New Delhi: India has detected 32,891 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, which takes the overall tally to 96.77 lakh. Out of the overall caseload, the number of active cases decreased to 3.96 lakh, a level last seen in the 3rd week of July.

Over 91.39 lakh infected people have fought back till now, with more than 39,000 recoveries in the last 24 hours. 391 new fatalities push the country’s death toll to 1,40,573. The number of fatalities for a single day falls below 400 for the first time since the month of July.

According to the ICMR, A total of 14,77,87,656 samples tested for Covid, up to 6th December 2020. Of these, 8,01,081 samples were tested yesterday.

The Serum Institute of India has become the first indigenous company to have sought emergency use authorization for Covishield, their Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The Pune-based institute has been conducting their phase-III trials for the Oxford-AstraZeneca candidate, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a day after Pfizer, the US pharmaceutical giant asks for emergency use of their vaccine candidate.

According to the sources, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has conveyed Pfizer’s request to a committee of experts, who will now examine the date for its clinical trial that needs to be conducted overseas.