In a major development, Reuters has reported that the Central government may bear the full expense of vaccination programme against COVID-19. It is expected that the Centre would make an announcement in this regard in Budget 2021. The process of vaccination may start from February-end.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday (November 26) said that 44,489 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were registered in the country in the last 24 hours. Of these, 60.72% cases were recorded in six States/UT- Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
"60.50% of 524 case fatalities reported in last 24hrs are concentrated Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab & UP. Maharashtra, Delhi, UP & West Bengal are the common states among the top 6 states contributing maximum to new cases as well as daily deaths,"said the Centre.
In a related development, the Centre has also directed the states and Union Terriroties to chalk out a plan aimed at decentralising the plan for distribution of the vaccine against COVID-19. The Centre has said that each states should set up teams at the block level for the distribution of vaccine and the states should constitute a Block Task Force (BTF) for this purpose. It is to be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also directed the states to form teams at the block level in order to ensure smooth distribution of vaccine.
The Ministry of Health letter, written by Vandana Gurnani, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission, lays emphasis on the formation of BTF to further decentralise planning.
