The Union health ministry on Thursday said that India was the fastest country to reach 1 million (10 lakh) coronavirus vaccinations, attaining the figure in six days.
“The United States took 10 days [to reach 1 million vaccinations], while Spain took 12,” Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press briefing. “In Israel, this happened in 14 days, in United Kingdom 18, Italy 19, Germany 20 and United Arab Emirates 27 days.”
Bhushan said that Odisha, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tripura and Telangana were among the better-performing states in terms of vaccination. He added that Jharkhand, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra needed improvement.
According to the health ministry’s latest update, as many as 29,28,053 frontline workers have been vaccinated so far.
Bhushan also elaborated on the overall coronavirus situation in the country. “India’s daily cases are continuously declining,” he said. “Maharashtra and Kerala account for 67% of the total active cases in the country. India’s daily deaths are less than 130 after 8 months.”
Earlier in the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan claimed that India had successfully contained the pandemic, Reuters reported. Vardhan added that 146 of India’s 718 districts had not reported new cases for a week, while 18 districts saw no new infections for two weeks. “India has flattened its COVID-19 graph,” he added.
About three crore healthcare and frontline workers in India are being administered the vaccines first. After that, people over the age of 50 and those with co-morbidities will get inoculated.
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