Start vaccination for 18+: Indian Medical Association

New Delhi: With India facing the worst wave of pandemic yet, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting vaccination should be open to all people above the age of 18 years.

"At present, we are vaccinating the population above 45 years. In view of the rapid spread of the second wave of the disease, we suggest that our vaccination strategy needs to be geared up with immediate effect on war foot. We request the following suggestions in the Covid Vaccination Drive. All citizens above 18 years of age shall be permitted to receive Covid vaccination," IMA said.

The division bench of the Gujarat High Court, led by the Chief Justice advised the Gujarat government to impose a 3-4 day lockdown or curfew, looking at the rising cases of coronavirus infections in the state. The Gujarat Chief Minister told the media that it will consider the court's advice in the core committee meeting to be held in the evening in Gandhinagar.

Thee Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi imposed seven hours of night curfew with immediate effect but exempted people of certain professions from it. The decision was taken after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) reviewed the Covid-19 situation in the city. The DDMA order for curfew from 10 pm to 5 am will continue till April 30.

The daily rise in fresh Covid-19 infections in India remained above 90,000 for the third consecutive day pushing the nationwide coronavirus tally to 1,26,86,049, according to the data updated by Union Health Ministry.

More than 43lakh vaccine doses were administered in a span 24 hours, the highest single-day coverage till now.

A total of 96,982 cases and 446 fatalities were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 1,65,547, the data updated at 8 am showed.

In Kashmir's Bandipora district, officials have issued an order making it mandatory for persons above 45 to get themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 to collect their government ration. Issuing the order, the Assistant Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Bandipora on Monday said, "Please remember that without producing Covid-19 vaccination certificate, the ration will not be issued in any case."

The MNS chief Raj Thackeray said migrant workers from other states were responsible for the rapid spread of coronavirus in Maharashtra, which has been reporting a large number of new infections since the last few weeks.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said not wearing a face mask amounts to crime and appealed to people to follow appropriate "social behaviour" to check the spread of Covid-19.