The Union Health Ministry on Friday said that nearly 30 lakh beneficiaries have been vaccinated against COVID-19 under the countrywide Covid vaccination exercise.

According to the ministry, a total of 29,28,053 beneficiaries have been administered the Covid vaccines and 52,878 sessions have been conducted till 8 am on Friday.

In a span of 24 hours, 5,72,060 healthcare workers were vaccinated across 10,205 sessions, the ministry said.

The Union Health Ministry further said that 72.46 per cent of the total vaccinated beneficiaries are from 10 states. Uttar Pradesh accounts for maximum share of vaccinated beneficiaries (2,94,959), followed by Karnataka (2,86,089) and Rajasthan (2,57,833), the ministry said.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 tally surged to 1,07,20,048 as 18,855 new cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours while the cumulative recoveries rose to 1,03,94,352 with 20,746 new recovered cases.

India’s total active caseload continued to manifest sustained downward movement and has dropped to 1,71,686 on Friday, the Union Health Ministry said.

While the national positivity rate dropped to 5.50 per cent, the recovery rate is 96.96 per cent, the ministry said.

The death toll mounted to 1,54,010 on Friday with 163 more fatalities, it said.

India’s cumulative tests have crossed 19.5 crore (19,50,81,079) on Friday, of which 7,42,306 tests have been conducted on Thursday, the Union Health Ministry added.