Coronavirus LATEST Updates: NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul urged people to come forward to get vaccinated and stressed that public compliance for COVID-19 appropriate behaviour cannot be diluted

As per an official, samples of 390 teachers, staff members and students were taken after schools reopened recently, out of which the report of 54 students came out positive in Karnal’s Kunjpura Sainik school

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said that although certain states in the country like Maharashtra and Kerala have seen a surge in the number of active cases, the fact remains that the recovered cases are more than 97%

Giving the overall vaccination statistics, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that in total 1.48 crore doses have been dispensed in the same time frame

The Union defence minister tweeted that India’s resolve for making the country ‘COVID free’ has been strengthened by the inoculation drive. “The vaccine is completely safe and hassle-free,” he said

Asked whether there will be any shortage of doses in Maharashtra as the vaccination drive is being scaled up, state immunisation officer Dr Dilip Patil told PTI that the Centre is releasing a sufficient number of doses to the state

Five states account for 84.16% of the active COVID-19 cases, while six states and UTs have a weekly positivity rate higher than the national average of 2 percent, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday

The study comes as France and Germany consider reversing their refusal to authorise the AstraZeneca vaccine for those over the age of 65 due to concerns of its efficacy.

A total of 1,57,248 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 52,184 from Maharashtra, followed by 12,501 from Tamil Nadu, 12,336 from Karnataka and 10,911 from Delhi.

The Union health ministry on Tuesday said that the single-daily surge in coronavirus infection was witnessed in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

The Union health minister was administered the vaccine shot at Delhi Heart & Lung Institute in New Delhi. Vardhan was innoculated along with his wife.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 21,76,18,057 samples for COVID-19 have been tested up to 1 March. Of the total, 7,59,283 samples were tested on Monday alone.

India’s active COVID-19 cases stand at 1,68,358, while 1,07,98,921 people have recovered from the infection so far, said Union health ministry on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 toll was increased to 1.57 lakh after 91 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, said the Union health ministry on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine — he got his first dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin at AIIMS, New Delhi, early Monday morning.

A total of 1,28,630 beneficiaries over 60 years of age and 18,850 aged 45 and above with co-morbidities took the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Monday, according to a provisional report of the Union Health Ministry as the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 1.47 crore.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on 16 January with the inoculation of healthcare workers, while the vaccination of the frontline workers (FLWs) started from 2 February.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from Monday for those over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 1.47 crore on Monday, the ministry said.

The ministry said that 25 lakh potential beneficiaries registered on the Co-Win portal — cowin.gov.in since the registration opened up at 9 am on Monday.

Out of this, 24.5 lakh are citizens and the rest are HCWs and FLWs. About 6.44 lakh appointments were booked by the citizen beneficiaries on Monday.

“A total of 1,47,28,569 vaccine doses have been given, as per the provisional report till Monday 7 pm. These include 66,95,665 HCWs who have taken the 1st dose and 25,57,837 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 53,27,587 FLWs (1st dose), 1,28,630 beneficiaries more than 60 years old and 18,850 beneficiaries aged 45 and above with specific co-morbidities,” the ministry said.

It further said that 4,27,072 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Monday, the forty-fifth day of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination.

Out of these, 3,25,485 beneficiaries were vaccinated for first dose and 1,01,587 HCWs received the second dose of the vaccine as per the provisional report, the ministry said, adding the final report would be completed for the day by late night.

Vaccines provided at government health facilities are entirely free of cost, while private facilities cannot charge the beneficiary a sum above Rs 250 per person per dose (Rs 150 for vaccines and Rs100 as operational charges).

Citizens can register and book an appointment for vaccination, anytime and anywhere, using the Co-WIN 2.0 portal cowin.gov.in or through other IT applications such as Aarogya Setu.

There is also a walk-in provision for beneficiaries to get themselves registered at the nearby session site to get vaccinated.

The eligible beneficiaries can choose the centre of their choice and book an appointment based on the slots available.

Citizens can register at the Co-WIN portal through their mobile number, according to a guidance document issued by the ministry.

An OTP verification will be done prior to registration to ensure veracity of the mobile number and after registration, an account will be created on Co-WIN for the person.

The person can access (login) his/her account on Co-WIN using the mobile phone number used at the time of registration.

Features for adding beneficiaries, editing their details and for booking appointment(s) will be available in the citizen’s account, the document stated.

The citizen can delete only the beneficiaries as have been added by him/her.

“If one out of the four beneficiaries registered in an account is vaccinated, only three registrations are left, and so on.

“Till the time of vaccination, all the records of registration and appointment can be edited/deleted by the person making the registration. Only when a person gets vaccinated, the record is locked and cannot be edited/deleted,” the document stated.

The beneficiary then has to select the ID card type and provide ID card number.

The photo ID card number for each such beneficiary must be different. Either of the following photo identity documents can be used by citizens for availing online registration — Aadhaar card/letter, Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), passport, driving license, PAN card, NPR smart card or pension document with a photograph.

If the age of the beneficiary is from 45 years to 59 years, the beneficiary will be prompted to confirm if he/she has any specified comorbidity. In such cases, the beneficiary will also be advised to bring the comorbidity certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner.

Once all the necessary details are recorded by the beneficiary, registration is completed and an acknowledgement (registration slip/token) is sent to beneficiary on his registered mobile number. The facility for downloading and printing etc. has also been made available.