Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, while addressing a presser, announced that citizens above the age of 45 years can get vaccinated starting April 1.

"It has been decided that from 1st April, the vaccine will open for everybody above 45 years of age. We request that all eligible should immediately register and get vaccinated."

He added that the second dose of vaccines can be administered between the fourth and eighth week for Covishield, as per the advice by scientists.

On Monday, the Centre had informed that the gap between the first and second dose of Covishield vaccine should be increased to 6-8 weeks from 28 days.

According to the Union health ministry, the cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 4.72 crores with 19,65,635 doses being given on Monday.