With less than a week left before India starts its nationwide inoculation drive, the first consignment of Oxford-Astrazena’s Covishield vaccine was dispatched from Pune early Tuesday. 

Three temperature-controlled trucks left for Pune Airport before 5 am from where the vaccines will be delivered across the country. 

Flights ferrying Covid-19 vaccines reached the national capital with the first consignment around 10 am. Another flight destined to Chennai carrying over 7 lakh doses of Covishield has taken off from Pune, carrier GoAir said. Four airlines will operate 9 flights to transport over 56 lakh doses of the vaccine to 13 cities across the country.

India recorded 12,584 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, this is the lowest case spike in seven months. The virus testing on Sunday at 6.59 lakh was also the lowest since the third week of August. Active cases further dropped to 2.16 lakh while over 97 per cent of infected people have recovered. A total of 167 deaths were reported on Monday, taking the death toll to over 1.51 lakh. The number of people who have tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India has climbed to 96, the health ministry said on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said the two approved made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines were more cost-effective than any other in the world, carefully developed as per the needs of the country. Interacting with chief ministers of all states to discuss the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out, Modi said, the cost of vaccination for 3 crore people in the drive’s Phase 1 would be borne by the Centre.

Source: The Indian Express 

BDST: 1640 HRS, JAN 12, 2021
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