Picture used for illustrative purpose.

The number of people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in India has hit the two-billion mark (200 crore) on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed India's vaccination drive as 'unparalleled in scale and speed'.

He congratulated the people of the nation. "India creates history again! Congrats to all Indians on crossing the special figure of 200 crore vaccine doses. Proud of those who contributed to making India's vaccination drive unparalleled in scale and speed.

This has strengthened the global fight against COVID-19," said PM Modi in a tweet, according to Indo-Asian News Service. In a subsequent tweet he added, "Throughout the rollout of the vaccine, the people of India have shown remarkable faith in science.

Our doctors, nurses, frontline workers, scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs have played a key role in ensuring a safer planet. I appreciate their spirit and determination."

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also congratulated the people on achieving this landmark in only 18 months and said that this extraordinary achievement will be etched in history "Congratulations India! With everyone's efforts, the country has crossed the figure of 200 crore vaccines today. India has scripted history under PM @NarendraModi Ji's visionary leadership.

This extraordinary achievement will be etched in history!" Mandaviya said in a tweet. Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, also thanked the healthcare workers for their hard work, vision and innovation in setting a new record in the service of humanity.

India's nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme was launched by PM Modi on January 16, 2021. Despite the decline in cases across the country, consistent efforts are ongoing to vaccinate all eligible citizens.

It took almost nine months to reach the 100-crore mark and another nine months to reach the 200-crore vaccination mark since the start of the vaccination drive, with the highest single-day vaccination record of 2.5 crore doses achieved on September 17, 2021.

The country of 1.35 billion people has lifted most Covid-related restrictions, and international travel has recovered robustly. Some 80 per cent of the inoculations have been the AstraZeneca vaccine made domestically, called Covishield.

Others include domestically developed Covaxin and Corbevax, and Russia's Sputnik V. New cases, however, rose 20,528 over the past 24 hours, the highest since Feb.20, according to data compiled by Reuters.

The federal government has been accelerating its booster campaign to avert the spread of infections, edging higher in the eastern states of Assam, West Bengal and Karnataka in the south.