India's vaccine number crosses 300m mark, Centre says 'fight isn't over yet'

In an official statement, the central government said that more than 3.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered across the country in the last 24 hours as part of the nationwide vaccination programme

The Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) on Wednesday gave an update on the nationwide coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination drive, stating that as many as 332.8 million doses have been administered so far.

India's active case count has reduced to 537,064, constituting 1.77 per cent of the total number of cases. (REUTERS)

The ministry further stated that more than 3.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered across the country in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, under the universal free-of-cost vaccination campaign for all citizens, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 21, over 50 million doses have been administered in the first nine days as on Wednesday. “But this fight isn’t over yet, strengthen the country’s endeavour by getting vaccinated,” an official statement by the government stated.

This development comes as India reported 45,951 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, up from 37,566 on Tuesday, thereby taking the country’s overall infection tally to 30,362,848, the health ministry’s dashboard notified as of 8am on Wednesday. The active case count has reduced to 537,064, constituting 1.77 per cent of the total number of cases. Meanwhile, with 60,729 new recoveries recorded in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate has increased to 96.92 per cent or 29,427,330 total recoveries, the dashboard data showed.

Taking to Twitter, health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan wrote, “A great improvement in all parameters.” He also hailed the Covid-19 testing process, citing that the same “sustains momentum” across the country as more than 410 million tests have been conducted so far. “More than 19.6 lakh (1.96 million) samples were tested on June 29,” the minister further wrote.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Tuesday confirmed that the total number of cases of Delta Plus variant of Covid-19 has increased to 51 from 48 in India, with Maharashtra accounting for the majority of the cases. However, the government had earlier stated that the cases of the variant are very localised.

India on Tuesday gave its nod to the import of US pharmaceutical major Moderna’s mRNA technology-based coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine, making way for the first internationally manufactured vaccine against the virus into the country.

Addressing the media later in the day, NITI Aayog’s member of health VK Paul said that Moderna has been granted for “restricted use” and that the government will soon close the deal on Pfizer as well.