Mumbai sees 571 new COVID cases as India vaccinates 191,181 individuals on Day 1

As India vaccinated 191,181 persons on its inaugural day of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive, Mumbai reported 571 new cases and 8 new deaths on Saturday. The city also saw 700 recoveries taking its cured tally to 2,83,135. Mumbai currently has 3,02,223 cases with 11,235 fatalities and 6965 active cases.

191,181 persons inoculated on day 1 of COVID-19 vaccination drive, no adversities reported

Mumbai: 571 new cases

Mumbai's recovery rate has risen to 94% now while its growth rise has slowed to 0.21%. BMC reported that 25,82,248 samples have been tested till date with an 11.68% positivity rate. With the increasing number of cases, BMC reported that 544 out of 1058 ventilator beds are vacant, while 988 out of 1750 ICU beds are vacant, till date. Health Ministry said that a total of 3,351 sessions were held and 16,755 personnel were involved in the process, with 1,91,181 individuals receiving the first shot.

Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Balasaheb Thackeray launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the state and inaugurated the vaccination centre at BKC. Out of the total 285 centres in Maharashtra, Mumbai has the highest number of vaccination centres (40) followed by Pune (31) and Thane (23). So far, the state has received 9.63 lakh doses of COVISHIELD and 20,000 doses of COVAXIN. However, the state Health Department announced the suspension of the novel coronavirus inoculation drive in Maharashtra till January 18 owing to technical issues with the CoWIN App. As a result, the state could not meet the intended vaccination target on Saturday. 

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India kicks off COVID vaccination

Meanwhile, Manish Kumar, a sanitation worker in Delhi, became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in India after PM Modi flagged off the nationwide vaccination drive on Saturday, in the presence of Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at AIIMS Delhi. PM Modi launched the nationwide vaccine drive on Saturday via videoconferencing and congratulated the people of India on getting two 'Made in India' vaccines. With a limit of 100 beneficiaries per centre, vaccination drive commenced in 3351 locations, aiming to inoculate 3 lakh health workers in the 'world's biggest vaccine programme'.  The government has already purchased 1.1 crore COVISHIELD vaccine doses and 55 lakh COVAXIN vaccine shots - aiming to vaccinate 3 crore frontline warriors, in the first phase.

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