Rahul Gandhi poses 4 questions to PM on COVID Vaccine strategy, brings in ‘PM-CARES’

As several states in India witnesses a spike in Coronavirus (COVID-19), ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday, posed four questions to the Centre regarding vaccine distribution. He asked the Centre which vaccine will be chosen and why, who will get the vaccine first, when will all Indians be vaccinated and will PM-CARES fund will be used to ensure free vaccination. India's total COVID-19 cases are at 91,39,866 with 1,33,738 fatalities.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's tally rises to 91,39,866; PM-CM meeting tomorrow

Rahul Gandhi: 'Which vaccine will be chosen?'

PM Modi to discuss spike in COVID-19 cases with state Chief Ministers on Tuesday

India mulls emergency usage of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

In a heartening development, Oxford University has announced, earlier in the day, that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca is 70.4% effective against the highly-infectious disease. Announcing the interim trial data from its Phase 3 trials, Oxford University said in a statement that its vaccine candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019 has shown more than 70 per cent efficacy after the analysis included 131 COVID-19 cases. India is mulling to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use, once the UK government clears it.

Apart from Oxford's 'COVISHIELD', four other COVID-19 vaccine candidates are currently in various human trial phases in India -Bharat Biotech - ICMR (BBV 152), Cadila-Zydus (ZyCOV-D), Serum-ICMR & Novavax and Russia- Dr.Reddy's (Sputnik V). The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has listed 7 Indian manufacturers permitted for COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing - Serum Institute of India (SII), Cadila Healthcare, Bharat Biotech, Biological E, Reliance Life Sciences, Aurbindo Pharma, and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals. Recently, the Centre allotted Rs. 900 crore for research related to COVID-19 vaccine development excluding the cost of vaccine or logistics for vaccine distribution.

PM Modi assures 'India's vaccine production will help the world fight COVID' at UNGA

Curfews in parts of India

While Delhi has ruled out a lockdown, it has increased the fine on not wearing masks to Rs 2000. Gujarat has introduced a 3-day lockdown in Ahmedabad, nightly curfews in  Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara from November 21. Similarly, Madhya Pradesh has introduced night curfew in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Ratlam and Vidisha districts with effect from November 21. Rajasthan too has decided to impose a night curfew in 8 districts - Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, and Bhilwara and increased the fine amount on not wearing a face mask from Rs 200 to Rs 500. Moreover, Himachal too has put a nightly curfew in Mandi, Shimla Kullu and Kangra, while Maharashtra has mandated negative COVID tests for travellers from Delhi, Rajasthan, Goa and Gujarat by air, trains, or road. 

Centre’s Principal Economic Advisor talks COVID vaccine, shares need for 'mass-scaling'