Delhi: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said that the first COVID-19 vaccine rollout will take place on January 13. The government has prioritised groups who will get the shot first, includes doctors, healthcare workers, police and others frontline workers directly battling COVID-19.

The active cases in India are less than 2.5 lakhs and continue to drop. The positivity rate stood at 1.97 per cent, the Health Ministry said during the media briefings on Tuesday. 44 per cent of active cases are in hospital with moderate or severe symptoms needing regular care while 56 per cent of cases are very mild or asymptomatic and are in home isolation, the Ministry further stated.

Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech on Tuesday issued a joint statement stating they had pledged to guarantee a smooth roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines to India and the world. Recently, Prime Minister Narendra also stated that India is on the verge of beginning the largest vaccination programme in the world.

Nearly 30 crore will receive the vaccine during the first phase of the drive. The healthcare workers, frontline workers will get the vaccine immediately when it's available. People above 50 years of age will receive the dose too followed by people younger than with related comorbidities.