The Centre on Tuesday claimed that there was never any talk regarding immunising every citizen with a Covid-19 vaccine.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava, addressing a question during a press conference on Tuesday, said the purpose of the vaccine would be to break the chain of transmission of the disease.

"Our purpose is to break the chain of virus transmission. If we are able to vaccinate a critical mass of people and break the chain of transmission, then we may not have to vaccinate the entire population," he said.

"The role of masks is also vitally important and that will continue even after the vaccination. Because we are starting with a small group of population at a time and therefore masks will be protective and continue to be used so as to help in breaking the chain of viral transmission," Bhargava added.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan clarified that there was never any talk of inoculating the whole population of the country with the Covid-19 vaccine.

"I just want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It's important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only and then analyse it," said Bhushan.

India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 94.62 lakh with November registering over 30 per cent decline in both new deaths and cases as compared to October, while total recoveries surged to 88,89,585, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Tuesday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 94,62,809 with 31,118 new infections, while the death toll climbed to 1,37,621 after 482 more fatalities were reported, the data updated at 8 am showed.