HYDERABAD: Vaccinations in the worst-hit districts of Telangana are not catching up with the rising Covid-19 cases. Nizamabad, for instance, saw 179 cases on Tuesday, becoming one of the worst-hit districts.
While the cases are rising, the number of individuals in the districts who have been administered even one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine is just 42,273 as 5 pm on April 7. Nirmal, which saw 104 cases on Tuesday, has only 16,574 individuals who have taken at least one shot as of April 7. And yet, both the districts have only marginally increased their administration of the first dose.
An analysis of the information on the Cowin dashboard shows that between March 20 and April 7, there has been only an increase of 1,000 vaccinations per day in Nirmal. Between March 20 and March 26, roughly 2,226 vaccinations were administered. This has marginally increased to 3,061 during the week from April 3 to April 9, indicating only 37.5 per cent rise in vaccinations. Between the same two periods, the cases in Nirmal went from 107 to 452 — a 322 per cent rise.
Nizamabad has been a shade better, increasing its vaccination averages between the same two week-long periods by 89.6 per cent.Senior Health officials and experts maintain that vaccination and masks are the only way to prevent the second wave of the Covid-19 virus from peaking sharply.
Basara Temple’s priest, staffer test positive
A priest and an administration employee of Basara Temple tested positive for Covid-19, after which temple authorities took measures to sanitise the temple in Nirmal district. The temple was shut for two hours for sanitisation and then reopened for devotees