Union Cabinet approved the vaccination for people above 45 years of age from April 1, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday.

"I request all above the age of 45 to register and get themselves vaccinated from April 1. There are enough vaccines available and there should not be any concern on this," Javadekar said.

The Centre on Monday also revised the time window within which the second dose of vaccine can be taken, asking all states to administer it between 4-8 weeks instead of 4-6 weeks.

So far, all people above the age of 60 and those above 45 with comorbidities were being inoculated, apart from medical professionals and frontline workers.The minister said that India has till now vaccinated 4.85 crore people. While, addressing the media on Tuesday, he further informed, “In the last 24 hours, 32.54 people received vaccines. In February daily average was around 3.50 lakh every day, but in March, the daily average has gone around 15 lakh."

India has approved Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and COVISHIELD from the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India (SII). India on Tuesday reported 40,715 COVID-19 cases, taking the total infection tally to 1,16,86,796. India’s total active caseload on Monday stood at 3.45 lakh (3,45,377).

Meanwhile, the union ministry of health and family welfare on Tuesday made clear that states such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu recorded a rise in daily new COVID cases. The aformentioned states account for 80.90 per cent of the new cases reported in the last 24 hours.