India recorded 18,454 new coronavirus cases on Thursday morning, which took the total number of cases in the country to 3,41,27,450 since the pandemic began in January last year. The number of new cases was 26.19 % higher than Wednesday’s count of 14,623.

India’s toll rose to 4,52,811 as it recorded 160 more deaths in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases in India was 1,78,831 on Thursday morning. The tally of recoveries stood at 3,34,95,808.

The number of vaccine doses administered in India hit 100 crore on Thursday, the health ministry said. The government will celebrate the milestone at the Red Fort in Delhi on Thursday afternoon.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury pointed out that only 21% of India’s population is fully vaccinated.

Globally, the coronavirus has infected over 24 crore people and caused more than 49 lakh deaths since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday said that the coronavirus pandemic could “easily drag on deep into 2022” as poorer countries of the world are not receiving the required vaccines, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, the United States approved vaccine booster shots developed by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. Americans have also been allowed to a get a booster shot different from their initial vaccine.