nThe first consignment of 3.23 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine reached Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur from Pune on Wednesday, a Health Department official said.

An IndiGo flight carrying the consignment arrived at the Swami Vivekanand Airport here around 1.40 pm, an airport official said.

Amid high security, boxes containing the vaccine vials were shifted in refrigerated vans to the state vaccine store in Shashtri Chowk area, Chhattisgarh's Mission Director for the National Health Mission Priyanka Shukla said.

In the first batch, the state has got 3.23 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, she said.

A total of 267,399 healthcare personnel and other frontline workers will be vaccinated in the first phase, for which 1,349 centres have been identified across the state.

For the rollout scheduled on January 16, a total of 99 vaccination centres have been selected, said Shukla, the state's nodal officer for the vaccination drive.

Later, vaccine stocks from the storage centre here will be ferried to storage facilities in various districts in insulated vans, she said.

For storage purposes, one state-level, three regional and 27 district-level cold chain points have been set up.

At present, Chhattisgarh has 630 active cold chain points for the safe storage and transportation of vaccines while there are 81 additional cold chain points, Shukla said.

Chhattisgarh's Covid-19 caseload stood at 290,813 till Tuesday. Of these, 279,236 have recovered while 3,517 patients have died, as per official figures.