Dry run for COVID vaccination in all states, UTs on Jan 2

STATE TIMES NEWS

New Delhi: A dry run for COVID-19 vaccination will be conducted by all state and union territory administrations on January 2 to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges, the Centre said on Thursday.
The activity is proposed to be conducted in all state capitals in at least 3 session sites.

227 new corona cases, 3 deaths reported in J&K

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday reported 227 new positive cases of novel Corona virus, 95 from Jammu division and132 from Kashmir division, taking the total to 1,20,971.
Officials said that three COVID-19 deaths have also been reported; 2 from Jammu Division and 1 from the Kashmir Division.
Moreover, 249 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and discharged from various hospitals including 123 from Jammu Division and 126 from Kashmir Division.
According to the daily Media Bulletin, out of 1,20,971 positive cases, 3,009 are Active Positive, 1,16,079 have recovered and 1,883 have died; 697 in Jammu division and 1,186 in Kashmir division. The Bulletin further said that out of 38,22,674 test results available, 37,01,703 samples have been tested as negative till December 31, 2020.
Till date 8,85,230 persons have been enlisted for observation which included 13,165 persons in home quarantine including facilities operated by government, 3,009 in isolation and 30,739 in home surveillance. Besides, 8,36,434 persons have completed their surveillance period.

Some states will also include districts that are situated in difficult terrain/have poor logistical support, while Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to schedule the dry run in major cities other than their capital, the Union Health Ministry said.
“The objective of the dry run for COVID-19 vaccine introduction is to assess operational feasibility in the use of Co-WIN application in field environment, to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges and guide way forward prior to actual implementation. This is also expected to give confidence to programme managers at various levels,” the ministry said.
The central government has also asked all states and UTs to ensure effective preparedness for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness at session sites for COVID-19 vaccination with principal secretaries (Health) and other health administrators of all states and UTs through video-conferencing.