Coronavirus live: Nearly 10 lakh vaccinated till date, says health ministry

Nearly 10 lakh healthcare workers in India have been vaccinated against COVID-19 till 6 p.m. on Thursday through a total of 18,159 sessions, according to a provisional report.

A total of 4,041 sessions were held till 6 p.m. on Thursday, and 1,92,581 beneficiaries were vaccinated on the sixth day of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination, said the Health Ministry on Thursday, adding that there are no cases of serious/severe AEFI (adverse event following immunisation) attributable to vaccination till date.

You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.

Here are live updates:

States’ borrowings shot up by over 80% due to pandemic

States’ borrowings during April-December 2020, accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are 82.5% higher than their borrowings in the corresponding period last year, according to a study.

Till December 11, 2020, the States netted ₹4.6 lakh crore through market borrowings. The figure included ₹36,000 crore borrowed by the Centre and passed on to the States to meet the shortfall in revenue arising on account of Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation, pointed out the study carried out by the PRS Legislative Research, a New Delhi-based independent not-for-profit group. As part of an understanding between the Central government and the States, the latter chose Option 1 for the purpose of meeting GST compensation shortfall.

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Data | Covishield and Covaxin currently among the cheapest COVID-19 vaccines globally

The costs of the two COVID-19 vaccines that were rolled out in India are lower compared to others in use around the world. However, the vaccine manufacturers have indicated that they may raise the cost going forward.

The overall cost of vaccination against COVID-19 in India would trump that of others. The estimated cost of vaccinating 50% of India’s population using the cheapest available vaccine (at ₹200 per dose) would require an allocation of more than 40% of India’s FY21 health budget. This allocation would be more than 1.5 times the share of all other routine vaccinations if the FY17 health budget is considered.

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