Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

India city claims it has vaccinated its entire adult population

India city claims it has vaccinated its entire adult population

BHUBANESWAR, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Odisha and its largest city, reached a milestone over the weekend. According to its officials, the city has succeeded in vaccinating its entire eligible population.

For a city with a population of more than 1.1 million, it is not a small feat. Bhubaneswar, which is also called the ‘temple city’ of India because of the presence of several hundreds of temples there, had been hit by a deadly wave of coronavirus infections earlier this year that left its healthcare system in a shambles, like the rest of the country. Many people failed to get beds in hospitals despite desperately requiring treatment.


Ansuman Rath, a top official of the city, on Monday (2) said that all adult residents of Bhubaneswar – numbering around 900,000 – had received the first of the two doses of the vaccine by mid-June and the milestone “pushed up” their morale, The New York Times reported.

“When we achieved that, we thought we must quickly give the second doses too, as case load was high at that time,” he said.

Odisha has seen almost a million people getting affected by the coronavirus while over 6,000 have died. The state has administered just over 17 million vaccines so far. India has so far vaccinated 1,066 million of its people, according to government data.

Bhubaneswar's civic body called Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has administered as many 1.87 million doses of vaccines till Monday. Out of them, 1.07 million have received the first shot while 0.8 have got the second one, PTI reported citing BMC officials as saying.

Under the 2011 Census of India, Bhubaneswar's population was around 0.84 million and now it is expected to be around 1.1 million. According to the civic officials, given the fact that the vaccines are given to only those over 18 years of age, the city has achieved its target of 100 per cent vaccination.

Special drives to encourage people to get vaccinated

Rath said the city authorities campaigned in its slums to overcome people’s vaccine hesitancy and set up a dozen walk-in centres in order to help people without access to mobile phones or the internet and even a proper identification to get vaccinated with help of officials.

The inoculation drive started in January in Bhubaneswar but the beginning was slow because of a short supply of the Covishield vaccine, the locally manufactured version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. The local administration, instead, relied more on Covaxin, the other major Indian vaccine which is locally manufactured.

When the devastating second wave of the pandemic hit India, the capital of Odisha was also not spared. The city saw more than 1,200 new cases and 30-40 deaths daily during March and April. Currently, Bhubaneswar is reporting less than 200 new cases and 10 deaths a day.

India on Tuesday reported more than 30,000 new cases and the daily positivity rate remained less than five per cent.

More For You

Bird-flu-Getty

There have been 27 confirmed cases of bird flu in England and one in Scotland during the current outbreak. (Representational image: Getty Images)

England bans 'bird gatherings' to contain avian flu spread

THE GOVERNMENT has announced a ban on "bird gatherings" in England as part of efforts to contain the spread of avian influenza.

The ban, which comes into effect from midday on Monday, will apply to fairs, markets, and shows involving various bird species.

Keep ReadingShow less
Matt-Jukes-Getty

Matt Jukes, the UK’s head of counterterrorism, has called for a social media ban for children under 16. (Photo: Getty Images)

Nine-year-old among youngest referred for far-right deradicalisation

A UK charity working to counter far-right radicalisation has seen children as young as nine referred for support.

Exit Hate UK, which helps individuals leave extremist movements, said its youngest-ever referral was nine years old, with the average age of those seeking help being about 15, according to The Times.

Keep ReadingShow less
Streeting hails India’s global role as Labour backs bilateral relations

Wes Streeting addresses the Republic Day reception at the Guildhall in London last Tuesday (28),joined by Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Vikram Doraiswami

Streeting hails India’s global role as Labour backs bilateral relations

WES STREETING spoke of the priority prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government attach to relations with India when he addressed a Republic Day reception at the Guildhall in London last Tuesday (28).

But the secretary of state for health and social care won over the large Indian crowd by paying an unexpected tribute to Rishi Sunak.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate with Adani over renewable energy plants

Gautam Adani

Sri Lanka seeks to negotiate with Adani over renewable energy plants

SRI LANKA’S government started talks with India’s Adani Group to lower the cost of power from two wind power projects the group will build in the island nation’s northern province, the cabinet spokesman said last Tuesday (28).

Sri Lanka has been reviewing the group’s local projects after US authorities in November accused billionaire founder Gautam Adani and other executives of being part of a scheme to pay bribes to secure Indian power supply contracts. Adani has denied the allegations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

Kemi Badenoch delivers speech on January 16, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Badenoch proposes stricter citizenship rules for all migrants

CONSERVATIVE PARTY on Thursday (6) proposed a clampdown on all migrants by tightening citizenship rules and barring social benefit claimants from residency rights.

Kemi Badenoch, who took over from Rishi Sunak in November last year, outlined her first major policy agenda as Tory leader in a move seen as an attempt to win back the support of Conservative voters drawn to the far-right anti-immigrant Reform party.

Keep ReadingShow less