India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeds 35 crore

India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 35 crore (35,05,42,004), as per the 7 pm provisional report on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

According to the ministry, the new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21. More than 57.36 lakh (57,36,924) vaccine doses have been administered today, as per the 7 pm provisional report.

28,33,691 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 3,29,889 vaccine doses given as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years today.

Cumulatively, 99,434,862 persons in the age group 18-44 years across 37 States/UTs have received their first dose and a total of 2,712,794 have received their second dose since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.

Eight states namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra have administered more than 50 lakh first doses of COVID-19 Vaccine in the age group 18-44 years. Also, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have vaccinated more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of COVID vaccine.

Meanwhile, as many 44,111 new COVID-19 cases and 738 deaths were reported in India in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

With 57,477 recoveries in the last 24 hours, daily recoveries continued to outnumber the daily new cases for the 51st consecutive day.

With this, the cumulative tally of positive COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 3,05,02,362, including 2,96,05,779 recoveries, 4,01,050 deaths and 4,95,533 active cases.

The active tally is less than five lakh after 97 days and it constitutes 1.62 per cent of the total cases.

As per health ministry data, the daily positivity rate is below 5 per cent for the 26th consecutive day and today it stands at 2.35 per cent while the weekly positivity rate is currently at 2.50 per cent.

Meanwhile, the national recovery rate increased to 97.06 per cent.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 41,64,16,463 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to July 2, 2021, of these, 18,76,036 samples were tested yesterday.

The Union Health Ministry further informed that the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered under the nationwide vaccination drive has reached 34,46,11,291.

( With inputs from ANI )