The government on 23 September announced that differently-abled people and those with restricted mobility will be given COVID vaccine doses at their homes.

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Addressing a press conference, Union Health Ministry officials also said the country is still in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19 even though the number of daily new cases are declining. However, they added, 62.73% of total infections reported last week were from Kerala alone, which is also the only state with over 1 lakh active COVID cases.

Thirty-three districts in the country are now reporting over 10 per cent weekly positivity rate, while 23 are recording between 5-10 per cent, the officials said. Under COVID guidelines for the upcoming festival season, mass gatherings have to be avoided in containment zones and in districts with over 5 per cent positivity rate, they said.

On the ongoing vaccination drive, they said that 66 per cent of the country's adult population has been given at least one jab while 23 per cent is fully vaccinated. They also said that 63.7 per cent of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered at centres in rural areas and 35.4 per cent in urban areas.