India has recorded 92,071 new cases of the coronavirus, taking total cases to 4.85 million, the federal health ministry said on Monday, report agencies.
India said on Sunday it was considering granting an emergency authorization for a Covid-19 vaccine, particularly for the elderly and people in high-risk workplaces.
India, which has consistently reported over 1,000 Covid-19 deaths daily this month, has now recorded 79,754 fatalities from the disease. It lags only the United States globally in overall number of infections, but it has been adding more daily cases than the United States since mid-August.
"India is considering emergency authorization of a Covid-19 vaccination," said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. "If there is a consensus we may go ahead with it, especially in the case of senior citizens and people working in high-risk settings."
Vardhan said the timeline on Phase III trials could be shortened by giving emergency authorization, but stressed no corners would be cut in clinical trials and that a vaccine would only be made available when the government could ensure its safety and efficacy.
He said no date has been set for a vaccine launch, but added results of trials should be clear by the first quarter of 2021.
Deaths in India have been relatively low so far compared with the number of infections, but are seeing an uptick.
The global coronavirus death count soared to 929,538 on Monday, according to Worldometers tally.
Data showed the globally confirmed cases standing at 29.26 million.
Global coronavirus cases marked a record one-day increase on Sunday, with many countries facing a second wave of infections, while a pandemic preparedness panel slammed the collective failure of political leaders to heed warnings and prepare for a crisis.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the United States surpassed 6.5 million on Monday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
The US case count rose to 6,520,234, with the national death toll reaching 194,081 as of Monday, reports Xinhua.
The hardest-hit US state of California reported 759,437 cases. Texas and Florida both recorded more than 660,000 cases, followed by New York with 444,365 cases, the JHU tally showed.
Another report adds: UK researchers are to begin trials of inhaled coronavirus vaccines.
Delivering doses directly to the lungs might give a better immune response than conventional jabs, they say.
The Imperial College London team will use two frontrunners already in development - the Oxford one recently paused in trials and one from Imperial that entered human testing in June.
There are nearly 180 candidates being explored globally - but none has yet reached the end goal.
About 30 healthy volunteers will be given the vaccines as a mist or aerosol - in the same way asthma drugs are delivered with a nebuliser machine and a mask or mouthpiece.
The seasonal flu jab can also be given as a nasal spray rather than an injection.
Lead researcher Dr Chris Chiu said: "The current pandemic is caused by a respiratory virus which primarily infects people through the cells lining the nose, throat and lungs.
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