India on Monday morning started vaccinating children aged 15 to 18 against COVID-19 amid fears of a surge in infections of the Omicron variant.

The government is only giving children Bharat Biotech's Covaxin vaccine as that is the only vaccine with emergency use listing for the 15-18 age group.

While adults in the country can get Covaxin, the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is branded as Covishield, and the Sputnik V shot.

Media reports said over 1.2 million children in the eligible age group have registered at the government's web portal for COVID-19 vaccination registration CoWIN so far.

The total number of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant detected in India was 1,700, the health ministry said.

(With input from Xinhua and Reuters)