Almost 1.5 million people have so far died globally from the Covid-19 disease related to the coronavirus, and some 63 million people have been infected. As 2020 heads to its close, vaccines are on the horizon. There is hope that some aspects of life as we knew it will return.

In the early days in Wuhan, the first city first struck by the virus, getting a Covid-19 test was so difficult that residents compared it to winning the lottery.

The European Union criticised Britain’s rapid approval of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, saying its own procedure was more thorough, after Britain became the first western country to endorse a Covid-19 shot.

Thirty-five people have died from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

The US hopes to have immunized 100 million people against Covid-19 by the end of February, a top official said Wednesday, which is approximately 40 percent of the country's adult population.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a large-scale voluntary vaccination programme against Covid-19 to begin next week across Russia, saying teachers and doctors should be first in line to get the country’s flagship Sputnik V vaccine.

The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) is going to start antigen-based rapid testing for coronavirus at nine district hospitals and one medical college from Saturday onwards.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved in principle a proposal of the Health Services Division to procure Covid-19 vaccine directly from any organisation through negotiations without following any bidding process.

Thirty-eight people have died from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

Britain today became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use and said that it will be rolled out from early next week.

Indian health officials have said there was never any talk of vaccinating the country’s entire 1.3 billion population with Covid-19 vaccine and indicated that the purpose is to break the chain of virus transmission by inoculating a “critical mass of people.”

Healthcare workers and others recommended for the first Covid-19 inoculations could start getting shots within 24 hours after the vaccine receives regulatory authorization, the chief adviser for the US government’s Operation Warp Speed program said today.

Major Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) today said they have begun adaptive phase 2/3 clinical trials for the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in India.

The Globe Biotech Ltd cancels the contract with the icddr,b to conduct clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine Bancovid.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech have applied to the European drugs regulator for conditional authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine, following similar steps in the United States and Britain, the companies said on Tuesday.

Thirty-one people have died from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to a press release issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) today.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), which is the manufacturing partner of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, today said its vaccine candidate for the virus is “safe and immunogenic”.

Canada's federal government will spend C$100bn ($77bn, £58bn) to kick-start the country's post-pandemic economy.

Moderna Inc said it will apply for U.S. and European emergency authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine on Monday based on full results from a late-stage study showing its vaccine was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns.

The government will initially provide three crore free doses of Covid-19 vaccine to citizens of the country, selecting the recipients following the protocol of the World Health Organization (WHO).