Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday chaired a review meeting of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country, officials said.

Senior officials of the concerned ministries attended the virtual meeting, which was held at a time when 50 cases of the COVID-19 Delta Plus variant (June 25) have been reported in the country.

Officials presented the progress of the coronavirus vaccination drive, the supply of jabs over the next few months and efforts being made to increase the production at the meeting.

Modi said he was satisfied with the country's stepped-up vaccinations pace this week. He also emphasized that the country should keep up this momentum for the purpose of ensuring that most Indians will be vaccinated as soon as possible. 

"Ensure that the pace of testing does not go down as testing remains a very important weapon to track and contain rising infections in any region," said Modi, citing India Today.

The Prime Minister also suggested involving NGOs and other organizations for shoring up vaccination numbers in the meeting, according to the local television network.

The highly transmissible Delta Plus variant was first detected in three states - Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra earlier this week and in the following days, it has been detected in Punjab, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.

India's federal government said on Thursday that the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines was being done in a transparent manner based on the population, caseload, utilization efficiency and wastage factors of a state.

As per the health ministry, so far over 315 million doses have been administered in the country.

(With input from Xinhua)