The number of fresh COVID-19 cases in India increased by 20,346 since yesterday, indicating a 12% spike, to hit 1,03,95,278. Of these, a little over 2.8 lakh were active cases. The number of deaths in the past 24 hours increased by 222 to touch an overall 1,50,336.
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala remained the worst-hit, reporting the bulk of the fresh cases as well as deaths. Maharashtra recorded 4,382 new cases and 66 deaths - by far the most among all states.
Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech has enrolled 25,800 volunteers for phase 3 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine, the company said today. The maker of Covaxin is one of the two firms cleared by the government to deploy their product for mass inoculation in the country. The other is Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
Bharat Biotech chairman Dr Krishna Ella in a press briefing on January 5 had hit out at critics for questioning the vaccine's efficacy. "We don't deserve this backlash," Dr Ella had said.
Covaxin has completed two of the three required trial phases; the third - which tests for efficacy - began in November.