India coronavirus: 64,531 infected in a single day

The total number of Covid-19 infections in India edged forward to 27,67,273 today with 64,531 new cases in a single day, according to the nation's health ministry.

The death toll climbed to 52,889 with 1,092 people succumbing to the disease during this time, reports our New Delhi correspondent. The case fatality rate declined to 1.91 percent.

There are 6,76,514 active cases of the infection in the country which is 24.45 percent of the total caseload; the number of recoveries has surged to 20,37,870. The recovery rate reached 73.64 percent, according to the data.

Speaking about Covid-19 vaccines, VK Paul, a member of Indian government's policy think-tank, yesterday said that while one vaccine was in phase-3 of the trial, the other two are also "progressing well" and are in phases 1 and 2 of clinical trials.

"We have reviewed all these vaccine candidates. These are progressing well and their developments are taking place in a reassuring manner," our correspondent reports, quoting Paul.

Paul said the government has held discussions with the vaccine manufacturers on the facilitations they are expecting.

In reply to a media query, he said, "We requested the vaccine manufacturers to indicate what the possible prices could be."

"Pricing is very complex as some of these vaccines are at an early stage. We have some insight into what the price range could be but this is an information that will be refined as we move along," Paul said.

He said vaccine manufacturers have been requested to provide more clear-cut data on their individual production capacities and how their capacities would pan out with time, encouraging them very actively to ramp up capacity with facilitations.

"India has huge potential and capacity in vaccine manufacturing," he added.