Chandigarh adult population fully vaccinated

Tribune News Service

Naina Mishra

Chandigarh, January 25

The UT today vaccinated the entire targeted adult population with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. The achievement comes in the wake of the highly infectious third wave and experts cited the higher vaccination coverage for lesser hospitalisation and deaths in the city.

The city was given the target of vaccinating 8,43,000 persons aged 18 and above. The UT has inoculated 10,70,344 persons with the first dose, which is 127 per cent coverage, and 8,43,000 with the second dose, which is 100 per cent coverage.

Though the city reported 20,904 cases in just 25 days of the third wave, hospitalisation was not more than two to three per cent. Around 24 Covid patients lost their lives during this period.

On the contrary, the UT saw 27,826 cases during the second wave between March 15 and May 10, a period of around two months. The period was marked with 217 fatalities due to Covid-19.

During the second wave, only 7 per cent of the target population was fully immunised, while only 20 per cent of the population had taken the first dose of the vaccine.

Suman Singh, Director, Health Services (DHS), UT, said, “We are experiencing the third wave of Covid. As compared to the first and second waves, there was a sudden surge in the number of cases because of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. In spite of the high positivity rate, we observed that the hospitalisation rate remained at 2-3 per cent. One of the factors for a large number of patients showing mild symptoms could be the high vaccination rate in the city. Among the hospital admissions, it was noticed that some of the patients with severe disease were not vaccinated.”

UT Adviser Dharam Pal said, “Even after achieving this milestone of 100 per cent second dose, we will continue the sincere efforts to cover more and more people, even from the adjoining areas. The UT Administration is fully prepared to deal with the ongoing case surge and each aspect is being monitored. There is no issue with regard to availability of beds in hospitals, medical oxygen and critical medicines, etc. The rates of different tests and treatment have also been rationalised in the UT.”

Test price cut

The price for rapid antigen test of Covid has been reduced from Rs350 to Rs100 in the UT.

UT logs 540 cases

Chandigarh: The city on Tuesday reported 540 new cases of Covid-19, logging a positivity rate of 11.81 per cent. The positivity rate was 14.49 per cent on Monday. The cumulative number of cases has reached 86,800, while the active caseload dropped to 7,033 from 7,768 a day before. A total of 1,275 patients were reportedly cured of the disease in the past 24 hours. With no new death, the toll remained at 1,103. TNS

3 more succumb in Mohali, 916 cases

Mohali: Three more persons succumbed to Covid-19 during the past 24 hours in the district. A 61-year-old woman from Tangori village, an 80-year-old man from Zirakpur and a 58-year-old man Sotal village in Mohali district died of the virus. All of them were suffering from comorbidities. Of the three, only two were vaccinated. A total of 916 fresh cases surfaced on Tuesday, while 1,183 patients were cured. Of the 8,240 active cases, only 26 are hospitalised. Among new cases, 20 were from Lalru, 10 from Banur, 71 from Dera Bassi, 52 from Gharuan, 25 from Kurali, 225 from Dhakoli, 195 from Kharar and 285 from the Mohali urban area. — TNS

2 die, 479 infected in Panchkula

Panchkula: Two women succumbed to Covid-19 during the past 24 hours in the district. The deceased have been identified as a 56-year-old from Berwala village and an 87-year-old from Sector 11. Both of them were comorbid. Meanwhile, 479 fresh cases, including 279 males and 200 females, surfaced during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall tally to 41,106 in the district. Health officials said 10 more healthcare workers were diagnosed with Covid, taking the total number of health workers affected with the virus to 140 in the third wave. There are now 2,135 active cases with 19 of them admitted to hospital. — TNS

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