Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Thursday held a review with State police, Central armed police forces and home guards seeking a database of all frontline workers who will be eligible for COVID-19 vaccine as and when it is ready.
An estimated one crore frontline health workers will also receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine whenever it becomes available, with around 92 per cent of government hospitals and 55 per cent of private hospitals across all states and UTs providing data identifying the workers.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
National
CBSE exam dates yet to be decided, says Education Minister
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Thursday said the schedule of Class X and XII examinations was yet to be decided by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), but would be announced soon after consulting all stakeholders.
During a virtual interaction with students, parents and teachers, the Minister was asked about the dates for exams as well as their possible postponement. He said the government would examine the suggestion that the IIT-JEE (Main) 2021 was held four times in the year — February, March, April and May 2021.
Delhi
Third wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi ‘on the wane’: Jain
The third wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the national capital is not over yet but it is “definitely on the wane”, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday. Delhi recorded 2,463 new COVID-19 cases and 50 fatalities on Wednesday, the lowest number of deaths in a single day since November 1.
As the positivity rate slipped to 3.42%, Mr. Jain had on Wednesday tweeted that it was heartening to see that the national capital is “emerging victorious” in the battle against the coronavirus.
Hyderabad
CSIR-CCMB, Apollo to scale up dry swab tests
CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited announced a collaboration for joint manufacturing and commercialisation of an innovative dry swab test or the Direct Amplification rapid RT-PCR (DArRT-PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) detection on Thursday.
Kerala
Kerala local body polls | PPE must for infected persons to vote
Those who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 3 p.m. on December 13 and 6 p.m. on the voting day on December 14 can exercise their franchise by going directly to the polling station.
According to a release on Thursday, such people should produce a certification letter in Form 19C given by the designated health officers. They should also reach the polling station by 6 p.m. on the polling day and will be allowed to vote after all the other voters exercise their franchise.
Karnataka
Health Department’s COVID-19 expenses touch ₹205 cr.
The State Health and Family Welfare Department has so far incurred expenses of ₹205 crore towards handling the COVID-19 pandemic, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai informed the Karnataka Legislative Council on Thursday.
Apart from this, ₹108.75 crore has been spent on salaries, incentives, and risk allowances paid to employees. During the lockdown period, the State had distributed additional 5 kg of rice to eligible families under PDS and had spent ₹711.62 crore towards this, the Minister said.
Andhra Pradesh
Plan for vaccine rollout taking shape in Vizag
A road map for rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine in the district is rapidly taking shape with committees set up by the District Collector to execute the plan working on a war footing.
The District Immunisation Officer, DM&HO and the District COVID Special Officer met on Thursday to chalk out the plan and it will be presented to Collector V. Vinay Chand on Friday.
(With inputs from our Correspondents and agencies)
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