India gears up against fourth wave of Covid-19, vaccinates over 3 lakh children aged 12-14 years on day 1
The Union Health Ministry on Thursday (March 17, 2022) informed that over 3 lakh children between 12 and 14 years have received their first shot of Covid-19 vaccine taking the total doses administered in the country to over 180.80 crore.
The vaccination for age group of 12-14 years started on Wednesday. This age group is being vaccinated with Biological E’s intramuscular vaccine Corbevax, two doses of which are to be administered 28 days apart.
According to the Health Ministry data, there were 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country as of March 1, 2021.
Additionally, over 2.15 crore precaution doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare and frontline workers, and those aged above 60 years.
India’s vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021, with the healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase and the vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2 last year.
This followed by the next phase of Covid-19 vaccination, which was commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
The country launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year, and at last, the government decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.
India records 2,539 new Covid-19 cases
Meanwhile, India recorded 2,539 new Covid-19 cases, 60 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 5,16,132, according to the data released by the Ministry of Health today. The active cases stand at 30,799. The country also recorded 4,491 recoveries today, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,24,54,546.
The active cases account for 0.07 per cent of the total caseload, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has further improved to 98.73 per cent, the ministry said.
Global rise in Covid-19 cases is ‘tip of the iceberg’: WHO
The figures showing a global rise in Covid-19 cases could herald a much bigger problem as some countries also report a drop in testing rates, the WHO said on Tuesday, warning nations to remain vigilant against the virus.
After more than a month of decline, Covid-19 cases started to increase around the world last week, the WHO said, with lockdowns in Asia and China`s Jilin province battling to contain an outbreak.
A combination of factors was causing the increases, including the highly transmissible Omicron variant and its BA.2 sublineage, and the lifting of public health and social measures, the WHO said.
“These increase are occurring despite reductions in testing in some countries, which means the cases we`re seeing are just the tip of the iceberg,” WHO`s head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
