States to register CVCs, plan sessions, populate lists for second doses and prepare COWIN 2.0 to provide access to citizens
As India gears up to start the second phase of COVID-19 vaccinations on March 1, for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions, the health ministry has released a guidance note on the updated version of the COWIN app.
As per the guidance document, the COWIN system was supposed to transition to Version 2.0 from February 27. The system is to be run in test mode over the weekend of February 27-28. This period will be utilised for registration of CVCs, planning and population of sessions, populating the due lists for second doses and preparing the system for providing access to citizens.
COWIN2.0 is reportedly based on the feedback received during the implementation of Phase 1 of the COVID-19 vaccination drive and it is hoped that these updates will ‘augment and simplify the process’ of registration for the vaccination.
Around 10,000 private hospitals under Ayushman Bharat PMJAY and more than 600 private hospitals under the Central Government Health Scheme will be utilised in the second phase while other private hospitals empanelled under State Govts. Health Insurance Scheme can also participate as COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs).
As part of the first phase which started on January 16, 1,43,01,266 vaccine doses have been administered through 2,92,312 sessions. These include 66,69,985 HCWs (first dose), 24,56,191 HCWs (second dose) and 51,75,090 FLWs (first dose), as per health ministry data as of February 28 morning.
Cases continue to surge in six states
Meanwhile, six states – Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat- continue to report a surge in new cases in the last 24 hours, accounting for 86.37% of the new cases.
16,752 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,623. It is followed by Kerala with 3,792 while Punjab reported 593 new cases.
Multi-disciplinary high level central teams have been rushed to these states/UTs witnessing a spike in cases to ascertain the reasons for the surge and coordinate with the State Health Departments in COVID-19 control and containment measures.