India tests potential vaccine, records nearly 49,000 new coronavirus cases

Customers wearing handmade facemasks studded with diamonds take selfie pictures at D Khushalbhai Jewellers showroom in Surat, some 270 km from Ahmedabad on July 25, 2020. (AFP)

A dog sleeps in one of the roadside stalls shut due to a lack of business as exile Tibetan Buddhist monks walk by in Dharmsala, India, Saturday, July 25, 2020. (AP)

Police personnel detain a man as he violated a lockdown imposed until July 29 as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Siliguri on July 25, 2020. (AFP)

• The additional infections reported Saturday raised India’s total to more than 1.3 million
• India has tallied 31,358 deaths, including 757 in the last 24 hours

NEW DELHI: India began its first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine candidate as the world’s second-most populous country recorded nearly 49,000 new cases.
The additional infections reported Saturday raised India’s total to more than 1.3 million, with surges seen in a quarter of the country’s 36 states and union territories.
India has tallied 31,358 deaths, including 757 in the last 24 hours. It has reported a much lower death rate than the world’s two other worst-hit countries, the United States and Brazil. Johns Hopkins University showed that the US has more than 4.1 million cases, while Brazil has a caseload of nearly 2.3 million.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, a premier teaching hospital in New Delhi, said it administered the first dose of a trial coronavirus vaccine on Friday.
The candidate vaccine, Covaxin, is among nearly two dozen that are in human trials around the world. AIIMS is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research for conducting the two-phase randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of Covaxin.
Countries are making giant bets on various vaccine candidates, entering into purchasing agreements with pharmaceutical companies for delivery if and when regulators deem the doses safe and effective.