Centre asks states to pace up vaccination coverage, monitor COVID situation

"Effective planning for vaccination focusing on prompt coverage of priority groups and hubs of economic activity should be prioritised," Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla stated in a letter to states and Union Territories.

The letter asked states and Union Territories to keep focusing on the five-fold strategy for effective management of the pandemic and said the process of relaxing restrictions should be carefully calibrated.

"There should be a continuous focus on the five-fold strategy for effective management of COVID-19 i.e. Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour," Bhalla wrote in the letter.

"The States and UTs should regularly monitor districts with higher number of active cases per million population, as it is an important indicator to predict need for upgrading health infrastructure and logistics, so that early and prompt action can be taken in this regard," he added.

Meanwhile, India’s cumulative COVID vaccination coverage crossed 33 crores. 33,25,81,423 vaccine doses were administered as per the 7 pm provisional report on Wednesday.

As the new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, more than 33.79 (33,79,525) lakh vaccine doses administered on Tuesday, as per the 7 pm provisional report.

19,42,308 vaccine doses were administered as first dose and 78,039 vaccine doses given as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years today. Cumulatively, 8,99,01,981 persons across 37 States/UTs have received their first dose and a total of 20,81,948 have received their second dose since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.