The Union Health Ministry has made arrangements for vaccination at home for those who have special needs or are differently-abled, said the ministry on Thursday.
The ministry also voiced concerns regarding the UK policy over vaccine certification for India.
Addressing a press conference, Member-Health, NITI Aayog, Dr VK Paul said, "I am pleased to inform that an advisory has been issued to make arrangements for 'vaccination at home' for those who have special needs or are differently challenged, in line with COVID SOPs."
The detailed guidelines will be issued soon in this matter, the ministry said.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan also spoke briefly on the UK policy over vaccine certification for India. Covishield, which has been developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, is manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India. Recently, India had said on Tuesday that it will be within its rights to take reciprocal measures against UK's "discriminatory" move to recognise AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine but not Covishield if the issue is not satisfactorily resolved. The new rules will come into effect from October 4.
Speaking on this, Bhushan said, "Dispensation that is to be implemented from October 4 is a discriminatory practice. Both sides are in dialogue and we believe a quick resolution will be found. We do reserve the right to reciprocate similarly."
The Ministry also briefed about the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The ministry informed that about two-thirds of the adult population is vaccinated with one dose-- 66 per cent of 18 plus age group received at least one dose. "Almost a quarter of the adult population have received both doses, it's an important milestone," the ministry informed in a press briefing.
"66 per cent of the 18 plus population has received at least one dose of COVID vaccines; 23 per cent of the 18 plus population received both doses. We have been able to achieve this due to tremendous work by some states," said Bhushan
He added, "For the 12th consecutive week, the weekly positivity rate continues to decline and is less than 3 per cent...Recovery rate 97.8 per cent in the country. In the last 24 hours, 31,000 cases odd cases have been reported and most of these cases have been reported from Kerala and Maharashtra. However, absolute numbers have gone down. 62.73 per cent of the total cases in the last week have been reported from Kerala."
Highlighting about the COVID-19 vaccination drive, Bhushan said, "Six states/UTs have covered 100 per cent of the first doses to their population. These are Lakshadweep, Chandigarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Sikkim. Four states/UTs have more than 90 per cent coverage of the first dose - these are Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Kerala, Ladakh and Uttarakhand."
India reported 31,923 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday. Out of these, Kerala reported 19,675 new infections yesterday. India's cumulative tally has reached 3,35,63,421, and the number of active cases has declined to 3,01,604, which is the lowest in 187 days.
( With inputs from ANI )
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