The step comes amid a sudden surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country

In a significant step to exponentially expand the countrywide vaccination drive, the centre has decided to operationalize both public and private sector COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs) on all days of the month of April (from today till April 30).

The Centre has written to all States and Union Territories (UTs) and asked them to make necessary arrangements to provide COVID vaccination in these CVCs on all days of the month, including gazetted holidays, during April 2021.

This step has been taken after detailed deliberations with the States/UTs on 31st March, 2021 to optimally utilize all COVID Vaccination Centres across the public and private sectors to ensure rapid increase in the pace and coverage of COVID vaccination.

This decision is in line with the graded and proactive approach employed by the Government of India along with the States/UTs for COVID-19 vaccination, said a release by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The Government had already decided to start COVID19 vaccination of all people above 45 years of age from April 1 (today) based on the recommendation of National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC).

The country has already vaccinated more than 6.5 crore (6,51,17,896) people through 10,86,241 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am.

These include 82,60,293 Healthcare Workers or HCWs (1st dose), 52,50,704 HCWs (2nd dose), 91,74,171 Frontline Workers or FLWs (1st dose) and 39,45,796 FLWs (2nd Dose), 78,36,667(1st Dose) and 17,849 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities and 3,05,12,070 (1st Dose) and 1,20,346 (2nd dose) beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.

The step comes amid a sudden surge in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

Eight States, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh continue to show a steep rise in the COVID daily new cases.

The Health Ministry noted 84.61% of the new cases were reported from these eight states.

In the last 24 hours, 72,330 new cases were registered. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 39,544 followed by Chhattisgarh with 4,563 while Karnataka reported 4,225 new cases.

India’s total Active Caseload has reached 5,84,055 and comprises 4.78% of the country's total Positive Cases. A net incline of 31,489 cases recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours.
Five states, namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Punjab cumulatively account for 78.9% of the total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounts for more than 61% of the active caseload of the country.

India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,14,74,683. The national Recovery Rate is 93.89%.

In the last 24 hours, 40,382 recoveries were registered.

Meanwhile, 459 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Six States account for 83.01% of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (227). Punjab follows with 55 daily deaths.

Fifteen States/UTs have not reported any COVID19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Ladakh (UT), Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haweli, Puducherry, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.