Covid-19: Over 25K vaccinated as Gurugram picks up pace

The district on Monday reported its highest single-day turnout for vaccination, at 25,005, under the second phase of vaccine roll-out that prioritises people aged above 60 years and those between 45 and 59 having comorbidities, according to the health department data

The district on Monday reported its highest single-day turnout for vaccination, at 25,005, under the second phase of vaccine roll-out that prioritises people aged above 60 years and those between 45 and 59 having comorbidities, according to the health department data.

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“The vaccination drive will continue at the same pace on Tuesday. The attempt is to curb the uptick in Covid-19 cases by vaccinating maximum people among the prioritised groups. The turnout remained low at private hospitals. Therefore, we have asked them to work on mobilising people and increasing their coverage,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

Due to an uptick in coronavirus cases since the first week of March, the union ministry of health and family welfare called for an increase in the vaccination pace, along with testing and tracking new cases.

On Monday, the district reported at least 121 new Covid-19 cases, taking the active case count of 973. The total tally reached 60,828, with a death count of 361.

Given the rising cases, the state health department has designated a mega vaccination drive every Monday. As per the statewide data, over 248,312 people across the state received the shot, of which Gurugram administered the highest number of doses. The district has now administered 160, 253 doses since January 16.

On Monday, over 80% turnout was recorded in more than 100 government facilities, as the district health department, under the mega vaccination drive, focussed on increasing coverage in rural and semi-rural centres.

According to the district health department data, at least 17,794 people above the age of 60 years and 4,132 aged 45 to 59 years with existing illness took the vaccine jab. As many as 1,068 healthcare workers and 2,011 front-line workers also took the vaccine shot at 171 vaccination centres. Among them, at least 20,022 took their shots at government facilities while 4,983 did so at private hospitals.

The health department had set a target of covering 20,000 people in a day but it exceeded the target by 25% due to more vaccination centres in rural areas, said officials. On the first day of the weekly mega vaccination drive last Monday, roughly 10,000 people were inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine in Gurugram.

“Under each primary health centre, at least three subcentres were activated to reach out to people in rural areas who were finding it difficult to reach health centres due to distance. In all likelihood, people from semi-rural and rural blocks turned up in large numbers,” said Yadav, stating that details will be compiled in a day or two.