Covid updates: Russia's 'Sputnik V', India's tally nears 2.6 mn and more

India reported 63,490 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 25,89,682, according to the Health Ministry. Nearly 50k people have died in the country from Covid-19 so far, with 944 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries rose to 18,62,258 pushing the recovery rate to 71.91 per cent on Sunday.
 

With case fatality rate falling sharply below 2%, India has one of the lowest Covid-19 mortality globally. USA crossed 50,000 deaths in 23 days, Brazil in 95 days and Mexico in 141 days. India took 156 days. Mortality rates are low in India because of aggressive testing and early detection coupled with quick isolation and effective treatment protocol, said Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, Russia has begun production of the first batch of vaccines against COVID-19, its health ministry said in a statement released on Saturday. Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced the world's first registered vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Sputnik V, which is named after the space satellite launched by Moscow in 1957.

China’s economy, the first to succumb to the coronavirus, is proving to be the fastest to recover. An industry-powered rebound is pushing the Asian nation out of the historic first-quarter slump and toward the prospect of being the only major economy to expand this year.

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