NEW DELHI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government Sunday said nearly 1.6 million people were vaccinated against COVID-19 since the beginning of the inoculation drive last week across the country.
The inoculation drive against COVID-19 across India began on Jan. 16.
The federal health ministry said nearly 1.6 million beneficiaries had received the COVID-19 vaccination till Sunday. "In the last 24 hours, 191,609 people were vaccinated across 3,512 sessions."
The highest number of 347,058 vaccinations were carried out on Friday. Officials say 1,582,201 inoculations have been conducted during 27,920 sessions held across the country.
Federal Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the drive was smoothly progressing ahead.
Initially, around 30 million healthcare and frontline workers will be vaccinated, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with co-morbidities numbering around 270 million.
Reports said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of states will be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the second phase of the vaccination drive that will start in March or April. Enditem
