Daily cases near 60K, govt plans to widen Covid vaccination drive

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 26

With the country reporting 59,118 new Covid cases on Friday, the Centre rushed teams to Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh, the emerging hotspots after Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka and Gujarat. The government also hinted at widening the scope of vaccination drive.

“The central teams will work with the local administrations to ascertain reasons behind the surge, undertake gap analysis and recommend requisite control and containment measures,” a Health Ministry statement said. Chandigarh has inoculated only 63 per cent of its health workers so far, it noted. The central team to Chandigarh is being led by Vijoy Kumar Singh, Union Additional Secretary along with experts from Ram Manohar Lohia and Safdarjung hospitals in New Delhi.

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The daily caseload today was the highest since October 18 with the active cases going beyond four lakh for the first time in more than three months. Of the 257 deaths today, 111 were reported from Maharashtra and 43 from Punjab.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the Centre was planning to widen the scope of vaccination drive by bringing more population groups under its ambit.

“A few days ago, the government announced that from April 1 all citizens aged 45 years and above, whether having any comorbidity or not, will be eligible to get vaccinated. The government is already planning to widen the umbrella of Covid vaccine beneficiaries soon to cover other sections of the population,” he said.

People have embraced the “Made in India” vaccines, and it is due to this enthusiasm and trust that the country crossed the last one crore vaccination in just under four days, he said. (With PTI inputs)