Over 37.2 crore Indians have now got at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine with 30.56 lakh shots being administered on Friday, according to figures released by the Health Ministry on Saturday.

The new phase of free vaccines for all adults in the country, which started on June 21, has led to an acceleration in the country’s inoculation drive which aims to cover the entire adult population of 90 crore by the end of December this year.

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Friday’s numbers show that 41.3% of the country’s adult population has now got at least one dose of the vaccination. Over 11 crore of the 18 to 45 years age group, which was the latest category to become eligible for vaccination, have now got their first shot.

Second wave recedes

Meanwhile India has reported 42,766 daily new cases in the last 24 hours with over 50% of them being from Kerala and Maharashtra.

Less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for the last 13 consecutive days indicating that the second Covid-19 wave is receding.

India’s Active Caseload now stands at 4,55,033.

With substantially ramped up testing capacity across the country, a total of 19,55,225 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the country.

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While the testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, a continued decline in weekly case positivity is noticed. Weekly Positivity Rate is currently at 2.34% while the Daily Positivity rate stands at 2.19% in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has remained less than 3% for 19 consecutive days, and has remained below 5% for 33 days in a row now.

However, at the same time there are fears that a third Covid wave may get triggered as people are becoming careless and flocking in large numbers at tourist hotspots and crowded markets. Several people in the crowds have also been sighted without masks.