Long queues as India expands Covid-19 vaccination drive

India began vaccinating tens of thousands of people above the age of 45 on Thursday in its biggest push yet against a surge in coronavirus cases.

The new daily cases count now in the country is the highest since early October.

The world's second-most populous country aims to immunise 400 million people after expanding the programme, which was restricted to the over-60s and people with serious health conditions, a government official said.

"Our requirement is 400 million people to be vaccinated. That is our minimum requirement, our target," the official told Reuters.

"Right now we are dealing with an emergency situation. Whatever we have, we will use it."

Anxious people lined up early at Max hospital in New Delhi 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 shop, who sat in a line of people waiting to get the injection.

India began its inoculation programme in January, beginning with health workers and then the elderly, saying it wanted to cover the most vulnerable first.

It also shipped millions of doses of the vaccine to neighbouring countries and then around 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 increase in case numbers quadrupled in the space of a month as most of India reopened for business and travel curbs were lifted.

"The situation is going from bad to worse" said V K Paul, the top Covid-19 adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Data released by the health ministry on Thursday showed 72,330 new Covid-19 infections, the highest since October 11. Deaths stood at 162,927.

India's overall caseload was 12.22 million, making it the third worst affected country, behind the United States and Brazil.

Despite the second wave of infections, hundreds of Hindu devotees gathered on the banks of the River Ganges in the northern town of Haridwar to take a holy dip on the first day of the month-long Kumbh Mela, or 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 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.

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