The total number of people who have received anti-coronavirus vaccine shots till Monday evening has crossed 60 lakh, the Union health ministry said, highlighting that India reached the mark in 24 days, the fastest in the world. The USA took 26 days to reach this mark, whereas the UK achieved it in 46 days, it underlined.

Till Monday evening, 60,35,660 beneficiaries were vaccinated through 1,24,744 sessions. Of these, 54,12,270 are healthcare workers and 6,23,390 frontline workers whose vaccination started on February 2, Additional Secretary in the Health Ministry Manohar Agnani said. Eleven states and Union Territories — Bihar, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala– have vaccinated more than 65 per cent of the registered healthcare workers, he said.

Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Punjab, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, and Puducherry have reported less than 40 per cent coverage of vaccinating healthcare workers. Ten states accounted for 75.12 per cent of the total beneficiaries vaccinated on Monday.

“Total 2,23,298 beneficiaries were vaccinated on the 24th day of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination till 6 pm,” the ministry said, adding the final report would be completed by late in the night. Till 6 pm on Monday, 8,257 vaccination sessions were held.

In total, 29 people have been hospitalised so far which comprise 0.0005 per cent of the total vaccinations. Of these, 19 were discharged after treatment, one is under treatment, while nine people have died, the ministry said. In a span of 24 hours, one person suffered from bilateral facial palsy and has been hospitalized at Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences in Thiruvananathpuram. His condition is stable.

Twenty-three deaths have been recorded till date which comprise 0.0004 per cent of the total vaccinations, the ministry said. Of these, nine people died in hospital while 14 deaths were recorded outside the hospital. In 24 hours, a 29-year-old woman, a resident of Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, has died. “None of these deaths have been causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination. No case of serious/severe AEFI/Death is attributable to vaccination, till date,” the ministry stated.

The total beneficiaries who have been vaccinated so far include 3,92,426 from Bihar, 2,95,965 from Kerala, 4,11,861 from Karnataka, 3,62,649 from Madhya Pradesh, 4,97,095 from Maharashtra, 1,13,138 from Delhi, 4,70,384 from Gujarat, 6,73,542 from Uttar Pradesh and 3,68,562 from West Bengal, according to the provisional report.