Nearly 4.5 mln beneficiaries vaccinated against COVID-19 in 19 days: Health Ministry

New Delhi [India], February 4 (ANI): At least 44,49,552 beneficiaries have received COVID-19 vaccination in merely 19 days, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said on Thursday.
"Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days. India launched the countrywide COVID19 vaccination drive on January 16, 2021. The number of beneficiaries being vaccinated every day has also shown a progressive increase," the Ministry said.
In the last 24 hours, 3,10,604 people were vaccinated across 8,041 sessions. 84,617 sessions have been conducted so far. 54.87 per cent of the total beneficiaries vaccinated against COVID-19, so far, are from seven States.
India's Covid-19 active caseload has dropped to 1.55 lakh (1,55,025) and comprises just 1.44 per cent of the total infections.
"The day-on-day change in number of active cases over the past few weeks depicts the consistent decline in the active cases," it said.
The Ministry said that India's daily positivity rate is 1.82 per cent, as of today and has maintained the daily positivity rate below 2 per cent in last few weeks (19 days).
Meanwhile, the total recovered cases stand at 1,04,80,455.
"The difference in new recoveries outnumbering new cases has also improved the recovery rate to 97.13 per cent today. The total recovered cases are 67.6 times the active cases," it added.
It said that 86.04 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in six states and UTs.
"Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 7,030 newly recovered cases. 6,380 people recovered in Kerala in the past 24 hours followed by 533 in Tamil Nadu," it added.
84.67 per cent of the new cases are from six states and UTs.
Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 6,356. It is followed by Maharashtra with 2,992, while Tamil Nadu reported 514 new cases.
Six states and UTs account for 71.03 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (30). Kerala follows with 20 daily deaths. Both West Bengal and Chhattisgarh have reported 7 casualties. (ANI)