PM Narendra Modi held a virtual meeting with top officials including those from the centre’s think-tank NITI Aayog on India’s strategy for developing a COVID-19 vaccine and making it accessible to the masses.
“Held a meeting to review India’s planning on vaccine and the way forward. Important issues related to progress of vaccine development, regulatory approvals and procurement were discussed,” PM Modi tweeted.
“Reviewed various issues like prioritisation of population groups, reaching out to HCWs, cold-chain Infrastructure augmentation, adding vaccinators and tech platform for vaccine roll-out,” he tweeted.
Several drug companies are involved in developing a vaccine to fight COVID-19, which has killed millions across nations since its outbreak in China in December last year.
Many are in advanced stages of trials and they have reported over 90 per cent effectiveness.
“Five vaccines are in advanced stages of development in India, out of which 4 are in Phase II/III and one is in Phase-I/II. Countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Qatar, Bhutan, Switzerland, Bahrain, Austria and South Korea – have shown keen interest in partnering for vaccine development of Indian vaccines and use thereof,” the government said in a statement .
Meanwhile All schools under the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai will remain shut till 31st December, 2020, in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Education Minister said local administration will have to take a call while reopening schools for students of class 9 to class 11, from 23rd November. After a reduction in the number of tests during Diwali, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has increased testing again. The corporation has also started 244 new testing centres, considering the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19.The state at present has nearly 80,000 active cases.
The Gujarat government has decided to impose a complete curfew in Ahmedabad during the weekend from 9 pm today. However, the night curfew will remain in force from Monday onwards until further orders. The decision has been taken to curb the rising number of Covid-19 cases in recent days. The weekend curfew will remain in force from 9 pm today to 6 am on Monday in Ahmedabad. While, 9 pm to 6 am curfew will continue from Monday onwards till further notice.The state government has also decided to postpone the reopening of schools and colleges from 23rd November. AIR correspondent reports that Ahmedabad city witnessed a spike in daily cases of infections after Diwali. There are nearly 12,700 active cases in the state at present.
In Rajasthan, 2,549 persons have been tested positive for COVID 19 during the last 24 hours. It is the highest number of infections reported in a single day so far. After the increase in Corona cases, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot interacted with representatives of private hospitals through video conference today. The number of active patients in the capital city of Jaipur has reached close to 7,000, while there are more than 20,100 active cases in the state. There is now a shortage of ICU beds in government and private hospitals. In view of the situation, the Chief Minister has urged private hospitals to increase the number of beds for COVID patients. After reports of COVID patients in Jodhpur not getting proper treatment, the State Human Rights Commission has constituted a high level committee under the chairmanship of the Divisional Commissioner, to inspect all private and government hospitals and submit a factual report.
