Covid-19 cases in India continue to mount by the day as the country’s apex health body made an attempt to fast-track a vaccine rollout.

India added nearly 23,000 new cases of the novel virus, taking the total tally to nearly 6.5 lakh in the world’s second-most populous country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on July 4.

This was the second straight day when the country reported over 20,000 new cases and recoveries.

Key Numbers

• Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 6,48,315
• Active cases: 2,35,433
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 3,94,227
• Deaths: 18,655
• New cases: 22,771
• One-day recoveries: 14,335
• One-day deaths: 442

Despite an improved daily recovery rate of over 10,000 for 12 days straight, the number of active cases in India now stands at nearly 2.4 lakh. Total recoveries, on the other hand, are set to hit the 4-lakh-mark.,

The Indian Council of Medical Research has written to select medical institutions and hospitals to fast-track clinical trials of Covaxin, a covid vaccine being developed in collaboration with Bharat Biotech Ltd. ICMR aims to launch a ‘Made in India’ Covid-19 vaccine by Aug. 15 this year.

Globally, cases topped the 11 million mark with over 5,23,000 dead as of Friday night. U.S. cases rose 2.1%, higher than the seven-day average, with more than 57,000 infections in 24 hours.

South Korea on Saturday confirmed another 63 new cases, while China reported three, including one local case in Beijing. Brazil remains a hotspot, recording 42,223 new infections. A World Health Organization official said it would be “unwise” to predict when a vaccine might be rolled out.

Track news and developments around the pandemic in India here.