New Delhi, Apr 18 (FN Agency) India registered 2,61,500 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to the Union Health Ministry data released on Sunday. With these new cases, the total number of those who tested positive for the disease has reached 1,47,88,109.
Besides, the country also recorded 1,501 deaths due to the virus, pushing the death toll to 1,77,150. It was the fourth consecutive day when the country recorded more than 2 lakh cases in a day. On Saturday, the country saw 2,34,692 cases, while on Friday and Thursday, 2,17,353 and 2,00,739 case were reported, respectively. On a positive front, 1,38,423 patients recovered from the virus, taking the total number of such cases to 1,28,09,643. Meanwhile, total 12,26,22,590 Coronavirus vaccines have been administered in the country since January 16, with 26,84,956 jabs being given since yesterday.
Currently, the country has 18,01,316 active cases. According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), so far, 26,65,38,416 tests have been conducted in the country. Of these, 15,66,394 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
India’s COVID-19 vaccinations cross 12 cr doses
New Delhi, Apr 18 (Agency) The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 12 crore on Sunday as part of the world’s largest vaccination drive, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said here. Cumulatively, 12,26,22,590 vaccine doses have been administered through 18,15,325 sessions, as per the provisional report till 0700 hrs this morning, the Ministry said.
These include 91,28,146 Health Care Workers (HCWs) who have taken the 1st dose and 57,08,223 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 1,12,33,415 Front Line Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 55,10,238 FLWs (2nd dose), 4,55,94,522 1st dose beneficiaries and 38,91,294 2nd dose beneficiaries more than 60 years old and 4,04,74,993 (1st dose) and 10,81,759 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 years. Eight states account for 59.5 per cent of the total doses given so far in the country, the Ministry added.
The four states –Gujarat (1,03,37,448), Maharashtra (1,21,39,453), Rajasthan (1,06,98,771) and Uttar Pradesh (1,07,12,739)– have so far administered more than 1 crore doses each to their population. Gujarat completed one crore vaccinations on April 16 while the other three states achieved it on April 14. “India took only 92 days to reach 12 crore vaccinations, the fastest country to do so. It is followed by the US which took 97 days and China (108 days),’ the Ministry said. ‘Over 26 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the last 24 hours,’ the Ministry said. As on Day-92 of the vaccination drive (April 17), 26,84,956 vaccine doses were given. 20,22,599 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 39,998 sessions for 1st dose and 6,62,357 beneficiaries received 2nd dose of vaccine, the Ministry further said.