Rural areas administered more doses than urban in record COVID vaccination on June 21: Govt

As India achieved a "historic milestone" of administering 88.09 lakh coronavirus vaccine doses in a single day on June 21, nearly 64 per cent of the jabs were given in rural areas, the government said on Tuesday.

Madhya Pradesh administered the maximum number of doses on June 21, followed by Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Assam, an official said.

Addressing a joint press conference on the pandemic situation and vaccination status, the official said, "A historic milestone was achieved on 21st June 2021 -- 88.09 lakh doses administered in a single day."

Of the doses, 36.32 per cent were administered in urban areas and 63.68 per cent in rural areas, the official said.

Since the vaccination began in mid-January, India has administered 29.16 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines till 3 pm on June 22, he said.

The government also said the coronavirus situation has been improving in the country but stressed on following COVID-19-appropriate behaviours.

It said there has been an almost 90 per cent decline in India's daily COVID-19 cases as compared to the highest peak reported on May 7.

It said 22 cases of delta plus variant of the coronavirus have been detected in the country so far, and added that it's still not a variant of concern.

Of the 22 cases of delta plus variant, 16 have been reported from Ratnagiri and Jalgaon in Maharashtra and the rest from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the government added.

India recorded less than 50,000 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 91 days, taking the total tally of cases to 2,99,77,861, while active cases fell below 7 lakh after 79 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

A total of 42,640 Covid infections were reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 3,89,302 with 1,167 daily fatalities, the lowest in 68 days.