India administers more than 1.28 cr COVID-19 vaccine doses during Tika Utsav

A total of 1,28,98,314 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered to people of the eligible groups across the country during the Tika Utsav, informed Union Health Ministry on Thursday.

"The four days of Tika Utsav saw intense vaccination activity. 29,33,418 vaccination doses were given on 11 April, another 40,04,521 were administered the next day. The corresponding figure for April 13 and 14 stands at 26,46,528 and 33,13,848," the ministry said.

The four-day-long vaccination programme 'Tika Utsav' started on Sunday with an aim to inoculate the maximum number of eligible people against the coronavirus.

Maharashtra (1,11,19,018), Rajasthan (1,02,15,471) and Uttar Pradesh (1,00,17,650) have administered more than 1 crore vaccinations cumulatively.

The health ministry further said the COVID 'Tika Utsav' witnessed growth in the number of COVID vaccination centres and daily vaccinations.

"India has been scaling multiple peaks in its effort to vaccinate vulnerable sections of its population against the COVID-19 virus. The clarion call given by the Prime Minister of observing the days between April 11 and 14 as 'Tika Utsav' saw many Workplace Vaccination Centres (CVCs) operational across the private and public workplaces," it said.

It said on average 45,000 CVCs used to be functional on any given day.

"On Day-1, Day-2, Day-3 and Day-4 of the four day "Tika Utsav", 63,800, 71,000, 67,893 and 69,974 CVCs were active, respectively. Additionally, on an average, Sunday use to witness lower levels of vaccination numbers (about 16 lakh). But, on the first day of Tika Utsav, which was a Sunday, more than 27 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 8 pm that day," it added.

Meanwhile, India reported its highest-ever single-day spike in COVID-19 with over 2 lakh cases on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

With 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India recorded the highest single-day spike ever since the pandemic began last year.

The country's total number of cases now stands at 1,40,74,564, including 14,71,877 active cases.

India also reported 1,038 fresh COVID-related fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 1,73,123.

( With inputs from ANI )