Desk,12-Feb; Over 1.2 crore people aged 60 and above were yet to initiate vaccination against Covid-19, official data till February 8 presented by the government in the Lok Sabha shows. Meanwhile, as Covid-19 third ebbs, Delhi for the first time in 2022, recorded fewer than 1,000 cases. In the last 24 hours, according to the state department health bulletin, 977 people tested positive, with the positivity rate at 1.73%.Before this, on December 29 last year, the city had recorded 923 new cases in a day. Along with 1.2 crores above 60 who have not been jabbed, 1.6 crore people in the same age group have not yet received their second dose of the jabs, junior health minister Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written response in the Lok Sabha. So far, the elderly have been among the population groups that have been prioritised by the government to receive vaccination, even for the booster dose.Meanwhile, the government also told Lok Sabha on Friday that the report by an international magazine claiming that India’s COVID-19 deaths were more than the number officially recorded was ‘purely speculative’. In a written reply to a question, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said the international magazine in its report in January 2022 speculated excess deaths more than the official number of COVID-19 fatalities. “The report was purely speculative that made use of non-validated methodology for calculating estimates of excess mortality and lacked any peer-reviewed scientific data,” she said.As the active cases across India, covid-19 infections in Gautam Buddh Nagar were recorded below 1000, the district administration on Friday announced relaxation in some curbs such as reducing night curfew hours and reopening of gyms and swimming pools. The night curfew shall now start from 11 PM and continue till 5 AM instead of the 10 PM-6 AM duration which was imposed last month when the number of active cases crossed the 1,000 mark, according to officials. Gyms and swimming pools that were closed in compliance with state government directives for districts with over 1,000 active cases can reopen now, the officials said.(CNS)
