Covaxin has been administered to roughly 25 million people till date in India and elsewhere.
New Delhi:
India’s Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, effectively neutralises both Alpha and Delta variants of coronavirus, the US’ National Institute of Health has said.
The NIH said results of two studies of blood serum from people who had received Covaxin suggest that the vaccine generates antibodies that effectively neutralise the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) and B.1.617 (Delta) variants of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in the UK and India, respectively.
The top American health research institute, which has a history of strong scientific collaboration with India, also said that an adjuvant developed with funding from it has contributed to the success of the highly efficacious Covaxin, which has been administered to roughly 25 million people till date in India and elsewhere.
The single-day rise in fresh cases was recorded below 40,000 after 102 days, bringing India’s COVID-19 infection tally to 3,03,16,897, while the daily fatalities remained below 1,000 for the second consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
India saw 37,566 new cases being reported in a day, while the COVID-19 death count rose to 3,97,637 with 907 daily fatalities, the lowest in 77 days.
According to the data published at 7 am, 32.90 crore cumulative vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
The number of active cases has further declined to 5,52,659, comprising 1.82 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.87 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
A net decline of 20,335 cases has been recorded in the virus count in a span of 24 hours.
