Pfizer has sought approval for emergency use of its Covid vaccine in India: Sources.
India's total COVID-19 active caseload dropped to 4,03,248 - the lowest in 138 days - as 36,011 fresh coronavirus infections were recorded against 41,970 recoveries in the last 24 hours, government data shows. This is the lowest number of active cases - total cases minus recovered people - since July 21.
Here are the top 10 developments related to the coronavirus pandemic:
The overall coronavirus recoveries shot past the 91-lakh mark, taking the recovery rate to 94.4 per cent.
With a national death rate of 1.5 per cent - the same since the September surge - 482 people died because of Covid over the past day, pushing the overall fatalities to 1,40,182 so far.
The country now has a total of 96.45 lakh overall cases of the deadly disease which broke out in China's Wuhan in December last year.
With a declining positivity rate - 3.3 per cent - India has been recording an average of 35,000 cases for the past week - the same as mid-July - when overall tested was about 11 lakh per day.
However, many states like Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand have been recording a surge with the onset of winter.
The highest daily infection numbers are being recorded in Kerala (5,848), Maharashtra (4,922), Delhi (3,419), West Bengal (3,175) and Rajasthan (2,076), accounting for 54 per cent of all cases in the country.
Highest deaths have been recorded from Maharashtra (95), Delhi (77), West Bengal (49), Kerala (32) and Haryana (25). Together, these states account for 57 per cent of all Covid deaths in the last 24 hours.
Pfizer vaccine, which is ready to be rolled out in UK and Bahrain, may also be available in India, where it has sought approval for emergency use from the country's drug regulator - the DCGI.
Experts in India have been raising concerns about the logistical issues linked to distribution of the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be stored at - 70 degrees Celsius. Most vaccines in India can be stored at temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees.
This is the first such request received by the DCGI amid the race to find a vaccine for the deadly virus, which has so far affected over 6.6 crore people globally, with 1.5 crore people in US alone.
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