Prime Minister Modi held a key meeting today to review the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country via video conferencing. Top officials are said to be present in the meeting.
After the meeting the PMO informed that "PM expressed satisfaction at the rising speed of vaccinations in this week and stressed that it is important to carry this momentum forward."
New Delhi reported on 85 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest one-day rise in 2021. The national capital recorded nine fatalities and 158 recoveries.
Meanwhile, fifty-one cases of Delta variant of COVID-19 have been found in 12 states across India with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of caseload at 22, according to the government, reported PTI.
India reported 48,698 new COVID-19 cases, 64,818 recoveries, and 1,183 deaths on Saturday, as per the Union Health Ministry.
Bengal Issues Guidelines for Private Vaccination Camps
Days after a fake vaccination racket was busted in Kolkata, the West Bengal health department on Saturday issued a detailed guideline to control and monitor Covid vaccination camps (CVCs) organised by private entities across the state.
The fake vaccination racket came to light after actor-turned-Trinamool Congress MP Chakraborty lodged a complaint suspecting that a camp in Kasba where she took the vaccine shot was fake. She found the camp suspicious when she received no official confirmation after taking the vaccine on Wednesday.
Debanjan Deb, the man who conducted the dubious vaccine camps impersonating as a Joint Commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, has been arrested.
The seven-page guidelines issued by the health department specifically mentioned that all camps other than the ones directly organised by the state government will need to take prior permission of the state health department and fix a nodal officer so that the health department can directly communicate with him/her regarding the vaccination camp.
Kerala Sees No Respite as Daily COVID Cases Keep Soaring
The COVID-19 situation continued to be grim in Kerala on Saturday, with 12,118 people testing positive in the last 24 hours, health officials said.
The test positivity rate (TPR) in the state continued to hover over 10 per cent, the officials added.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement that the TPR for the day was 10.66 after 12,118 tested positive in the last 24 hours, while the active cases in the state climbed to 1,01,102.
Meanwhile, 118 more patients have succumbed to Covid, pushing the toll to 12,817.
PM Modi Holds Meet to Review Progress of Vaccination Drive
Prime Minister Modi held a key meeting today to review the progress of the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
Top officials are said to be present in the meeting.
After the meeting the PMO informed that "PM expressed satisfaction at the rising speed of vaccinations in this week and stressed that it is important to carry this momentum forward."
PM Modi asked the officials to "ensure that the pace of testing does not go down as testing remains a very important weapon to track and contain rising infections in any region".
PM Modi also asked the officials to make all efforts to help all countries with India’s rich tech expertise in the form of Cowin platform.
Need More Data on Combining 2 COVID-19 Vaccines: Dr Randeep Guleria
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Saturday, 26 June that while mixing doses of two different vaccines might increase its efficacy against COVID-19, more data was needed to check its safety.
"Fighting more infectious variants like Delta Plus and Delta is possible through mixing two different Covid-19 vaccines. However, more data is required before a final approval is given to combine two vaccines," Dr Guleria told NDTV.