New Delhi

In his interaction with Chief Ministers of several states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday warned that the Covid-19 crisis has not yet been overcome, stressing the importance of prioritising vaccination of every eligible child at the earliest and the need to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour in public places.

"Schools have reopened in the country after a long time. In such a situation, families are concerned about rising COVID-19 cases. It is our priority to inoculate all eligible children as soon as possible," said PM Modi after the meeting to achieve the said goal. He also said that there was a need to run special campaigns over COVID-19 vaccination in schools.

"We need to ensure that parents and teachers are aware of such initiative," he added.

"Despite managing the COVID crisis well as compared to other countries, we can see cases' uptick in states now. We have to stay alert. It's clear that the COVID challenge has yet not been surpassed," Modi said.

Modi's statements come a day after the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted an emergency use authorization (EUA) to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for the age group of 6-12 years.

COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on March 16, 2022. So far 2,75,34,619 adolescents have been administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 43,87,961 have received the second dose.

In the age group of 15-18, 5,82,59,733 children have been given the first dose of the vaccine and 4,17,47,337 children have been given both doses.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 188.19 Cr (1,88,19,40,971) as per provisional reports till 7 am Wednesday according to an official statement. India's Active Caseload currently stands at 16,279. Active cases now constitute 0.04 per cent of the country's total Positive Cases.

Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.75 per cent. 2,252 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,25,25,563. India recorded 2,483 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

At the review meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Union Home Ministers Amit Shah, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya as well as chief ministers of Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Tripura and others were present.