March 8, 2021

 

India vaccinates 11.6L people against COVID-19 on Saturday, highest single-day vaccination

India completed the 50th day of its nationwide anti-COVID immunization on Saturday, achieving a total of 11,64,422 vaccine doses in a day – the highest single-day vaccination so far. While 9,44,919 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose, 2,19,503 healthcare workers and frontline workers received the second vaccine shot till 7 p.m, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. About 53.8 per cent of beneficiaries were people above 60 years of age, which indicates a higher turnout among senior citizens for the inoculation.  On Friday, 48 per cent of the total vaccination was contributed by senior citizens while it was 45 per cent on Thursday. As on 7 March 2021, 08:00 IST, a total of 2,09,22,344 vaccine doses have been administered in the country, where vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, as per the Health Ministry website. 

The country rolled out the biggest vaccination drive on January 16 administering the COVID-19 vaccines to health workers and frontline workers in the first phase.  The second phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specific comorbid conditions. 

Meanwhile, several Indian states are witnessing a resurge of infections amidst the COVID-19 vaccination. Maharashtra continues to report around 7,000 fresh COVID-19 cases on average since the past one week. In 6 days (between February 28 and March 5), the state added 51,612 fresh infections. On March 5, the state reported 10,259 new cases, the highest-ever hike since October 17, 2020. In view of the daily spike, lockdowns have been imposed in districts like Amravati till February 8. Schools and educational institutes are closed, and any social, cultural, religious, political gathering are banned in the state. Punjab, Kerala, and Karnataka are also witnessing a surge in daily cases. 

 Bengaluru is ramping up Covid-19 testing as well as the vaccination drive to keep a check on rise in the Covid-19 cases. Bengaluru civic body commissioner N Manjunath Parasad said on Saturday that pink booths will be launched to exclusively administer vaccination to women from March 8 on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Karnataka reported 580 new Covid cases and five more deaths on Saturday, taking the total number of infections to 9,54,393 and toll to 12,359, according to health officials.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com