Over 180 cr Covid vaccine doses administered: Govt

New Delhi: The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 180 crore on Saturday, the Union health ministry said.

In a tweet on the vaccination milestone, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, "The figure of 180 crore vaccine doses crossed. Powered by spirit of Jan-Bhagidari (public participation), the world's largest vaccination drive is touching new heights under PM Narendra Modi Ji's leadership. Keep following COVID appropriate behaviour even after getting vaccinated."

More than 17 lakh (17,82,501) vaccine doses had been administered till 7 pm on Saturday, the health ministry said.

The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late night, it said.

Cumulatively, 96,70,88,980 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 81,27,51,251 second doses have been given, the ministry said.

"India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 180 crore landmark milestone (1,80,10,69,235) today," it said.

Over 2.12 crore (2,12,29,004) precaution doses have been administered to the identified categories of beneficiaries so far, the ministry said.

According to ministry data, 55,32,99,604 first doses and 45,50,81,671 second doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to individuals in the 18-44 age group across states and union territories.

In the 15-18 age group, 5,58,62,634 first doses and 3,37,23,777 second doses have been administered, the ministry said.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021, with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2.

India Saturday recorded its lowest single-day rise in Covid infections since May 12, 2020 as 3,614 fresh cases pushed the overall tally to 4,29,87,875 infections, even as the number of active cases dipped to 40,559..

The death toll due to the viral disease went up to 5,15,803 with 89 more fatalities, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The active cases account for 0.09 per cent of the total caseload, while the country's COVID-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.71 per cent, the ministry said.

A reduction of 1,660 cases was recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours, it added.

The daily case count was the lowest since May 12, 2020, when the country had logged 3,604 cases, the ministry said.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has gone up to 4,24,31,513 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.2 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.44 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 0.52 per cent.

A total of 77.77 crore tests to detect the coronavirus have been conducted so far, 8,21,122 of them in the last 24 hours.

The 89 new fatalities reported on Saturday include 73 from Kerala.