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India logs over 2.5 lakh Covid cases, 627 fatalities

India logs over 2.5 lakh Covid cases, 627 fatalities
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New Delhi: With 2,51,209 people testing positive for the Coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of cases increased to over 4.06 crore, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,92,327 with 627 fatalities reported during the 24-hour period, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases decreased by 96,861 to reach 21,05,611 — 5.18 per cent of the total infections — while the country's recovery rate stands at 93.60 per cent, the ministry said.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 15.88 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate was 17.47 per cent, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,80,24,771, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent, the ministry said

After the Friday update, the total number of infections stands at 4,06,22,709, it said.

Meanwhile, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 164.96 crore with more than 48 lakh vaccine doses being administered on Friday.

Cumulatively, 53,86,46,325 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to individuals in the 18-44 age group across states and union territories and 39,93,83,859 second doses have been given in the same age group since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive, according to ministry data.

Earlier on Friday, India's drug regulator gave permission to Bharat Biotech to conduct phase-3 clinical trial for its intranasal Covid vaccine as booster dose on participants who have been previously inoculated with SARS-CoV 2 vaccines. India is yet to approve the use of intranasal COVID-19 vaccine BBV154 developed by the Hyderabad-based company.

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on January 27 gave the nod to Bharat Biotech to conduct phase-3 randomised multi-centric clinical study to evaluate immunogenicity and safety of its intranasal vaccine as booster dose on participants who have been previously vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines approved under new drugs under New Drugs & Clinical Trials Rules, 2019.

According to official sources, the trial would be conducted at five sites, including AIIMS Delhi.

In December, Bharat Biotech had sought permission from DCGI to conduct phase-3 study for its intranasal COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose to participants previously vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Separately, the DCGI on Thursday also gave permission to the firm to conduct phase-3 clinical trial to compare the immunogenicity and safety of BBV-154 (intranasal) with Covaxin. This trial has been permitted to be conducted at 9 sites. In August, the nasal vaccine had received the regulator's nod for conducting phase 2 clinical trials.

BBV154 is an intranasal replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus SARS-CoV-2 vectored vaccine.

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