Door-to-door Covid vaccination was held in Chennai with ministers of both the Centre and the State participating separately at different locations on Saturday.

Union Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Information & Broadcasting Dr L Murugan on Saturday participated in a Covid-19 vaccine at doorstep drive at Semathamman Nagar located close to Koyambedu market in Chennai. On his part, the State Health Minister M Subramaniam participated at different slums in city.

“The door-to-door is a joint effort of both the Centre and State governments,” said a senior State government official.

Speaking to newspersons, Murugan said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his interaction with District Collectors a couple of days ago, asked them to provide vaccines to people at their doorsteps. “Following this, Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya launched the programme in Gujarat on Thursday,” he said.

According to the State health department, around 65 lakh people in the State are eligible for the second dose. The department is using mobile vaccination clinics to conduct door-to-door awareness campaigns.

Tamil Nadu has already vaccinated 71 per cent of its eligible population with the first dose of vaccine but only 31 per cent have taken their second dose.

Tamil Nadu on Saturday reported 862 new Covid cases (875 on Friday) to a total of 27,08,230. After 1,009 persons were discharged, the number of active cases stood at 10,588. There were 10 deaths registered and 1,01,023 samples tested. Chennai reported 122 new cases (106 on Friday) while Coimbatore 99 (102) new cases.

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