New Delhi [India], June 23 (ANI): India's cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded the 196.62 crores (1,96,62,11,973) mark on Thursday, the Ministry of Health and Family welfare informed.

As per the provisional reports till 7 AM today, India crossed the said mark through 2,54,44,218 sessions.

According to the ministry, since the beginning of the vaccination drive for adolescents of the age group 12-14 years, over 3.60 Crores (3,60,03,591) have been administered with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Similarly, as many as 2,73,69,417 precaution doses of covid-19 have been given to the people belonging to the age group of 18-59 years (of which 22,24,238 were given to the ones in 18-44 year age group; 21,99,106 to the ones in 45-59 years; and 2,29,46,073 to the people with age more than 60 years)The nationwide administration for precaution doses for the age group 18-59 years began on April 10.

As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them with COVID Vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs.

The Health Ministry also reported that India's current active caseload stood at 83,990, which constitutes 0.19 per cent of the country's total positive cases. The country recorded 13,313 fresh cases of infection from the Coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours.

India's current recovery rate stands at 98.60 per cent after 10,972 patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 4,27,36,027.

Meanwhile, the ministry informed that the weekly positivity rate in the country stood at 2.81 per cent, while the daily positivity rate was reported to be 2.03 per cent.

The last 24 hours saw a total of 6,56,410 COVID-19 tests have been conducted. India has so far conducted over 85.94 Cr (85,94,93,387) cumulative tests.

According to the Union Health Ministry, as many as 38 people have lost their lives to the infection in the past 24 hours.

Amid the recent surge reported in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Health Ministry of India on June 9 urged States and Union Territories to not lower their guards and strictly maintain the COVID appropriate behaviour. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday wrote a letter to States/UTs and directed them to ramp up RT-PCR testing, surveillance, clinical management, vaccination, COVID-19 protocols and take timely pre-emptive actions. Bhushan also advised the government to follow a 'five-fold Strategy'.

According to the sources, amid rising cases of COVID-19 in India, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will chair a review meeting with the core team of experts today in the physical format in the afternoon.

Earlier, on June 13, Mandaviya chaired a meeting through video conferencing with Health Ministers and senior officials of States and Union Territories (UTs) to review the progress of the vaccination exercise HarGharDastak 2.0 campaign.

Highlighting increased case positivity in some districts and States and reduced COVID-19 testing, Mandaviya had stated that increased and timely testing will enable early identification of COVID cases and help to curb the spread of the infection among the community.

He had urged States and UTs to continue and strengthen the surveillance and focus on genome sequencing for identifying new mutants/variants in the country.

He stated that the five-fold strategy of Test, Track, Treat, Vaccination and Adherence to Covid Appropriate Behavior (CAB) needs to be continued and monitored by States/UTs. (ANI)