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Tamil Nadu to ramp up vaccination drive as total Covid cases go over 8,62,000
Tamil Nadu started its first phase of the vaccination drive from January 16 - along with the Centre - to administer jabs to all healthcare and frontline workers.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced expanding the Covid-19 vaccination drive. The doses of the vaccine will now be administered at mini-clinics, primary healthcare centres and special temporary hospitals set up by the government, according to news agency ANI.
The decision has been taken amid a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases. Tamil Nadu on Wednesday reported 945 fresh coronavirus disease cases, eight related fatalities taking the caseload and death toll to 8,62,374 and 12,564 respectively, the state health department’s bulletin showed. The active cases in the state have climbed to 5,811 while almost 8,44,000 people have recovered so far.
Wednesday’s case count is the highest since early January as the state has been witnessing an upward trend in its daily cases since the first week of March. The state government has attributed this surge to people not following the Covid-appropriate behaviour and shunning masks.
Chennai continues to be the worst-hit in the state and is leading the infection and death figures in the state. The capital city added 395 news cases and five related fatalities on Wednesday. Other districts such as Thiruvallur, Tiruppur, Thanjavur and Coimbatore are also seeing a fresh surge in cases.
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Tamil Nadu started its first phase of the vaccination drive from January 16 - along with the Centre - to administer jabs to all healthcare and frontline workers. The second phase, which rolled out from March 1, is seeing the inoculation of people above 60 years of age and those between 45-59 years with specific comorbidities. A total of 17,18,313 beneficiaries have been vaccinated in the state so far of which 15,44,770 beneficiaries have been administered the first dose and the remaining 1,73,543 have been given the second dose as well, the Union health ministry’s update at 7am showed.
On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu health secretary J Radhakrishnan said the state government had urged the Centre to bring down the age limit of vaccination - from 60 to 50 years and above in order to vaccinate a larger number of people. “We appeal to those engaged in public activity and are above the age of 45 with co- morbidity to get vaccinated”, Radhakrishnan added while addressing reporters after he had reviewed the coronavirus ward at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai, according to PTI.
This comment of the health secretary comes after Tamil Nadu chief secretary Rajeev Ranjan and other senior officials had taken part in a virtual meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the country’s overall Covid-19 situation.
