India’s COVID vaccinations hit 2 billion, new cases at a four-month high

NEW DELHI, July 17 – The Indian government’s COVID vaccinations hit 2 billion on Sunday, with booster doses underway for all adults, as daily infections hit a four-month high, official data showed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extolled the vaccination milestone, celebrating the world’s most extensive and longest-running inoculation campaign, which began last year.

“India creates history again!” Modi said in a tweet. The prime minister has faced allegations from the opposition of mishandling the pandemic that experts claim killed millions, and the government rejects the claims.

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Health ministry data shows the COVID death toll at 525,709, with 49 deaths recorded overnight.

New cases rose to 20,528 over the past 24 hours, the highest since Feb. 20, according to data compiled by Reuters.

The country of 1.35 billion people has lifted most COVID-related restrictions, and international travel has recovered robustly.

Some 80% of the vaccinations have been the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine made domestically, Covishield. Others include domestically developed Covaxin and Corbevax and Russia’s Sputnik V.

The federal government has been accelerating its booster campaign to avert the spread of infections, increasing in the eastern states of Assam, West Bengal and Karnataka in the south.

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