Srinagar: India has reported 57,981 fresh cases of COVID in the last 24 hours, while 941 others succumbed to the deadly virus, pushing the death toll to 50,921.
On Sunday, India, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), tested 7,31,697 samples for COVID.
The virus has spread to many countries and territories since it first originated in China’s Wuhan in December 2019. Worldwide there are at least 21.5 million coronavirus cases and over 7,65,000 confirmed deaths.
The United States remained the global epicentre of the virus, with around a quarter of the cases and deaths.
There are over 150 coronavirus vaccines in various stages of development in several countries with a few making advanced progress in clinical trials.
Earlier, Russia announced that the country has already produced the first batch of its COVID vaccine.
In India, a Pune based vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has decided to manufacture 100 million COVID vaccine doses which will be capped at Rs 225 per dose.
While the Oxford coronavirus vaccine and a Chinese vaccine showing positive results in the first round of human trials, the Moderna has shown positive results among mice and developed immunity against the disease upon testing.
India’s Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has also entered the human trial stage and is expected to come out with results in a month.
Pertinently, on August 15, the Prime Minister of India said that three probable COVID vaccines are currently being developed in India and large-scale production will begin as soon as scientists give a green signal.
The Prime Minister paid tribute to all the frontline workers involved in India’s fight against the pandemic.
However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned world governments against “vaccine nationalism” and urged leaders to make plans on how to share life-saving inoculations against coronavirus.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the threat of COVID can only be snuffed out with global coordination, especially when a vaccine is developed.
Free Press Kashmir is now on Telegram. Click here to Join.
