Covid-19 update: India's active cases dip below 4 lakh

India has recorded 26,567 new cases of covid-19 in last 24-hour, pushing the overall caseload past 97 lakh. according to Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The overall COVID-19 cases stand at 967,03,770, including 3,83,866 active cases and 91,78,946 recoveries. With 385 new deaths, the death toll has soared high to 1,40,958, the Ministry said.

 According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 14,88,14,055 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to December 7 since the onset of pandemic, including 10,26,399 samples being tested on Monday.

Meanwhile, the recovery rate in the country has further improved to 94.56 per cent, the Ministry has added.

Here's some more updates:

*Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm, on Monday late evening applied for emergency use authorization for its covid-19 vaccine candidate, Covaxin, The vaccine being developed with Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology is currently undergoing phase 3 trial among 25,000 volunteers across 25 sites.

*The DCGI will hold a meeting on Wednesday to review emergency use authorization sought by Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.

*Maharashtra continues to be the worst hit state by the pandemic with  76,852 cases and is followed by Kerala with 59,607 active cases.

*Serum Institute will soon start supplying vaccine doses to government at Rs 250 per dose, a report published in TOI said.

*Canada will most likely be receiving its first doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine before the end of December with millions more to follow in early 2021, officials said on Monday. 

*United Kingdom, which became the first western country to approve a covid-19 vaccine will roll out first doses of vaccine from today.

*South Korea has reported 594 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

* 14,718 more people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, pushing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,737,960, officials said.

Meanwhile, the overall number of covid-19 cases across the world has surpassed 67.5 million, while the deaths have mounted to 1.54 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.