COVID-19: India reports 50,210 new cases

India COVID-19 tally climbed to 83.64 lakh with 50,210 new cases in a day, while 77,11,809 people have recovered so far pushing the national recovery rate to 92.20 percent, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Thursday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 83,64,086 and the deaths have climbed to 1,24,315 with the virus claiming 704 lives in the last 24 hours in the country.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.49 percent. So far, there are 5,27,962 active cases of COVID-19 which comprises 6.31 percent of the total caseload.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 11,42,08,384 samples have been tested up to November 4, with 12,09,425 samples being tested on November 5.

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pune-based pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India (SII) said that the covid vaccine is likely to be available in the country by January 2021 provided approvals from regulatory bodies are in place and only if its proven immunogenic and efficacious.

The SII is working in collaboration with British- Sweden pharma major AstraZeneca to produce the potential covid-19 vaccine Covishield.

The CEO of the world’s largest drug manufacturing firm also said that the firm is in talks with the government over the pricing of the vaccine and assured that it will be available at a reasonable price.