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 The world's second most populous country aims to immunise 400
million people after expanding the programme, which had been
restricted to the over-60s and people with serious health
conditions, said a government official.
"Our requirement is 400 million people to be vaccinated. That is our
minimum requirement, our target," the source, who did not wish to be
identified, told Reuters.
"Right now we are dealing with an emergency situation. Whatever we
have, we will use it," the source said.
Anxious people lined up early at New Delhi's Max hospital to get
shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced by the Serum
Institute of India, the world's biggest maker of vaccines.
"We have been saying from the beginning, everywhere and on social
media, that please open up the vaccination programme, let everyone
get it and be free from tension," said Madhav Singh Rathore, 53, a
salesman at a clothes store, who sat among a line of people waiting
to get the injection.
India kicked off its innoculation programme in January focused on
health workers and then the elderly, saying it wanted to cover the
most vulnerable first.
'FROM BAD TO WORSE'
It also shipped millions of doses of the vaccine to neighbouring
countries and then across the world as part of a diplomatic
initiative to win friends, but of late this has prompted criticism
that people at home were being neglected.
Adding to the pressure on the government, the daily rise in cases
has quadrupled in the space of a month as most of India has reopened
for business and travel curbs have been lifted.
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 "The situation is going from
bad to worse" V.K. Paul, the top COVID-19
adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said
this week.
Data released by the health ministry on Thursday
showed 72,330 new COVID-19 infections, the
highest since Oct. 11. Deaths stand at 162,927.
India's overall caseload stood at 12.22 million,
making it the third worst affected globally,
behind the United States and Brazil.
Despite the second wave of infections, hundreds
of Hindu devotes gathered on the banks of the
river Ganges in the northern town of Haridwar to
take a holy dip on the first day of a month-long
'Kumbh Mela, or the pitcher festival.
"Mother Ganga will protect us and destroy all
the negative impact of COVID-19 in the world.
However, we should be cautious and take
precautions," said Sunanda, a devotee.
Local authorities have said anyone coming from
the 12 states where cases are rising will have
to produce a negative COVID-19 test before being
allowed to bathe in the river.
(Additional reporting by Sumit Khanna, Jatindra
Dash and Nivedita Bhattacharjee; Editing by
Sanjeev Miglani and Gareth Jones)
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