Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said that more than 163 crore 84 lakh Covid vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
Briefing the media in New Delhi today, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Lav Agarwal said, 59 per cent of population aged between 15 to 18 years have received the first dose of Covid vaccine. He said, over 97 lakh precautionary doses have been administered so far to the eligible population in the country. He said, 95 per cent of the population aged above 18 years have received the first jab while 74 per cent received the second dose of the Covid vaccine.
Mr. Agarwal said, vaccination helped in reducing the hospitalization and death rate. Giving the comparative analysis of the vaccination coverage, he said, on 7th of May last year which was the peak of second wave of COVID-19, the country reported over four lakh 14 thousand new cases and a total of three thousand 679 deaths. He said, at that time only 3 per cent of the eligible population were fully vaccinated. He said, on 21st of this month, the country reported over three lakh 47 thousand new cases and 435 deaths. He said, the fully vaccinated people are 75 per cent now. He said, this shows that vaccination has helped in reducing the severity of the Covid-19 disease.
Talking about the infection spread of the Covid-19, Mr. Agarwal said, some States and districts are witnessing the higher weekly positivity rate while some are registering declining trend. He said, country is registering weekly positivity rate of 17.75 per cent and 551 districts were reporting case positivity rate of over five per cent. He said, 400 districts were witnessing over 10 per cent weekly positivity rate.
Mr. Agarwal said, Covid-19 variant Omicron is a dominant variant of concern in the country. He said, Centre is continuously in touch with the States and Union Territories regarding containment and management related activities. He said, 2.3 crore teleconsultations have been provided through the tele-consultation e-Sanjeevani platform.
