Over 30L vaccinated against COVID in 24 hrs, highest so far

More than 30 lakh people were inoculated against COVID-19 on March 15, the highest in a day so far, taking the total number of vaccine doses administered in the country to 3,29,47,432, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.

The vaccination of beneficiaries aged over 60 has crossed 1 crore within 15 days, the ministry said.

Of the total 30,39,394 doses given in a span of 24 hours on March 15, day-59 of the vaccination drive, 26,27,099 beneficiaries have been administered the first dose across 42,919 sessions and 4,12,295 individuals have been given the second dose, according to the data compiled at 7 am.

The 26,27,099 beneficiaries include 19,77,175 beneficiaries aged over 60 and 4,24,713 individuals aged 45-60 years with co-morbidities.

A total of 3,29,47,432 vaccine doses have been administered through 5,55,984 sessions, as per the provisional report till Tuesday 7 am.

These include 74,46,983 healthcare workers who were administered the first dose, 44,58,616 HCWs who were given the second dose, 74,74,406 FLWs who have received the first dose and 14,09,332 FLWs who have taken the second dose.

Besides, 18,88,727 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 1,02,69,368 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years have been given the 1st dose.

The ministry also said that Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in the COVID-19 daily new cases, adding that 79.73 per cent of the new cases are reported from these states in a span of 24 hours.

A total of 24,492 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 15,051. It is followed by Punjab with 1,818 while Kerala reported 1,054 new cases.

Eight states are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana, the ministry said.

Kerala is reporting a consistently declining trend over the last one month.

India's total active caseload has reached 2,23,432  which comprises 1.96 per cent of total infections.

"Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.57 per cent of India's total active cases," the ministry said.

The total tests conducted in the country have surpassed 22.8 crore (22,82,80,763). The cumulative national Positivity Rate currently stands at 5 per cent, the ministry said. A total of 131 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Seven states account for 82.44 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (48). Punjab follows with 27 daily deaths and Kerala reported 11 deaths in a span of 24 hours.

Sixteen states and UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Ladakh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, A&N Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.