'89% of India's adult population fully vaccinated against Covid'

New Delhi: Eighty-nine per cent of the country's adult population has been fully vaccinated against Covid while over 75 per cent of children in the 12-14 age group have received the first dose, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday.

The single-day rise in new infections was recorded at over 12,000 after 111 days, registering 38.4 per cent jump in daily cases while the active cases have increased to 58,215, according to the ministry data on Thursday.

A total of 12,213 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking India's total tally of Covid cases to 4,32,57,730 while the death toll has climbed to 5,24,803 with 11 fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country have exceeded 195.67 crore, according to the Health ministry's provisional reports till 7 am on Thursday. This has been achieved through 2,51,69,966 sessions.

"Congratulations India! With the mantra of 'Sabka Saath and Sabka Prayas', India achieves complete vaccination of over 89 per cent of its adult population. The world's largest vaccination drive continues to create new benchmarks," Mandaviya tweeted.

"Over 75 per cent of youngsters between the 12-14 age group have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. I urge all my young friends to come forward and join the fight against COVID-19 by getting vaccinated at the earliest!" he said in another tweet.

A total of 3,661,899 precaution doses of Covid vaccine have been administered to those aged 18-59 years till 7 am, according to the ministry's data.

Also, more than 5.99 crore adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years have been given the first dose.

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

The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions. Vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years began on April 1 last year.