On Sunday, India surpassed 3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, after reporting 69,239 new infections in 24 hours, according to the ministry.
Indian Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan said that one of the country's Covid-19 vaccine candidates was in its third phase of clinical trial. "We are very confident that a vaccine will be developed by the end of this year," the minister said on Saturday.
"I am happy to say that in the eighth month of the battle, India has the best recovery rate of around 75%. A total of 2.2 million patients have recovered and gone home and another 700,000 are going to be cured very soon.”
In India, patients with mild and moderate symptoms are considered no longer active after 10 days of symptom onset if they meet certain conditions. A test to confirm that they no longer have the virus is not required. Severe cases can only be discharged after one negative coronavirus test.