In a huge boost to India's indigenous vaccine plan, Bharat Biotech has been given clearance for phase three trials in India. Covaxin's third phase trials will start in the first week of November.

Under the Phase 3 trial, the vaccine will be administered to 22 thousand people across 19 places. The government aims to vaccinate 20 to 25 crore people between January and July next year.

The government has also sought a list of all those who will be given the vaccine. Initially, the vaccine will be given on a priority basis. It is to be noted that India manufacturers around 60% of vaccine supply worldwide.

The focused efforts of Centre and State/UT governments on effective clinical management of the hospitalized cases have ensured that India’s Fatality Rate has touched 1.5%. Less than 500 deaths (480) have been reported in the last 24 hours in the country. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. The Case Fatality rate is lowest since 22nd March and is continuously declining. 2218 Dedicated COVID Hospitals are providing quality medical care. At the ground level, frontline health workers like ASHAs and ANMs have done a commendable job of managing the migrant population and to enhance awareness at the community level.

As a result, there are 14 States and UTs with CFR lower than 1%.59,105 new recoveries were added in the last 24 hour whereas new recovered cases were 45,148. With this, the total number of recoveries have crossed 71 Lakh (71,37,228). A higher number of single-day recoveries is also reflected in the continuous increase in the national recovery rate, which is at present 90.23%. India continues to report a trend of steadily decreasing active cases.

Presently the active cases comprise merely 8.26% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 6,53,717. This is the lowest since 13th August when the active cases were 6,53,622. 78% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/UTs. Karnataka has contributed the maximum to the single-day recoveries with more than 10,000 cases followed by Kerala with more than 7,000 cases. 45,148 new confirmed cases were registered in the last 24 hours in the country.

This is the lowest since 22nd July when 37,000 new cases were added. 82% of new confirmed cases are from 10 States and UTs. Kerala and Maharashtra contribute maximum to the new confirmed cases with more than 6,000 cases each followed by Karnataka, Delhi and West Bengal with more than 4,000 cases. 480 case fatalities have been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, nearly 80% are concentrated in ten States/UTs. More than 23% of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra (112 deaths).