95 million COVID vaccines doses handled by AAI-managed airports

Around 95 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been handled by the airports managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) till now, according to an official statement issued on Thursday.

The AAI, which works under the Civil Aviation Ministry, owns and manages over 100 airports across India.

India has been badly hit by the second wave of coronavirus infections even as hospitals in several states are reeling under a severe shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.

The AAI’s statement said its airports are jointly working with airlines, various state administrations and other stakeholders so that there is no time wasted in unloading of vaccine consignments and they are handed over to state health department in the shortest possible time to maintain the cold chain.

“The average delivery time is between 3 to 20 minutes and all arrangements are in place for immediate clearance on priority and delivery to the respective department,” it added.

The airports in major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad are managed by private companies and not by the AAI.

“Approximately 95 million doses of vaccines have been handled till now while taking utmost precautions through AAI airports,” the statement read.

Fresh coronavirus cases and deaths in India hit a record daily high with 4,12,262 new infections and 3,980 fatalities being reported, taking the virus tally to 2,10,77,410 and the death toll to 2,30,168, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

Registering a steady increase, the number of active cases has increased to 35,66,398 comprising 16.92 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.99 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

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