Delhi govt received about 1.5 lakh fresh doses of Covishield: Satyendar Jain

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The Delhi government has received a fresh supply of 1.5 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines which will allow the vaccination to be carried out for about a day and a half, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Tuesday. Interacting with reporters, he also urged people not to lower the guard, and reiterated that experts have already cautioned about the chance of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Yesterday, 45 cases of Covid were recorded, which is the lowest in about a year and few months. Positivity rate too has remained below 0.10 per cent in the last few days. But as long as this virus is there, we have to be alert and follow all Covid-appropriate behaviour," Jain said.

It is not wise to become complacent again as many people had become a few months before the second wave hit us all, he said.

On the issue of vaccination, he said there is a "shortage of doses" which is impeding the drive.

"However, we have received about 1.5 lakh doses last night, of Covishield. But, this would last only for about a day and a half," he told reporters.

On accusations on the oxygen demand issue and how it affected people in neighbouring cities of Delhi, Jain said, "You (media) all reported the oxygen crisis, it was all being covered. And we were trying to serve our people and save lives".

"Also, in our (Delhi government-run) hospitals, patients from other cities also get free treatment. And on an average about 25 per cent of patients who seek treatment are from outside Delhi. We treat them all the same," he added.

Delhi was reeling under a brutal second wave of the pandemic.

However, there has been a marked improvement in the coronavirus situation in the last several days. The infection rate, which had reached 36 per cent in the last week of April, has come down to below 0.10 per cent now.

Despite fall in daily cases, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had recently cautioned that the chances of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic were quite real and asserted that his government was preparing on a "war-footing" to combat it.

On Friday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) passed a colour-coded response action plan under which curbs will be implemented in accordance with the severity of the COVID-19 situation here to deal with a possible third wave of the pandemic. 

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