbed to it, reports ANI. “Still, Delhi Police kept at it,” Shah adds. “They inspected areas during lockdown via drones, helped elderly, pregnant women and Covid-infected people alike. The phase will be inscribed in golden words in history of Delhi Police.”

2.37 pm: The Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors has demanded the state administration to allow healthcare workers to choose the Covid-19 vaccine that will be administered to them, reports The Indian Express.

2.35 pm: Drug firm Bharat Biotech has received a Letter of Comfort from the central government for 45 lakh more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine, named Covaxin, PTI reported, citing sources. More than eight lakh of these doses may be supplied to a few neighbouring countries as gesture of goodwill.

2.31 pm: The Delhi High Court has been informed that the state government has reduced the reservation of Covid-19 intensive care unit beds in private hospitals to 25%, from 40% earlier, reports PTI.

1.58 pm: The coronavirus cases in Lakshadweep Islands rises to 14, reports PTI. The state remained insulated from the infection till Monday, since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country nearly a year ago.

1.50 pm: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is seeking assistance from India for the provision of Covid-19 vaccines as the country has produced its own vaccine which is scheduled to be rolled out to more than 300 million Indians this year, reports local newspaper The Phnom Penh Post.

Hun requests India to donate Covid-19 because even with the vaccines given by China, Cambodia would still need millions of additional doses to protect the whole country.

1.46 pm: Tamil Nadu schools open for class 10 and 12 in Madurai, reports ANI. Schools opened all across the state after a gap of over nine months.

11.33 am: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asks Pfizer to directly sell its vaccine doses to the state, Reuters reports. “With hospitalizations and deaths increasing across the country this winter, we are in a footrace with the virus, and we will lose unless we dramatically increase the number of doses getting to New Yorkers”, he says in a letter to the company’s chief executive officer.

However, Pfizer says that such a proposal will have to be approved by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

11.30 am: Maharashtra will resume its vaccination drive on Tuesday, PTI reports. It had been suspended because of technical glitches in the Co-WIN application.

11.24 am: India will send 20 lakh doses of Serum Institute’s Covishield vaccine to Bangladesh, The Indian Express reports.

11.21 am: Serum Institute of India ships 30 boxes of its vaccine from Pune to Hyderabad, ANI reports.

11.19 am: Schools in Tamil Nadu reopen for classes 10 and 12 after a gap of more than nine months, ANI reports.

11.15 am: United States President-elect Joe Biden’s administration dismisses outgoing President Donald Trump’s announcement that coronavirus-related travel ban on passengers from Europe and Brazil will be lifted.

9.51 am: Bharat Biotech says in its vaccine fact-sheet that a person should not get inoculated if they have fever or allergies.

9.42 am: India reports 10,064 new cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 1,05,81,837. This is the lowest daily count in seven months, according to NDTV.

The country’s toll rose by 137 to 1,52,556. The daily death count is the lowest in about eight months. India’s active cases stood at 2,00,528, while the number of recoveries reached 1,02,28,753.

9.28 am: A 108-year-old Italian woman receives a coronavirus vaccine shot in Milan, AFP reports.

9.25 am: The coronavirus variant detected in South Africa is 50% more contagious than the earlier versions, AFP reports, citing experts. However, there is no proof of it being more deadly.

9.22 am: Anuradha Gupta, the deputy chief executive officer of the GAVI vaccine alliance, says it will supply 200 million (20 crore) doses to India for first phase of its inoculation drive, Hindustan Times reports.

9.14 am: All India Institute of Medical Sciences Director Dr Randeep Guleria says too much information and social media posts about the adverse effects of the vaccines have made people more hesitant about getting inoculated, Hindustan Times reports.

9.11 am: Lakshadweep Islands on Monday reported its first coronavirus case, nearly a year after the outbreak of the disease, according to PTI.

9.03 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:

1. The Union health ministry said that a total of 3,81,305 beneficiaries were vaccinated against the coronavirus in 7,704 sessions as of Monday at 5 pm. It added that 580 adverse cases had been reported so far. Two people died after getting inoculated but the government said it was not linked to the vaccine.
   
2. The World Health Organization said that the world was on the brink of a “catastrophic moral failure” on distributing Covid-19 vaccines, and urged countries and manufacturers to share doses more fairly.
3. An expert panel investigating the global pandemic response concluded that the World Health Organization and Beijing could have acted faster when the coronavirus was first detected in China.
4. All districts courts of Delhi resumed physical hearings on alternate days. They will continue virtual hearing on the other days.