20 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses administered on Friday, highest so far: Govt

The Health Ministry said on Saturday that more than 20 lakh vaccine doses against the coronavirus were administered across the country the previous day, the highest single-day count so far

As many as 16,39,663 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose -- healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) -- and 4,13,874 such people received the second shot.

"India recorded a significant milestone in its countrywide COVID19 vaccination drive which started on January 16. More than 20 lakh (20,53,537) vaccine doses were given on Day-56 of the vaccination drive (March 12) through 30,561 sessions," the ministry said in a statement.

This is the highest single-day vaccine administration so far, it said.

A total of more than 2.82 crore (2,82,18,457) vaccine doses have been administered through 4,86,314 sessions, as per the provisional report.

"These include 72,93,575 HCWs (1st dose), 41,94,030 HCWs (2nd dose), 72,35,745 FLWs (1st dose) and 9,48,923 FLWs (2nd dose), 12,54,468 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st dose) and 72,91,716 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years," it said.

Eight states constituted 74 per cent of the 20.54 lakh doses administered in the past 24 hours, with Uttar Pradesh topping the list with more than 3.3 lakh vaccine doses.

Ten states account for 69 per cent of the second dose vaccinations in India and Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 9.71 per cent -- 4,99,242 -- of the total second dose vaccinations in the country, the ministry said.

It added that Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh reported 87.72 per cent of the new cases in the last 24 hours, with Maharashtra accounting for 63.57 per cent of India's total active cases.

Twenty states and Union territories have less than 1,000 active cases, the ministry saidand 18 of states/Union territories have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours.