Covid-19 vaccination drive gets on fast track in Surat

Surat (Gujarat) [India], December 24 (ANI): In view of the recent upsurge in cases of Covid 19 in some countries, the vaccination drive in Surat has got a fast track, said Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Saturday.
Rajesh Umrigar, Medical Officer of Surat Municipal Corporation said that a lot of awareness is being created among the people regarding the havoc of the new variant BF7 of Covid.
"Today long queues were seen since morning for the booster dose of the vaccine at the Health Center operated by Surat Municipal Corporation. People are voluntarily coming forward to complete their vaccination course," said Rajesh Umrigar.
A rapid increase is being seen in the new cases of Covid-19 worldwide. The situation in China has become very dire due to the increase in Corona cases.
Along with China, cases have also started increasing in countries like Japan, Argentina, Japan, South Korea, America and Brazil.
According to the sources, the Gujarat government has decided to conduct random tests on 2 per cent of all passengers arriving at international airports in Ahmedabad and Surat and launch a special drive to expand the coverage of booster doses.
India recorded 201 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.
India's active caseload currently stands at 3,397 which accounts for 0.01 per cent of the total cases. The recovery rate currently is at 98.8 per cent. As many as 183 recoveries were made in the last 24 hours, thereby taking the total recoveries to 4,41,42,791.
The daily positivity rate stood at 0.15 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.14 per cent.
A total of 1,05,044 COVID-19 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.
On Saturday Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said that RT-PCR test will be mandatory for all passengers from international arrivals.
"RT-PCR test to be mandatory for international arrivals from China, Japan, S. Korea, Hong Kong & Thailand. On arrival, if any passenger from these countries is found symptomatic or tests positive for Covid19, then he/she will be put under quarantine," said Mandaviya.
Earlier on Thursday Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the status and preparedness of public health response to COVID-19 and emphasised the need for strengthened surveillance with a focus on genome sequencing and increased testing.
Union Health Minister also chaired a meeting on the Covid-19 situation and preparedness. (ANI)