India vaccinates over 10 lakh people in one day, more than 1.77 crore vaccinated so far

India witnesses surge in new COVID-19 cases, logs 17,407 infections

NEW DELHI: For the first time after the vaccination drive rolled out on January 16, India vaccinated over 10 lakh people in a single day on Thursday. With this the cumulative number of COVID19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 1.77 crore.

As per the provisional report provided by the Health Ministry, a total of 1,77,11,287 vaccine doses have been given till the end of 48th day of the nationwide vaccination drive.

“Of the total, there are 68,38,077 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 30,82,942 HCWs who have taken the second dose, while 60,22,136 frontline workers (FLWs) have taken the first dose and 54,177 FLWs have been administered the second dose of the vaccine,” it said, adding that 14,95,016 beneficiaries belonging to above 60 years and 2,18,939 beneficiaries of 45 years and above with specific co-morbidities have been given the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine till date. Notably, in a single day, total 10,93,954 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Thursday.

In another incident on Thursday, the Election Commission started a COVID-19 vaccination drive for its officers and staff working at the Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi with former chief election commissioner M S Gill taking the first shot. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar will get vaccinated after all officials and staff of the commission are inoculated, an official statement said.

Meanwhile, the country is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 case which has increased the tension for the government.

The daily new cases of COVID-19 in India were recorded above 17,000 after a little over a month taking the total tally of cases to 1,11,56,923, while the recoveries surged to 1,08,26,075 on Thursday. Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in daily new COVID-19 cases, accounting for 85.51 per cent of fresh cases. On Thursday, 34 days later, the country has reported the highest number of 17,407 new cases.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 9,855. This is the highest number recorded in the state since October 18 when 10,259 new cases were reported.

It is followed by Kerala with 2,765 while Punjab reported 772 new cases. 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, the Union Health ministry said.

The death toll increased to 1,57,435 with 89 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. On January 29, 18,855 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours. The COVID-19 active caseload has increased to 1,73,413 which which comprises 1.55 per cent of the total infections, the data stated.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,08,26,075 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.03 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.41 per cent.

According to the ICMR, 21,91,78,908 samples have been tested up to March 3 with 7,75,631 samples being tested on Wednesday.