India on Friday administered over 93 lakh doses under its nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive, the highest ever vaccination achieved in a single day since the start of the vaccination drive on 16 January 2021. With this, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed 62 crore as per the 7 pm provisional report issued on Friday, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in an official statement.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya regarded the achievement as “historic” and congratulated the citizens of the country. “Congratulations to the citizens as India today administers historic 90 lakh #COVID19 vaccines until now – and still counting!” he tweeted.
President Ram Nath Kovind said we cannot rest until every individual is vaccinated. “We are making progress on vaccination but our work is far from over. We have a long way to go and we cannot rest till every eligible individual is vaccinated. I urge you to keep contributing to raise awareness about vaccination,” he tweeted.
According to the Health Ministry statement, 60,07,654 first doses and 23,36,159 second doses were administered today taking the cumulative figures of first and second dose to 47,91,48,993 and 14,17,94,587 respectively.
Meanwhile, India reported 44,658 fresh cases and 496 fatalities due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. However, Kerala continued to show worrying signs as the stated on Friday report 32,801 new cases, with test positivity rate surging to 19.22 per cent. The upward spiral of infections has been climbing for the past three days where the state has been consistently logging over 30,000 cases.
The total active cases in the state now stand at 195,254, the highest in India. Kerala Health Minister Veena George has assured that there is no need for panic.
According to the Health Department, Malappuram recorded the highest cases of 4032, followed by Thrissur 3953 and Ernakulam 3627. Meanwhile, a genome sequencing study is progressing in three districts of Kasargod, Palakkad and Idukki districts, where breakthrough infection rate was found to be higher than 5 per cent.
When Kozhikode reported 3362 cases, Kollam saw 2828 followed by Palakkad 2727, Thiruvananthapuram 2255, Alappuzha 2188, Kannur 1984, Kottayam 1877, Pathanamthitta 1288, Idukki 1125, Wayanad 961 and Kasaragod 594.
The Covid death toll in the state has crossed the 20,000 mark with 179 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total deaths now stand at 20,313. A total of 18,573 people have also recovered yesterday from COVID-19 in Kerala.
Taking cognizance of Covid-19 cases soaring in Kerala and Maharashtra, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Thursday stressed on the need for “adequate intervention” in geographical areas having higher infection through measures such as contact tracing, vaccination drives and Covid appropriate behaviour. Bhalla’s direction came as he reviewed steps taken by the state governments of Kerala and Maharashtra for checking the spread of the Covid-19 virus.