COVID-19: India reports 49,931 cases in last 24 hours

With 708 deaths and the highest single-day spike of 49,931 cases in last 24-hours, India’s tally has crossed 14 lakh on Monday.

According to the Health Ministry, the total coronavirus positive cases now stand at 14,35,453 including 4,85,114 active cases, 9,17,568 cured and 32,771 deaths. The recovery rate stand at 63.92 percent, according to the data.

This is the fifth consecutive day when covid-19 cases have increased by more than 45,000.

Maharashtra has reported 3,66,368 coronavirus cases, the highest in the country. A total of 2,06,737 cases have been reported from Tamil Nadu till now, while Delhi has recorded a total of 1,29,531 coronavirus cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), a total of 1,68,06,803 samples have been tested upto July 26, with 5,15,472 samples being tested on July 26.

Meanwhile phase I human trials of Bharath Biotech’s Covaxin, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate, have started at most of the 12 sites selected by ICMR across the country. The Post-Graduate Institute (PGI) of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, has claimed encouraging results from first part of the tests.

Last week , AIIMS, Delhi, administered the first dose of Covaxin to a 30 year-old-man. Accordingto Clinical Trials Registry(CTRI), the Covaxin phase I and Phase II trials are now expected to take one year and three months.

Developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and National Institute of Virology (NIV), Covaxin got the nod for human clinical trials from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) last month. Besides Covaxin, another experimental shot developed by Zydus Cadila has also begun human clinical trials.