Two million people vaccinated in a day

Highest number of shots administered in a day, but milestone comes at a time several states record a resurgence in cases

NEW DELHI: India on Friday administered Covid-19 vaccine doses to over 2 million people – the highest single-day count – the Union health ministry said, at a time when the country is racing against time to control the rise in cases across states amid fears of a second wave of infections.

More than 1.63 milllion healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) -- were vaccinated for the first dose and 413,874 others people received the second shot.

“India recorded a significant milestone in its countrywide Covid-19 vaccination drive, which started on January 16. More than 20 lakh (2,053,537) vaccine doses were given on Day-56 of the vaccination drive (March 12) through 30,561 sessions,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

This is the highest single-day vaccine administration so far, it added.

Overall, Nearly 20.8 million people (28,218,457) vaccine doses have been administered through 486,314 sessions, as per the provisional report.

“These include 7,293,575 HCWs (1st dose), 41,94,030 HCWs (2nd dose), 7,235,745

FLWs (1st dose) and 948,923 FLWs (2nd dose), 1,254,468 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose) and 7,291,716 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years,” it said.

Eight states constituted 74% of the 2.05 million doses administered in the past 24 hours, with Uttar Pradesh topping the list with more than 330,000 shots.

Ten states account for 69% of the second dose vaccinations in India and Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 9.71% -- 499,242 -of the total second dose vaccinations in the country, the ministry said.The health ministry’s statement comes amid seven states emerging as new hotspots recording a steady stream of increasing daily new infections of Covid-19

According to government data, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh reported 87.72% of the new cases in the last 24 hours, with Maharashtra accounting for 63.57% of India’s total active cases.

Twenty states and Union territories have less than 1,000 active cases, the ministry said.

The trends, however, are worrying. The seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases (also known as case trajectory) across India has risen by 67% from lows seen after the end of the first wave of the pandemic (from 10,988 cases a day in the week ending February 11, to 18,371 cases a day for week ending March 10), underlining what clearly appears to mark the start of the second wave of infections.

Until March 10, Punjab saw its seven-day average of daily cases go up the most in the country – up 509% from the trough after the first wave, nearly eight times the national average. Maharashtra saw the second highest resurgence of cases after Punjab, witnessing a rise of 331% from its post-peak low seen for the week ending February 11 (till March 10).

The national capital too is reporting a small but steady increase in daily infections. On Saturday, it added 419 new Covid-19 cases, prompting experts to warn that yet another wave of the viral disease appears to be on the horizon in the city.

Health experts expressed alarm over the resurgence of infections at a time when most curbs on social movement in most areas have been lifted, and when people have let their guards down and stopped adhering to Covid-appropriate behaviour, despite a vast majority remaining vulnerable to the disease.