New Delhi:
India administered 1.4 million vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Friday, the highest in a day since the campaign began in mid-January as the government moves to address initial hiccups.
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.
India has so far given 18 million doses to about 15 million people.
According to the Union Health Ministry, these include 68,53,083 healthcare workers (HCWs) who were administered the 1st dose, 31,41,371 HCWs who were given the 2nd dose, 60,90,931 frontline workers (FLWs) who were given the 1st dose and 67,297 FLWs (2nd dose), 2,35,901 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose) and 16,16,920 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.
Nearly 14 lakh (13,88,170) vaccine doses were given on Thursday, Day-48 of the vaccination drive (March 4)
The ministry said 10,56,808 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 16,081 sessions for 1st dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 3,31,362 HCWs and FLWs received 2nd dose of vaccine.
The 10,56,808 beneficiaries include 6,15,903 people aged over 60 and 92,109 individuals aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose)
Six sates, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, MP and Delhi, have reported high daily new cases in a span of 24 hours, the ministry said underlining 84.44 per cent of the new cases reported in a span of 24 hours (16,838) are from these six states.
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.
Eight states are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, the ministry highlighted.
India's total active caseload stands at 1.76 lakh (1,76,319) which comprises 1.58 per cent of India total infections.
The ministry said that Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have shown a reduction in the active cases in a span of 24 hours.
Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat display a rise in the active cases during the same time period.
Showing the change in number of active cases for states in the last one month, the ministry said Kerala, UP, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu are the top 5 states showing a decline in active cases in the last one month, while Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi are the top 5 states showing a rise in active cases.
The ministry said 20 states and UTs have less than 1000 active cases. Arunachal Pradesh reported only 2 active cases.
The Cumulative Positivity Rate of the country shows a continuous decline and stands at 5.08 per cent
Eight states display a weekly positivity rate higher than the national average (2.09%). Among them, Maharashtra stands out with a weekly positivity rate of 10.38 per cent.
The ministry said 113 deaths were reported in a day.
Six states account for 88.5 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (60). Punjab follows with 15 daily deaths. Kerala reported 14 deaths.