Coronavirus pandemic continues wreaking havoc worldwide. According to worldometer.com, 182,629,207 cases have been reported so far. Of these, 167,239,548 people have recovered, while 3,954,936 people have died.
Brazil will suspend a $324 million vaccine contract with Bharat Biotech that has mired President Jair Bolsonaro in accusations of irregularities, according to the health minister. The deal to buy 20 million doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin shot has become a headache for PM after whistleblowers went public with concerns over irregularities.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said, "According to the preliminary analysis of the CGU, there are no irregularities in the contract but, for compliance, the Health Ministry chose to suspend the contract for a more in-depth analysis."
Pharmaceutical giant Cipla has sought Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) approval for importing Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in India. According to the sources, the company has submitted an application on Monday seeking approval to import the vaccine, while DCGI may give approval on Tuesday itself.
According to the data, so far 120 million people in America given Pfizer or Moderna shot so far with no major safety issue identified. Let us tell you that Moderna's vaccine that has fragments of the genetic material known as messenger RNA. The results of clinical trials conducted regarding this vaccine show that this vaccine is more than 90 percent effective against cases with symptoms of coronavirus infection.
India has been witnessing a gradual decrease in daily coronavirus cases. According to the latest data from the Union Health Ministry, India reported 45,951 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. It takes the cumulative count of the cases to 3,03,62,848. With 817 deaths in the last 24 hours, the death toll has increased to 3,98,454.
The country also witnessed 60,729 recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative recoveries to 2,94,27,330. With this, the country's recovery rate has increased to 96.92%. On the other hand, India's mortality rate stands at 1.31%.
