Over 54 lakh people are vaccinated against COVID-19 in India so far: Union health ministry

A teacher wearing a face mask and a face shield speaks to her students after their school reopened for Classes IX and X following a 10-month closure due to the pandemic. Pics/AFP

More than 54 lakh people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Of the 54,16,849 beneficiaries inoculated, the highest number of people were vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh at 6,73,542, followed by Maharashtra at 4,34,943, Rajasthan at 4,14,422 and Karnataka at 3,60,592.

Students wearing face masks

In a statement, the health ministry said India is the fastest country to reach the 50 lakh-mark in COVID-19 vaccination in 21 days.

"In the last 24 hours, 4,57,404 people were vaccinated across 10,502 sessions. A total of 1,06,303 sessions have been conducted so far. It includes 3,01,537 healthcare workers and 1,55,867 frontline workers," the ministry said.

It said a total of 20 crore (20,06,72,589) tests have been conducted till now.

About 83.3 per cent of the new cases are observed to be concentrated in six states/union territories of Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

India's COVID-19 infection tally climbed to 1,08,14,304 with 11,713 new cases in a day, while 1,05,10,796 people have recuperated so far pushing the national recovery rate to 97.19 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

There are 1,48,590 active cases of infection in the country which accounts for 1.37 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. The COVID-19 case fatality rate stood at 1.43 per cent.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 20,06,72,589 samples have been tested up to February 5 with 7,40,794 samples being tested on Friday.

India has so far supplied COVID-19 vaccine to 15 countries and another 25 nations are in the queue at different levels for the jab, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said. He said there are three categories of countries-which are keen to get the vaccine from India- poor, price sensitive nations and other countries which directly deal with pharmaceutical companies that make the antidote.

1,08,14,304
Total number of cases in the country as of Saturday

1,54,918
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India as of Saturday

1,05,10,796
Patients recovered and discharged in India as of Saturday