Gujarat: No vaccination for 45-plus category for three days amid COVID second wave

AHMEDABAD: With the Centre increasing the gap between two doses of Covishield, vaccination for those above the age of 45 years in Gujarat has been halted for three days from May 14.

The Centre on Thursday approved extending the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks following a recommendation from a government panel.

As the vaccination schedule is to be revised following the Centre's decision, those in the above 45 age group will not be vaccinated on May 14, 15 and 16, said a state government release on Thursday.

The vaccination for this group will resume on May 17, it added.

Vaccination will continue for people in the age group of 18 to 45 who have already registered themselves and received an SMS, the release said.

The state reported 10,742 new COVID-19 cases and 109 deaths on Thursday, taking its overall infection tally to 7,25,353 and fatality count to 8,840, the health department said.

Of the 109 fatalities, 16 were reported in Ahmedabad district, 14 in Surat, 10 in Vadodara and nine in Rajkot district, it said.

A total of 2,878 new cases were recorded in Ahmedabad city alone, followed by 776 in Surat city, 650 in Vadodara city and 461 in Vadodara district, 399 in Mehsana, 359 in Rajkot city and 332 in Rajkot district.

As many as 15,269 persons recovered from the infection and got discharge during the day.

While the recovery count has gone up to 5,93,666, the recovery rate now stands at 81.85 per cent, the department said.

Gujarat now has 1,22,847 active cases, of which, 796 are on ventilator.

A total of 1.47 crore people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Gujarat so far.

While 1.09 crore people have received the first dose, 37.89 lakh others were administered the second dose, it said.

During the day, 1.51 lakh eligible persons received the vaccine.

In the adjoining union territory of Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, as many as 96 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the authorities said in a release, adding that 132 patients also recovered and were given discharge during the day.

Of the total 9,418 people found coronavirus positive in the union territory since the outbreak, four have died, 8,199 have recovered while 1,215 cases are still active, said a release by the UT administration.

Gujarat's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 7,25,353, new cases 10,742, deaths 8,840, discharged 5,93,666, active cases 1,22,847 and people tested so far - figures not released.