New Delhi: Union Health Ministry on Thursday wrote to all states and union territories (UTs) clarifying that those attaining age of 15 years as on January 2023, are eligible for Covid-19 vaccine under 15-18 age group.
The Ministry also clarified that those born in years 2005, 2006 and 2007 are eligible in 15-18 years' category India's vaccination drive.
Meanwhile, the government today informed that 59 per cent of adolescents in the 15-18 year age group have so far received the first dose of Covid vaccine.
India Covid Situation
In its daily press conference, the Health Ministry today informed that India currently has early indications of Covid infections plateauing have been reported in some places but the trend needs to be observed.
A decrease in Covid cases and positivity rate have been observed in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Odisha, Haryana and West Bengal. However, states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan are still recording high number of Covid cases.
Lav Agarwal, the joint secretary in the Health Ministry said that s clear trend in terms of fewer Covid cases requiring oxygen-supported beds or ICU beds has been observed.
"Also, active Covid-19 cases and corresponding deaths are much lower during the present wave compared to earlier surges," he said.
Additionally, the government also said that as many as 400 districts of the coutry have reported over 10 per cent weekly Covid positivity while in 141 districts it was between five to 10 per cent in the week ending January 26.
The top 10 states in terms of active Covid cases were contributing over 77 per cent of total active infections in the country, Agarwal said, adding 11 states have over 50,000 active Covid cases while Karnataka, Maharashtra and Kerala have over 3 lakh active infections.
The Health Ministry also pointed out that vaccination is providing support in terms of fewer cases, fewer hospitalizations and less severity in Covid-19 cases.