Free walk-in vaccination facility for journalists, their families opens

 

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday inaugurated the free of cost walk-in vaccination facility for journalists and their families at Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, DDU Marg, ITO. The newly launched facility will vaccinate journalists and their families of both age groups, 18-45 years and 45+ years. 

He appealed to all the journalists to get themselves and their families vaccinated at the centre. He also said that the need of the hour is to vaccinate more and more people at a faster pace to protect them from Coronavirus. He appealed to the central government to fight Covid-19 together as 'Team India'. 

He said that based on the experience of the last 1.5-2 months, it has become apparent that states are not able to procure vaccines on their own despite all attempts, and the central government should do it. He also said that procurement, production, and distribution of the vaccines is the responsibility of the central government and administering the vaccines to the people is the responsibility of the state governments.

Dy CM Manish Sisodia also accompanied the CM for the inauguration of the vaccination centre.

Addressing the media following the inauguration of the facility, the CM said, "This vaccination centre has been especially started to vaccinate journalists and their families. I am happy that this facility has been launched and the demands of the journalists have been met. This facility will vaccinate journalists and their families of both age groups, 18-45 years and 45+ years. Vaccination is the need of the hour to protect yourself from Coronavirus. I appeal to all the journalists to come here and get themselves vaccinated for free."

"We will rectify whatever issues the people are facing. I observed that the portal was facing some issues today (Monday). We are working towards resolving those and all the other issues based on the feedback of the people," he added.

Addressing the issue of black fungus cases in Delhi, CM Kejriwal said, "There are 300 cases of Black Fungus in central government hospitals and around 650 in Delhi government hospitals. However, the supply of injections is low. We had received 1,000 injections on Saturday, but did not receive any injections on Sunday. It takes 3-4 injections per person per day."

"If we do not vaccinate people at a faster pace and as soon as possible, how will we ensure vaccination for all our people and protect them from Coronavirus?" said the CM when asked about the pace of vaccination.

He said, "Sputnik will probably offer vaccines after June 20. They will start the vaccine production from the month of August. They are importing the vaccines right now, and they will allot a section of their imported vaccines to the Delhi government."

"I believe that this is not the time to do politics. This is the time to help the states and fight Coronavirus together. This does not suit the central government. I appeal to the central government to realise that this is the time to fight Coronavirus, together as Team India," added the CM. 

On the question of states being held responsible for the procurement of vaccines, he said, "How will the states procure the vaccines? It has been 1.5-2 months since the Centre had announced that states should float the tenders. There are 36 states and UTs, every state and every political party has tried its best to procure the vaccines by filing global tenders. They could not procure a single vaccine injection on their own until now. It has become apparent that states are not able to procure vaccines on their own and the central government has to do it. States should be held responsible if and when they are not able to make proper arrangements to administer the vaccines after the Centre has procured, produced and supplied the vaccines to us. Thus, I feel that procurement, production, and distribution of the vaccines is the responsibility of the central government, and administering the vaccines is the responsibility of the state governments."

On the uncertainty of availability of Covaxin, the CM said, "I hope that second doses will be administered as soon as possible to the ones in need as soon as Covaxin is available.

Discounts galore under EV campaign in Delhi; up to Rs 3.02 lakh on four-wheeler

 

To counter the menace of air pollution which has been plaguing the national capital for long, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has recently launched the 'Switch Delhi' campaign. It is an extension of  Delhi government's Electric Vehicle policy.

Under the campaign, the government offered big discounts on different kinds of electric vehicles like two-wheelers, four-wheelers and commercial vehicles.  

Just two days back, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot emphasised the monetary benefits of opting an electric vehicle in a series of tweets. 

He claimed that just by switching to electric two-wheelers from petrol scooters, the users can save Rs 22,000 annually.

“Kickstarting Switch Delhi campaign's first week with the two-wheeler segment. By switching to electric two wheelers, you can make annual saving of Rs 22,000 as compared to using a petrol scooter and Rs 20,000 as compared to a petrol bike. #SwitchDelhi (sic),” he wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, he said, “Apart from financial benefits that consumers get, there are significant environmental benefits. An average electric two-wheeler provides a lifetime savings of 1.98 tonnes of carbon 
emissions as compared to an average petrol two-wheeler, which is equivalent to planting 11 trees.”

On the other hand, there have also been great offers on four-wheelers as well. As per reports, a person can actually avail the benefits of up to Rs 3.02 lakh while buying a four-wheeler like Tata Nexon and Tata Tigor.

Tata Motors is presently the flag bearer of electric vehicles in India. 

Their two cars – Tata Nexon and Tata Tigor are hugely popular among eco-friendly buyers in India.

