India's total tally of COVID-19 cases surged to 3,03,62,848 with 45,951 new infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries have crossed 2.94 crores, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death count increased to 3,98,454 with 817 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Meanwhile, India's Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, effectively neutralises both Alpha and Delta variants of coronavirus, the US' National Institute of Health has said.
The NIH said results of two studies of blood serum from people who had received Covaxin suggest that the vaccine generates antibodies that effectively neutralise the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.617 (Delta) variants of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in the UK and India, respectively.
The top American health research institute, which has a history of strong scientific collaboration with India, also said that an adjuvant developed with funding from it has contributed to the success of the highly efficacious Covaxin, which has been administered to roughly 25 million people till date in India and elsewhere.
Here are the highlights on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said the Centre's supply of Covid vaccines should be able to keep pace with the speed of vaccination in the state so that people can be given the second dose on time.
He said it is the state government's endeavour to vaccinate the maximum number of people at the earliest.
Germany's CureVac announced Wednesday that final trial results showed its coronavirus vaccine had an efficacy rate of just 48 percent, far lower than those developed by mRNA rivals BioNTech and Moderna.
The outcome had been expected after poor interim results were released earlier this month.
The company in part blamed "the unprecedented context of 15 strains circulating" among the trial volunteers, as well as varying responses across different age groups.
Jharkhand reported 85 new cases of COVID-19 and 120 recoveries in the last 24 hours, reported ANI.
According to the state COVID-19 bulletin, the new cases pushed the case tally in Jharkhand to 3,45,610.
As many as 3,39,583 people recovered from the disease so far in the state. Meanwhile, the active number of cases stands at 914. The Covid death count in Jharkhand currently stands at 5,113.
Almost after three months, West Bengal's daily COVID-19 count on Wednesday was recorded below the 1,500-mark with 1,478 new cases, the health department said.
The death toll rose to 17,708 after 29 fresh fatalities were registered in the state.
All of the 29 deaths were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental, the health department bulletin said.
The Manipur government on Wednesday extended the coronavirus-induced curfew in seven districts of the state till July 10, a notification said.
The restrictions were scheduled to end on June 30.
The curfew was first imposed on May 8 and repeatedly extended in the districts of Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur, Kakching, Thoubal, Churachandpur and Ukhrul due to a surge in coronavirus cases.
As per the fresh order issued by Chief Secretary Rajesh Kumar, agriculture, horticulture, MGNREGA works will be allowed, and stationary and optician shops outside the main markets of Thangal Bazaar and Paona Bazaar may open from 10 AM to 2 PM when grocery shops are closed.
Tamil Nadu has recorded 4,506 new Covid cases and 113 deaths, including that of a five-month-old baby, pushing the caseload to 24,79,696 and 32,619 respectively, the Health Department said on Wednesday, reported news agency PTI.
A 10-day unlock will begin in Nagaland from tomorrow after a month-and-half-long lockdown imposed in view of a surge in coronavirus cases, a notification said, reported news agency PTI.
Emergency Use Listing of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin by WHO is not a long drawn process as a majority of the vaccine makers' facilities have been audited by the global health body, Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, said today.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said the national capital has not reported any case of Delta plus variant of COVID-19 so far, adding that there is no communication from the Centre to make any special arrangement to deal with it.
Telangana today recorded 917 new Covid cases and 10 fatalities, taking the overall tally to 6,23,510 and 3,661 respectively, reported news agency PTI.
The number of recovered cases in the state rose to 1,61,361 after 201 patients were discharged from hospitals during the last 24 hours since Tuesday evening, the official said. Goa now has 2,274 active cases, the official said.
Vaccine major Serum Institute of India (SII) is confident of receiving approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in a month, the company's Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said today.
Andhra Pradesh today reported 3,797 fresh cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours ending 9 am, reported news agency PTI.
While 5,498 recoveries, another 35 died in 24 hours, the latest bulletin said. The state Covid chart now shows 18,89,513 total positives, 18,38,469 recoveries and 12,706 deaths.
The number of active cases stood at 38,338, the bulletin added.
Jharkhand's coronavirus tally rose to 3,45,525 today as 94 people tested positive for the infection, while two fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death count to 5,113, a health bulletin said, reported news agency PTI.
East Singhbhum district registered the highest number of new cases - 20, followed by Simdega (eight) and Bokaro (seven), it said.
The fatalities were reported from Bokaro and Dhanbad.
Chaotic scenes were witnessed at several Covid inoculation centres in Ahmedabad today as people turned up in large numbers to get the jabs amid a short supply of vaccines in the city.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) struggled to meet its target of vaccinating one lakh people a day due to less number of vaccines supplied to it, officials said.
Read here.
Short and erratic vaccine supply by the Centre has forced the BJP-led government in Assam to cut down the number of operational vaccination centres by almost 82% from over 2,000 centres to a little over 300 on Wednesday. The supply shortage has derailed the mega vaccination drive which began across the country on June 21.
While Assam administered a record 3.74 lakh doses across over 2,000 centres to kickstart the mega vaccine drive on June 21, the number of vaccine centres have since been reduced - to just 353 on Wednesday and till 4 PM today, only about 10,000 people were inoculated.
The clearance of the Moderna vaccine for limited emergency use will make it the fourth vaccine against coronavirus that will be available and used in India. The third vaccine to get approval - Russia's Sputnik V - has been soft-launched in different cities across the country as part of a pilot phase.
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he opposed introducing mandatory vaccinations in Russia despite a surge in coronavirus infections in the country and sluggish inoculation rates.
Delhi recorded 94 new cases of coronavirus today - a marginal drop from Tuesday's figures - and six deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a health department bulletin. The number of active cases in the city now stands at 1,379 - lowest since February 28 when the active case count was 1,335.
A top Chinese Virologist from Wuhan Institute of Virology has ties to military scientists of China who had been helping her in coronavirus research, reported news agency ANI.
One of these two military scientists has been listed as "deceased". In March, Dr Shi Zhengli, a Wuhan-based virologist who was accused of performing dangerous experiments with bat coronaviruses, denied claims that Wuhan Institute conducted studies with the military but several pieces of evidence was found that proved Dr Shi's links with the military scientists, Fox News reported citing US Media.
Russia on Wednesday reported 669 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, a record number of fatalities for the second day in a row, according to a government tally.
The country is grappling with a spike of infections spurred by the highly infectious Delta variant, and President Vladimir Putin was expected to address the surge in cases during a televised phone-in session with Russians set to begin later Wednesday. Read Here.
However, health experts said information was too sketchy to draw any immediate conclusions about whether the coronavirus had entered the country, ANI reported.
COVID-19 tally of Arunachal Pradesh mounted to 35,571 with 344 single-day cases, while one
more fatality raised the death toll to 168, a senior health department official said on Wednesday.
The northeastern state now has 2,687 active cases and 32,716 patients have recovered from the disease, PTI reported.
South Korea reported 794 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 156,961.
The daily caseload was sharply up from 595 in the previous day, marking the highest in over two months since April 23. The daily average caseload for the past week was 631, ANI reported.
Brazil has decided to suspend a $ 324 million contract, which has engulfed President Jair Bolsonaro in accusations of irregularities, on the advice of the federal comptroller. Read Here.
Noting it was not within its ambit to decide on compensation rules or amount, the court criticised the NDMA - the agency responsible for such details - for failing to discharge its duty, and said it was bound to give "minimum standards of relief, which includes ex-gratia assistance". Read Here.
The government also imposed a cap, or a "maximum limit", on the number of doses a private hospital can order for a given month, in order to balance limited supply and prevent wastage. Read Here.