COVID-19 cases surge past 1 million as human trials of vaccine begin in India

NEW DELHI: The total number of COVID-19 cases in India surpassed one-million mark on Friday, as the death toll crossed 25,000, said the latest data issued by federal health ministry.

The ministry said 687 new deaths from COVID-19 and an additional 34,956 positive cases were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the total cases to 1,003,832 and the death toll to 25,602.

This is said to be the highest single day spike in the number of fresh cases in the country so far.

According to ministry officials, so far 635,757 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement. "The number of active cases in the country right now is 342,473," according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, in a related development, human trials of vaccine -- COVAXIN, developed by the Bharat Biotech started at a government-run hospital PGI Rohtak in northern state of Haryana on Friday.

"Three subjects were enrolled today. All have tolerated the vaccine very well. There were no adverse efforts," said the state's health minister Anil Vij on social media.

The ministry also said that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients across the country stood at 63.33 percent.

The collaborative efforts of all states for house-to-house surveys, contact tracing, surveillance of containment and buffer zones, perimeter control activities, aggressive testing and timely diagnosis had resulted in early identification of the infected persons. This has helped in early treatment too, according to a statement issued by the federal health ministry.

A total of 333,228 samples have been tested in the last 24 hours, said the federal health ministry data on Friday.

Presently the country has entered "Unlock 2.0" phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 Containment Zones. Commercial international flights to and from India are suspended until July 31.

Last week, the government of Uttar Pradesh, country's biggest state in terms of population, had decided to impose a weekend lockdown from Friday night till Monday morning, to cut the chain of transmission of COVID-19. On Thursday, it decided to continue with similar lockdowns every weekend.

Uttar Pradesh's neighbouring state of Bihar, another densely populated state in the country, also imposed a lockdown from July 16 to 31.

Considering the rise in the number of fresh cases on a daily basis, several other states in the country are too mulling imposition of lockdown.