India reported a record daily rise of 95,735 coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking its total to 4.4 million cases, according to the country's health ministry figures. The ministry also reported 1,172 deaths in the past 24 hours, accounting for the highest single-day mortality figures in more than a month, pushing the total number of confirmed virus-related fatalities in the country to 75,062. Infections are growing faster in India than anywhere else in the world and the United States is the only nation worse affected. The health ministry says the surge in new infections is due to ramping of daily testing, with more than 1 million tests now being run each day. India's recovery rate from the illness is now 77.7 percent. Experts caution that India's outbreak is entering a more dangerous phase as the virus spreads to smaller towns and villages. The Indian capital saw a record surge of 4,618 new cases in the past 24 hours with 19 deaths. New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, and Chennai are the worst-hit cities in the country. Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India maintained that the temporary halt to late-stage studies of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine candidate would not impact the timeline for vaccine trials in India. The studies in multiple countries were halted because of "potentially unexplained" illness in a British recipient. Indian authorities said they would review the illness report and assess the information from the initial human clinical trials in India. Serum, the world's largest maker of vaccines by volume, is mass-producing the vaccine for low and middle-income countries. — Agencies
