First Batch of Covid 19 vaccine reaches Delhi
India's inoculation drive is set to begin in less than a week and preparations are in their full swing. The nationwide drive will come into action from 16 January, initially targeting the priority section of the population comprising police, health and frontline workers, people above the age of 50 years and patients in severe condition. The aim of the programme is to reach every individual in minimum time to combat the surge in covid cases. The first batch of Oxford-Astrazena’s Covishield was dispatched from Pune early Tuesday morning. Three temperature-regulating trucks departed for Pune Airport at 5am from where the vaccines were forwarded further.
The first consignment arrived at the National Capital New Delhi around 10am. Another flight which was destined to Chennai ferrying over 7 lakh doses of Covishield took off from Pune as described by GoAir. 478 boxes were loaded in trucks each weighing 32 kg as reported by PTI. Four Airlines scheduled 9 flights facilitating flow of 56 lakh doses of vaccine to 13 cities around India. On January 4, Drug controller of India approved two vaccines developed by Oxford University to be distributed by Serum Institute of India namely Covishield and Bharat Biotech Covaxin. The vaccine will be injected in 2 doses, 28 days apart. A 'puja' and ceremonial rituals were performed to seek blessings from almighty for success of the inoculation drive.
The Civil Aviation authority of India hailed the Nation and tweeted the status of the vaccine. It said that Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo airlines will operate flights carrying vaccines to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Chandigarh. The consignment left by road to Mumbai. The government bought 1.01 crore doses of vaccine initially and plans to buy 5.6 crore doses by April at a rate of Rs 200 per dose. The initial plan of the government is to vaccinate 30 crore people.
India recorded 12,584 new covid cases in the last 24 hours which lies on the lowest spot in the curve. The recovery rate bounced to 97% while active cases dropped to 2.16 lakh. Death toll rose to 1.51 lakh by addition of 168 deaths on Tuesday. The number of patients diagnosed with new covid strain rose to 96 in India.
The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.