Fifty-one lakh people in Delhi — comprising healthcare staff, frontline workers, people with co-morbidities, and those aged above 50 — will be administered Covid-19 vaccine in the first phase, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday. 

The Delhi government’s plan is in line with the recommendations made by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of Covid-19 (NEGVAC). Kejriwal said Delhi has made all arrangements to receive and store vaccine doses.

India reported 24,712 cases reported on Wednesday, taking the coronavirus infections tally to 1.01 crore. Of these, 2.83 lakh are currently active. As many as 312 deaths were reported on Wednesday, the toll has reached 1.46 lakh. Kerala, among the fastest-growing states in India, is still reporting more than 6,000 cases a day.

In other news, five Covid-positive flyers from the UK went untraceable after landing at the Delhi airport on Tuesday. While three of them were traced by Tuesday night and admitted to Lok Nayak hospital in the capital, one managed to reach Ludhiana while another reached Andhra Pradesh before they were brought back on Wednesday, The Indian Express has learnt.

Meanwhile, a new potentially more infectious variant of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has been found in Britain in cases linked to South Africa, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said. South Africa’s health department said last week that a new genetic mutation of the virus had been discovered and might be responsible for a recent surge in infections there.

BDST: 1512 HRS, DEC 24, 2020
SMS