Here are the top-10 developments on this front from the past 24 hours:
Maharashtra remained the top affected state in the country with 17,63,055 total cases, up 5,535 since Thursday. The state recorded 154 deaths in the past 24 hours. Other states in the top-5 list include Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.
Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Thursday said the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine should be available for healthcare workers and elderly people by around February 2021 and by April for the general public, and will be priced at a maximum of ₹ 1,000 for two necessary doses for the public.
Total fatalities in Delhi has crossed 8,000-mark with 98 news deaths recorded on Thursday and 7,546 new cases being reported, taking the total active cases to 43,221. The death rate in the city stands at 1.57% while the recovery rate is 89.9%.
Following some harsh words from the Delhi High Court on Thursday, the Delhi government is gearing up to fight COVID more intensively, starting with the launch of a house-to-house survey from Friday. It has also jacked up fine amounts considerably for not wearing masks in public.
The Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the state government to conduct 50,000 coronavirus tests every day and if need be increase the number to 1 lakh in the wake of second wave of the pandemic sweeping the national capital. Andhra Pradesh on Thursday reported 1,316 new cases, taking its total to 8,58,711.
Meghalaya reported 109 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, pushing the states total numbers to 10,979. Its death count rose to 104 after one more patient succumbed to the virus on Thursday.
The WHO has said the anti-viral drug remdesivir should not be used to treat COVID-19 patients no matter how severe their illness as it has "no important effect" on survival chances. This scratches one of the few treatments that had shown some initial promise in severe patients.
An emergency use authorisation request for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was to be filed on Friday. Such authorisation is temporary or conditional and is granted in response to an emergency situation such as a pandemic.
Europe's second coronavirus wave may be starting to ease, a top WHO official said Thursday, as cases drop slightly even though over the past week someone on the continent died every 17 seconds from the virus.
US President-elect Joe Biden said on Thursday that he would not order a nationwide shutdown to fight the Covid-19 pandemic despite a surge in cases. States and cities have been imposing their own restrictions.
