89 vaccination centres readied for 1st phase: Jain; 399 fresh cases reported

Update: 2021-01-10 19:26 GMT

New Delhi: As India prepares to give its residents the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine from January 16, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said the Delhi government had finalised 89 sites to roll out the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Meanwhile, Delhi reported 399 fresh cases of COVID-19 as the daily positivity rate slipped to 0.51 per cent.

"The Centre has finalised around 5,000 sites across the country. As per the directions of the central government, we have finalised 89 hospitals as vaccination sites. The first phase of vaccination will start from January 16," Jain said, adding that of these 89 centres, 40 will be government ones and 49 will be private.

The Health Minister went on to say, "The first batch of vaccines will arrive by Tuesday or Wednesday. In the first phase, health care workers will be vaccinated. Thereafter, frontline workers and those aged above 50 will be given the doses." He added that teachers will be counted as frontline workers.

As of Sunday evening, the case tally in the city had gone past 6.30 lakh and the death toll due to the viral disease had mounted to 10,678, they said.

The tally of active cases dropped to 3,468 from 3,683 the previous day, while the positivity rate was recorded at 0.51 per cent.

Jain said the city has been witnessing less than 1,000 fresh cases per day for the last 15 days.

"The COVID-19 situation in Delhi has improved a lot and it is now under control," he said.

There will be one COVID-19 vaccination centre each in every hospital and around 10 health care staff will be deployed at each centre, as per the Delhi government's inoculation plan.

"We are fully prepared to roll out the vaccination programme. We will administer the vaccine as soon as the doses arrive," he said.

The minister said the Delhi government has already requested the Centre to provide vaccines free of cost.

The 399 new cases on Sunday came out of the 77,600 tests conducted the previous day, including 45,116 RT-PCR tests and 32,484 rapid-antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

According to the bulletin, of the total number of 12,115 beds in COVID hospitals, 10,677 are vacant.

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