THD NewsDesk, New Delhi: On Thursday, India hit an important milestone, vaccinating over a million people in a single day against COVID-19. As per the data showed by the Health Minister, some 10.93 lakh people were given the vaccine till 7 pm. Overall it takes the total to 1.77 crore since launching the campaign on January 16.
With approval of making Private Hospitals as vaccination sites, the country expanded its vaccination drive from healthcare and frontline workers to seniors above 60 and those over 45 with illnesses.
According to the union health ministry, with accounting for 85.51 per cent of fresh cases, the milestone comes amid a surge in cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka.
“In the past 24 hours, a total of 17,407 new infections have been registered, of which, Maharashtra reported the highest daily new cases at 9,855. As reported, this is the highest number recorded in the state since October 18 when 10,259 new cases were reported. Kerala hit the second position with 2,765 while Punjab reported 772 new cases” said ministry.
The total number of cases with UK, South Africa and Brazil variants of SARS-CoV-2 in the country as on date has reached 242. India’s total COVID-19 active caseload has reached 1,73,413 comprising 1.55 per cent of India’s total cases, added the Health Minister.
