India achieves new vaccination milestone; Centre doubles Remdesivir drug production

Amid the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry on Sunday has informed that India has become the first country in the world to vaccinate 122 million people against Coronavirus in a span of just 92 days. Meanwhile, the United States has achieved a similar feat in 97 days and China in 108 days. As per the latest reports from the Health Ministry, over 2.6 million people have been vaccinated in India in the past 24 hours. 

Health Ministry: A new milestone in India's COVID fight

Giving out further details, the Ministry of Health informed that the states, which have recorded a daily surge in the number of cases and deaths have also reported high numbers of people getting vaccinated. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh accounted for 36% of the doses administered, it said. The government of India said that these states along with West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala have accounted for 59.5 per cent of the total doses that have been administered so far. 

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday took to his official Twitter handle and urged people to follow "COVID fair practice". The Union Health Minister said that by wearing masks correctly, maintaining social distancing and washing hands regularly, people can beat the pandemic. He wrote, "COVID will lose, India will win."

Centre to double Remdesivir's production

Earlier today, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the production of Remdesivir will be doubled in the next 15 days. It should be noted that this announcement comes amid reports of a shortage of the anti-viral drug in several states across the country. 

Stating that the Centre is making all efforts to increase the production fo Remdesivir injection in the country, the Union Minister in his video message said that the Centre will also ensure that the drug will be made available at low prices for Coronavirus patients. He said, "Currently, 150,000 vials of Remdesivir are being produced per day and, in the next 15 days, the production will be doubled to 300,000 vials each day."

Mansukh Mandaviya said, “The existing number of plants in which Remdesivir is being produced is 20 and an equal number of additional plants have been sanctioned as well. We’re making all efforts to ensure that in the next few days, as many injections as possible are produced per day."

India's COVID-19 tally

As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, India so far has recorded over 1,45,26,609 positive cases, out of which 1,26,71,220 have successfully recovered and 1,75,649 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours 2,34,692 new cases, 1,23,354 fresh recoveries and 1,341 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in India is 16,79,740. 

(Image: PTI)