As per the latest figures published by the Health Ministry, there are almost 5,79,357 active cases while a total number of 1,186,203 cured/discharged/migrated. 771 patients succumbed to coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 38,135.
The recoveries in the Covid-19 cases rose to 11,86,203, including 40,574 in last one day. The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has gone up to 65.76 per cent. However, there has been a significant improvement in the gap between the recoveries and the active cases that have seen a steady rise.
The states that have reported the biggest single day jump in infections include West Bengal (2,739), Madhya Pradesh (921), Mizoram (55). Five most affected states by total tally of cases are Maharashtra (4,41,228), Tamil Nadu (251,738), Andhra Pradesh (1,58,764), Delhi (137,677), and Karnataka (1,34,819).
Meanwhile, Drugs Controller General of India has given approval to Serum Institute of India, Pune to conduct Phase II+III clinical trials of Oxford University-Astra Zeneca vaccine (COVISHIELD) in India.
The pharma firm has to submit safety data, evaluated by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) before it can proceed to phase-3 of the clinical trial, according to news agency ANI.
According to ICMR data, a cumulative total of 2,02,02,858 samples have undergone the test till August 2 with 3,81,027 samples being tested on Sunday.
"Coordinated implementation of COVID-19 management strategy by the Union and State/UT governments and selfless sacrifice of all frontline health and other workers and COVID-19 warriors across sectors have ensured that the recoveries are continuously on the rise," the Health Ministry said in a statement.
Globally, around a million infections are being registered every four days across the world. As per the Worldometer around 217,901 new cases worldwide have been recorded in the past 24 hours. As many as 18,234,936 people around the world have been diagnosed with Covid-19. While more than 11,444,821 have recovered 692,794 have died so far. In White House, the coronavirus task force head Deborah Birx stated the pandemic has entered into in a “new phase" as it spreads across US rural and urban areas.