Chandigarh [India], May 13 (ANI): Chandigarh has received 33,000 COVID vaccine doses on Wednesday evening for people above the age of 18 years, Adviser to the Chandigarh administration Manoj Parida on Thursday.

Speaking to ANI, Parida said, "We received 33,000 vaccines via a flight on Wednesday evening at 5 pm, which we can administer to people above the age of 18 years."He further informed that slots for booking were opened on Thursday afternoon and the vaccination drive will begin on Saturday morning.

"Today we are opening the slots for booking. From the day after tomorrow, in the morning, we will start the vaccination drive. This drive will continue till this stock lasts," he said.

Parida also highlighted that the Union Territory still has 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses in stock for people above the age of 45 years.

"For the beneficiaries above the age of 45 years, we have more than 50,000 doses available with us. A total of 70 centres have been allocated out of which 50 are government-owned while 20 are run by the private sector," he said.

Parida said Chandigarh requires 4 lakh vaccine doses to inoculate people above 18 years of age and an order of 1 lakh doses has been placed.

"We need approximately 4 lakh vaccine doses for the beneficiaries above the age of 18 years. We have already placed an order for 1 lakh doses. Both the vaccination drives for people above 18 and people above 45 years of age are going together," he informed.

As per official data, Chandigarh has 8,528 active cases of coronavirus. In the last 24 hours, 97 new COVID cases and 14 related deaths were registered in the union territory. (ANI)