Coronavirus: India records 26,567 cases, lowest since July; total tally crosses 97 lakh

New Delhi: India’s COVID-19 count witnessed a steep fall on Monday when the number of fresh cases dipped to 26,567. This is the lowest national count since July 10.

More than 97 lakh people in India have been infected till now, whereas there are 3.83 lakh active infections and 91.78 lakh recoveries. With 385 new deaths, the nation’s death toll now stands at 1,40,958.

Delhi has also given some positive news, as the nation’s capital has recorded 1,674 new cases on Monday, which is the lowest since August.

India is going to carry the largest vaccination drive in its history over the course of the upcoming year and beyond.

As per some top government sources, “…the guidelines on administration of the vaccine are based on the crucial question of the likelihood of an adverse being reported after each dose”.

The sources also stated – “Since each vaccination will take at least 30 minutes, only 100 shots will be administered in each session. Both government and private healthcare facilities will be roped in to conduct the first round of immunizations for frontline healthcare workers.”

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech sought emergency use authorization for the indigenous COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin, while the US pharma-giant Pfizer was the first to seek emergency use authorization earlier on Saturday for its mRNA candidate; the second vaccine candidate to seek the authorization was Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s Covishield, a version of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate being manufactured under license.