More than 54 lakh people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.
Of the 54,16,849 beneficiaries inoculated, the highest number of people were vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh at 6,73,542, followed by Maharashtra at 4,34,943, Rajasthan at 4,14,422 and Karnataka at 3,60,592.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said India is the fastest country to reach the 50 lakh-mark in COVID-19 vaccination in 21 days.
Here are the updates:
New Delhi
Afghanistan gets Covishield vaccine doses from India
Afghanistan received a large consignment of COVID-19 vaccines from India on Sunday. A special Indian aircraft carrying 500,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from Mumbai reached Kabul, where officials of Afghanistan’s Health Ministry took charge of the consignment. The India-made vaccine is the first to reach Afghanistan as the country battles the pandemic.
“Made in India vaccines reach Afghanistan. (We) stand with our friends, always,” External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar said in a social media message after the vaccines arrived in Afghanistan. The vaccine, made by the Serum Institute of India, has already been supplied to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in South Asia.
Ghulam Dastagir Nazari, head of the immunisation programme at the Health Ministry in Kabul, said the vaccines will be kept in storage till the country receives emergency approval from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Tamil Nadu
CM will decide on resuming classes from I-VIII in State, says Education Minister
Classes for IX and XI standard students in Tamil Nadu would resume from Monday while resumption of classes from I and VIII would be decided upon by Chief Minister of the State E Palaniswami, said Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan.
Students should attend the classes by wearing the masks in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and bring an acceptance from parents that they are willing to send their wards to school, he told reporters in Erode.
Already, classrooms have been sprayed with disinfectants, the toilets and other places in the schools been cleaned, he said.
National
India now third topmost country to give highest doses of vaccine
India has become the third topmost country in the world in terms of the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. Only the United States and the United Kingdom remain ahead of India. The ministry said 12 states in India have vaccinated more than 2 lakh beneficiaries each.
Only the United States and the United Kingdom remain ahead of India.
The Ministry said 12 States in India have vaccinated more than 2 lakh beneficiaries each. Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 6,73,542 of all vaccinated beneficiaries.
As of February 7, 8 a.m., a total of 57.75 lakh beneficiaries have received the vaccine under the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination exercise.
Chennai
Schools in Tamil Nadu gear up to reopen for classes 9 and 11 from tomorrow
On Monday, schools across the State will reopen for students of classes 9 and 11. For students of classes 10 and 12 in Tamil Nadu, campuses threw open their gates in January, after nearly 10 months of closure due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
School Education Director S. Kannappan said that schools have been asked to continue implementing the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for COVID-19 safety protocols, issued ahead of the reopening in January. “Additionally we have told schools that do not have enough teachers or classrooms to accommodate their students in smaller batches to explore the option of having classes on alternate days or in a shift system. Schools are permitted to work six days a week,” he said.
Bengaluru
Proud of doctors and paramedics who rose to the challenge during the pandemic, says President
President of India Ram Nath Kovind said that he was proud of the doctors and paramedics who rose to the challenge of COVID-19.
Speaking at the 25th convocation of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Mr. Kovind, the chief guest of the event, said that the pandemic had inflicted unprecedented agony and misery all over globe. He said he was proud of the doctors and paramedics who rose to the challenge, even when it meant a great risk to their own lives. He said the pandemic had taught us to be better prepared to handle a crisis.
Second dose of vaccines to be administered from February 13
India will begin to administer the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — from February 13 for people who were vaccinated on January 16, according to a press statement from the Press Information Bureau quoting Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary.
Mr. Bhushan was addressing a conference involving top bureaucrats, charged with health, from all States. Both vaccines approved in India are to be given 28 days apart, according to the rules governing their dosage.
AstraZeneca thinks shot can stop severe disease from South Africa COVID variant
British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Saturday it believed its COVID-19 vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, could protect against severe disease caused by the South African variant of the virus.
AstraZeneca confirmed that early data from a small trial, first reported by the Financial Times, had shown limited efficacy for the vaccine against mild disease primarily due to this variant.
(With inputs from Agencies)
