India recorded 30,254 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the country’s total tally to over 98.57 lakh. Out of the total cases, over 3.56 cases are active while over 93.57 lakh people have recovered after testing positive. With 391 new fatalities, the death toll now stands at 1,43,019.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Saturday said that the Covid-19 vaccine will be made available to all people in Kerala free of cost. “No one will be charged for the vaccine. This is the stand of the government,” Vijayan told media persons. After Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, Kerala becomes the third state to make this announcement.

Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Covishield could be available in India as early as “the first half of 2021,” Gagandeep Singh, AstraZeneca’s Country President said on Saturday. Speaking at 93rd FCCI convention, Singh said, “we started working in April with Oxford University and currently we are hoping to get emergency use authorisation approved and that can potentially mean that we could have something which is available as early as the first half of 2021.”

Currently, three vaccine candidates including those of Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India and Pfizer are under consideration of an emergency use license by India’s drug regulator.

Source: The Indian Express 

BDST: 1242 HRS, DEC 13, 2020
SMS