The Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government is all set to kick off the vaccination drive against Covid-19 in Delhi on 16 January.

Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain today said that for this first phase of vaccination, which will be rolled out countrywide from 16 January, the AAP government has finalised 89 hospitals in the city, of which 40 are those run by the government and 49 are privately managed.

Delhi has 2,25,000 healthcare workers who will be administered the vaccine during this phase.

“In the first phase, health care workers will be vaccinated. Thereafter, frontline workers and those aged above 50 will be given the doses,” Jain reportedly said.

Jain said that the Covid vaccines will start reaching Delhi between 12 and 14 January. The Delhi government has prepared a “very strong and robust” storage system to keep the vaccines safe.

Jain said, “The Delhi government has prepared 89 sites for Covid-19 vaccination. The Central government has finalised around 5,000 sites across India. As per the instructions of the Central government, the Delhi government has prepared these 89 sites which are different hospitals. At every centre, there will be eight-nine people who will handle the drive. With this preparation, the Delhi government will start the first phase of vaccination on 16 January.”

He said, “The Delhi government has prepared a very strong storage system to keep the Covid-19 vaccine safe. The whole system of vaccination is ready and we are fully prepared to start the vaccination drive. Right now we are only waiting for the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines, and as soon as the vaccines start arriving, work will begin immediately.”

Yesterday, Delhi chief minister Kejriwal urged the Central government to provide free vaccines to everyone.

Jain also pointed out that for more than 15 days Delhi has been witnessing less than 1,000 coronavirus cases per day. “The Covid-19 situation in Delhi is now under control,” he said.

Delhi today recorded 399 Covid cases detected out of 77,600 tests. The city’s coronavirus caseload thus rose to 6,30,200. The positivity rate dipped to 0.51 per cent, according to the Delhi government’s latest health bulletin.

The national capital logged 12 fresh Covid-linked fatalities, which pushed its toll to 10,678, the health bulletin said.

The Covid patients who recovered during the last 24 hours numbered 602, which raised the cumulative count of such recoveries in the city to 6,16,054 so far, the bulletin said. The recovery rate climbed to 97.75 per cent.

The number of Delhi’s active Covid cases was stated to be 3,468, including 1,585 patients under home isolation.

Delhi yesterday recorded 519 fresh coronavirus cases and 12 Covid-linked deaths. These cases were detected out of 80,275 tests. The city’s Covid positivity rate was 0.65 per cent.

This month, 585 coronavirus cases were logged in Delhi on 1 January and 494 cases on 2 January, 424 on 3 January, 384 on 4 January, 442 on 5 January, 654 on 6 January, 486 on 7 January, and 444 on 8 January. On 29 and 30 December, the city had recorded 703 and 677 cases respectively. On 31 December, it reported 574 cases.