Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch fully vaccinates 100% of its eligible population against COVID

Amid the ongoing Omicron variant scare, all the eligible population has been fully vaccinated against COVID in Jammu’s Poonch district. The Poonch district officials have been able to vaccinate 100% of the population with both doses of COVID vaccines in a record time. 

With this feat, Poonch has become the first district of the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory to reach the 100% double dose vaccination mark. The record holds significance as the health officials have been pushing for vaccination amid the rapid spread of the newly detected COVID variant ‘Omicron.’

The district officials have said that the feat was achieved due to the union government's 'Har Ghar Dastak' vaccination campaign, under which they are also doing door-to-door vaccinations. Earlier on December 11, Poonch had administered 100% first dose and 96% second dose.

Himachal Pradesh was the first state among all states and UTs to fully vaccinate all of its adult population. Besides, the vaccination rate is pacing up across the country as India has already vaccinated more than 55% of its adult population with both doses. The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID vaccination drive have exceeded  135.99 crores. 

India’s COVID Situation

On Friday, the Health Ministry informed that around 101 cases of Omicron variant have been detected in India across 11 states and highlighted that the World Health Organization had said that the Omicron variant is the most transmissible variant among all. Though the Ministry asserted that the situation is under control, they also urged people to ensure social distancing, vaccination, and follow COVID appropriate behaviour.

According to data published on Friday by the Union Health Ministry, India recorded 7,447 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of COVID cases to 3,47,26,049, with 86,415 active cases. As per the data, the death toll has risen to 4,76,869, with 391 new fatalities. For the past 50 days, the daily increase in new coronavirus infections has been below 15,000 per day.

The active cases accounted for 0.25 per cent of all infections, the lowest since March 2020, according to the ministry, while the national COVID recovery rate was 98.38 per cent, the highest since March 2020. Over 24 hours, the active COVID caseload decreased by 830 cases and the daily positivity rate was 0.59 per cent.

Image: PTI