India's Covid Tally Surpasses 65-Lakh Mark With 75K New Cases, Oxford Vaccine Likely To Be Rolled Out In 6 Months

India's COVID-19 caseload went past 65 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 55 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 84.13 percent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

(PTI Photo/Manvender Vashist)

Coronavirus in India: With 75,829 new cases, the coronavirus tally in India on Sunday crossed the 65 lakh mark. As many as 940 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the toll to 1,01,782 according to the data from the Union health ministry. The total case tally stands at 65,49,374, including 9,37,625 active cases, 55,09,967 cured, discharged and migrated cases, and 1,01,782 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said. Yesterday, the ministry said that India has scaled up its testing capacity from one in January to more than 7.7 crores in October, adding that the country "continues to occupy the top global position as the country with the maximum number of recoveries". Also Read: Coronavirus | Another Grim Milestone! Covid-19 Deaths Surpass 1 Lakh-Mark In India India accounts for 21 percent of the global recovered cases, on the other hand, its share in the total cases stands at 18.6 percent, the Ministry said. "With progressively falling positivity rate, testing has worked as an effective tool to limit the spread of Covid-19 infection," it added. With 82,260 recoveries registered in the last 24 hours, 5,509,966 patients of the viral disease have recovered across the country so far. India’s recovery rate is now at 84.12% currently. The deaths per million population in India is also one of the lowest in the world, according to the ministry. “While the global average is 130 deaths/million population, India is reporting 73 deaths /million population,” it said.

Oxford University coronavirus vaccine could be rolled out within six months: Report

There is growing hope that a vaccine against coronavirus may be given the green light by health regulators by the end of this year to be rolled out for a vaccination programme in six months' time or even less, according to a UK media report. The vaccine candidate under trial by the University of Oxford scientists in collaboration with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is the furthest in the process of trials and, according to a report in 'The Times', it could be given the required clearances by Christmas in December. The newspaper quoted UK government sources involved in the making and distribution of vaccines as saying that a full vaccine roll-out programme for adults could take six months or less after approval.