India has crossed 20 crore cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage, making it only the second country to achieve the feat after the US, news agency PTI quoted the Union health ministry as saying on Wednesday. India achieved this in 130 days as against the US' feat in 124 days, said the ministry.
According to the ministry's morning data, new cases of coronavirus infection in India were recorded over 2.08 lakh, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,71,57,795.
The COVID-19 active caseload is 24,95,591 which now comprises 9.19 per cent of the total infections.
The recovery rate is 89.66 per cent, the data stated.
A total of 2,40,842 new infections were registered in a day, while the death count increased to 3,11,388 with 4,157 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Meanwhile, Moderna is expecting to launch a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in India next year and is in talks with Cipla among other Indian firms, while another US giant Pfizer is ready to offer 5 crore shots in 2021 itself but it wants significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification, sources said on Tuesday.
While Moderna has conveyed to Indian authorities that it does not have surplus vaccines to share in 2021, there are limited prospects of Johnson & Johnson exporting its jabs from the US to other countries in the near future, the sources privy to discussions added.
