The number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 in Delhi has crossed the one lakh-mark so far and the majority of them are healthcare workers, officials said today.

Yesterday, over 9,200 healthcare workers had received Covid shots in the city during the third week of the inoculation drive, registering a turnout of more than 50 per cent. “The total number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 so far has crossed 1,00,000-mark,” a senior official said.

The Covid vaccination of frontline workers has also started, he said. District Magistrates of several districts have come forward to get themselves vaccinated, such as DMs of southwest, north, northwest, east and west districts, officials said. Several police personnel have also come forward to get vaccinated.

The district administrators have thus sought to inspire confidence in the general public regarding the safety and efficacy of the Covid vaccine, a senior official said. It was said yesterday that the vaccination would begin for frontline workers too from 6 February. Frontline workers include police, civil defence staff, DJB and electricity department employees among others.

After the arrival of the vaccine, its first doses were administered to healthcare workers on priority. The number of scheduled days for it, which were initially four days per week, have now been extended to six days a week ~ from Monday to Saturday.

After a sluggish start from 16 January, this inoculation drive in the national capital seemed to have picked up momentum over the last several days, at least in terms of absolute numbers. The targeted number for vaccination yesterday was 18,400 and the turnout was about 50 per cent, officials said.

“On Friday, 9,216 people were administered coronavirus vaccine, and AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) was reported in 12 persons,” a senior official of the Delhi health department said.

On Thursday, 9,494 healthcare workers had got the Covid jabs, registering a turnout of about 51 per cent. Meanwhile, Delhi today recorded 123 fresh Covid cases and 4 new coronaviruslinked fatalities, while its positivity rate slumped to 0.19 per cent, according to the Delhi government’s latest health bulletin.

Today’s fresh cases were detected out of 63,322 tests conducted the previous day. The new cases raised the city’s coronavirus infection count to 6,35,916 while its Covid death toll mounted to 10,877, the health bulletin said.

The positivity rate dropped to 0.19 per cent from yesterday’s 0.26 per cent.

The active cases tally dipped to 1,174 from yesterday’s 1,206, the bulletin stated. The total number of coronavirus tests conducted yesterday included 39,543 RTPCR tests and 23,779 rapid antigen tests, The national capital’s Covid recovery rate stood at 98.10 per cent, the bulletin added.

Yesterday, Delhi had identified 154 coronavirus cases and 2 Covid-linked deaths. The positivity rate stood at 0.26 per cent. On 1 February, Delhi had recorded 3 Covid deaths, which Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain termed the “lowest in the city in the last 10 months”. On 2 February, this figure dropped to 2. On 3 and 4 February, the Covid death count in the city was 6 and 7 respectively.

(With input from PTI)