India’s COVID-19 caseload went past 56 lakh with 83,347 infections being reported in a day, while over 45 lakh people have recovered from the disease, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday, reports PTI.
The national recovery rate stands at 81.25 per cent.
The coronavirus caseload surged to 56,46,010, while the death toll climbed to 90,020 with 1,085 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.
The total recoveries surged to 45,87,613 in the country so far.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection has dropped to 1.59 per cent.
There are 9,68,377 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 17.15 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and?and it went past 50 lakh on September 16.
According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 6,62,79,462 samples have been tested up to September 22 with 9,53,683 samples being tested on Tuesday.
New guidelines for vaccine candidates
Meanwhile, the Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI) issued a new set of guidelines for COVID-19 vaccine candidates, focussing on safety, immunogenicity and efficacy parameters, reports Xinhua.
The DCGI has said that a COVID-19 vaccine candidate should have at least 50 percent of efficacy in the Phase-III clinical trial for it to be widely deployed and adequate data informing the potential risk of vaccine-associated Enhanced Respiratory Disease (ERD) needs to be generated.
DCGI has also asked the pharma companies to keep pregnant women and women of childbearing potential in mind while developing the vaccines.
Last week India’s health ministry said about 30 COVID-19 vaccines were under various stages of development in the country. According to the ministry, of the 30 vaccines, three were in the advanced stage.