According to Union Health Ministry, India has now administered over 120.96 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses.

On November 26, more than 65 lakh (65,23,396) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers started on February 2.

The next phase of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1. The government then decided to expand the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.

On October 21, India crossed the landmark of 100 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses. It took India nine months to reach this milestone, out of which 74 per cent of the adult population got the first dose. And 31 per cent were fully vaccinated.

However, with a new heavily mutant novel coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 reported in South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana triggering alarms in India, the country's top health experts have urged for stringent surveillance at the government level.

As per the news agency ANI, Dr Sanjay Rai, Professor, Community Medicine at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said, 'Botswana variant is a new variant. Sarcov 2 is an RNA virus that has a single strain and during multiplication, this virus enters the body. Currently, only the 'Delta' is a variant of concern (VOC). It's a new variant. We will have to wait and watch, we don't know its overall infectivity but the probability is that it may bypass your existing immunity either acquired through a vaccine or natural infection. If it bypasses, it'll be a serious issue.'

The B. 1.1.529 variant carries 32 mutations, many of which suggest it is highly transmissible and vaccine-resistant and has more alterations to its spike protein than any other variant. As India is strictly depending on surveillance and monitoring, the Union Health Ministry has asked states to send the samples of travellers reporting positive to designated labs of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genetics Consortium (INSACOG). In addition, the state surveillance officers have also been asked to coordinate with the INSACOG labs and undertake 'test-track-treat'.

The pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech on Saturday issued a statement stating that they are not sure whether their vaccines would be able to help in the treatment of the new Covid-19 variant 'Omicron'. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified the new Covid-19 strain as a 'variant of concern'.