India gives over 3 lakh Covid vaccine doses to children aged 12-14 years; 2,539 new cases, 60 deaths

New Delhi, March 17 (PTI): Over 3 lakh children between 12 and 14 years have received their first shot of Covid vaccine taking the total doses administered in the country to over 180.80 crore, according to Union Health ministry data.

The vaccination against Covid-19 in the age group of 12-14 years started on Wednesday with Biological E’s intramuscular vaccine Corbevax, two doses of which are to be administered 28 days apart.

As of March 1, 2021, there were 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country.

More than 2.15 crore precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare and frontline workers, and those aged above 60 years.

All people aged 60 and above have been made eligible for the precaution dose to Covid vaccine. The prioritisation and sequencing of the dose would be based on the completion of nine months to 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021, with the healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.

The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution doses of the vaccines to the healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 this year.

Meanwhile, with 2,539 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s total tally of Covid-19 cases rose to 4,30,01,477, while the active cases have declined to 30,799, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,16,132 with 60 daily fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases constitute 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.73 per cent, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 2,012 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.35 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was 0.42 per cent, according to the health ministry.

In a span of 24 hours, 7,17,330 Covid-19 tests were conducted. India has so far tested over 78.12 crore (78,12,24,304) samples, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the infection surged to 4,24,54,546, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 180.80 crore.

Of the 60 new fatalities, 50 were from Kerala.

A total of 5,16,132 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,43,759 from Maharashtra, 67,008 from Kerala, 40,026 from Karnataka, 38,024 from Tamil Nadu, 26,144 from Delhi, 23,492 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,191 from West Bengal.

The Health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

India’s Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.