The government of India targets 100 per cent COVID-19 adult vaccination under the 'Har Ghar Dastak' program by December 31 as India achieved 50 per cent fully vaccinated adult population landmark on Sunday. "Congratulations India. It is a moment of great pride as over 50 per cent of the eligible population is now fully vaccinated. We will win the battle against COVID-19 together." tweeted Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The states/Union Territories with more than 50 per cent of the adult population fully vaccinated are Andaman Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Tripura. D. Randeep, IAS, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka, said, "We are probably at 3rd place in the country now in 2nd dose coverage. We hope to reach 75 per cent at least by end of this month. 95 per cent would take around 45-60 days. "Coverage would actually be more than 64 per cent as many have taken the 2nd dose but under a different number or have forgotten to inform the vaccinator to punch as 2nd dose in the CoWIN app. Last-mile coverage through the door to door outreach. On lines of micro plan done for MR vaccination drive," he added. Last week the Union Health Minister and health officials conducted a meeting with states and UTs regarding the "Har Ghar Dastak" campaign and set the targets of 100 per cent first COVID-19 vaccine dose till December 31. With the administration of 1,04,18,707 vaccine doses in the span of the last 24 hours, the total COVID-19 vaccine doses given in the country has exceeded 127.61 crores. India's COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched on January 16, 2021. Initially, the vaccination was opened for Health Care Workers (HCWs) only. From February 2, front line workers were made eligible for vaccination. The vaccination drive was expanded from March 1 to include persons above 60 years of age and those above 45 years with associated specified 20 comorbidities. It was further expanded to all people above 45 years of age from April 1. From May 1 all persons above 18 years of age were made eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Source: ANI

Travelers who are fully vaccinated with the shots from Sinopharm, Sinovac and COVAXIN will be allowed to enter Canada starting Nov. 30, the Canadian government announced on Friday.   Currently, Canada only accepts travelers who have received the vaccines including Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.   Also starting Nov. 30, people leaving Canada by land or by air for less than 72 hours will no longer be required to provide proof of a negative molecular test to re-enter the country.   This change applies only to Canadians, permanent residents and individuals registered under the Indian Act, as well as accompanying children under 12, and individuals with medical contraindications to vaccination.   Additionally, starting Jan. 15, certain groups of travelers who are currently exempt from entry requirements will only be allowed to enter Canada if they are fully vaccinated.   Those groups include individuals travelling to reunite with family, international students, professional and amateur athletes, individuals with a valid work permit and other essential service workers including truck drivers.   "With more Canadians getting vaccinated every day, we can move forward cautiously toward a more open border economy and society," said Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. "At the same time, we can't let our guard down."   To date, the country has reported a total of 1,762,434 cases with 29,481 deaths, according to the Canadian government. Source: Xinhua/BSS AH

Only people with the double doses of Covid-19 vaccine would be allowed to enter into the stadium during the three-match T20 International series between Bangladesh and Pakistan, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) confirmed today.   This is will be the first time since the outbreak of the deadly virus, the fans will be permitted to enjoy cricket game live from the stadium.   The BCB had already published the ticket price for the much anticipated series with the lowest price of BDT 100 and highest of BDT 1000. The grand stand ticket will be the highest of price while price of VIP stand BDT 500, Club House BDT 300 and Southern/Northern stand BDT 150. Easter Stand has the lowest price of BDT 100. The ticket will go on sale from tomorrow with the first of three T20s starting on Friday.   "Certificate of double vaccination for Covid-19 is mandatory for ticket holders aged 18 years and above. Vaccine Certificate will be checked at entry to the venue on match days," the BCB said in a press release.   Tickets will be found only at the ticket selling booth at Shaheed Suhrawardi Indoor Stadium in Mirpur. Booth will be opened at 9 AM and tickets will be sold until 6 PM subject to availability before the match.   The BCB, however, didn't clear how many tickets will go on sale from the capacity of 25,000 seats at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. At the same time, they also didn't confirm whether Zahur Ahmed Chowhdury Stadium in Chattogram which will host the first Test from November 26-30 will have fans back into the stadium.   All of the three T20 matches will be held at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium beside the second Test from December 4-8. The first T20 is on November 19 while second and third is on November 20 and 22. Source: BSS AH

