India has crossed a landmark in COVID-19 vaccination as more than 20 lakh COVID vaccine doses were administered across the country in the last 24 hours. <br />''<br />''Union Health Ministry said, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed two crore 30 lakh today. The Ministry said, more than 43 lakh 74 thousand beneficiaries aged more than 60 years and over seven lakh beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities were vaccinated till date.  <br />''<br />''The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on the 16th January this year and vaccination of the frontline workers started from the 2nd of last month. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination has commenced from 1st of this month for those who are over 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #000000;">The Ministry said, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka continue to report a surge in the COVID daily new cases. They cumulatively account for over 84 per cent of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 8,744. It is followed by Kerala with 1,412 while Punjab reported 1,229 new cases.</span>