India houses 70% world population but has 0.7% of COVID caseload: Govt

The ministry said more than 178.02 crore COVID vaccinations have been administered. Ninety-seven per cent of those aged 18 and above received the first dose and 82 percent have got both doses. Seventy-four percent of those aged between 15 and 18 years got their first dose and 39 percent got both doses.

Also, more than 2.02 crore (2,02,30,750) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities so far. India started administering precautionary doses from January 10 amid a spike in coronavirus infections due to the Omicron variant.

Balram Bhargava, director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, said: "A high level of COVID vaccine acceptance, together with vaccine manufacturing and a robust vaccination drive, was responsible for high immunization in India." He also spoke about how the ICMR's iDrone initiative facilitated better vaccine reach in remote areas of the country, especially the northeast.

India's COVID-19 case tally rose to 4,29,45,160 with 6,561 people testing positive for the infection in a day, according to Union Health Ministry data on Thursday. While active cases declined to 77,152, fatalities stand at 5,14,388 as 142 more people succumbed to the disease. The daily positivity rate was 0.74 percent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.99 percent.