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Good news on COVID front! India records lowest spike in months; Minister says expect vaccine early next year

New Delhi, 13-Oct-2020

On a day when India reported its lowest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in nearly two months, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan raised hopes of a coronavirus vaccine arriving early next year. Speaking during a meeting of a Group of Ministers, Vardhan said the government was expecting a vaccine to treat COVID-19 early next year and that too from more than one pharmaceutical firm. The government machinery is currently working on making the vaccine reach the people in an effective manner, he added. �We're expecting that early next year we should have vaccine in the country from maybe more than one source. Our expert groups are formulating strategies to plan on how to roll out the distribution of the vaccine in the country,� the minister said during the GoM meeting. His remarks came as India registered a single-day rise of 55,342 coronavirus infections, one of the lowest 24-hour surge in months. The government data at 8 am today showed 706 people succumbed to COVID-19 over the last 24 hours. India�s COVID-19 caseload as of Tuesday stands at 71,75,880, with death toll at 1,09,856. Active coronavirus cases in the country are now at 8,38,729, with 62,27,295 recoveries so far, the health ministry data showed. Meanwhile, as India�s health minister raised hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine, a late-stage study of COVID-19 vaccine being conducted by Johnson & Johnson had to be paused as a participant developed an �unexplained illness�. The company said in a statement yesterday that illnesses, accidents and other so-called adverse events �are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies�.