‘New Covid wave due to complacency’: Yogi Adityanath gets first shot of vaccine
For the ongoing third phase of the nationwide vaccination drive against Covid-19, the Centre has opened up the vaccination for everyone aged above 45. Adityanath, 48, received his first dose at Civil Hospital in Lucknow.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath received his first jab of the Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, four days after the beginning of the third phase of the nationwide vaccination drive. The 48-year-old chief minister was vaccinated against the viral disease at Civil Hospital in the state’s capital city of Lucknow.
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“I thank the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and the Union health ministry for making the vaccine available free of cost. I also thank the scientists of the country. The vaccine is completely safe. We all should take it when our turn comes,” Adityanath told news agency ANI. “I appeal to the people to take all precautions even after taking the vaccine. The new Covid wave is the result of our complacency in observing Covid behaviour,” he added.
For the ongoing third phase, the central government has opened up the vaccination for everyone aged above 45. The nationwide inoculation drive began on January 16, with health care workers and frontline workers receiving shots of the vaccine in the first phase. In the second stage, which started on March 1, those above the age of 60, as well those above 45 with co-morbid conditions, became eligible to be vaccinated. However, as the daily number of Covid-19 cases began spiking in late February/early March, the Union government announced that from April 1, everyone above the age of 45 will be eligible to receive shots against the disease.
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Nearly 80 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country thus far, the Union ministry of health and family welfare’s (MoHFW) website showed on Monday morning. Total 79,105,163 doses have been administered, the website shows.
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On Sunday, Uttar Pradesh’s Covid-19 tally increased by 4,614 cases to 630,059. The state also witnessed 31 related fatalities, taking its death toll to 8,881. This was the first time since October 15, 2020, that there were more than 30 deaths in a single day. On that day, 36 people succumbed to Covid-19.