The overall COVID-19 tally in India has reached 1,03,41,291, with 16,678 recorded cases in the last 24 hours. The daily new recoveries have been more than the daily cases registered since the last 38 days, the health ministry’s data shows.
The number of currently active cases in the country is 2,42,579. A total of 99,46,131 people have recovered across the states since the beginning of the pandemic, including 19,658 recoveries in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, 215 people died in the last 24 hours, with which the death toll has mounted to 1,49,686.
Meanwhile, Dr. V G Somani, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) of India’s Drugs Regulatory Board has already approved Covishield, the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.
Covishield has been manufactured by the Serum Institute, while Bharat Biotech has developed it with the help of expert researchers. The approval by the Drugs Regulatory Board of India has been given based on some expert recommendations. For this, a coronavirus subject expert committee (sec) was formed under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization”.
Regarding the committee, DCGI Dr. Somani stated – “After adequate examination, CDSCO has decided to accept the recommendations of the Expert Committee and accordingly, vaccines of M/s Serum and M/s Bharat Biotech are being approved for restricted use in an emergency situation”.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 17,56,35,761 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to January 3 with 7,35,978 samples being tested on Sunday.