Srinagar: With fresh 69,878 COVID cases and 945 fatalities reported across the country in the last 24 hours, the tally in India has mounted to 2,975,701.
According to the Health Ministry of India, the number of active cases was at 697,330 and 55,794 people have succumbed to the viral disease.
The recovery rate climbed to 74.69% as record 63,631 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours.
There are 2,222,577 people who have been cured of the coronavirus disease to this date.
India’s tally of confirmed cases of the coronavirus neared the 3 million-mark as it remained the third worst-hit country in the world after the US and Brazil, the Union health ministry’s data showed on Saturday.
Currently, 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.
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