An expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Wednesday sought additional safety and efficacy data for COVID-19 vaccine candidates of Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, after deliberating upon their applications seeking emergency use authorisation for the shots, official sources said.
India saw a single-day rise of 12,885 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's infection tally to 3,43,21,025, while the count of active cases has declined to 1,48,579, the lowest in 253 days, according to Union Health Ministry data on Thursday.
In a statement Bharat Biotech clarified that the vaccine's efficacy can only be determined 14 days after the second dose.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 26 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 129 consecutive days now.
With the fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,42,96,237.
Groundbreaking HIV researcher Dr Suniti Solomon, the first to bring to the world the prevalence of the infection in India in 1986 and one who successfully led research into the treatment of the deadly virus, passed away at her residence in Chennai on Tuesday.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 36 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 125 consecutive days now.
