No new Covid-19 cases were reported from 188 districts across the country but infections doubled in Maharashtra in the last two days while Gujarat extended night curfew in four major cities amid the coronavirus crisis even as Union Health Ministry said on Monday that those above 50 years of age might get vaccinated from March this year.
Vaccination drive for around 27 crore Indians above the age of 50 will begin three weeks from now, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday.
“Three weeks from now, the government will start giving doses of coronavirus vaccines to 27 crore persons above the age of 50,” he said at a press briefing here. An expert group on vaccination will discuss how to pay for the doses for those above 50, he added.
The vaccination for frontline workers began earlier this month. Commenting on the private healthcare sector’s role in the vaccination process, he said that such facilities and workers were already a part of the drive.
“During emergency use authorisations (EUA), it is the government’s responsibility to keep things under control; open market sales are not part of the EUA,” he added.
The Minister said that no new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the past seven days. India’s total Active Caseload currently stands at 1.39 lakh (1,39,637) on Monday. The active caseload consists of 1.28% of India’s total positive cases as 33 States & UTs have reported less than 5,000 active cases in the last 24 hours. Tripura and Daman & Diu & Dadra & Nagar Haveli currently have only 2 active cases each.
Six States account for 80 per cent of the daily deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (40), composing nearly 44.44 per cent of the daily deaths. Kerala follows with 15 daily deaths and Tamil Nadu reported 6 casualties.
At least, 11,649 new daily cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours with 86.4 per cecnt of the daily new cases are from 6 States. Kerala reports the highest daily new cases at 4,612. It is followed by Maharashtra with 4,092, while Tamil Nadu reported 470 new cases. The Gujarat Government has extended night curview in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara till February 28 to check the spread of Covid-19 infection.
Vardhan emphasised the importance of social distance and appropriate healthcare behaviour amid the pandemic despite falling number of corona cases in the country.
“It is crucial that people continue to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour which I had called a social vaccine, along with the real vaccine,” he quipped.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said that a new flagship programme — Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swastha Bharat Yojana — has been announced in the Union Budget 2021-22. “The Budget refers to a holistic approach toward health and healthcare. Allocation to the health sector for 2020-21 is 1.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product,” the Ministry added.