K’taka administers record 1mn Covid doses in one day

Bengaluru Sharing details of the nation-wide vaccination Maha Abhiyan, the Karnataka government said that it had administered 1052272 doses till 7:30 pm on Monday

Bengaluru Sharing details of the nation-wide vaccination Maha Abhiyan, the Karnataka government said that it had administered 1052272 doses till 7:30 pm on Monday.

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Dr K Sudhakar, Karnataka’s minister for health, family welfare and medical education said that the state’s vaccination coverage on Monday was only behind Madhya Pradesh that had administered around 1.54 million has Gujarat administered 5,012,173 while Uttar Pradesh registered 6,74,546 doses, according to data provided by the Press Information Bureau.

“We had set a target of 5,00,000 to 8,00,000 for this drive but we have far exceeded the target,” Sudhakar said in a statement on Monday.

Karnataka’s increased vaccination added to India’s tally to 80,95,314.

“Today’s record-breaking vaccination numbers are gladdening. 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!,” Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India said in a post on Twitter.

Chief minister BS Yediyurappa also took on to Twitter to laud the feat. “India clocked a record of over 8 million inoculations and Karnataka’s Lasika Maha Abhiyana accomplished over 1million jabs today. Big applause to all our frontline workers who ensured this success. Let us work together to make India and Karnataka free from Covid-19,” he wrote.

The nation-wide vaccination drive comes on the same day when the BS Yediyurappa government eased Covid-19 pandemic-induced restrictions across most districts, including Bengaluru, after almost six weeks of lockdown-like curbs in the state.

Sudhakar added that Bengaluru Urban district administered 41,999 doses while Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike administered 1,72,713 doses till 9.30 pm on Monday which was the highest in the country.

The combined total of Bengaluru Urban and BBMP rose to 2,14,709 doses of vaccines administered, which the state government said was the “highest in the country”.

According to the Karnataka health department there were 696,648 doses administered to people aged between 18-44 on Monday till 7.30 pm, of which the second dose accounted for 4,933.

Belagavi district recorded 73,923 doses while the mineral-rich district of Ballari registered 54,532 doses. Tumakuru and Mandya were fourth and fifth with 49,586 and 49,002 doses respectively.

The minister said that Bengaluru was above Indore, which had registered 201, 339 doses. A total of 52,88,684 doses have been administered in the district till June 21 in Bengaluru, Sudhakar added.

The accelerated drive takes Karnataka’s total to 1,95,37,428 doses till 6 pm on June 21. “We will cross 20 million in a day or two at the most. As of today, 40% of the state’s adult population has been vaccinated,” Sudhakar said.

He added that the state will be able to vaccinate the entire adult population well before the target of December 31, 2021.

“We have a stock of about 1.5 million doses of Covishield and 6,00,000-7,00,000 doses of Covaxin in the state. More than 10.8 million doses have been administered so far in 13,000 vaccination centres across the state. Even if we achieve 70-80 doses per centre we will meet our target,” he said.