India commenced its phase-3 Covid-19 vaccination drive, which opened up vaccination further to people between 18-44. However, the country managed to inoculate only 84,599 beneficiaries in that age category. According to the Health Ministry data, on Saturday, the cumulative number of vaccinations carried out was 15,66,37,825. Many States had already expressed their inability to begin from May 1 due to the lack of vaccines from vaccine manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the Centre has advised the states/UTs to set up Help desks with volunteer groups, NGOs, and CSOs. “The help desk team set up at the hospitals can support in managing the patients being admitted in the hospital effectively and facilitate better interaction between hospital staff and patients’ attendants,” the government said in a release.

In addition, in the light of the shortage of Remdesivir injection used in the treatment of Covid 19 patients, which led to the selling of the drug in black market, the government also increased its allocation to States. Sadananda Gowda, Chemical and Fertilizers Minister tweeted Saturday, “To ensure adequate uninterrupted supply to the needy COVID-19 patients, the allocation of Remdesivir for the states has been significantly increased.” So, the total Remdesivir allocated so far to all the States/UTs stands at 34,50,000.

It is to be noted that the government has so far provided nearly 16.37 crore vaccine doses to States/UTs for free of which the total consumption including wastages stood at 15,58,48,782 doses, as per government data available at 8:00 am on Saturday, as per the Health Ministry statement.

Besides that, more than 79.13 lakh Covid vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered, and around 17.31 lakh anti-covid jabs will be received in addition by the States/UTs within the next three days, according to the government.

According to the Health Ministry data, daily Covid 19 cases reached its peak on Saturday and crossed the four lakh-mark at 4,01,993 with 3,523 deaths in the last 24 hours till 8:00 am.

Cumulatively, total coronavirus cases stood at 1,91,64,969 of which total active cases were 32,68,710, recovered were 1,56,84,406 and the death toll stood at 2,11,853.

"Ten states including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar reported 73.71 per cent of the new cases,” said the government adding that Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 62,919, followed by Karnataka at 48,296 and Kerala at 37,199.

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