India now second most affected country

India passed Brazil Sunday as the second most affected country by total infections, according to www.worldometers.info tally, report agencies.

The country is now behind only the United States, which has 6.4 million cases and nearly 193,000 deaths.

India is followed by Brazil with 4,123,000 cases and 70,626 deaths.

The global total death toll from Covid-19 reached 884,620 on Sunday , according to Worldometers tally.

The data shows a total of 27,116,513 people have so far been diagnosed with the virus in 213 countries till date.

India added more than 90,000 cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, a global daily record, according to data from the federal health ministry.

There were 90,632 new cases in the 24 hours to Sunday, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, while the number of deaths rose by 1,065 to 70,626.

Coronavirus cases in India have reached 4.13 million and about 3.2 million affected people have been treated so far, the government data showed.

Medical experts said the country was seeing a second wave of the pandemic in some parts of the country, and that case numbers have surged because of increased testing and the easing of restrictions on public movement.

The government will partially restore metro train services in the national capital of New Delhi from Monday.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has said it will not recommend any coronavirus vaccine unless it has been proven to be effective and safe, even as Russia and China have started using their experimental vaccines before large-scale trials were conducted.

The UN health agency also welcomed the fact that a "considerable number" of vaccine candidates have reached the final stage trials. "In terms of realistic timelines, we are really not expecting to see widespread vaccination until the middle of next year," said WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris.

Another report adds: Russian scientists have published the first report on their coronavirus vaccine, saying early tests showed signs of an immune response.

The report published by medical journal The Lancet said every participant developed antibodies to fight the virus and had no serious side effects.

Russia licensed the vaccine for local use in August, the first country to do so and before data had been published. Experts say the trials were too small to prove effectiveness and safety.

But Moscow has hailed the results as an answer to critics. Some Western experts have raised concerns about the speed of Russia's work, suggesting that researchers might be cutting corners.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin said the vaccine had passed all the required checks and that one of his own daughters had been given it.

Two trials of the vaccine, named Sputnik-V, were conducted between June and July, The Lancet paper said. Each involved 38 healthy volunteers who were given a dose of the vaccine and then a booster vaccine three weeks later.

The participants - aged between 18 and 60 - were monitored for 42 days and all of them developed antibodies within three weeks. Among the most common side effects were headaches and joint pain.

The trials were open label and not randomised, meaning there was no placebo and the volunteers were aware they were receiving the vaccine.