Over 17K doses administered across Delhi jails; Capital sees 37 new cases & 0 deaths

New Delhi: A total of 17,362 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to the inmates of three jails in the national Capital so far, the Delhi Prisons Department said on Sunday. By Saturday, 11,844 inmates of Tihar jail had been jabbed, with 9,028 of them getting their first and 2,816 their second doses.

In Rohini jail, 1,073 inmates — 885 first dose and 188 second dose — were administered the vaccine, while in Mandoli jail, 2794 inmates got their first, and 1,651 second dose, according to the data.

The prisons department launched a Covid vaccination drive for inmates over 45 years of age on March 18, while the inoculation of inmates in the 18-44-age group began on May 18. Since March this year, about 383 coronavirus cases have been reported among inmates of these jails with eight of them succumbing. A total of 225 prison staff members caught virus at some point since March with no casualty in the group.

The jail authorities are taking all precautions and following Covid-appropriate behaviour, including social distancing among the inmates, a senior jail official said.

The official said that over 4000 inmates were released from the three jails this year.

We started the process of releasing inmates from the second week of May. Around 3,800 under-trial prisoners were released on interim bail and around 840 convicts were released on emergency parole from the prisons, he said. These include inmates who were released last year and surrendered with no adverse report, and also new prisoners who were eligible for interim bail or emergency parole in view of the pandemic, as per the criteria laid down by a high-powered committee on May 4 and May 11.

Delhi on Sunday recorded zero COVID-19 death and 37 fresh cases with a positivity rate of 0.06 per cent, data shared by the city's health department showed. The death toll stands at 25,091. The number of active cases decreased to 320 on Sunday from 334 a day before.