Employees of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and electricity department of the Delhi government will be included in the category of frontline staff for Covid-19 vaccination, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said Wednesday. An order has been issued to the respective departments to add them to the list.“DJB and electricity department employees had worked day in and day out during the lockdown. Yesterday, the Delhi government issued an order to include them in the category of frontline staff for vaccination, so that they also get a vaccine in the first phase,” Jain said.
The Delhi government has begun the process of enrolment of healthcare workers of different hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities for Covid-19 vaccination, as and when it arrives. According to sources, close to 1.8 lakh-2.25 lakh healthcare workers will be vaccinated in the first phase.For the Delhi government, “frontline workers are VIPs”, Jain later said in a Facebook post. Frontline workers include police and sanitation staff as well.
On Wednesday, the city saw 1,547 new cases of Covid-19 and 32 deaths, taking the total number of cases and the death toll to 6,11,994 and 10,147 respectively.The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.96% after the city conducted 79,042 tests in the last 24 hours.
Talking about Delhi’s positivity rate, Jain said the city is “aggressively tackling” the Covid-19 situation: “The positivity rate recorded yesterday (Tuesday) stood at 1.9 per cent. I think it is the lowest figure till date, though I will need to look into data to tell exactly. But, for sure, it is the lowest positivity rate since May. This indicates an improved Covid-19 situation in Delhi.”He further added that the severity of the pandemic has come down, but people still need to be vigilant and observe all safety norms. Asked about the availability of ICU beds for Covid-19 patients, he said that on an average, about 50 per cent are vacant, but in some private hospitals, the occupancy of such beds is 80-90 per cent.
