Covid vaccination throughout April, including gazetted holidays: Centre
New Delhi: On the day India rolled out vaccination for all above 45 years, the country recorded its highest daily rise in Covid-19 cases this year with 72,330 new infections reported in the last 24 hours. Keeping in view the sudden spurt in fresh cases, the Union Health ministry has asked all vaccination centres in the government set up as well as private establishments to offer Covid jabs on all days of the month in April, including on gazetted holidays.
The decision has been taken after detailed deliberations with the states/UTs on March 31 to optimally utilise all Covid Vaccination Centres to speed up coverage as 72,330 fresh infections in a day is the highest recorded since October 11, 2020, while 459 new fatalities in the last 24 hours are the highest in around 116 days.
Of the total new cases, 85 per cent of them are reported from the eight states — Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Notably, as many as 74,383 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on October 11, 2020.
In April, the holidays start from Good Friday on April 2, then Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14 and Ram Navami on April 21. Apart from these, there are a number of holidays at the state level such as Bihu on April 16 in Assam, Poila Boisakh in West Bengal on April 15 and Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi in Andhra and Telangana on April 13.
According to the Health ministry's data updated at 8 am on Thursday, the country recorded a steady increase in fresh cases for the 22nd day and active cases increased to 5,84,055, which is 4.78 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate dropped to 93.89 per cent.
Delhi recorded 2,790 new cases in 24 hours on Thursday, 53 per cent higher than Wednesday.
As per the ministry's provisional report, a total of 6,75,36,392 vaccine doses have been given till 8 pm on Thursday. However, 15,28,639 beneficiaries belonging to above 45 years were vaccinated on the first day as a total of 17,47,094 vaccine doses were given in a single day till the 76th day of the drive.
