The centre wants 300 to 400 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine being developed by the Oxford University and pharma company AstraZeneca by July, Serum Institute's Adar Poonawalla, said on Saturday. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to a company facility today to review the vaccine's development, Mr Poonawalla said "we are amazed with what he already knew".
India has reported 41,322 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, 4% lower than on Friday, taking its overall number to 93.51 lakh cases and 1,36,200 deaths, Union Health Ministry data shows. These numbers come even as a vaccine to fight back the virus seemed tantalisingly close. The states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala were the most affected ones, with deaths ranging from 23 to 85 in the past 24 hours.
PM Modi began his three-city vaccine tour with a visit to pharma major Zydus Cadila's plant near Ahmedabad. He then visited Pune where Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University for a COVID-19 vaccine, is based.
On November 24, Prime Minister while speaking with chief ministers of various states over the deteriorating pandemic situation in their states at a virtual meeting advised the states to establish cold storage facilities for COVID-19 vaccine beforehand and suggested them to prepare and send a plan for its distribution to the Central government. Delhi registered 5,482 fresh COVID-19 cases in a day, while 98 more fatalities linked to the disease pushed the city's death count to 8,909 on Friday, authorities said.
