COVID-19 news: Centre advises employees above 45 to get vaccinated

The Centre on Tuesday (April 6) issued an order advising all its employees aged 45 years and above to get themselves vaccinated to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The circular added that even after getting vaccinated, they should maintain social distancing, water their masks and frequently sanitise and wash their hands.

In the meantime, the government has said that people's participation is vital to control the second wave of the pandemic, and the next four weeks very critical. 

India recorded 96,982 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 1,26,86,049 on Tuesday. This comes a day after daily cases crossed one-lakh mark.

On Monday, the country recorded 1,03,558 new coronavirus cases, the highest single-day tally since the coronavirus outbreak.

Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab have shown a steep rise in the daily new cases.

The Central Government has rushed 50 high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to 50 districts across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Punjab in view of the recent very large numbers of daily new Covid-19 cases and daily mortality being consistently reported by these States.

The Indian Medical Association also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting "gearing up of Covid-19 vaccination drive with immediate effect and permit those above 18 years to receive vaccine".