Arvind Kejriwal urges Centre to allow booster doses for fully vaccinated individuals

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to allow booster doses against COVID-19 for all those who have been fully vaccinated. He added that the Delhi government has the required infrastructure to administer booster doses. “I urge the Centre to allow citizens to take booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine for increased immunity against the virus. Delhi government has the infrastructure to conduct booster dose drives,” Kejriwal said at a Delhi government briefing.

He also said that in keeping with the consultations at a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), the Delhi government has decided to send samples of all COVID-19 positive patients in the national capital for genomic sequencing. Prior to this, genome sequencing was done only for those citizens who returned from ‘at-risk’ countries. “Given the rise in cases for some days, now all positive cases in Delhi will be sent for genome sequencing for Omicron,” Kejriwal said.

The DDMA will meet again on December 23 to strengthen home isolation norms and take stock of the COVID-19 situation in the national capital. The Chief Minister has urged people to wear face masks in public places and to not panic because of the Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government is making efforts to ramp up the national capital’s health infrastructure. The Delhi government converted four hospitals into dedicated centres for treating patients infected with Omicron variant of COVID-19. These are Rajendra Nagar’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Saket’s Max Hospital, Vasant Kunj’s Fortis Hospital and Tiughlakabad’s Batra Hospital. The Delhi government has also decided to extend its free ration services for another six months till May 31, 2022 due to the COVID-19 situation.

(With agency inputs)

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