THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first six samples of people who have returned to the state from the United Kingdom tested negative for the new Covid-19 variant. These included the samples taken from three persons hailing from Pathanamthitta, two from Ernakulam and one from Kozhikode. The samples of a total of 32 people who had returned from November 25 to December 25 were sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, for genome sequencing.
So far, 25 samples of UK returnees in other parts of the country have tested positive for the mutant variant in the tests conducted by Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) Labs, a consortium of 10 labs. All Covid-19 positive returnees have been placed under quarantine. The new variant is considered to be more contagious, though the experts consider that the vaccine developed is effective against it.
The health department will roll out the Covid-19 vaccine dry run in Idukki, Palakkad, Wayanad and Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. It is part of the nation-wide programme. A dry run is similar to a mock drill conducted to assess the operational feasibility of the vaccine distribution. “The dry run for Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad will be held at one centre each. Though we have planned three sites in Thiruvananthapuram, it is yet to be finalised,” said an officer of the National Health Mission.
Health Secretary Rajan N Khobragade said the department has taken up the capacity building measures for conducting the dry run. He said the health department will issue detailed guidelines for the dry run on Friday.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness in various states on Wednesday. During the dry run, the details will be entered into the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN), a digital platform to be used to effectively roll out and scale up the mechanism for Covid vaccine distribution system.
Cold chain facilities scaled up for vaccine distribution
T’Puram: The health department has augmented its capacity to prepare for the Covid-19 vaccine distribution. It has received around 1,800 carriers and 100 cold boxes from the Union government to carry vaccines from cold chain points to the delivery locations. The boxes started arriving from the first week of December. The state has requested 135 ice-lined refrigerators (ILRs) that can maintain the optimal temperature for two days even without power backup and and 20 deep freezers.
At present, the department has 2,106 ILSs and 1,832 deep freezers. The state has around 1,251 cold chain points and these will be augmented to more than 2,000. Primary Health Centres and Family Health Centres will part of the network as these already have ILRs and deep freezers. “The department has built capacities over the years as part of its mass immunisation programmes. It will come in handy in Covid-19 vaccination delivery,” said a source.