India records 11.11 million COVID-19 cases

India's total COVID-19 count increased to 1,11,12,241, breaching the 11.11 million mark after 15,510 fresh cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

The death toll too has surged and mounted to 1,57,157 post 106 new fatalities since Sunday with the country's total active cases resting at 1,64,511 and the number of people vaccinated has amounted to 1,43,01,266.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,07,86,457, which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.07 per cent, it stated. The case fatality rate has dropped to 1.41 per cent.

India also entered its second phase of COVID-19 immunisation today with Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the first person to take Bharat Biotech's Covaxin first of the two jabs at the All India Institute Medical Sciences (AIIMS) this morning. People above 60 years and 45 years with co-morbidities will be administered vaccination from today onwards.

The Union health ministry has announced that those willing to get vaccinated can book appointments from 0900 to 1500 hrs. The cap on a single vaccine at private hospitals has been fixed at Rs 250.

The Centre on Saturday pushed for an aggressive vaccination drive in states with a higher number of cases— Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Telangana, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Meanwhile, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the only way to achieve mass herd immunity is through vaccination.