As many as 14 lakh people were administered Covid-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, which is till now the highest number of inocculation in a day since the vaccination program started on January 16.
However, the country of 1.35 billion people still has to nearly double its current rate of vaccination to meet its target of covering 300 million people by August. The two vaccines in use in India need to be administered in two doses, four to six weeks apart.
As per health ministry data showed, as many as 1.8 crore people have received vaccine doses so far. Of these 68,53,083 are healthcare workers who received first dose, and 31,41,371 healthcare workers got their second. As many as 60,90,931 frontline workers received the first dose and 67,297 frontline workers got the second dose.
Meanwhile, 2,35,901 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 16,16,920 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years took their first Covid-19 shots.
The vaccination pace increased this week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off an expansion of the drive to include the elderly and those aged 45-59 suffering from medical conditions.
The government has also roped in many private hospitals, allowing them to run vaccinations throughout the day and assuring there is no shortage of shots in the world's biggest vaccine-making country.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 cases continue to surge across the nation with 84.44% of the new cases reported in last 24 hours (16,838) are from these six states Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, MP and Delhi.
Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 8,998. It is followed by Kerala with 2,616 while Punjab reported 1,071 new cases.
India’s total Active caseload stands at 1.76 lakh (1,76,319) today. The country’s present active caseload consists of 1.58% of the total positive cases.
(With inputs from agencies)
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