Deaths from
COVID-19 rose by 314 to 486,066, the ministry said.
India began
administering booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine to frontline workers and
vulnerable elderly people, with the fast-spreading omicron variant fuelling an
almost eight-fold rise in daily infections since the start of the year.
In recent days,
hundreds of healthcare and frontline workers, including police, have contracted
the virus, and there were media reports that hundreds of parliamentary staff
have also tested positive ahead of a budget session on Feb 1.
Facing this
rising third wave of infections, the government sent booster reminders to more
than 10 million people who took their second dose of the Covaxin or Covishield
shot nine months ago.
Unlike many
countries, India is not mixing and matching vaccines.
Only healthcare
personnel, frontline workers and people above 60 years suffering from other
health conditions are eligible for what the government calls a “precaution
dose”.
“The
government is committed to provide additional security cover to healthcare and
frontline workers on priority,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya earlier
wrote on Twitter.
Despite the rise
in infections, five states including the most populous Uttar Pradesh will hold
elections starting Feb. 10, though authorities have barred political party
rallies until at least the middle of this month.
Hundreds of
thousands of Hindu worshippers gathered on the banks of India’s Ganges river on
Jan 14, for a holy bathe despite a 30-fold rise in coronavirus cases in the
past month.
Hindus believe a
bathe in the holy river on the Makarsankranti festival washes away sins.
A large number of
devotees were taking a dip in the sacred river where it flows through the
eastern state of West Bengal, which is reporting the most number of cases in
the country after Maharashtra state in the west.
In the northern
state of Uttar Pradesh, thousands of devotees, few wearing masks, thronged the
river’s banks in the holy city of Prayagraj.
Doctors had appealed unsuccessfully to the West Bengal state
high court to reverse a decision to allow the festival this year, worrying it
will become a virus “super spreader” event.
Last year, a big religious gathering in northern India
contributed to a record rise in coronavirus cases.
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