India reports a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases

India today witnessed a sharp surge in daily coronavirus cases and deaths. According to the union health ministry, India reported 47,092 new Covid-19 cases, the biggest single-day rise in two months, and 509 death in 24 hours. The country had seen 41,965 new cases and 460 deaths on Wednesday.

With this, India’s total Covid-19 caseload has surged to 3,28,57,937 and 4,39,529 deaths. Currently, there are a total of 3,89,583 active cases.

On the other hand, India registered 35,181 recoveries in one day, taking the overall count to 3,20,28,825.

As per the Centre’s data, 81,09,244 people got vaccinated against Covid-19 in 24 hours. Cumulatively, 66,30,37,334 have been inoculated against Covid-19 to date.

The weekly positivity rate has been recorded at 2.62% and it has been below 3% for the last 69 days. The daily positivity rate stood at 2.80%.

Kerala, which is witnessing a massive surge in coronavirus cases, reported 32,803 fresh cases and 173 deaths in a day.

Maharashtra saw 4,456 fresh coronavirus-positive cases and 183 fatalities in the same duration. State’s capital Mumbai saw 415 new cases and four COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Delhi has not witnessed any Covid-19-related deaths for the last 20 days. And, only 36 fresh cases were reported in the national capital in 24 hours.

Amid the rise in Covid-19 cases, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted permission to Hyderabad-based Biological E Limited to conduct Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials for its anti-COVID shots called Corbevax on children between 5 and 18 years.

Biological E, if passes the trial, would become the third coronavirus vaccine for children after Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D.

Zydus Cadila’s needle-free COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D received emergency use authorisation (EUA) to inoculate children in the age group of 12-18 last month. It is expected to be administered from the first week of October.

Meanwhile, the trials of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine for phases 2 and 3 for children are underway, and its result is expected in September.

The government has made an advance payment of ₹1,500 crore to Biological E for 30 crore vaccines. Mint