India reported 59,118 new Covid-19 cases — close to 36,000 in Maharashtra alone — during the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases in the country to over 4.21 lakh, the Health Ministry said on Friday.
During the same period, around 23.59 lakh vaccinations were carried out in the country, taking the cumulative vaccine shots delivered in the country to 5.55 crore. As many as 4.7 crore beneficiaries received the first dose of the vaccine, over 85 lakh completed the course by receiving both the shots.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research collaborated with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) to carried phase II/III bridge trials of Novovax and first three volunteers of 1,600 participants have already been recruited for the study. This is the second Covid-19 vaccine that SII is seeking to bring to India.
Apart from Maharashtra, nine other States reported more than 1,000 Covid-19 cases on Thursday. They include Punjab (2,661), Karnataka (2,523), Chhattisgarh (2,419), Kerala (1,989), Gujarat (1,961), Madhya Pradesh (1,865), Tamil Nadu (1,779), Delhi (1,515) and Haryana (1,053).
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As many as 257 people succumbed to the Covid-19 infection during the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 1.60.949.