All people above 45 years of age can get vaccinated against Covid-19 from April 1, the Centre said on Tuesday amid a surge in cases in several states.
"I appeal to every citizen who is 45 or above to register for vaccination," Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, announcing the expansion of the drive that started in January.
According to the minister, 4.85 crore people had received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine and 80 lakh have received the second dose. More than 32.53 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered on March 22, which is the highest single-day vaccination so far, taking the total number of people inoculated to over 4.8 crore, the health ministry said.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated and vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 for those who are over 60 years and for people aged 45 and above with specific comorbid conditions.
Tuesday’s decision, taken by the cabinet on the basis of the advice of the Coronavirus Task Force and experts, comes on a day the health ministry said the doubling time of Covid-19 cases in India had decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23.
Six states _ Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu _ have reported a surge in daily new cases and together account for 80.90 per cent of the new infections reported in a day.
Maharashtra continues to report the highest daily new cases at 24,645 (60.53 per cent). It is followed by Punjab with 2,299 cases and Gujarat with 1,640 new cases.
Ten states -- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Haryana and Rajasthan -- are displaying an upward trajectory in the daily new Covid-19 cases, the ministry said.
India's total active caseload is rising after touching its lowest mark in mid-February, the ministry highlighted.
It increased to 3.45 lakh (3,45,377) on Tuesday, a net rise of 10,731 cases recorded from the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Three states -- Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab -- accounted for 75.15 per cent of total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounted for 62.71 per cent of the total active cases in India.
The doubling time decreased from 504.4 days on March 1 to 202.3 days on March 23.
India's cumulative recoveries surged to 1,11,81,253, with 29,785 recoveries being registered in a span of 24 hours.
Besides, 199 deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.
Fourteen states and UTs have not reported any Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Jammu and Kashmir, Goa, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Javadekar was asked on Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh's appeal to the Centre to widen the scope of vaccinations to younger people, given the spike in cases of the UK variant in his state. The Union Minister said he was "not a health expert and did not know the nuances of the UK variant".
