Govt says next 4 weeks critical, but no shots for all as of now

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 6

As the Covid-19 surge continued unabated and the daily cases touched 96,982 on Tuesday, the Centre said the next four weeks would be critical for controlling the pandemic in India even as Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh remain top areas of concern among 11 high-burden states.

Centre tells staff above 45 to get vax

The Department of Personnel & Training on Tuesday issued an order advising all Central Government employees aged 45 years and above to get doses of Covid-19 vaccine as early as possible — TNS

Night curfew in Delhi, Chandigarh

Delhi and Chandigarh have joined the growing number of states to impose night curfew (10 pm to 5 am) in view of the surge. In the Capital, the curfew came into force from Tuesday, while in the UT it will be imposed from Wednesday.

Farm stir, local poll behind Punjab surge

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the surge in Punjab was mainly event-driven with marriages, local body poll and farmers’ agitation playing their part. He said this at a virtual interaction with 11 high-burden states.

Aim is to protect vulnerable lot

The basic aim is to reduce death through vaccination… the aim for any country is to protect those who are the most vulnerable. The aim is never to administer the vaccine to those who want it but to those who need it. — Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary

The Centre is focusing on aggressive containment in 50 districts of the three most-affected states, including nine in Punjab, where Central teams reached today to start daily reporting of testing, treatment and tracking data.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a review meeting with his counterparts in 11 states of concern (Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat, MP, TN, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Chandigarh) and told them that the pandemic situation could still be salvaged with the implementation of Covid-appropriate behaviour and basic strategies of test, track and treat that helped India reduce daily cases to a low of 8,635 on February 2.

“If winning strategies are implemented seriously, cases will drop as fast as they rose,” Vardhan said, adding that “people abdicated protocols with impunity”.

The government today also said the ongoing “Covid vaccine for all adults” debate had no scientific rationale and no research had yet shown that the expansion of jabs could induce greater herd immunity.

“All we know is that the currently available vaccines prevent mortality and severity of disease, which is why all nations have prioritised vaccine strategies. Trivialisation of the vaccination issue will put us off track. We must accept the current national strategy and focus on removing vaccine hesitancy among eligible groups, achieving 100 per cent coverage,” NITI

Aayog member (Health) VK Paul said on a day when India administered record 43 lakh doses among 8, 31,10,926 cumulative doses so far, much faster than any other nation.

Although Paul said the US, UK, Australia and Switzerland had all chosen to vaccinate the vulnerable and elderly and no nation had yet covered under 50 people (India is covering 45 plus), New York today expanded the jab for 16 to 29-year-olds.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan shared vaccine strategies of western nations saying, “Covid vaccine is finite. It has two goals – preventing deaths and protecting health systems. It has to be given to those in need; not to those desirous of it.”The clarifications came as the Indian Medical Association wrote to the PM to expand vaccines to all above 18 years and the Maharashtra CM asked for the eligible age group to be lowered to 23.