Gurugram: Even as the Covid vaccination drive continues across Gurugram, rural areas of the district have now shown more enthusiasm for getting the jab than those in the urban centres of the district.
Fresh data now shows that in Gurugram, 80.5 per cent of the 5.15 lakh rural population have received at least one dose. And even though the percentage of people who have received both doses in rural parts is just close to 25 per cent, several villages in the district have now given at least one dose of the vaccine to 100 per cent of the population such as Hamirpur, Khaintawas, Aklimpur, Nurpur, Khuntpur and Meako.
Significantly, in urban Gurugram, as many as 73 per cent of the population has received at least one dose and close to 23 per cent people have received both doses.
There are 193 villages in Gurugram district that comprises Gurugram city, Sohna, FarrukhNagar and Pataudi. The second wave of COVID-19 in April and May had badly hit several parts of rural Gurugram. The setbacks caused during the second wave of COVID-19 had prompted officials to take several measures to ensure that a large number of residents in these parts received their COVID-19 vaccinations at the earliest.
To begin with, officials undertook door-to-door campaigns to convince citizens in rural parts to come forward and get the jab. To make sure that there were no connectivity issues, a large number of vaccination centres were also set up.
In addition to this, innovative steps like arranging a shuttle service for people to go to and from vaccination centres has also been undertaken by officials. Moreover, special ambulances for vaccinations have also been arranged.
A large number of civil defence volunteers have also been deployed at vaccination centres to ensure that residents who are coming to the centres do not face inconveniences.
"Rural Gurugram has set a positive trend of ensuring that a large number of its residents are vaccinated. Contrary to baseless rumours and hesitancy, citizens in Gurugram villages have been proactive and making sure that they receive the COVID jab at the earliest. On our part, we have ensured that there are adequate vaccination centres for people to come and get vaccinated," said Dr MP Singh Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Gurugram.
The district has been reporting low Covid cases throughout July after coming out of the second wave. It also saw as many as 10-15 days straight of no Covid deaths being reported.
The death toll from the virus here has reached 920 now and with nine new Covid cases reported on Sunday evening, the tally of cases here is now over 1.8 lakh. There are less than 100 active infections in the district now.