NEW DELHI: Today was the 31st day of Covid-19 vaccination in India and it crossed 85 lakh healthcare and frontline workers, including 73,557 receiving the second dose. Those vaccinated on Monday till 6 PM were 2.3 lakh. The vaccination drive has been going on in the country since January 16 while the second dose began on February 2. Fourteen states vaccinated more than 70% of the healthcare workers. These are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Mizoram, Sikkim and Lakshadweep.
Meanwhile, active Covid-19 cases are rising in India for the last three days, with an increase of 2070 in the past 24 hours.
There were 90 fatalities in 24 hours, 40 of them in Maharashtra, 15 in Kerala and 6 in Tamil Nadu while 18 states/Union Territories had no death and 15 had 5 or less deaths. The country's total death toll has gone up to 1,55,732.
Those discharged went up to 1.06 crore, which shows the recovery rate of 97.29% out of total 1.09 infected while those already under treatment went up to 1,39,637.
About 18-19 coronavirus vaccine candidates are in different clinical trial stages and may be available in the coming months, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday. Addressing the media, Vardhan said that in the next 2-3 weeks, vaccination against COVID-19 will be started for people above 50 years of age.
"About 18-19 vaccine candidates against COVID-19 are in the pipeline and are in preclinical, clinical and advanced stages. We are hopeful that we will be able to offer newer vaccines to India in the coming months," Vardhan said.
