India’s Covid-19 infections rose by 2,58,089 in the past 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 37.38 million; Maharashtra logs 122 new Omicron cases, 287 detected in Karnataka.

India may begin inoculating children in the 12-14 age group against Covid-19 in March as the 15-18 population is likely to get fully vaccinated by then, Dr N K Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group of NTAGI, said on Monday, according to news agency PTI. Of the estimated 7.4 crore (7,40,57,000) population in the 15-18 age bracket, over 3.45 crore have received the first dose of Covaxin so far and their second dose is due in 28 days. Once the 15-18 age group is covered, he said, the government is likely to take a policy decision for initiating the vaccination drive for the 12-14 age group in March. According to him, there is an estimated 7.5 crore population in the 12-14 age group.