Covid-19: Delhi govt to provide free precautionary jabs at hospitals

"Precaution doses of the same vaccine will be given to the people who have received the first and second doses of the vaccine and who have completed nine months since taking their second dose," the government said in a statement.

The Delhi government announced on Friday that precaution doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will be provided for free at government hospitals in the national capital.

According to the health department's bulletin, authorities have so far administered the precautionary doses to over 52.7 lakh beneficiaries. (PTI file photo. Representative image)

"Precaution doses of the same vaccine will be given to the people who have received the first and second doses of the vaccine and who have completed nine months since taking their second dose," the government said in a statement.

Quoting health minister Satyendar Jain, the statement added that all those people who have still not taken the vaccine or have only taken the first dose should visit their nearest health facility as soon as possible for the complete inoculation.

According to the health department's bulletin, authorities have so far administered the precautionary doses to over 52.7 lakh beneficiaries. Since April 10, all eligible beneficiaries above the age of 18 were allowed to take the dose.

The government's statement comes amid Delhi witnessing an uptick in its daily Covid-19 tally for the past few days, stoking fears of another wave of infections.

On Thursday, Delhi added 325 new Covid-19 cases, which pushed the tally to 18,67,206. Thursday's case count is 26 more than that on Wednesday when 299 cases were reported.

The Covid-19 positivity rate in the national capital has jumped from 0.5% cent to 2.7% in a week, according to news agency PTI. However, doctors said it is not a panicky situation and cautioned against dropping the guard.

The Delhi government too, said that there is no need to panic and it is monitoring the pandemic situation.

On Wednesday, a private school in South Delhi reported two Covid-19 cases- a student and a teacher, resulting in all the classmates of the student being sent home.

A few hours later, the government's directorate of education issued an advisory for all private schools, instructing them to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour such as wearing masks, sanitising hands and maintaining social distancing etc.