Corona Updates You Must Track: India's COVID-19 Tally Climbs To 19 Lakh, Two Vaccines Enter Phase 2 Of Clinical Trials

India cases and toll: In the last 24 hours, India recorded 52,509 cases of coronavirus and 857 deaths. With this, India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 19,08,254 cases, as per the data shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The country has been reporting more than 50,000 cases of coronavirus daily for nearly a week now. India currently has 5,86,244 active cases of coronavirus while 12,82,215 people have recovered from the illness. So far, 39,795 have succumbed to the disease. India conducted 6,19,652 tests for COVID-19 on Tuesday. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 25-30 per cent of the total tests are conducted using the rapid antigen testing kit.

Gyms, yoga centres reopen under Unlock 3.0: Yoga centres and gyms across the country have been allowed to reopen after the Centre issued fresh guidelines for Unlock 3.0. However, in Delhi, gyms and yoga centres will remain shut “in the absence of any order from the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA),” reported The Times of India. A meeting of DDMA is likely to be held this week. Delhi’s COVID-19 tally is at 1,39,156 with 674 cases and 12 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours.

COVID-19 vaccine progress report: Two vaccines for COVID-19 being developed in India have entered phase two of the clinical trials. These are Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN, which is being jointly developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research, and Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D. Meanwhile, Serum Institute will soon start the phases two and three of the clinical trials of the experimental vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca in India.

COVID-19 tracker for 5 August. Source: Twitter/@COVIDNewsByMIB

Andhra Pradesh’s COVID-19 tally surges: Andhra Pradesh reported 9,747 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day tally in the country. The state’s coronavirus count has surged to 1,76,333, including 1,604 deaths. The state has 79,104 active cases of coronavirus against 95,625 recoveries. On Tuesday, 67 people lost their lives to the virus across the state.   

Global corona update: The global COVID-19 count has increased to 1,87,05,096 with 1,19,22,692 recoveries and 7,04,385 deaths, as per Worldometer. With a caseload of 49,18,420, the US tops the list of worst-affected countries by the virus. The country has recorded 1,60,290 deaths, which translates to 484 deaths per 1 million people.

Brazil, the second worst-hit country globally, is inching close to the grim milestone of recording 1 lakh deaths due to coronavirus. The South American country has reported 96,096 deaths so far even as its COVID-19 tally stands at 28,08,076. According to Worldometer, Brazil reported 1,394 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday.