New Delhi, Apr 7 (IANS): India has become the fastest Covid-19 vaccinating country in the world with a daily average of 30,93,861 vaccine doses, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. With this, India has surpassed the US which is vaccinating 30.93 lakh people per day on an average.

According to the ministry, the cumulative number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered in India so far has crossed 8.70 crore on Day 81 of the vaccination drive that was launched on January 16, nearly a month after it was started in the US. Till April 6, India had administered 33,37,601 vaccine doses to the beneficiaries.

A total of 8,70,77,474 vaccine doses have been administered so far in India through 13,32,130 sessions. These include 89,63,724 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 53,94,913 HCWs who have taken the second dose. As many 97,36,629 frontline workers have taken the first dose, while 43,12,826 of them have been administered the second shot.

On the flip side, new Covid cases continue to rise in India with the country recording over 1.15 lakh fresh cases in the last 24 hours, the biggest-ever single-day surge since the onset of the pandemic early last year, taking its overall tally to 12,801,785. The number of active cases inb the country presently stands at 843,473.

As per reports, India is the fourth most affected country in the world in terms of active cases.