India witnessed a slight improvement in its COVID-19 numbers in the past 24 hours, with both the number of positive cases as well as deaths declining a little.

India’s COVID-19 caseload touched 7,761,312 with 54,366 new infections being reported in a day.Over 1.1 lakh people have succumbed to COVID-19 across the country since the outbreak in January.The government on October 22 said that it had earmarked ₹ 50,000 crores to vaccinate the entire population once a vaccine is available.The number of coronavirus infections reported in the last 24 hours remained below 60,000 for the fifth consecutive day on October 23 as India’s caseload surged past the 77 lakh mark, while the total number of recoveries have crossed 69 lakh.The active cases of coronavirus infection remained below seven lakh for the first time in months.According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 10,01,13,085 samples have been tested up to October 21, of which 14,42,722 were tested on October 22.Meanwhile, India has crossed the 10 crore-mark in conducting tests for COVID-19 as on Thursday with average testing of over 10 lakh samples per day in the last 17 days.India’s COVID-19 tally had surpassed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have reported the highest number of Coronavirus cases. However, infections are rising quickly in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI’s) Expert Committee has recommended granting permission to conduct Phase III clinical trials for Bharat Biotech’s Coronavirus vaccine ‘Covaxin’.

Globally, there have been over 4.15 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 11.35 lakh people have died due to the deadly virus so far.

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