New Delhi
Over one million citizens have registered themselves on the Co-WIN portal till 1 pm on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said as India opened up vaccination for those over 60 years and within the age bracket of 45 to 59 years with specified comorbidities.
As the registration on the www.cowin.gov.in opened up at 9 am on Monday, people took to social media to flag glitches in the registration system.
The third phase of the drive turned into a chaos after the CoWIN portal kept shutting down intermittently while processing the inoculation exercise. It resulted into hours long delay for those who came early for registration on-site and even those who self-registered through the portal.
However, the ministry in the afternoon clarified the Co-WIN app on Play Store is meant for use only by the administrators, and that registration and booking for appointment for COVID-19 vaccination has to be done through the portal www.cowin.gov.in.
"Registration and booking for appointment for #COVID19 vaccination is to be done through #CoWIN Portal: www.cowin.gov.in.
"There is no #CoWIN App for beneficiary registration. The App on Play Store is for administrators only," the ministry tweeted.
Virus cases jump
The active Covid-19 cases continue to rise in India with 4116 cases reported in the past 24 hours to push up the cumulative total of 1,68,627 which is 1.52% of 1.11 crore positive cases.
Maharashtra tops with as many as 4,478 active cases while other states with significant number of active cases are: Punjab 196, Madhya Pradesh 119, Karnataka 166, and Gujarat 105.
There were 106 fatalities in the past 24 hours, with Maharashtra accounting for 62 of them, followed by Kerala 15 and Punjab 7. As many as 19 out of 36 states/Union Territories had no death in the last one day.
As many as 15,510 persons were detected with the positive symptoms in 24 hours in the tests conducted on 6.28 lakh. As many as 21.69 crore persons have been tested so far.
The country's Covid-19 recovery rate on Monday reached 97.07%, with 11,288 patients recovered in 24 hours up to 8 AM. The total number of recoveries has gone up to 1.08 crore.
One jab of Pfizer or Oxford-AstraZeneca offers 90% protection: Report
Just one vaccine shot reduces the risk of being hospitalised by Covid-19 by more than 90%, according to new findings, Daily Mail reported. Public health officials have told Ministers in the UK the remarkable results apply for both the Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with the British jab proving slightly more effective, it said.
The new one-dose vaccination figures were calculated by comparing Covid hospitalisation rates in those who have received their first dose with those of a similar age who haven't. The report said it helps to explain why the numbers being hospitalised are falling so rapidly in the oldest age groups.
Deaths among over-75s have dropped by 40%, while the number of over-85s being admitted to ICUs with Covid has dropped to zero. The strong results for the Oxford vaccine are a rebuke to the German authorities, which last month advised against its use in the over-65s, it said. The vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is very effective at preventing recipients becoming seriously ill, a new analysis shows.
Vaccine sidelights
Netas get a shot
As the vaccination programme got underway amid hopes it would help control the uptick in Covid-19 cases in several states, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Union ministers Amit Shah and S Jaishankar, his Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Governor of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu Kalraj Mishra and Banwarilal Purohit respectively, Infosys co-founders N R Narayanamurthy and Kris Gopalakrishnan were among the noted personalties who received their shots.
Nitish leads Bihar
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who turned 70, got a Covid-19 vaccine shot at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna on Monday morning. After spending 30 minutes in the observation room, the CM said, “There was no adverse effect of the jab. Every citizen in the state would be vaccinated free of cost.” His deputies Renu Devi and Tarkeshwar Prasad, education minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and energy minister Brijendra Prasad Yadav were also administered first doses of vaccine. All the legislators will get their doses during the budget session. Union Law, Justice and IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad will reach Patna on Tuesday morning to get the first dose. —Law Kumar Mishra
"Politicians are known to be very thick-skinned. Are you (nurses) planning to use some special thick needle for me? —PM Modi
