India overtook Brazil on Monday to become the second-worst hit country in terms of COVID-19 infections, bearing the brunt of a new wave fanned by crowded election rallies, religious festivals and cavalier attitudes.
India reported a new record in daily coronavirus infections, logging over 1.68 lakh cases. At 1.35 crore COVID-19 cases so far, the country crossed Brazil's 1.34 crore tally but remains behind America's 3.12 crore.
The total number of deaths because of COVID-19 crossed 1.7 lakh and active cases hit a new high of 12 lakh.
Meanwhile, Russia's Covid vaccine Sputnik-V has been cleared for emergency use approval in India by a committee of experts in the middle of a record spike in virus cases in the country. If approved by regulator DGCI, this will become the third vaccine to be used in India after Serum Institute of India's Covishield - developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca - and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
Sputnik-V, manufactured in India by Dr Reddy's, has the highest effectiveness - 91.6 per cent -- after the Moderna and Pfizer shots.
