Over 55 per cent healthcare workers given1st dose of COVID vaccine

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said that more than 55 per cent of the health care workers have been administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the country.In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Health and Family Welfare Minister, Dr. Harshvardhan informed that vaccination of front line workers have also begun from 2nd February of this month. He said, beneficiaries as prioritized by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration will be taken up as part of the ongoing process once substantial coverage of the vaccination of health care workers and front line workers is achieved.The Minister informed that two COVID-19 vaccines require completion of two dose schedules at an interval of 28 days to complete the vaccination process. He said, it takes around 14 days after the second dose to develop immunity against the Coronavirus.Dr. Harshvardhan said, supply orders of 410 lakh doses have been placed by the government for these vaccines. He said, these supply orders also include 100 lakh doses received from Gavi support through Covax facility. He informed that a total of Rs 480 crore have been allocated to the States and Union Territories for operational cost for COVID-19 vaccination programme.

-The Ministry of Finance has released the 15th weekly instalment of Rs 6,000 crore to the States to meet the GST compensation shortfall. Out of this, an amount of over Rs 5,516 crore has been released to 23 States and an amount of nearly Rs 483 crore to  Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry. The Finance Ministry in a statement said, the remaining 5 States, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation. It said, till now, 81 percent of the total estimated GST compensation shortfall has been released to the States and UTs with the Legislative Assembly. Out of this, an amount of over Rs 82,132 crore has been released to the States and an amount of nearly Rs 7,867 crore to the 3 UTs.

-In Assam, Finance Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, presented the interim budget in the assembly on Friday before the state goes to polls. He said the vote on account of 60,784.03 crore rupees for a period of six months has been sought to fulfill obligatory and other necessary aggregate expenditure, and General Budget will be placed well before September 30, 2021.The Minister further announced that additional cess of 5 rupees imposed on petrol and diesel during COVID 19 period will be withdrawn from midnight today.  Also, additional cess imposed on various liquor categories during last year, averaging around 25%, has also been withdrawn.The Minister informed that the annual growth rate at 7.71% was higher against the national annual growth rate of 6.11% during the period 2016-17 to 2019-20.

-In West Bengal, Amid the 12 hour strike called by the left parties, schools reopened on Friday for classes nine to twelve. Teachers and students were a bit concerned regarding attending classes.As per the guideline issued by the state education department, isolation rooms are in place as classrooms and toilets will be thoroughly sanitized on a regular basis. While in school, everyone has to wear a face mask all the time and use sanitizer. Maintaining social distance is a must as assembly for prayers or sharing tiffin are not allowed. Parents need to submit consent forms to send the pupils back to classes after more than 10 months.

-Morocco received second batch of 4 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, manufactured by India’s Serum Institute,Said Afif, a member of the health ministry’s scientific committee said this new batch would enable a steady continuation of Morocco’s national vaccination campaign. The latest batch of vaccines follows 2 million doses received last month. The country has ordered enough vaccines for 33 million people and aims to inoculate 80% of the population