More than 90 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and UTs which will receive over 7 lakh additional doses in the next three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The Centre has so far provided more than 18 crore vaccine doses (18,00,03,160) to states and UTs free of cost.

Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 17,09,71,429 doses.

"More than 90 lakh COVID Vaccine doses (90,31,691) are still available with the states and UTs to be administered. States with negative balance are showing more consumption (including wastage) than vaccine supplied as they have not reconciled the vaccine they have supplied to Armed Forces," the ministry said.

States and UTs will receive 7,29,610 additional vaccine doses in addition within the next three days.

The ministry said the Government of India has been supporting the nationwide vaccination drive by providing COVID vaccines free of cost to states and UTs.

Implementation of the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination has started from 1st May 2021.

In the strategy it is made clear that every month only 50 per cent of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by the Centre.

The Centre would continue to procure its share of 50 per cent of the monthly CDL cleared vaccines and would continue to make it available to state governments free of cost as was being done earlier.

The Centre also asked the states to prioritise second dose.

Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary and R S Sharma, Chairman of Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to combat COVID-19 and NEGVAC member reviewed the status of Covid vaccination with Health Secretaries and NHM MDs of states and UTs, through a video conference.

After a detailed presentation highlighting various aspects of the vaccination drive with state specific data, the Union Health Secretary highlighted that states are to ensure all beneficiaries who have taken the first dose are prioritised for the second doses. The urgent need to address large number of beneficiaries waiting for 2nd dose was stressed, said government.

"In this regard, states can reserve at least 70% of the vaccines supplied to them from Government of India channel (free of cost) for second dose vaccination and remaining 30% for first dose. This however is indicative. States have the liberty to enhance this to as much as 100%. State wise numbers on CoWIN have been shared with states for their planning purposes.

States have been informed in a transparent manner in advance about the COVID vaccines being provided to them from Govt of India channel. The visibility for the forthcoming fortnight is conveyed to them in advance to enable better and more effective planning by them. The next allocation for the period 15-31th May will be conveyed to them on 14th May. It was pointed out that states can utilize the information regarding dose allocation for next 15 days to plan their vaccination sessions," said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in a statement.

Early trends of decline in new cases

An early trend of decline in daily new COVID-19 cases and deaths has been noted in the country, the government said on Tuesday, indicating that the devastating second wave of the pandemic is on the wane.

According to the government, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh were among 18 states and union territories showing continued plateauing or decrease in daily new COVID-19 cases.

Addressing a press conference, a senior official, however, said Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Punjab were among 16 states and union territories showing continued increasing trend in daily new COVID-19 cases.

Thirteen states have more than 1 lakh active COVID-19 cases each and 26 states have a positivity rate of over 15 per cent, the government said.

India has been reeling under a calamitous second wave of the coronavirus infection. However, the daily numbers of deaths and infections have started to go down.

New cases of coronavirus in India fell to 3.29 lakh after 14 days, taking the infection tally to 2,29,92,517, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

A total of 3,29,942 infections were reported in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll climbed to 2,49,992 with 3,876 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

After registering a steady rise for two months, the active cases have reduced to 37,15,221, accounting for 16.16 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 82.75 per cent.