Coronavirus update: EU leaders reach landmark deal on COVID-19

The leaders of the European Union (EU) have reached a landmark deal on a post-coronavirus recovery package after four nights of talks.

• The EU will offer $859 billion in grants and loans to counter the economic impact of the pandemic under the deal.
• The package will now need ratification by the European Parliament before it is implemented.

The Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, is likely to apply for local trials of Oxford University’s vaccine candidate in India within a week.

• It may also start manufacturing the vaccine in large volumes.
• The initial results of Oxford’s vaccine came out positive on July 20, 2020.
• SII has already struck a deal with British pharmaceutical maker, AstraZeneca PLC, to produce Oxford’s vaccine candidate in India.

Meanwhile, the total cases in India stood at 1,155,191 on July 21, 2020, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

• Of these, 402,529 were active cases, while 724,577 were cured or discharged. There were 28,084 deaths while one case had migrated.
• There were 1,155,920 cases according to private aggregator, Covid19india.
• Of these, 402,597 were active cases, 724,806 were recovered and there were 28,113 deaths.
• According to Worldometers, India had a total 1,156,189 cases.
• Only the United States (3,961,556) and Brazil (2,121,645) had more cases than India.