New Delhi, January 26: India logged 2,85,914 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,00,85,116, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The death toll has climbed to 4,91,127 with 665 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases have decreased to 22,23,018 and comprise 5.55 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.23 per cent, the ministry said.
A reduction of 13,824 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.
Each dose of Covishield, Covaxin likely to be capped at Rs 275 after getting regular market approval
The price of Covishield and Covaxin, the Covid vaccines which are expected to soon get regular market approval from India’s drug regulator, is likely to be capped at Rs 275 per dose plus an additional service charge of Rs 150, official sources said.
According to them, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has been directed to start working towards capping the price to make the vaccines affordable.
As of now, Covaxin is priced at Rs 1,200 per dose while Covishield costs Rs 780 in private facilities. The prices include Rs 150 service charge. Both the vaccines are only authorised for emergency use in the country.
An Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on January 19 recommended granting regular market approval to Covid vaccines Covishield and Covaxin for use in the adult population subject to certain conditions.
“The NPPA has been asked to work towards capping the price of the vaccines. The price is likely to be capped at Rs 275 per dose along with an additional service charge of Rs 150,” an official source said.
Prakash Kumar Singh, the director (government and regulatory affairs) at Serum Institue of India, had submitted an application to the Drugs Controller General of India on October 25 seeking regular market approval for its Covishiled vaccine.
A couple of weeks ago, V Krishna Mohan, the whole-time director at Bharat Biotech, submitted complete information on the chemistry, manufacturing and controls, along with the pre-clinical and clinical data while seeking regular market authorisation for Covaxin.
Covaxin and Covishield were granted Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) on January 3 last year. (PTI)
