50 lakh vaccinated for 3rd straight day

New Delhi: India has crossed the 50-lakh vaccination mark for the third consecutive day. A total of 51 lakh vaccines were administered to people by 4 pm. Madhya Pradesh has administered 9 lakh vaccines .

India's total tally of cases crossed the 3-crore mark with one crore infections being added in 50 days. The total tally mounted to 3,00,28,709, with 50,848 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day. The death toll climbed to 3,90,660 with 1,358 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. India's total Covid-19 infections had surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19 after which it took around 136 days to cross the 2-crore mark on May 4.

Hoard on Sunday, vaccinate on Monday and go back limping on Tuesday is how Congress leader P Chidambaram explained the working order behind the centre's "record" vaccinations in a day, in what was a three-step deconstruction and a searing takedown of the centre's vaccination policy.

Vaccination figures across the country tanked to 54.22 lakh on Tuesday after Monday's record 88 lakh, throwing up questions on whether such large scale vaccination is sustainable even as the centre has promised to vaccinate all by December-end.

The Health Ministry dismissed media reports alleging that homeless people have been "barred" from registering for vaccination due to unavailability of technical requirements as "baseless".

There have been some media reports alleging that homeless people have been "barred and conspicuously left out" from registering for Covid-19 vaccination due to unavailability of technical requirements, the ministry said in a statement.

The reports have further stated that the "requirement to register digitally", "knowledge of English and access to a computer or a smartphone connected to the internet" are some of the factors depriving people of vaccination, it added.

A novel study that drew on data gathered by UK Biobank suggests COVID-19 survivors may suffer from a loss of grey matter and other brain tissue over time.

The damage was seen in brain areas that involved smell, taste, cognitive function and memory formation, said researchers who studied pre- and post-COVID brain image tests collated by UK Biobank (UKB), a data centre that collects and collates genetic and health information.