India has become the fastest nation around the world to reach the 4 million milestone for COVID-19 vaccination drive. Since the beginning of India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive on January 16, the country has vaccinated 4.5 million (44,49,552) of its population, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

"Many other countries have had a head start of almost 65 days while India launched the countrywide vaccination drive in the mid half of January. It is the country's significant achievement in its fight against the global pandemic," they added.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, 3,10,604 people have been vaccinated across 8,041 sessions. A total of 84,617 sessions of vaccination have been conducted so far.

Only seven states have contributed to 55 per cent of the total vaccination drive, according to the ministry.

NUMBER OF STATES WITH VACCINATION COUNT

1. Uttar Pradesh: 4,63,793

2. Rajasthan: 3,63,521

3. Maharashtra: 3,54,633

4. Madhya Pradesh: 3,30,722

5. Karnataka: 3,16,638

6. Gujarat: 3,11,251

7. West Bengal: 3,01,091.

Meanwhile, the total active caseload for coronavirus in India declined to to 1.55 lakh on Thursday. As per the data, the United States, Israel and the United Kingdom followed India in its feat of immunising 4 million of its population. In comparison to India, the US took 20 days, while Israel and the UK took 39 days each.

(With inputs from IANS)