Jabs deferred as Centre makes signing of consent forms must

Kolkata: The State Health department has deferred the distribution of Covaxin after the Centre announced that those who would receive it would be required to sign a consent form.

This has triggered confusion among the people. The senior health officials will hold a meeting to take a decision in this regard. A senior health official said that they are yet to decide what would be done with Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. The same is not however mandatory for Covishield.

Meanwhile, Covid infection in a single day further dropped on Sunday as the number touched 389. On Saturday there were around 410 fresh Covid cases across the state.

The total infected cases have gone up to 5,68,103 out of which 5,51,665 patients have already been released from hospitals. The recovery rate in Bengal has reached 97.11 percent.

As many as 25,207 samples have been tested in the past 24 hours taking the total number of tests to 78,33,289 so far. The percentage of positive cases out of sample tested dropped at 7.25 on Sunday. Bengal on Sunday registered around 87,037 tests per million populations.

Around 8 people died of Covid in the past 24 hours taking the total toll to 10,115 till Sunday. Kolkata has so far seen two deaths in the past 24 hours while North 24-Parganas reported 3. Around 3,060 people died of Covid in Kolkata so far. North 24-Parganas has lost 2,455 people so far.

The city has registered 93 fresh cases in the past 24 hours taking the total tally to 1,27,367. North 24-Parganas has so far seen a total 1,21,227 out of which 130 were found positive in the past 24 hours. South 24-Parganas has registered 17 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours. The total number of Covid infected patients in South 24-parganas has gone up 36,876. Hooghly has witnessed 20 Covid cases in the past 24 hours while the total tally from the district reached 29,312. Howrah has so far registered a total 35,448 Covid cases so far out of which 21 have been affected in the past 24 hours.

Around 101 dedicated Covid hospitals and 12,440 earmarked beds are still operational in the state. The State Health department has addressed 15,40,853 out of which around 902 queries were addressed in the last 24 hours. Around 5,69,260 people have received telemedicine consultations in the state till January 23 out of which 518 people have been given consultation in the past 24 hours.