New Delhi:
India reported a record 168,912 COVID-19 infections overnight, data from the health ministry showed on Monday, overtaking Brazil to become the second-most affected country globally by the coronavirus.
India’s overall tally reached 13.53 million, surpassing Brazil’s 13.45 million cases, according to data compiled by Reuters. The United States led the global tally with 31.2 million cases.
Deaths in India stood at 904, taking the total to 170,179, data showed.
In the last 24 hours, 75,086 people recovered from the disease. With this, the total recoveries reached 1,21,56,529. As many as 11,80,136 samples tested across India on Sunday.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 10,45,28,565 till today. Meanwhile, the four-day-long 'Tika Utsav', a mass Covid-19 vaccine programme, started in the country on Sunday (Jyotirao Phule's birth anniversary) to April 14 (B R Ambedkar's birth anniversary), following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for the same.
From April 2, the government started vaccinating all people above 45 years. India started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.