Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) The Maharashtra government has received 9.63 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine from Serum Institute of India (SII), health minister Rajesh Tope said on Tuesday.

The inoculation drive against coronavirus will be held at 511 centres across 36 districts of the state, he said, as the first consignments of vaccine left SII in Pune earlier in the day.

"The necessary arrangement of electricity, Internet and webcasting service has been made at all these centres," Tope said in a release.

"The state government has so far compiled a database of 7.84 lakh medical workers including doctors, nurses and other staff who has been more exposed to COVID-19 patients (than others). The registration drive on state government's portal (for those who will be vaccinated in the first phase) will continue till Tuesday midnight," he said.

The first consignment of Covishield vaccines left for Delhi on Tuesday morning, four days ahead of the nationwide inoculation drive launch.

Four airlines are operating nine flights to transport 56.5 lakh doses of the vaccine from Pune to 13 cities across the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)