Telangana opens special window for second vaccine dose against COVID-19; drones coming

The Telangana government on May 8 announced its objective to prioritise those who are to take the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. In order to more judiciously utilise the available COVID-19 doses till May 15, the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led government launched a special drive to cover people eligible for the second dose of the vaccine. 

The state has been witnessing a low allocation of vaccine doses till May 15 (4.69 lakh of COVISHIELD and 2.16 lakh of COVAXIN), according to the State government. The highest priority will be given to those who have already taken the first dose, making them eligible for the second shot of the vaccine. 

The Telangana government established that all persons eligible for a second dose will be permitted to take vaccine by spot registration by showing their certificate of the administered partial vaccination. However, no vaccine would be assigned for first dose of any person by this mechanism. People can apply for the eligible dose for May 8 to 12, except on Sunday, May 9. 

Centre Permits Telangana Govt To Use Drones For Delivery Of COVID-19 Vaccines

The Civil Aviation Ministry permitted the Telangana government to use drones for the experimental delivery of vaccines beyond the visual line of sight. India has been hit hard by a second wave of the COVID-19 infection, and hospitals in several states are reeling under a severe shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.

On April 30, the ministry had permitted the Telangana government to use drones for experimental delivery of COVID-19 vaccines within the visual line of sight. The ministry said in a statement on Friday that it has granted conditional exemption to the Telangana government from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021, for "conducting experimental delivery of vaccines" beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) using drones. 

COVID-19 Tally

Telangana reported 5,559 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 4.87 lakh, while the toll stood at 2,666 with 41 more casualties. As per State health officials, the total number of recovered cases stood at 4,13,445. 65,375 tests were conducted as on Friday and the cumulative number of tests stood at 1.34 crore. Telangana, on Friday, had 71,308 active COVID-19 cases. The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent, while it was 1.1 per cent at the national level.

India recorded over 4 lakh new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the country’s total caseload to over 2.18 crore. Out of these, over 37 lakh cases are currently active while over 1.79 crore people have recovered. With 4,187 new deaths, the toll now stands at over 2.38 lakh.