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid  Maleque today (Thursday) said students aged between 12 and 17 across the country will be vaccinated as the government is taking all necessary measures to bring school children under inoculation coverage.     "As part of the nationwide campaign, students aged between 12 and 17 will be inoculated from 12 centers in Dhaka city on November 1 and 21 centers from  outside the capital city," he told journalists after a cabinet meeting at secretariat in the capital, an official release said.     "Under the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we will set up more vaccination centers across the country to implement the campaign successfully," he added.       The students aged between 12 and 17 would be given Pfizer vaccine, Maleque said adding," Air condition system is needed for vaccination of Pfizer jabs...so, will set up vaccination centers each district with air condition facility."    He said on October 27, 55 lakh doses of Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Bangladesh and now the country has stock of two crore shots of vaccine.       On October 27 (yesterday), the United States (US) has donated 3.5 million more doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to Bangladesh to support the country's new drive to inoculate child aged between 12 and 17. A total of 35 lakh doses of Pfizer jab will arrive next month in Bangladesh.     The health minister said the country has a target to vaccinate 50 percent people by December this year as the government intensified its efforts to collect required quantity of COVID-19 jabs.     "We hoped that we collect 16 crore doses of coronavirus vaccines by January next year... meaning we will be able to inoculate 50 percent people by December," he added.     On October 14, as many as 120 students aged between 12 and 17 were inoculated as a trial run of COVID-19 vaccination at Colonel Malek Medical College Hospital in Manikganj, Director General of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) sources said. All 120 children were given Pfizer jabs, it added.      Children will be allowed to complete their registration using birth registration certificate, it added. Source: BSS AH

Turkey has declared that fully vaccinated travelers from India will no longer be subjected to a mandatory 14-day quarantine rule, with effect from September 4, the Turkish Embassy in New Delhi informed on Saturday. The announcement will ease the travel restrictions for fully vaccinated passengers of 12 years of age and older, travelling from India or those who stayed in India in the last 14 days. The vaccines that have been approved by WHO or the Turkish Government are covered under this exemption. In addition to WHO-approved vaccines, the vaccines approved by the Turkish Government are Pfizer Biontech, Sputnik V and Sinovac. For the same, a traveller must have taken the second dose (if Johnson&Johnson one dose is sufficient) at least 14 days prior to the date of travel. Indian travellers who are vaccinated with Covishield will also be allowed to travel to Turkey. Once, Covaxin gets a nod from WHO, travellers vaccinated with the same will also be able to visit Turkey. The fully vaccinated travellers are also required to submit their negative PCR test report taken 72 hours before departure in order to be exempt from the quarantine. Non-vaccinated travellers are required to undergo mandatory quarantine for 10 days in a hotel or a location mentioned in the declaration. As of September 4, the Turkish government has successfully vaccinated 79 per cent of its population above 18 of age with the first dose and 62 per cent population above 18 of age with both doses. The tourist inflow numbers in Turkey between January-July 2021, despite the pandemic, were recorded at 11.9 million. In July 2021, 4.3 million international visitors visited Turkey. Source: Khaleej Times BM

The process of performing Umrah in the holy city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia resumed today (Wednesday) for the Bangladeshi pilgrims who have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has received a letter from the Saudi Arabian government to this end. Bangladeshi Muslim pilgrims can perform Umrah through any Umrah agency approved by the Ministry of Religious Affairs following the conditions imposed by the Saudi government, a ministry press release said. The list of approved Umrah agencies has been published on the Hajj website of the ministry (www.hajj.gov.bd), the release added. According to the Saudi Arabian government's conditions, Umrah pilgrims must take two doses of coronavirus vaccine and they should be 18 years old or above. Source: BSS AH

Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque  today (Sunday) said Bangladesh has set a target to vaccinate one crore people from August 7 to 14 to bolster the COVID-19 vaccination campaign across the country. "During the seven-day drive from national to grassroots level, elderly people will get priority for receiving coronavirus vaccines," he told a function at Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons (BCPS), an official release said. "We have installed vaccination centres at union levels . . . the people will get vaccines there showing their national ID cards," the minister added. Bangladesh is planning to vaccinate 80 percent of the country's total population by 2022, Director General of Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam said. "We are already set to purchase roughly 14 crore vaccine doses by June next year while the rest of the required jabs were expected to be procured in the subsequent months to implement the plan," he added. As part of intensifying the nationwide inoculation drive, the government has lowered the minimum age by five years as such now people aged 25 years and above are allowed to receive COVID-19 vaccines. The authorities fixed 30 years as minimum age for receiving coronavirus vaccines  on July 19 the DGHS said, adding in early July, the authorities have reduced age limit to 35 years from 40. People aged 55 and above were only eligible for taking vaccines but the decision has been revised a day after launching of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination campaign on February 7 this year.  According to the DGHS, Bangladesh has so far collected around 1.91 crore COVID-19 vaccines.  As many as 1,55,04,015 people have so far been registered for receiving the inoculation, it added. As of August 1, a total of 9,112,144 people received first shot of COVID-19 vaccines while 43,51,665 people got the second doses of inoculation. Source: BSS AH