Coronavirus Latest News LIVE Updates: With 39,109 new recoveries, the number of overall recovered COVID-19 patients stand at 91,39,901, pushing the recovery rate to 94.37 per cent today. New Delhi: Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm that has been developing coronavirus vaccine Covaxin, today said that it had applied to the central drug regulator seeking emergency use authorisation. It is the third firm after Serum Institute of India and American pharma giant Pfizer to apply for emergency use approval. Covaxin is being indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and is currently in Phase 3 trials. The trials are on at 18 sites across the country with over 22,000 volunteers. India recorded 32,981 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active coronavirus cases in the country to 3,96,729, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. With 39,109 new recoveries, the number of overall recovered COVID-19 patients stand at 91,39,901, pushing the recovery rate to 94.45 per cent today. The overall COVID-19 cases reached 96,77,203, including 3,96,729 active cases and 91,39,901 recoveries. With 391 new deaths, the casualties mounted to 1,40,573. UP Sees 1,515 Fresh COVID-19 Cases, 20 DeathsWith 1,515 fresh cases, the total number of those infected by coronavirus went up to 5,56,397 in Uttar Pradesh, while the death count rose to 7,944 following 20 more deaths on Monday.The total number of active cases stood at 21,732, of which, 10,241 are in home isolation and 2,122 in private hospitals, Additional Chief Secretar (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.Till now, 5,26,721 people have recovered and discharged from hospitals, he said, adding that 1,861 people were discharged in the past 24 hours.The recovery rate of the state stands at 94.67 per cent, the official said.According to a health department bulletin, 248 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported from Lucknow, 176 from Meerut and 155 in Ghaziabad among others.Two deaths each have been reported from Kanpur Nagar, Varanasi, Fatehpur and one each from Lucknow , Prayagraj, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar, Hardoi, Etawah, Gonda, Ghazipur, Farrukhabad, Unnao, Mainpuri, Kanpur Dehat and Kasganj, it said.Over 1.44 lakh tests were done in the state on Sunday taking the total number of tests conducted so far to over 2.04 crore, Mr Prasad added. Pune District COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force Holds First Meeting.A task force set up for planning the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in Pune district of Maharashtra held its first meeting here on Monday, an official said.District collector Rajesh Deshmukh said thetask force will ensure that the SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) laid down by the government for storage and distribution of vaccine are followed."As part of preparedness, the work for collating data of frontline workers, who will be administered vaccine on priority, is going on," he said.The collector said training employees in various aspects of the vaccination programme like logistical support, transport, cold chain maintenance etc. will be planned stage-wise.Block-leveltask force will also be established for better coordination, he added.Earlier in the day, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) said it has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use authorisation for AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
