New Delhi / Ranchi / Jaipur
India has become the fastest country in the world to reach the 4 million COVID-19 vaccination mark, achieving this feat in 18 days, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
More than 41 lakh beneficiaries have been administered shots under the countrywide exercise till morning. "As on February, 1, India was among the top five countries in terms of number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to people.
India continues to undertake its vaccination drive at a fast pace," the ministry highlighted.
The country witnessed a slight jump in 11,039 new Covid-19 cases and 110 deaths in the past 24 hours, but the recoveries at 14,225 were still better than the new cases as the recovery rate touched 97.08%, with 1.046 crore cumulative recoveries since March as against 1,078 crore total infections. 14 states and UTs have not reported any deaths in 24 hours including Arunachal, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Ladakh (UT), Sikkim, Manipur, Puducherry, Goa, Odisha and Assam.
Jharkhand health worker dies
A health worker has died 36 hours after being administered vaccine in Jharkhand, officials said on Wednesday.
The health worker, Mannu Pahan, was administered the Covishield vaccine at his workplace Medanta Hospital on February 1 and he died on Tuesday night, the private medical establishment's CEO Dr Pankaj Sahni said.
Though 52-year-old Pahan did not have comorbidities, the cause of his death is being investigated, he said.
After being administered the vaccine, Pahan returned to his village in Ormanjhi near Ranchi and even came to work on February 2. He fell ill in his village on Tuesday night and died while being taken to the hospital, Dr Ajit Prasad, nodal officer for the vaccination in the state, said.
Raj schools from Feb 8
With further decline in Coid-19 cases, the Rajasthan government has decided to reopen schools for classes 6 to 8 from February 8 with strict Covid guidelines including reduced school timings and voluntary attendance.
The school education department issued guidelines and standard operating procedures on Tuesday. The timings have been reduced by 1.5 hours. The classes will be held from 10.30am to 3pm. The regular timing of these classes is 10am to 4pm.
Virus Tidbits
-- more students of Punjab school test positive, total 19
-- Telangana Guv’s husband takes the shot
-- Cong workers in Kerala booked for violating guidelines
-- Bengal govt allows reopening of sporting complexes, stadiums, swimming pools
-- Morena 1st MP district with no active Covid-19 case: Official
