New Delhi Mar 27 PTI The COVID-19 awareness pre-call audio announcements set by telecom operators at the start of the pandemic may soon become history After almost two years of raising awareness about the disease the government is now actively considering the removal of the COVID-19 pre-call messages after receiving representationsthat audio clips have served their intendedpurpose and are delaying critical calls during emergencies Official sources said the Department of Telecommunications DoT has written to the Union Health Ministry requestingit to drop these pre-call announcements and caller tunesIt cited representations received from Cellular Operators Association of India COA as well as mobile subscribers The health ministry is now considering removal of these audio clips in view of the improved pandemic situationin the country even as other measures for spreading public awarenessabout the safeguards against the viral disease will continue an official source said The instructions for implementation of COVID-19 pre-call announcements and caller tunes to Telecom Service Providers were issued by DoT following directions received from the Union Health Ministry The telecom service providers TSPs have been playing the pre-call announcements andcaller tunes related to coronavirus to spread awareness amongst citizens and tell them about the precautions and vaccination to be taken during the pandemic After the passage of around 21 months these announcements have served the intended purpose of awareness creation amongst the citizens and serve no value now The message being played across networks invariably results in holding up and delaying critical calls from going through during emergencies and ends in consumption of precious bandwidth resources This overloads the TSPs network and creates a significant delay in call connection the DoT said in a letter written recently to the Health ministry citing the representations It also impacts customer experience and many have approached the TSPs to deactivate these as it is a hindrance when the customers need to make urgent calls the letter said adding many complaints through RTI have requested to deactivate the RBTs ring back tone as the citizens are not able to connect to the people in case of emergencies PTI PLB RT RT

New Delhi Jan 18 PTI The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country have reached 15874 crore so far the Union Health Ministry said on TuesdayA total of 37032672 doses have been given to adolescents in the age group of 15 to 18 years according to the ministry data More than 65 lakh 6585945 vaccine doses were administered till 7 PM on Tuesday Over 56 lakh 5642395 precaution doses have been administered to frontline workers healthcare workers and citizens aged 60 and above with comorbidities so far The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night The countrywidevaccinationdrive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers HCWs getting inoculated in the first phase Thevaccinationof frontline workers FLWs started from February 2 2021 The next phase of COVID-19vaccinationcommenced from March 1 2021 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditionsThe country launchedvaccinationfor all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 2021 The government then decided to expand itsvaccinationdrive by allowing everyone above 18 to bevaccinatedfrom May 1 The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from January 3 this year foradolescents in the age group of 15-18 years India began administeringprecaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers frontline workers including personnel deployed for election dutyand those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 this year amid the country witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled byOmicron variant of the virus PTI PLB RT RT

New Delhi Sep 22 PTINational Health Authority CEO RS Sharma on Wednesday said he was not aware ofany concerns being raised by the UK about Indias COVID vaccine certification and stressed that the Co-WINsystem is WHO-compliant Indian travellers vaccinated with two doses of Covishield will still have to undergo 10 days of quarantine in the UK even after the vaccine was approved under the revised guidelines for travel on Wednesday British officials suggested the main issue is COVID vaccine certification and not the Covishield vaccine and that both India and the UK are holding talks to mutually resolve the matter I am not aware of any concerns being raised by the UK The British High Commissioner met meon September 2 and wanted to know details about the Co-WIN system So we connected their technicalteam with ourtechnicalteams that had two rounds of discussion with thesecond one being just yesterday They have conveyed to us there is no need for any further discussion as all informationhas been exchangedbetween the two parties Sharma told PTI He further said the Co-WIN system is WHO compliant andthat so far they have not received any communication about any concerns from the Ministry of External Affairs or the British High Commission Referring to the latest guidelines issued by the UK government that will come into effect on October 4 the UK officials said on Wednesday that London does not have any problem with the Covishield vaccine but there are certain issues related to vaccine certification in India They said the UK is engaging with the government of India to explore how it could expand its recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India Quoting new guidelines the officials said Indian travellers to the UK must follow the non-vaccinated rules set out by the authorities India had on Tuesday warned of reciprocal measures if the UK does not address its concerns over the new travel rules relating to COVID-19 vaccine certification with Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla describing these norms as discriminatory External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also took up the issue of Covishield-vaccinated travellers being required to quarantine in the UK with newly-appointed British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss at a meeting in New York on Tuesday On Wednesday the UK government added Covishield the Indian-manufactured OxfordAstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to an updated international travel advisory Asked whether the problem is with Indias vaccine certification British High Commissioner Alex Ellis said on Wednesday that the UK government is trying to understand how the Indian COVID vaccine app works and that it is a two-way process He said the UK government is letting India know how its COVID app functions adding both sides are going through a normal technical process to resolve any issue This is happening at an extraordinary speed he said The UK is committed to opening up international travel again as soon as is practicable and this announcement is a further step to enable people to travel more freely again in a safe and sustainable way while protecting public health a spokesperson in the British High Commission said We are engaging with the Government of India to explore how we could expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India the official said PTI PLB RT RT