Bhubaneswar, Mar 18 (PTI) Nearly 42,000 children in the 12-14 years age group have got the first dose of COVID vaccine so far in Odisha, a health department official said on Friday.

The inoculation drive was launched on Wednesday.

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It started at a single school in each of the 30 districts of Odisha in the first phase, he said, adding that the number of facilities would be ramped up later.

At least 41,956 children in the 12-14 years age group, including 5,024 on the first day of the initiative, have received the first dose of Corbevax in the state, he said.

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The Bhadrak administration was ahead of other districts as it has administered 4,469 doses of the vaccine, according to the data of the department. The second jab will be administered after 28 days.

Odisha recorded 79 new coronavirus cases on Friday, with the tally rising to 12,87,036, while no new fatality due to the infection was reported.

The death toll stood at 9,116. Fifty-three other COVID patients have died due to comorbidities so far, according to a bulletin.

The state had logged 105 cases and one COVID fatality on the previous day.

The coastal state now has 714 active cases and 108 patients recuperated from the disease on Thursday, taking the total number of recoveries to 12,77,153, the bulletin said.

The daily positivity rate was 0.16 per cent and nine children were among the newly infected people, it said, adding that 48,408 samples were tested in the past 24 hours.

(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)