India to start vaccinating children aged 15-18 from Jan.3

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced plans for a national campaign to vaccinate children aged 15-18 against the coronavirus.

In a live broadcast, Modi said the vaccine programme would begin on 3 January to ease parental worries over the spread of the omicron variant. He also announced booster doses for healthcare and frontline workers from January 10.

People above 60 with other diseases can also take precautionary doses on the advice of their doctors.  On Saturday, India's Health Ministry said India has so far detected a total of 358 omicron variant cases since the start of the month. It said just under a third of the people infected with omicron had already recovered.