New Delhi: Three hundred and sixteen days after Delhi detected its first Coronavirus patient, officially starting the outbreak in the Capital, the first doses of a vaccine for the virus landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Tuesday morning.
The 2.64 lakh doses of Oxford Institute and Serum Institute's Covishield vaccine were then taken to the central cold storage facility at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) here, through a green corridor facilitated by the Delhi Police, amid high security.
An official at the hospital said 22 boxes, each containing 1,200 vials of the Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine, were delivered to the hospital Tuesday afternoon. Each vial of 5 milliliters has 10 doses, he said.
A SpiceJet flight carrying the vials landed at the Delhi airport around 10 am on Tuesday, four days ahead of the launch of a nationwide drive against the coronavirus.
"Controlled facility, ranging from -20 Deg C to +25 Deg C, at our two Cargo terminals can efficiently and safely handle these temperature-sensitive vaccines," a DIAL official said, adding, "Both our terminals can handle around 5.7 million vials in a day."
"We have synergized and collaborated with all the stakeholders including exporters, importers, logistics companies, freight forwarders, agents, government, airlines, cargo terminal operators, to ensure faster turnaround of the vaccines." CEO-DIAL Video Kumar Jaipuriar said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Amit Sharma said that they have heightened security at the hospital premises and police personnel are deployed at strategic locations. "We have asked hospital authority to install CCTV cameras both inside and outside of the place where the vaccines are stored," he told Millennium Post. According to one official, police have set up a three-layer security cover to ensure the safety of the vaccine and also told the hospital authority to properly check those persons who are entering the room where vaccines are kept. "Hospital staff will check whether the person who wants to enter the room is entitled to enter or not," the official said.
From RGSSH, the vaccine will be transported in a special vehicle under heavy security to the vaccination centres.
The Delhi government has identified 89 sites in the national capital, including 40 government and 49 private hospitals, for the first phase of the immunisation drive meant for about three lakh healthcare workers.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Safdarjung Hospital, LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital, Apollo Hospitals and Max Hospital will be among the vaccination centres here.
The vaccination roll-out is expected to be kicked off from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital on January 16 with a simple
ceremony in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Health Minister Satyendar Jain, sources said.
Meanwhile,Delhi recorded 386 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and the positivity rate remained much below one per cent, authorities said. This is also for the ninth time that the daily case count stood below the 500-mark in January. The infection tally in the city stood at 6.3 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,707 with 16 new fatalities, the authorities said. The active cases tally on Tuesday dropped to 3,179 from 3,354 the previous day, while the COVID-19 positivity rate was recorded at 0.51 per cent.
With inputs from Aaisha Sabir