After reports claimed that filings in patent offices in India, the US, and Europe did not mention ICMR or its scientists, but only BBIL and its scientists, the Hyderabad-based biotechnology (biotech) company clarified that in the "rush" to develop vaccines and file appropriate patents, BBIL had missed adding ICMR's name in the original filings.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,11,80,751.
An increase of 2,095 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
At present only government labs are permitted to do the test and the Centre is making arrangements to nearly double its capacity to test for the respiratory ailment. According to Health Ministry officials, around 60 accredited private laboratories are likely to be given permission to conduct the tests soon.
India is the seventh worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the number of infections, after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. While the recovery rate in coronavirus infections is improving and has reached 48.19 per cent in India, there has been steady decline in the case fatality which is now 2.83 per cent, the health ministry said.
According to the latest data available from the Centre and the states in the night, the total number of Omicron cases in the country was around 1,200.
India's apex drug regulator has granted permission for conducting the phase II/III clinical trial of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine in the age group of 2 to 18 years, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.
'Parents, students and coaching institutes will find alternatives to cater to the demand.'
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,04,62,631 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.08 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent.
Those requiring to travel to India due to compelling reasons, may seek fresh visa from nearest Indian embassy/consulate, said the advisory.
As many as 29,557 COVID-19 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours.
