India took less than a week to vaccinate over a million beneficiaries, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, stating that the country is ahead of the U.S. (10 days) and the U.K. (18 days) in achieving this mark.
More than 31,000 healthcare workers have been vaccinated in five States on the ninth day of the countrywide COVID-19 vaccination programme. A total of 31,466 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 7.30 p.m. on Sunday in Haryana (907), Karnataka (2,472), Punjab (1,007), Rajasthan (24,586) and Tamil Nadu (2,494), said the Ministry in a release.
It added that a total of 693 sessions were held till 6.30 p.m. on Sunday. The cumulative number of healthcare workers vaccinated has crossed 16 lakh (16,13,667) (till 7.30 p.m. on Sunday) through 28,613 sessions, as per the provisional report.
“ A total of 10 AEFIs have been reported till 7.30 p.m. on the ninth day of the vaccination drive,” the Ministry said.
On Sunday, India’s active COVID-19 cases stood at 1,84,408 with 15,948 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Five States — Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal — account for 75% of the total active cases in the country. Kerala has reported the maximum number of single day recoveries with 5,283 recoveries. Maharashtra follows with 3,694 recoveries.
A total of 14,849 new cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours and 80.67% of the new cases are concentrated in six States and Union Territories. Kerala reported the maximum daily new cases numbering 6,960 in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra has recorded 2,697 new cases while Karnataka registered 902 new cases on Saturday.
According to data released by the Ministry, seven States/Union Territories account for 79.35% of the 155 case fatalities reported in the past 24 hours. Maharashtra reported 56 deaths. Kerala and Delhi follow with 23 and 10 deaths respectively.