COVID-19: India records 67,151 new cases

India recorded 67,151 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,059 deaths. This takes the country’s tally to 32, 34,475 COVID-19 cases including 7,07,267 patients who are under treatment, 24,67,759 who have recovered and 59,449 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said.

The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) officials are maintaining that the COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) is below 2% and are trying to bring it down to under 1%.

Trials for the Oxford University’s vaccine, developed in collaboration with AstraZeneca, will begin in India on Wednesday. Six volunteers will be administered doses at Pune’s Bharati Vidyapeeth medical college and hospital. This is phase-2 of the trial, as it is not mandatory to conduct phase-1 trials in India, where the vaccine’s safety is assessed.

The Center is in talks with Russia over its vaccine for Covid-19, called Sputnik-V. “As far as Sputnik-V vaccine is concerned, India and Russia are in communication. Some initial information has been shared,” Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press conference.

Fresh guidelines for Unlock 4.0 are expected to be announced in the coming days. The Metro service in Delhi NCR, suspended since March 22 due to the pandemic, is likely to resume in September.