Nearly 30 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses given on Day 1 of 'Tika Utsav'

The Centre on Monday said that nearly 30 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine were given on the first day of 'Tika Utsav', the four-day vaccination festival started to speed up the ongoing inculation drive.

It also said that the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 10.45 crore mark today.

The 'Tika Utsav' was started after an appeal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He told the chief ministers during a meeting over Covid-19 situation to focus on vaccinating more people, and sugegsted holding a four-day drive for the same.

The government said that despite being a Sunday, which generally witnesses lower vaccination numbers, the first day of 'Tika Utsav' clocked nearly 30 lakh vaccination doses.

In terms of the number of daily doses administered globally, India continues to remain at the top with an average of 40,55,055 doses administered per day, the Union health ministry said. The corresponding figure yesterday was 38,34,574.

The 'Tika Utsav' was started to check the spread of Covid-19 infection in India, which has been witnessing record number of cases over the past few weeks. According to health ministry, 1,68,912 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 63,294. It is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 15,276 while Delhi reported 10,774 new cases.