Maharashtra vaccinates nearly 255,000 on Friday, highest single-day jabs so far

Maharashtra has recorded 2,282,191 Covid-19 disease cases and 52,723 related deaths till now. On Friday, 15,817 fresh cases were recorded, which have been the highest since October 1 last year, when 16,476 people were tested positive for the coronavirus disease.

Maharashtra on Friday administered 254,956 vaccine doses against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), an official of the health department told news agency PTI adding the day’s vaccination count has been the highest in the state till now. The total vaccinations have now climbed to 2,689,922, he said.

The western state started its vaccination drive on January 16 with jabs given to all health care and frontline workers under the first phase. (Ravindra Joshi/HT file photo)

The western state started its vaccination drive on January 16 with jabs given to all health care and frontline workers under the first phase. Under the second phase of the drive which started on March 1, people above the age of 60 and between the ages of 45-59 with specific comorbidities are being vaccinated.

The above-mentioned official highlighted that of the total vaccinations on Friday, the most number of doses were administered to those above the age of 60 (155,995) while 31,043 people belonged to the age group of 45-59 with co-morbidities. Nearly 852,000 senior citizens and 150,000 others between 45-60 years have been vaccinated till now, he said.

The state government on March 11 had allowed all vaccination centres to be functional round the clock in order to ramp up the vaccination drive. But, this provision was only pertinent to those centres that had sufficient staff.

The Union health ministry on Thursday expressed concerns towards the upward Covid trend in Maharashtra and said cases were increasing due to a fall in testing, tracing and a lack of adherence to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. Echoing the ministry’s remarks, NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul labelled the situation in Maharashtra as worrisome. Referring to the complete one-week lockdown imposed in Nagpur from March 15-21, Paul said one should not take the virus for granted as it ‘can come up unexpectedly’.