UP first state in country to administer 4cr Covid shots

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh on Saturday became the first state in the country to administer 4 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
According to data from the CoWin portal, the landmark was achieved at 7pm on Saturday. This is about 10% of the total 39.94 crore doses administered in the country.
Among other states, Maharashtra is the nearest contender with 3.89 crore jabs.Gujarat follows next with 2.93 crore doses. Rajasthan (2.83 crore), West Bengal (2.59 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (2.51 crore) follow next.
Overall, 3.39 crore people in UP have taken at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while nearly 65 lakh are fully immunised.
Official data showed that 1.37 crore persons in the 18-44 age category have taken the jabs, while 1.72 crore persons have taken at least one dose in the 45-60 age bracket. In the elderly section, 93 lakh people have got the jab.
Officials attributed the success to hard work being put in by the health staff and the tool developed by the state government – cluster model – to boost vaccination in rural areas. Data showed that over 67% of the total vaccinations undertaken between July 1 and July 14 were given in the villages.
In Lucknow, Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Kanpur Nagar, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Agra, more than 10 lakh jabs have been given, while Mahoba, Sant Kabir Nagar, Auraiya, Kaushambi, Lalitpur, Kasganj and Chitrakoot are trailing with less than 2.5 lakh shots each.
A clear gender gap in vaccination is visible and needs to be addressed to improve the state’s overall performance, say health officials. While 2.30 crore males have taken the vaccine, only 1.73 crore females have been inoculated.
Meanwhile, daily cases continued to decline in the state, while the number of active cases chugged along the 1,300 mark. As per the official bulletin, only 81 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours.
It also showed that as many as 40 districts reported no case of Covid-19 infection in the past 24 hours, whereas 34 districts reported new cases in just single digits. Lucknow was the only exception with 12 cases.
In terms of active cases, the tally now stands at 1,310 of which 1,114 are under home isolation. Officials also said that the daily test positivity rate for UP was 0.03% which is one of the lowest in the country.