In a landmark achievement, more than 84 lakh Covid vaccine doses were administered across the country in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day coverage till now, on Day 1 of the Centre’s universal vaccination programme. Data on the government’s CoWin website showed a total of 84,07,664 vaccine shots were administered on Monday till 10:00 pm. The day’s total vaccination number is more than the entire population of New Zealand (51,01,000) and Albania (28,46,000) combined.
Calling Monday’s record-breaking vaccination numbers “gladdening”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “The vaccine remains our strongest weapon to fight Covid-19. Congratulations to those who got vaccinated and kudos to all the front-line warriors working hard to ensure so many citizens got the vaccine. Well done, India!”
The Centre started providing vaccines free of charge to all above 18 from today and took back control of vaccination from states, reversing a policy change that was enforced just about a month ago.
The Centre also started the process of buying 75 per cent of the vaccines produced by companies, including 25 per cent assigned to states. Private hospitals will continue to buy the remaining 25 per cent and inoculate those willing to pay for their jabs, the Prime Minister had announced earlier this month.
The last time India’s single-day vaccine coverage was the highest was on 2 April when 42,65,157 doses were administered. NDA ruled states performed outstandingly in ramping up vaccination numbers, accounting for around 70 per cent of all vaccinations done on Monday. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had strived to achieve a big target, which the state did by vaccinating around 15 lakh people.
With Monday’s tally, a total of 28,36,73,654 doses have been administered so far, out of which 5,05,89,553 have received their both doses. As per the govt data, 65,984 sites have been operating under government supervision, while 2,077 private sites were also administering Covid jabs to people.
Meanwhile, the trend of decline in Covid-19 cases in the country continued.
According to the data released by the Union Health Ministry on Monday morning, the lowest number of cases have been registered during the last 24 hours after 24 March. This is the fourth day in the last two months when the death toll due to corona infection has been recorded less than 2,000. In India, 53,256 new cases of corona infection were reported in the last 24 hours and 1422 infected people died. After this, the total number of cases in the country has gone up to 2,99,35,221 and the death toll so far is 3,88,135.
There are currently 7,02,887 active cases in the country. According to the Ministry of Health, 78,190 people were discharged during the last 24 hours, after which the number of people who have recovered from the infection so far is 2,88,44,199. According to the ministry, at present the daily positivity rate in the country is currently 3.83 percent, while the weekly rate is 3.32 percent. At the same time, the recovery rate has gone up to 96.36%. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, till June 20, 39,24,07,782 samples were tested for corona, out of which 13,88,699 samples were tested only on Sundays.
Meanwhile, the graph of coronavirus in Delhi is continuously falling. Less than 100 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the capital in the last 24 hours. This is the record for the lowest number of corona cases in 2021. As per data released by the Delhi government, in the last 24 hours, 89 new cases have been reported and 11 people have died. The positivity rate is at an all-time low. This rate is only 0.16 percent. Active cases are less than 2,000. For the first time since March 10, the number of active cases has come down below 2,000.
The recovery rate in Delhi has gone up to 98.12 percent. The rate of active patients is 0.13 percent and the death rate is 1.74 percent.