The Evening Wrap: Vaccination registration for 18+ begins with CoWIN glitches
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Glitches on CoWIN platform as COVID-19 vaccination registration begins for 18+ |
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As the registration of all citizens above 18 years of age for vaccination against COVID-19 started on the CoWIN portal at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, many people took to social media to complain about the technical problems they faced. The third phase of the inoculation drive, which would also include those between 18 and 45 years, is scheduled to begin from May 1. Some of them complained that the portal was not responding while others complained that it had crashed. At 4.35 p.m., a tweet from the verified Twitter handle of the Aarogya Setu mobile application said the CoWIN portal is working and that there was a minor glitch at 4 p.m., which was fixed. "Cowin portal is working. There was a minor glitch at 4 pm that was fixed. 18 plus can register," it said. After registration, taking an appointment to get a Covid-19 vaccine jab would be mandatory for those aged between 18 and 44 years as walk-ins will not be allowed initially, officials had said. Appointments will be based on slots made available by states and private vaccination centres. Those above 45 years of age can still avail the facility of on-site registration to get vaccinated, they had said. "An increased demand is expected once the vaccination is opened for all. For the purpose of crowd control, registering on the CoWIN portal and making an appointment to get a vaccine will be mandatory for those aged between 18 and 45 years. Walks-in will not be allowed in the beginning so that there is no chaos," an official had said. The inoculation process and the documents to be provided to get the jab remain the same. Media reports, citing government sources, said that the site, post-glitches, was getting 27 lakh hits a minute. Shift journalist Kappan to a hospital in Delhi, SC tells U.P. govt.The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to shift journalist Siddique Kappan to a hospital in Delhi, like the Ram Manohar Lohia or the AIIMS. A Bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and A.S. Bopanna directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the State, to shift Mr. Kappan to a Delhi hospital for "proper medical treatment". The order came despite serious objections raised by Mehta on behalf of the State. Mehta said Kappan was found COVID-negative in an RT-PCR test and he cannot be singled out among other inmates for treatment in a hospital in Delhi. He said he could be kept in a hospital in Mathura. He said there were hundreds of other inmates with or without co-morbidities. But the Bench pointed out that the plea concerned the health of a man. The Bench said the State has an obligation to protect the health of an individual. It said it was not going into anything except that Kappan received medical treatment in a hospital outside U.P. Once he is sound of health, the court said, he would be brought back to Mathura jail, from where he could take appropriate measures for relief in accordance with the law, the Bench noted. At one point, Mehta said the beds in Delhi hospitals were full. "I cannot request any Covid-19 positive patient to vacate his bed for a Covid-19 negative patient," the Solicitor General submitted. However, the Bench stood firm and asked him to make the arrangements to shift Kappan to a Delhi hospital. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) alleged that Kappan has been chained to a cot in the hospital he was admitted to, after falling in the bathroom and later testing positive for Covid-19. SII cuts Covishield price for states to ₹300 per doseWith a number of States expressing their inability to commence the third phase of vaccination from May 1 owing to vaccine scarcity, the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) on Wednesday announced that it was reducing the price of its Covishield vaccine to the States from ₹400 to ₹300 per dose as a "philanthropic gesture". "As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of SII, I hereby reduce the price to the states from ₹400 to ₹300 per dose, effective immediately; this will save thousands of crores of state funds going forward. This will enable more vaccinations and save countless lives," said SII CEO Adar Poonawalla on Twitter. SII had earlier given its per dose pricing of its 'Covishield' vaccine as ₹150 for the Central government, ₹400 for State governments and ₹600 for private hospitals while Bharat Biotech (which rolls out 'Covaxin') had quoted ₹150 for the Centre, ₹600 for State governments, and ₹1200 for private hospitals. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope today said that despite the Centre announcing the third phase to begin from May 1, it would not be possible to begin the vaccinations on that date as the only two indigenous producers -- SII and Bharat Biotech -- could not supply the requisite amounts of doses for the smooth conduct of the inoculation drive. India declines UN's offer of assistance, says it has 'robust system'India has declined assistance offered by the United Nations of its integrated supply chain for Covid-19-related material, saying the country has a "robust system" to deal with the required logistics, a spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said. "One of the things we did is we offered the assistance of our integrated supply chain if it was required. We've been told at this point that it's not needed because India has a reasonably robust system to deal with this. But our offer stands, and we're willing to help in whatever way we can," Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN Chief, said in response to a question by PTI. On whether any shipments of essential materials from UN agencies are expected to reach India amid the crisis, Haq said, "None have been sought so far, but like I said, we do have people, including our people who deal with operational and logistical issues who are willing to help, if we're needed, and we're in touch with our counterparts in India to see whether that will be useful." Home Ministry notifies GNCT Act that effectively makes L-G the 'government' of DelhiThe Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday issued a gazette notification stating that the provisions of the