Nearly 14 lakh inoculated against Covid-19 on Thursday, highest in a day so far, says official

Nearly 14 lakh people were inoculated against Covid-19 on March 4, the highest in a day so far, taking the total number of vaccine doses administered in the country to over 1.8 crore, official sources said on Friday.

Among the healthcare workers, 68,53,083 have been administered the first dose and 31,41,371 the second dose till now. As for frontline workers, 60,90,931 have received the first and 67,297 the second dose, according to Union Health Ministry data.

From March 1, as many as 2,35,901 beneficiaries more than 45 years old with specific comorbidities and 16,16,920 people aged more than 60 years have received anti-coronavirus vaccine dose, it stated.

On Thursday, day 48 of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive, 13,88,170 people were inoculated. This was the highest number of vaccination recorded in a day so far, an official said.

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The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 1.8 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. It added that on Thursday, 10,56,808 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 16,081 sessions for the first dose and 3,31,362 healthcare and frontline workers received the second dose of the vaccine.

These 10,56,808 beneficiaries include 6,15,903 people aged over 60 and 92,109 individuals aged more than 45 years with specific comorbidities, according to the data shared by the ministry.

So far, 16,09,343 people have been vaccihnated in Rajasthan, followed by 15,92,712 in Uttar Pradesh, 14,71,450 in Maharashtra, 14,21,761 in Gujarat and 13,76,553 in West Bengal.

According to the health ministry data, six sates -- Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi -- have reported high daily new cases in a span of 24 hours.

It underlined that 84.44 per cent of the 16,838 new cases reported in the country in a day are from these six states. Maharashtra continued to report the highest daily new cases at 8,998, followed by Kerala with 2,616 and Punjab 1,071 fresh instances of the viral infection.

Eight states are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, the ministry highlighted.

India's total active caseload stands at 1.76 lakh which comprise 1.58 per cent of India total infections.

While Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have shown a reduction in active cases in a span of 24 hours, Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat display an upward trajectory during the same time period, the health ministry said.

It said Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu were the top five states showing a decline in active cases in the last one month, while Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi were the top five with an uptick in active cases.

Twenty states and Union Territories have less than 1,000 active cases with Arunachal Pradesh reporting just two active cases. The Cumulative Positivity Rate of the country showed a steady decline and stood at 5.08 per cent.

Eight states displayed a weekly positivity rate higher than the national average of 2.09 per cent. Among them, Maharashtra stands out with a weekly positivity rate of 10.38 per cent.

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The ministry said that Six states accounted for 88.5 per cent of the 113 deaths reported in a day. Maharashtra saw the most 60 fatalities followed by Punjab where 15 people succumbed to the disease in a day. Kerala reported 14 deaths during the same period.

Eighteen states and Union Territories have not reported any Covid-19 death in a day. These are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.