India has overtaken the US in terms of the total number of vaccine doses administered since the nation began the inoculation drive on January 16, said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan while addressing the ninth meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on Covid-19 via video conferenceon Monday.

Doses administered

India’s cumulative vaccine doses administered so far stood at 32.36 crore, with 17,21,268 shots given in the last 24 hours till 8:00 am. The US administered 32.33 crore anti-Covid shots since it began its inoculation drive on December 14, according to Vardhan.

He added 40,845 cases of Mucormycosis have been reported in the country, of which, 31,344 cases are ‘rhinocerebral’ in nature and the total deaths from this infection stood at 3,129. “Of the total numbers, 34,940 patients had Covid (85.5 per cent), 26,187 (about 64.11 per cent) were co-morbid for diabetes, while 21,523 (52.69 per cent) of those infected were on steroids.

13,083 patients were in the age group 18-45 (32 per cent), 17,464 were in the age group 45-60 (42 per cent), while 10,082 (24 per cent) patients were 60-plus years of age,” said the Health Ministry in a press release.

Balram Bhargava, Secretary, Health Research, and Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), who was also present in the meeting, cautioned that the second wave has still not subsided as 80 districts still have high positivity rates.

He advised against any laxity at this stage and explained the effectiveness of vaccines against the alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants of Covid-19.

Active cases

Meanwhile, the active cases continue to be concentrated mainly in Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha, which are reporting growth rate more than the national level, according to the release.

It also stated that 19 States are reporting daily fatality figures in single digit, while four States – Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu – are reporting more than 100 deaths daily.

Related Topics