India has reported 41,322 fresh COVID-19 cases till today, 4% lower than on Friday, taking its overall number to 93.51 lakh cases and 1,36,200 deaths, Union Health Ministry data shows.

These numbers come even as a vaccine to fight back the virus seemed tantalisingly close. The states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala were the most affected ones, with deaths ranging from 23 to 85 in the past 24 hours.

Here are the top-5 developments on this front from the past 24 hours:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit India’s top vaccine hubs today to review the COVID-19 vaccine development and manufacturing process. He began with Zydus Cadila’s plant near Ahmedabad in the morning. From there, he is expected to move to Pune’s Serum Institute of India, which has partnered with global pharma giant AstraZeneca and the Oxford University for a vaccine. His next stop will be Bharat BioTech, Hyderabad, which is working on Covaxin, pitched as India’s first indigenous vaccine candidate.
• Brazil on Friday reported 514 more deaths from COVID-19, raising its total death numbers to 171,974. Its accumulated caseload is now at 6,238,350. The country has the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death figure after the US and the third-largest caseload after the US and India.
• The rate of new infections slowed in France on Friday, the day before shops have been allowed to resume selling non-essential goods. The number of daily new infections fell to 12,459, compared to 13,563 on Thursday and 22,882 last Friday.
• Ten COVID-19 vaccines could be available by the middle of next year if they win regulatory approval, but their inventors need patent protection, the head of the global pharmaceutical industry group said on Friday.
• Bihar’s COVID-19 tally rose to 2,33,839 after 698 new cases were reported till Friday, while five fresh fatalities took the death count to 1,248.

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Also Read : 43,082 NEW COVID-19 INFECTIONS PUSH INDIA’S TALLY OVER 93 LAKH