Amid global fears over the new mutant strains of coronavirus, detected in the United Kingdom and South Africa, India recorded 21,822 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, 6 per cent higher than yesterday. 

India's tally has surged to 1,02,66,674; 1.48 lakh deaths linked to the disease have been recorded so far. A consortium of 10 government labs has started genome sequencing of new Sars-CoV-2 variant believed to be significantly more infectious.

Applications for the emergency use approval for the coronavirus vaccines filed by the Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Pfizer were taken up for consideration by a government-appointed panel of experts on Wednesday.

Serum Institute which is making the vaccine 'Covishield' developed by Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech which has partnered the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for its 'Covaxin' made presentations before the panel. Pfizer has sought more time to present their data.

The analysis of the data is ongoing and the panel will meet again on Friday, a government statement said.

Once the vaccines are cleared by the expert panel, the applications will move to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for final approval. The government wants to start administering the shots starting next month.

Source: NDTV

BDST: 1200 HRS, DEC 31, 2020
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