DW BUREAU / chandigarh Punjab DGP Dinkar Gupta was the first one to receive COVID-19 vaccine in the state police as the second phase of inoculation drive for frontline workers began on Tuesday. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday rolled out the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive. Gupta volunteered to be the first one among the Punjab Police to get the jab here, according to a government statement. Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Anurag Agarwal also got vaccinated at the same session, along with the top brass of the Punjab Police. Under the second phase of the vaccination drive in Punjab, around 82,789 Punjab Police personnel are supposed to be inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine across the state. Prior to the launch of the vaccination drive, Singh laid a wreath at Punjab Police Martyrs' Memorial in the foyer of state police headquarters to pay homage to 1,800 police personnel of different ranks, who laid down their lives during fight against terrorism. While lauding the efforts of the Punjab Police, Singh said the entire force had worked day and night on the frontline when COVID-19 was at its peak in Punjab and rest of the country. Besides maintaining law and order, the police also ensured home delivery of food, medicines and other essentials, during the curfew spanning over two months from March 22 and later all through the worst phase of COVID-19 pandemic in Punjab. He said a total of 6,153 police personnel tested positive for COVID-19, out of which 6,086 have successfully recovered while 15 Punjab Police officials are undergoing treatment. Unfortunately, 52 Punjab Police personnel, including one gazetted officer, 33 non-gazetted officers, nine other ranks, six Punjab Home Guard jawans from the Punjab Police lost their lives to COVID-19, the chief minister added. India registered 8,635 new coronavirus infections in a day, the lowest in eight months, while the daily deaths fell below 100 after almost nine months, according to Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday. The country's COVID-19 tally stands at 1,07,66,245 and the death toll increased to 1,54,486 with 94 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,04,48,406 pushing the national recovery rate to 97.05 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate has dropped to 1.43 per cent.The COVID-19 active caseload remained below two lakh for the 14th consecutive day. There are 1,63,353 active coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 1.52 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.  India's COVID-19 tally had crossed 20 lakh on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 19,77,52,057 samples have been tested up to February 1 with 6,59,422 samples being tested on Monday. The 94 new fatalities. (editor@dailyworld.in)