Promote e-shopping for festivals: Govt to states

Ahead of the festival season, the Centre on Saturday asked states and Union territories to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour is strictly followed, listing measures like promoting online shopping and avoiding unnecessary travel to stop infection rates from spiralling.

“With continued and collaborative efforts of the Central and state governments, India has achieved the landmark of administering over 100 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. While vaccination is one of the prime interventions against Covid-19, the honourable prime minister has emphasised that we must continue to exercise precaution by following Covid appropriate behaviour to prevent the risk of future resurgence,” Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a letter to states and UTs.

The billionth shot of Covid-19 vaccines was administered on October 21, nine months and five days after the country’s Covid-19 immunisation programme kicked off on January 16. The vaccines were administered in roughly 430,000 centres and a total of at least around 2 million health workers were directly involved in the process.

The states have also been asked to disallow mass gatherings in areas identified as containment zones and in districts reporting more than a 5% positivity rate – the proportion of samples that return positive. “There should be strict adherence to limits on public gatherings taking into account availability of space to ensure effective physical distancing,” the Centre said.

The letter also asked states and UTs to explore and promote various modalities for online modes of celebrations, online shopping and discourage unnecessary travel. States must continue to diligently follow the five pillars of Covid-19 management — test-track-treat-vaccinate and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour, it added.

The guidelines come ahead of major festivals such as Diwali next month, and amid a worrying spike in coronavirus cases in many countries such as Russia, UK and China where schools are being closed and renewed lockdowns are being announced.

The Centre has also urged states/UTs to focus on those beneficiaries waiting for their second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine after their interval period has been over.

“So far, 71.24 crore (712 million) first doses, covering 76% of the eligible population, and 30.06 crore (300 million) second doses, covering 32% of the eligible population, have been administered the Covid vaccines,” Bhushan said.

States have also been requested to access the line list of due beneficiaries from Co-WIN portal. The detailed line-lists of due beneficiaries can be utilised for preparing district-wise second dose administration plan involving district magistrates for execution in a time-bound manner, he added.

The states/UTs were also advised to identify and prioritise the districts having low coverage for focused action and explore requirements for mobilisation efforts, addressing local challenges, need for additional Covid vaccination centres and improving access in rural areas, the letter said.