East Singhbhum added nine more health centres for the administration of Covishield to registered beneficiaries in an effort to ramp up the ongoing vaccination drive against the coronavirus.

In all, the district now has 13 centres where the vaccine is being administered.

District civil surgeon R.N. Jha said the nine community health centres where vaccination drive started on Tuesday, are at Patamda, Potka, Baharagora, Chakulia, Ghurabandha, Mosabani, Dhalbhumgarh, Dunaria and Jugsalai.

"Earlier, the Covishield vaccines were given to health workers at Tata Main Hospital, Tata Motors Hospital, Sadar Hospital in Parsudih and MGM Medical College. But from Tuesday we started giving the vaccine at nine more places, mostly in the rural areas of the district," Jha told The Telegraph Online.

He said the health department had already trained medical staff on administering the Covid-19 vaccine to recipients. A dry run was held in January.

"Like in the four major vaccination centres of the steel city -- Tata Main Hospital, Tata Motors Hospital, Sadar Hospital and MGM Medical College -- we have set a target to administer the vaccine to 100 health workers at each health centre four days a week. A team of senior medical officers from the district civil surgeon’s office is monitoring the vaccination drive," said the civil surgeon.

Jha said they had also planned to start the vaccination drive at Birsanagar Urban Health Centre but could not. "We had made all arrangements at the Birsanagar Urban Health Centre and had also carried out a dry-run. But due to some unavoidable circumstances, we have postponed the drive there," the civil surgeon said.

The number of Coronavirus positive cases have shown a gradual decline of late. On Monday, among 1,890 people who were tested, only 10 persons tested positive. The total number of Covid patients in the East Singhbhum district is now 18,025. As of now 375 people have died of Covid-19 in the district.