'Vaccine lagwao sona le jao': Freebies for people in Gujarat's Rajkot for getting COVID shot

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Ahmedabad: In a bid to encourage more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the gold traders in Gujarat are offering freebies for those who get vaccinated.

According to the news agency ANI, the gold traders in Gujarat’s Rajkot have joined hands with the state government and are offering freebies to those who come to vaccination camps in the city for getting the COVID vaccine shot.

These freebies include a gold nose pin for women and a hand blender for men who take the vaccine dose at Rajkot vaccination centres. This comes in the wake of the Union Health Ministry’s decision to allow vaccination for those above 45 years of age to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus further.

It may be noted that Gujarat on Tuesday reported 3,280 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest rise in a day, taking the tally of infections to 3,24,878 while 17 deaths pushed the toll to 4,598.

According to the state health department, Gujarat is now left with 17,348 active cases. Of the 17 fatalities, seven patients died each in Ahmedabad and Surat, while two succumbed to the infection in Rajkot and one died in Vadodara district.

With 2,167 people recovering in the last 24 hours, the count of recoveries in Gujarat went up to 3,02,932 on Tuesday, the department said in a release. Gujarat's rate of recovery fell to 93.24 per cent, it said.

At 798, Ahmedabad city registered the highest number of cases in the state in the last 24 hours, followed by 615 cases in Surat, 321 in Rajkot, 218 in Vadodara, 196 in Surat district, 124 in Vadodara district and 107 in Patan district.

A total of 70.38 lakh people in Gujarat have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 8.47 lakh others have received the second dose so far, the release said.

Gujarat's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 3,24,878 new cases 3,280, deaths 4,598, discharged 3,02,932, active cases 17,348 and people tested so far - figures not released.

A total of 16 new cases were reported in the adjoining union territory of Dadra, Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in the last 24 hours, officials said, adding that 28 patients were discharged during the day.

Of the total 3,760 COVID-19 cases registered in the UT so far, 3,567 patients have recovered and two patients have died, they said, adding that the UT has 191 active cases.