India's Covid vaccination crosses 34.46 crore mark

New Delhi: India's cumulative vaccination coverage crossed the 34 crore on Friday, including 43,99,298 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Saturday.

A total of 34,46,11,291 vaccine doses have been administered through 45,60,088 sessions, reports the provisional report of MoHFW received till 7 a.m. on Saturday.

The report mentions that 1,02,22,008 Healthcare Workers have so far received first dose of Covid vaccine and 72,87,445 have got the second dose. Similarly, 1,75,60,592 Frontline Workers (FLWs) have got their first dose and 95,89,619 of them have received the second dose.

A total of 9,64,91,993 people of the age group between 18-44 years have been inoculated with the first dose and 23,80,048 of them have got the second jab. As many as 8,98,65,131 people aged between 45-59 years have received their first dose and 1,75,25,281 of them have got their second dose. A total of 6,86,03,725 people over 60-years have received their first dose so far and 2,50,85,449 of them have got their second dose.

India began its vaccination drive on January 16 this year and it started its new phase of universalization of the drive from June 21 to accelerate it considering the increasing threat of the disease which so far has infected 3,05,02,362 people since the beginning of the pandemic.

As the second wave of Covid seems to have ended as only 44,111 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the government's plan is to speed up per day vaccination average of one crore and inoculate all Indians by December this year.

Meanwhile, the report said, less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported since six continuous days. "This is a result of sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the states and Union Territories (UTs)."

With substantially ramped up testing capacity across the country, a total of 18,76,036 tests were also conducted in the last 24 hours. Cumulatively, India has conducted over 41.64 crore (41,64,16,463) tests so far.

While on one side testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, a continued decline in weekly case positivity is noticed. Weekly positivity rate is currently at 2.50 per cent while the daily positivity rate stands at 2.35 per cent till Friday. Daily positivity rate has remained less than 5 per cent for 26 consecutive days now.