IFA teams up with local clubs to lead vaccination drive

West Bengal's football governing body, the Indian Football Association (IFA) has teamed up with local Kolkata clubs Southern Samity FC and Kalighat Milan Sangha FC to begin its vaccination drive in the city.

The vaccination camp, which got underway at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata earlier this week, aims to vaccinate players, coaches, referees, and officials who are working in and around the game.

"It's a good feeling because ultimately we have been able to keep our commitment. It's a joint effort by IFA, Kalighat MS, and Southern Samity, and a special thanks to the full team who have been working hard to make this happen," said IFA General Secretary Joydeep Mukherjee in an official release issued by AIFF.

"It's a pleasure and honour for us that we have been able to keep this commitment and start the vaccination process of players, referees, officials, and the IFA staff free of cost. We hope others also start this vaccination process so that we can get all our players vaccinated," he added.

India's daily new COVD-19 cases reported a sharp decline on Saturday as the country recorded 11,835 fewer cases as compared to Friday.

Down from Friday's 1,32,364 cases, India on Saturday reported 1,20,529 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the country's infection tally to 2,86,94,879, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

India's active caseload further declined to 15,55,248 as active cases decreased by 80,745 in the last 24 hours. The active cases in the country have been less than 2 lakhs for the nine successive days.

( With inputs from ANI )