New Delhi, Mar 18 (IANS): In a bid to increase the pace of vaccination, the Delhi Health and Family Welfare Department on Thursday increased the operational time for vaccination to 9 p.m. up from 5 p.m. earlier.

"...w.e.f 22.03.2021, all the Delhi Government hospitals will operate vaccination sites functioning in their premises upto at least 9 p.m.," Special Secretary S.M Ali said in an order.

"All the facilities will ensure deployment of adequate manpower at these sites to ensure proper functioning of the vaccination sites," it said, adding that non-compliance shall be viewed seriously.

On March 3, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had announced that citizens can take vaccine round the clock as per their convenience.

Earlier on Thursday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that vaccination capacity in Delhi will be ramped up from about 40,000 per day to 1.25 lakh daily.

He said he will also write to the Centre to relax some parameters so that vaccination can be done at more centres.

"If the eligibility is relaxed, we can vaccinate the entire Delhi population in three months," he said.