August 16, 2020: Given the daily increase of nearly 1,000 deaths, India is edging towards the grim 50,000-mark in the total number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus so far.

On Sunday, the country recorded 63,489 new cases and 944 deaths taking the tally to 25,89,682 cases including 49,980 deaths and over 18 lakh recoveries.

Mizoram is currently the only state in India with less than 1,000 cases of the novel coronavirus apart from Lakshadweep, which continues to be Coronavirus-free, with no cases having been detected on the islands so far.

During his seventh consecutive Independence Day speech delivered at the Red Fort Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that three probable Covid-19 vaccines are currently being developed in India and large-scale production will begin as soon as scientists give a green signal. The Prime Minister paid tribute to all the frontline workers involved in India’s fight against the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Russia has announced that the country has already produced the first batch of its controversial Covid-19 vaccine despite criticism over the haste in delivering the vaccine. The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, will be rolled out by the end of this month.

Globally, nearly 21 million people have been infected with the virus and 7,60,213 have died. The United States (53,35,398) is the worst-affected country followed by Brazil (32,75,520) and India.