PremiumDuring a review meeting, PM Narendra Modi expressed satisfaction with the pace of Covid-19 vaccination in India and emphasised on taking this momentum forward
During a review meeting to assess the status of the Covid-19 vaccination drive in India, officials told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they are in touch with state governments to explore and implement innovative methods to reach people for vaccination. To this, the Prime Minister responded with the need to involve NGOs and other organisations in these efforts.
PM Modi was informed that 3.77 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the last 6 days. This number happens to be more than the entire population of countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
Addressing the review meeting, PM Modi expressed satisfaction at the rising speed of vaccinations in this week and stressed that it is important to carry this momentum forward.
In the meeting, it was discussed that 128 districts in the country have vaccinated more than 50% of their population above 45 years, while 16 districts have vaccinated more than 90% of the population in this age group.
The Prime Minister directed officers to work with the states to ensure that the pace of testing does not go down as it remains a very important tool to track and contain rising infections in any region.
Officers also informed PM Modi about the rising interest in CoWIN platform around the globe. In response, the PM said that all countries who have expressed interest should be helped with India’s CoWIN platform.
The present officials gave a detailed presentation to PM Modi on progress of vaccination in the country. He was briefed about the age-wise vaccination coverage as well as about the vaccine coverage among healthcare workers, frontline workers and general population in various states. The officials also told PM Modi about the vaccine supply in the upcoming months and efforts being made to increase production.
As many as 31,50,45,926 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered so far in what has been billed the 'world's largest vaccination drive', including 61,19,169 in the last 24 hours.
India started the world's largest vaccination drive on January 16 this year in a phased manner with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated first. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started on February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for those over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 from April 1. Phase 3 of the vaccination drive was started on May 1 for the beneficiaries belonging to the age group 18-44.
As many as 48,698 new COVID-19 cases, 64,818 recoveries, and 1,183 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.
The total number of positive cases now stands at 3,01,83,143, including 2,91,93,085 recoveries and 3,94,493 deaths.
There are currently 5,95,565 active cases in the country, 1.97% of the total caseload. Yesterday, there were 6,12,868.
The recovery rate stands at 96.72%, while the death rate is 1.31%.
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