A person walks past crowd management barriers at a near-empty Covid-19 vaccination center at the BKC NESCO jumbo Covid centre in the Bombay Kurla Complex (BKC) district of Mumbai on May 12, 2021. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
5 years ago
May 14, 2021
Active cases of Covid-19 in India rose snapping two-day drop as the nation's hospitals remain overwhelmed by the world's fastest spreading outbreak amid a vaccine shortage.
India has increased the gap between two doses of Covishield, the Oxford-Astrazeneca Plc's vaccine manufactured in the country by the Serum Institute of India.
Based on available real-life evidence, particularly from the U.K., the Covid-19 working group has agreed to increase dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between the two doses of Covishield, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Thursday. However, no change in interval has been suggested for Covaxin.
This is the second time in the last three months that the dosage interval of Covishield vaccine have been increased. Earlier in March, the gap between the two dosages was widened from from 28 days to six-eight weeks.
India has procured nearly 36 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses so far for its free inoculation programme for those aged 45 and above. While about half of these have been received, the other half is expected to be delivered in the rest of May and June.
VK Paul, member, health at NITI Aayog, said in a briefing on Wednesday that 35.6 crore vaccine doses have been produced for the ongoing vaccination drive.
6.6 crore vaccines doses procured from the PM Cares fund.
Government of India procured 12 crore doses under phase 2; 86% of these received and remaining expected by end of May.
Government of India has procured 16 crore doses under phase 3, to be supplied between May and June.
Apart from this, 16 crore additional doses are in the pipeline under direct procurement by states and private hospitals. That will take total vaccine supply to 51.6 crore till July.
Maharashtra has slapped additional restrictions while extending the existing curbs till June 1 to contain the second surge of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is the second such extension on restrictions announced by the state since April 20.
According to a state government order, additional restrictions include:
Any person entering Maharashtra must carry a RT-PCR negative report obtained 48 hours before entry.
Cargo vehicles entering Maharashtra may operate with a driver and one other person, after getting RT-PCR negative report obtained 48 hours before entry.
Local disaster management authority must keep close vigil of rural markets and APMCs to ensure Covid appropriate behaviour is followed.
On a case-by-case basis, local DMA may decide to impose further restrictions on these markets or shut them down.
Milk collection, transport and processing to be allowed without restrictions, but retail sales will continue to adhere to rules on shops and home delivery imposed right now.
Personnel engaged in airport and port services and needed for moving cargo related to medicines or equipment needed for Covid management to be allowed to travel in local, mono and metro services.
Local DMA may call for further restrictions generally or to specific sectors after giving 48 hours notice.
Children aged 12 to 15 years old can safely take the vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, according to a group of medical experts. Mixing AstraZeneca Plc’s and Pfizer Inc.’s vaccines increased side effects such as fatigue and headaches among patients, University of Oxford researchers said.
Global cases top 160 million, with deaths exceed 3.3 million. More than 1.36 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide.
