India administers over 20M vaccine doses in 1 day

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India on Friday administered a record 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in a single day, the government said.

According to the Press Information Bureau, the Indian government's main agency for dissemination of information, over 20 million people were vaccinated on Friday and the number was still rising.

"Record-breaking pace of vaccination today! 2 crore (20 million) people vaccinated today & counting!," it said, adding: "An outstanding effort from our health workers."

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote on Twitter that "Good health is indeed wealth," and "a great way to celebrate" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday. Modi turned 71 on Friday.

Early on Friday morning, the Health Ministry said 34,403 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, raising the country's total infection count to over 33.3 million.

India also registered 320 more fatalities during its second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the death toll to 444,248.