Corona Updates You Must Track: India Crosses 6.25-Lakh Mark, Second COVID-19 Vaccine Gets Nod For Human Trials

In a record single-day surge, India added nearly 21,000 fresh cases of coronavirus on Thursday, taking the tally to more than 6.25 lakh confirmed cases. With this, India looks set to overtake Russia as the third worst-hit country by the virus. Russia has so far reported 6,61,165 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Meanwhile, a second Indian experimental vaccine for COVID-19 has got the nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for clinical trials.

Track all the key updates related to coronavirus here:

India cases and toll: India’s coronavirus tally climbed to 6,25,544 cases on Friday with 2,27,439 active cases, 3,79,891 recoveries and 18,213 deaths, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The country added 20,903 fresh cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the single-biggest daily surge recorded so far—Maharashtra alone reported more than 6,300 cases. During the same period, 379 people also succumbed to the infection across the country. India conducted 2,41,576 tests for COVID-19 on Thursday.

Second Indian vaccine gets nod for clinical trials: The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) on Thursday approved human clinical trials for an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D, developed by Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila. Earlier, DGCI had given approvals for human trials for another potential COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech.

Southern states show surge in cases: While Maharashtra and Delhi continue to rank among the top contributors in terms of total coronavirus caseload, states like Telangana and Karnataka are witnessing a rapid surge in daily cases of coronavirus. Tamil Nadu, which reported 4,343 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, has seen a steady rise in case count despite intense lockdown in Chennai and Madurai and an extension of existing lockdown curbs and relaxations across the state till 31 July.

Telangana, which has been reporting 1,000-plus since the last few days, reported 1,213 fresh cases of coronavirus on Thursday, taking the state’s tally to 18,570 cases. Neighbouring Karnataka reported 1,502 new cases of COVID-19 in a day; with this, the state’s coronavirus tally is now at 18,016 cases.

Tracker courtesy COVID NewsByMIB/Twitter

Revised guidelines for home isolation: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday issued revised guidelines for home isolation of very mild, pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. “The person should be clinically assigned as a very mild/pre-symptomatic/asymptomatic case by the treating medical officer. Such cases should have the requisite facility at their residence for self-isolation and also for quarantining the family contacts,” the guidelines state.  The new order underlines that patients suffering from HIV or undergoing cancer therapy or who are transplant recipients are not eligible for home isolation.

Global corona update: The global COVID-19 tally is now at 1,09,93,124 cases with 61,52,965 recoveries and 5,24,198 deaths, according to worldometer, a website that tracks coronavirus cases across the world. There are currently 43,15,961 active cases of whom 42,58,095 are in mild condition while 57,866 are critical. The US leads the global table with 28,37,189 confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,31,485 deaths, followed by Brazil with 15,01,353 cases and 61,990 deaths, and Russia with 6,61,165 cases and 9,683 deaths.