Amid surge in COVID-19 cases, Punjab CM seeks change in vaccination strategy

The Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amrinder Singh after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with the Chief Ministers on Wednesday sought a change in vaccination strategy and requested the Government of India to provide vaccination not only to people under a certain age group or people with certain co-morbidities but to all in the affected areas. The request comes amid rising cases in the State of Punjab. 

The State government is keen on enhancing the vaccination drive rather than imposing restrictions on the day-to-day lives of the people, and therefore has sought a change in the vaccination strategy. Singh has requested to administer the vaccine to all, including Members of Parliament, Members of the Legislative Assembly, judges, advocates, teachers, college students, school students among others. 

A similar request came in from the Health Minister of the State Balbir Singh Sidhu. 

Alarming surge in COVID-19 cases

In the last 24 hours, 1,475 people have been reported positive for COVID-19 taking the total active cases in the State to 12,616, which is a considerable spike from the 11,942 active cases reported on Monday.  The number of cases reported in total from the breakout of the pandemic stands at 1,99,573.

According to the medical bulletin issued by the state health ministry, Hoshiarpur reported the maximum number of active COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours (257),  followed by Ludhiana (245), Patiala (197), Mohali (192) and SBS Nagar (132). 

Punjab also registered 38 fatalities taking the death toll of the State to 6,173. It is pertinent to mention here that the death rate has been showing an upward trend over the past few days. 

India COVID-19 cases

Meanwhile, India reports 28,903 new COVID19 cases, 17,741 recoveries, and 188 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry.

• Total cases: 1,14,38,734
• Total recoveries: 1,10,45,284  
• Active cases: 2,34,406
• Death toll: 1,59,044 
• Total vaccination: 3,50,64,536

India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20, and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19.