Covid vaccination in Manipur crosses 2 lakh mark

Our Correspondent
Imphal, May 2 (EMN): Manipur has so far given 2,07,765 anti-Covid jabs to the residents till date in which a total of 70,093 healthcare workers and frontline workers received the second dose of vaccines.

A total of 34,165 healthcare workers have received the first dose of Covishield vaccine while 23,111 of them got the second dose of vaccines, the state Health department officials said. Similarly, 71,673 frontline workers received the first dose while 43,925 got the second dose of Covishield in the state.

The vaccination drive in the state began on January 16 by administering to only the healthcare workers. It was later expanded to include frontline workers in February. The second phase of the drive commenced on March 1. People above the age of 60 and those above 45 years have also availed the vaccinations.

Meanwhile, the state recorded 256 new Covid-19 positive cases taking the state’s total infection tally to 32,161 besides increasing the total number of active cases to 1823, officials said.

The new positive cases were detected from 20 testing centres in 12 districts of the state. Maximum numbers of cases were reported from Imphal West district (112), a press release issued by spokesperson of the state Health department Dr. Kh Sasheekumar informed on Sunday.

Five more persons including three from Imphal West, one each from Imphal East and Bishnupur districts have expired due to Covid-19 at three hospitals in Imphal in the last 24 hours. As a result, the state’s total cumulative number of deaths stand at 415, it said.

A total of 29,923 persons including 80 on Sunday have recovered so far. The recovery rate has been reduced to 93.04 %.

As of Sunday, a total of 6,6,7628 persons were screened at the entry points of the state, while 6,18,926 persons were tested for Covid-19 at the various testing centres in the state.

Meanwhile, state authority informed that the Covid vaccination for the age group from 18-44 years would commence as soon as the manufacturer sends the vaccine consignment to the state.

In a memorandum issued today, the state mission director of the Health department informed that the state has placed an order of 3 lakh doses of vaccine to Serum Institute of India, Pune, and the delivery is awaited.

It added that public would be informed in advance once the arrival date of vaccines is confirmed for initiating the Covid vaccination. The central government has decided to expand Covid vaccination to persons from 18-44 years from May 1.