Government of National Capital Territory (GNCT) of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2021, would be deemed to have come into effect from April 27. This comes a day after the Delhi High Court cautioned the Delhi government to put its "house in order" over the issue of inadequate oxygen supply in the city, adding that the Centre would be asked to take over if the Delhi government couldn't manage the situation created by the pandemic at hand. The Act, which gives the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) of Delhi more teeth and substantially waters down the powers of both the elected government and the Legislative Assembly, will clarify the expression "Government" and address "ambiguities" in legislative provisions to promote "harmonious relations between the legislature and the executive." Coming as the development does in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Act is expected to trigger another round of confrontation between the L-G and the Delhi government under the AAP. EC mandates rules for Assembly polls' counting dayThe Election Commission of India (EC) on Wednesday made it mandatory for all candidates and their agents to have either negative Covid-19 test results or both doses of a vaccine before entering the counting halls on May 2, when votes in the five ongoing Assembly polls are tabulated. The EC issued instructions for counting of votes in the West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry elections at a time the country is going through an unprecedented surge of Covid-19. On Tuesday, the EC had banned all victory processions on May 2, and restricted the number of people accompanying winning candidates to collect their certificate of election from the Returning Officer to two. "In view of the second wave of the pandemic and in order to ensure a completely Covid-safe arrangements during counting, the Commission has been regularly consulting the Chief Secretaries and the Chief Electoral Officers of all five poll going States/ UT and has taken their views and safety measures/ protocol to be followed during the pandemic," an EC statement said. The EC ordered the District Election Officers (DEO) to be the Nodal Officers for counting centres in order to make sure Covid-19-related rules are followed. "No candidates/agents will be allowed inside the counting hall without undergoing RT-PCR/RAT test or without having two doses of vaccination against Covid-19 and will have to produce negative RT-PCR report or RAT report or vaccination reports within 48 hours of start of counting," the EC instructions read. It added that the DEO should make arrangements for the tests before counting day. "No public gathering outside the counting venue shall be allowed during the process of counting," the EC said. It added that counting halls should be large enough to maintain physical distancing and have adequate ventilation. Trinamool candidate's widow files case of culpable homicide against West Bengal Deputy Election CommissionerIn a first, the widow of Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Kajal Sinha, who recently died of Covid-19, has filed a case of culpable homicide against Sudip Jain, Deputy Election Commissioner In-Charge of West Bengal, accusing the Election Commission of India (EC) of "deliberate and intentional omission" leading to her husband's death. Sinha was the TMC candidate from the Khardaha Assembly constituency, which went to polls in the 6th phase of the ongoing West Bengal Assembly election on April 22. He died three days after voting for his seat was held on April 25. Other than Sinha, three other candidates died during the prolonged election campaign in the State. Two candidates were from the Jangipur constituency — the Revolutionary Socialist Party's Pradip Nandi and Congress' Rezaul Haque. Samir Ghosh, independent candidate from Baisnabnagar Assembly constituency, also succumbed to Covid-19. In her complaint, Nandita Sinha said that the EC had shown "complete unpreparedness, negligence, lack of accountability and utmost disregard towards the lives of the common people". West Bengal alone, she said, has 95,000 Covid-19 cases and the EC had decided to carry out elections over eight phases spanning over 33 days despite the already precarious situation in the rest of the country. "It has malignantly chosen to continue with eight phases of polls despite having reason to believe that the infection would spread at an alarming rate causing widespread death across West Bengal and the nation," she said. She also accused the EC of "intentionally" not taking any steps to ensure Covid-19 protocols were followed at public rallies. Covid Watch: Numbers and DevelopmentsThe number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,83,02,291 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 2,03,894. A study has found that people who have been vaccinated with Covaxin have protection against the double mutant (B.1.617) variant first found in India. A preprint of the study carried out by ICMR and Bharat Biotech researchers has been posted in biorXiv. Preprints are yet to be peer-reviewed and published in medical journals. So far, 21 countries have detected the B.1.617 variant. Of those, the majority of cases have been reported from India. In BriefTwo people died of shock and at least 10 others sustained injuries after an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck Assam at 7:51 a.m. on Wednesday. The earthquake, felt across the northeast, Bihar, West Bengal, Bhutan and Bangladesh, left several buildings and roads in the northern and western parts of the State damaged. The National Centre of Seismology (NCS) said the epicentre of the earthquake, at a depth of 10 km, was Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district, and preliminary analysis showed it was located near the Kopili Fault closer to the Himalayan Frontal Thrust. The PM CARES Fund would be used to procure 1 lakh portable oxygen concentrators, the government said on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sanctioned the procurement during a meeting to discuss the liquid medical oxygen supply for Covid-19 management, the PMO said. It said 500 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) oxygen plants had been sanctioned under the fund, apart from the earlier sanctioned 713. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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