20 Jan 2020 India’s daily Covid-19 cases crossed the 3-lakh mark on Thursday as the country reported 3,17,532 new infections, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
In the last 24 hours, the nation reported 491 deaths, taking the overall toll to 4,87,693.
The active cases currently stand at 19,24,051.
A total of 70,93,56,830 samples have been tested up to January 19, of which 19,35,180 were tested yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Department of Biotechnology has disbursed less than 15 per cent of its Rs 900 crore fund on Covid-19 vaccine development promised more than a year ago while multiple government research agencies say they haven’t received any funding from a Rs 100 crore corpus set up under the PMO during the first wave of the pandemic.
The Union Health Ministry, Indian Council of Medical Research and DBT said they didn’t receive any money from a Rs 100 crore PM-CARES (Citizens Assistance Relief in Emergency Situations) fund as announced by the government way back in May, 2020.
The Rs 100 crore fund for vaccine development was a part of a Rs 3,100 package under PM-CARES to purchase 50,000 ventilators and undertake relief measures for migrant workers, who were affected the most during the lockdown period.
