New Delhi: In a major milestone in the fight against COVID-19, India has administered over 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccines across the country, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.

With this, India has become the fastest in the world to administer that many vaccines in 85 days.

This comes at a time when critics cried slow vaccination. As per the health ministry, it took the United States 85 days to administer 92.09 million doses, while China’s vaccination coverage was 61.42 million.

As of 7:30 pm on Saturday, the 85th day of the nationwide COVID19 vaccination, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 10,12,84,282.

“A series of pro-active, collaborative and coordinated steps taken by the Centre and the State governments along with the efficient clinical management has ensured that India has the lowest fatality rate in the world (1.28 per cent),” a statement said.

The 10.12 crore figure achieved across 15,17,260 sessions includes 90,03,060 Healthcare Workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 55,06,717 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 99,39,321 Frontline Workers (FLWs) (1st dose), 47,28,966 FLWs (2nd dose), 3,01,14,957 for over 45 years old to 59 years old (1st dose), 6,37,768 for over 45 years old to 59 years old (2nd dose), 3,95,64,741 for above 60 years (1st dose) and 17,88,752 for above 60 years (2nd dose).

India started its vaccination drive on January 16 with priority given to all healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase. The second phase started on March 1 where doses were administered to people above the age of 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with specific comorbidities.

The second phase of the nation-wide vaccination drive started on April 2, where all people above 45 years became eligible for the vaccine.

This comes in the backdrop of the second wave of coronavirus in the country. India on Saturday reported as many as 1,45,384 new COVID-19 cases, the ministry informed, recording the highest spike in infections since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The single-day rise in coronavirus cases breached the 1 lakh-mark for the fourth consecutive day.

With 794 new COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll in the country has mounted to 1,68,436. Currently, there are 10,46,631 active cases in the country.

As many as 77,567 people were discharged or recovered on Friday, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,19,90,859. (ANI)