Over 40 Covid-19 vaccines under development: ICMR

Manoj Murhekar of ICMR said that there are more than 40 candidate vaccines under development. But none of them has reached the next stage. India is also making efforts to develop a vaccine. But as of now, there is no vaccine.

New Delhi:The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said, here on Sunday, more than 40 vaccines were under development but none had reached the next stage.

Speaking to the media, Manoj Murhekar of the ICMR said, "There are more than 40 candidate vaccines under development. But none of them has reached the next stage. India is also making efforts to develop a vaccine. But as of now, there is no vaccine."

He said there were 219 -- 151 government and 68 private -- Covid-19 testing facilities in the country.

"Till 2.30 p.m. Sunday, 1,86,906 samples were tested. Of them, 7,953 (4.3 per cent), tested positive. In the last five days, 15,747 samples per day were being tested. Of this, 584 samples were coming positive per day," Murhekar said.

On Sunday, the total coronavirus cases in India was 8,446. While 764 people have been cured/discharged, 273 people died and 1 person migrated, as per the Health Ministry data.

(IANS REPORT)