India on Tuesday recorded 60,471 new infections, which was lowest daily cases registered in 75 days.
The daily cases in the country has remained below 1-lakh mark for the eighth consecutive days. 1,17,525 people were discharged while 2,726 new deaths were reported, the data from the health ministry showed.
Kerala sees 149 percent rise in weekly deaths during lockdown, but the cases dropped by 59 percent during the same time. Kerala had reduced testing by 22 percent last week, compared to the week ending May 12. Experts had pointed out to the correlation between decreased testing and increased mortality.
Meanwhile, the country is likely to proceed with the rollout of Novavax soon with Serum Institute as manufacturing partner on the basis of strong interim data.
Overall, the efficacy of the vaccine was 90.4 per cent — that is, it showed the ability to bring down symptomatic Covid-19 cases by more than 90 per cent compared with those who had not received a vaccine.
After Novavax got authorisation in the US after proving 90.4 percent efficacy might see India as the manufacturing destination as the vaccine has manufacturing agreement with Serum Institute of India.
The Novavax trials conducted in US and Mexico delivered results equal to Pfizer and Moderna vaccine and better than Johnson and Johnson. The company has applied for approvals in UK, EU, Korea and India.
Government sources said that India may proceed on the basis of the strong interim data. As per estimates, 20 crore Novavax shots (five crore a month) can be available during September-December and the number may rise.
