‘Precautionary’ Vaccine Dose To Be Same as Previous Jabs, No Mix-and-Match: Govt

Dr VK Paul clarified that mixing and matching will not be allowed while administering the ‘precautionary’ dose.

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Clarifying that mixing and matching of vaccines will not be allowed while administering the ‘precautionary’ COVID-19 vaccine dose, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul announced on Wednesday, 5 January, that the precautionary dose will be the same vaccine as has been given previously.

Dr VK Paul was quoted by ANI as saying:

“Precautionary COVID-19 vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as has been given previously. Those who've received Covaxin will receive Covaxin, those who've received primary two doses of Covishield will receive Covishield.”

The ‘precautionary’ dose is slated to be rolled out from 10 January for healthcare workers, frontline workers, and people above the age of 60 with comorbidities.

Meanwhile, over 1 crore youngsters between 15 and 18 age group have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday.

Omicron Predominant Circulating Strain: ICMR

Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) informed on Wednesday that the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain in the cities.

He added that mass gatherings should be avoided to lower the speed of this spread.

Meanwhile, the quarantine period for home isolation patients was reduced from 14 days to seven days in Delhi, as per Ministry of Health guidelines.

In these seven days, if a patient doesn't have any symptoms for three consecutive days, then the patient can be discharged from home isolation without COVID test.

Rising COVID Cases in India

With states returning back to weekend curfews, COVID-19 cases in India continue to show an upward trend, with the country reporting 58,097 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, significantly higher than the 37,379 cases on Tuesday.

The country also reported 534 deaths in the last 24 hours. On Tuesday, 124 deaths had been reported.

Meanwhile, a total of 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 24 states and Union territories in India so far.

The Ministry of Health said, "India has reported a more than 6.3 times increase in cases in the last eight days. A sharp increase seen in case positivity from 0.79 percent on 29 December 2021 to 5.03 percent on 5 January."

The ministry also listed the states of concern where there has been a rise in COVID cases.

These include Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and Gujarat.

The ministry further added that there are 28 districts in the country that are reporting more than 10 percent weekly positivity rate.

Highest Number of Cases Reported Globally

The Ministry of Health also informed that 25.2 lakh cases were recorded globally on 4 January, the highest ever since the onset of the pandemic.

Further, approximately 65 percent of the cases in the week ending 4 January were reported from the USA, UK, France, Italy and Spain, the ministry added.