FIFA postpones U-17 Women's World Cup in India due to COVID-19
New Delhi: The FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup to be held in India in November was on Saturday postponed by football's governing body due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic across the globe.
The women's age group showpiece was to be held at five venues in the country --Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai -- from November 2-21.
The tournament was to be competed among 16 teams, with hosts India being automatic qualifiers. It was to be India's maiden appearance in the U-17 Women's World Cup.
The decision was taken by the FIFA-Confederations working group which was recently established by the Bureau of the FIFA Council to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The working group recommended the Bureau of FIFA Council to "postpone the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup Panama/Costa Rica 2020 - originally scheduled for August/September 2020 - and the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup India 2020 - originally scheduled for November 2020."
"New dates will be identified," FIFA said in a statement.
It was also decided "to create a sub-working group on the women's international match calendar to consider potential changes to the calendar and dates of postponed FIFA final tournaments".
The working group includes the FIFA administration and Secretary Generals and top executives from all confederations. It unanimously approved a series of recommendations following its first meeting, which was organised via conference late on Friday.
While the tournament itself is five months away but only the qualifying event for Asia has been held so far from which from which Japan and North Korea have made the cut.
Five remaining qualifying events -- that of Africa, Europe, Oceania, South America, and Central, North America and Caribbean -- have not been held due to the global health crisis which has affected more than a million people.
Over 50,000 deaths have been caused by the deadly outbreak so far. The official schedule of the tournament was announced in February and Navi Mumbai was to host the final.
FIFA thanked the Confederations' representatives for their cooperation.
FIFA also reiterated that health must always be the first priority and the main criteria in any decision-making process, especially in these "challenging times".
In other decisions, the working group recommended "to postpone all international matches due to be played during the upcoming June 2020 window; and to organise bilateral discussions with confederations concerning 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in order to finalise a revised match schedule pending health and safety developments".
As for the women's international calendar, it was decided "to postpone all international matches due to be played during the upcoming June 2020 window; and to include the new dates of the women's Olympic Football Tournament in the match calendar.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
