New Delhi: Delhi carried out one lakh Covid-19 vaccinations in a day for the first time as the vaccine festival or ‘Tika Utsav’ kicked off across the country to encourage citizens to get themselves vaccinated against the coronavirus.
“An all-out mobilisation was the main thrust of Tika Utsav due to which a specially focused effort was made by the officials resulting in Delhi crossing the one lakh per day figure,” according to details shared by officials in the Delhi government.
“After having put the required regulations, related enforcement measures and the ramping up of the supporting medical infrastructure in place … under the aegis of the Delhi Disaster Management Act, the Lt Governor has been keenly overseeing the measures taken,” officials told media. The efforts are to ensure proper implementation of the vaccine ‘festival’ which will go on till 14 April.
As part of the initiative, workplace vaccinations were also started Sunday and carried out at several locations in Delhi, including the NCERT campus, Hotel Le Meridian, Hari Nagar Bus Depot and IGNOU, to name a few.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Delhi’s Covid-19 situation had become “rather serious” as over 10,000 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours. The tally was the highest spike in daily cases Delhi had witnessed since the onset of the pandemic last year.
Earlier, Kejriwal said the city would face a vaccine shortage soon as it had seven to 10 days of stocks left.
The AAP government, however, is not planning on imposing a lockdown as a containment measure, Instead, Kejriwal urged people to follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour such as masking and social distancing.
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BJP ‘honours’ vaccinated citizens
Meanwhile, the Delhi BJP is honouring people getting vaccinated during this period at the corporation-run centres. BJP’s state general secretary Harsh Malhotra told the media earlier that there are 140 such centres in the national capital where the Covid-19 vaccination drive is being carried out.
Party workers also put up stalls at these centres from 10 am to 5 pm and were seen distributing juice to people after they were vaccinated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said states should observe a “vaccine festival” between 11-14 April to inoculate the maximum number of eligible beneficiaries. Appealing to the youth, the PM said the central government will provide all possible help to vaccinate people aged 45 years and above.
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