The Delhi government is offering a discount of Rs 1.50 lakh on both XM and XZ+ variants of Tata Nexon. Moreover, they are also giving incentives in the form of road tax and registration fee exemptions.

Road tax and registration fee on the XM variant of Nexon EV is Rs 1,40,500, whereas the same for the XZ+ trim is Rs 1,49,900. This total discount on Nexon EV goes up to over Rs 3 lakh. On Tata Tigor EV, the government is offering a maximum discount of up to Rs 2.86 lakh.

Nursery admissions to begin soon in Delhi, says CM Kejriwal

 

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that nursery admissions will soon begin in the national capital.

He made the announcement while having an interaction with principals and authorities of private schools on education reforms post Covid-19. 

“We will soon begin the nursery admissions. The process was delayed this year due to the pandemic,” he said.

The nursery admissions normally begins in the last week of November in around 1,700 schools in the national capital.

Under the process, the Directorate of Education (DoE) releases the guidelines. The application process begins in December.

The process was not initiated this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. In December, the officials had said that the government is mulling to scrap the nursery admissions this year.

They reasoned that children find it difficult to learn during the online classes. However, the Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had ruled out any chances to scrap the nursery admissions.

Kejriwal says health infrastructure didn’t collapse during pandemic

 

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday hailed the health infrastructure of the city and the management of the Delhi government in handling the coronavirus pandemic. 

He said that Delhi was worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic but the health system did not collapse due to many reforms in recent years and better management.

Kejriwal said, “Health infrastructure collapsed in many developed countries and cities like New York when the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak but measures like home isolation prevented such a situation in Delhi.”

Addressing at a Republic Day function, he said that over 3.12 lakh people recovered from the disease while being in home isolation. 

“Home isolation was started in Delhi. First plasma in the world was also opened in the national capital. So far, 4,929 people have received plasma therapy,” he said.

The CM said that tax revenue had dried up due to the coronavirus pandemic but the Delhi government continued to pay salaries to its employees and also continued its flagship schemes including free power supply.

Kejriwal shared that 38 lakh households got zero power bills, while 14 lakh domestic consumers received zero bills for water supply in the last billing cycle.

Total coronavirus tests cross 1-crore mark in Delhi

 

The total number of tests conducted so far to diagnose coronavirus in the national capital crossed one crore mark on Wednesday. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the milestone by saying that it is a new record.

Enthused over the new milestone, Kejriwal took to Twitter and said that the city was able to successfully contain the spread of deadly virus.

“Delhi sets a new record! We have conducted over 1 crore Corona tests to date, equivalent to 50% of Delhi's population. With a focus on increased testing & treatment, Delhi has successfully contained the scale & spread of Corona infection (sic),” he tweeted.

Delhi on Wednesday reported 228 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,33,049. The number of new cases reported came out of 63,161 tests conducted on the previous day.

Of which, 32,957 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 30,204 were rapid antigen tests. The positivity rate was 0.36 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate declined to 6.29 per cent. 10 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 10,774.

Kejriwal says Delhi govt will provide free Covid vaccines if Centre doesn't

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said that he has appealed to the Centre to provide the coronavirus vaccines free of cost, adding that if the Centre does not provide it free of cost then the Delhi government would provide it free in the national capital.

“I request everyone to not spread misinformation about Covid vaccine. I had appealed to Central government that COVID vaccination should be provided free of cost to all. If Centre does not do it and a need arises, the vaccine will be provided for free to people of Delhi,” he said.

While on a visit to the family of Dr Hitesh Gupta who lost his life in the line of Covid-19 duty, the CM said, “We had started a scheme to encourage corona warriors and under it, I have come to provide help of Rs 1 crore to the family. His wife is educated and we will recruit her in Delhi government.”

The announcement has come a day after the arrival of first lot of coronavirus vaccines in the national capital. The manufacturer Serum Institute of India dispatched the Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine Covishield to Delhi. The consignment had 34 boxes which weighed 1,088 kg.

On Sunday, the Delhi government had become the first state in the country to announce the schedule for coronavirus vaccination saying that the vaccination drive will begin on January 16. 

“During the first phase, health care workers will be vaccinated at hospitals. The vaccines will be administered at 89 sites in Delhi. Of these, 36 are government hospitals and 53 are private hospitals,” Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said.

The drug regulator of India has approved two vaccines so far. They have approved Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for emergency use in the city.

Delhi on Tuesday reported 386 new coronavirus cases, taking the cumulative tally to 6,30,892. The number of new cases reported came out of 75,913 tests conducted on the previous day.

The positivity rate was 0.51 per cent. 16 patients died due to coronavirus in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate was 97.79 per cent.