Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers, where he asked his colleagues to spread awareness among people about following COVID-19 protocols and vaccination.
During the meeting, which lasted nearly five hours, Modi stressed that people have to remain vigilant to contain the spread of the virus and to keep the third wave of the pandemic at bay.
Member (Health) of NITI Aayog V.K. Paul made a presentation on the coronavirus pandemic.
The Centre had earlier told states it is critical that the lifting of restrictions and providing relaxations are carefully calibrated with continued focus on containment efforts to curb the spread of the infection.
In a letter to states and Union Territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that in order to bring uniformity, the need for following the existing framework for either imposition of restrictions or allowing relaxations based on the burden of disease and strain on healthcare infrastructure still remain important.
Meanwhile, India’s cumulative COVID vaccination coverage exceeded 33.54 crore with more than 25.14 lakh vaccine doses being administered on Wednesday.
According to the Union health ministry, 13,43,231 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 87,735 vaccine doses given as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years on Wednesday.
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra have administered more than 50 lakh first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the age group 18-44 years. States like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have vaccinated more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of COVID vaccine, the health ministry said.
With PTI inputs