Coronavirus India News Live Updates: The phase-III human clinical trial of the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University, and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), began at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital in Maharashtra on Monday. “We have started the phase-III trials of the vaccine (candidate Covishield). We will administer a dose to 150 to 200 volunteers,” PTI quoted Dr Muralidhar Tambe, Dean, Sassoon General Hospital, as saying.

With 86,961 new cases, the infection tally in India gas risen to 54.87 lakh. As many as 1130 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours pushing the toll in the country to 86,961. Of the 54,87,581 infections in the country, 10,03,299 are active cases, while 43,96,399 patients have already been cured.

Globally, over 30.8 million have been infected, of which, nearly 21 million have recovered so far. At least 958,400 people have succumbed to the virus so far. While casualties in the US approached 200,000, China has found coronavirus particles on the packaging of frozen squid tentacles from Russia. Britain is at a “critical point” in the coronavirus pandemic and data on cases are heading in the “wrong direction,” Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty is expected to warn on Monday, as concern mounts that a second lockdown may be needed.